Really need help here....

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

I was thrown into this hobby last Saturday. A friend moved out of town and left the fish tank at her old apartment. She knew I was interested in getting into salt water tanks so she called me and told me to go get it. No instructions, no help, nothing. With no knowledge I was able to break down the fish, corals, inverts and tank itself. Moved it an hour away and not kill anything. I have a Clarkii Clown, Yellow Tang, Manderin Goby, Blue Diamond Goby, and two ocellaris Clowns, and a serpent starfish. Mixed in are various corals (idk the names for them) and a decent clean up crew.

I checked the water perameters last night and this is what I am seeing:

PH- 7.4
Nitrite- .25
Nitrate- 5-10
Amonia- .25-.50

These look high except for the PH which looks low. Salinity is spot on.

I don't know what is a good number to be at for these, or how to fix them.

I have a biocube 29
The only LFS within 30 miles will not fish sit or buy/take outside fish.

Mike in CT · Mar 12, 2015

Others will chime in but.... If you can.. Be prepared for some major water changes. That size is not so big so buying some already prepared water from LFS might be the way to go. Looks like you are going through the an ammonia cycle caused by the move. Not unexpected. If your LFS has it, you could also pick up some "prime" water conditioner that can neutralize ammonia until your biological filtration recovers. Go very easy on feeding as well!
Welcome to the hobby!

Blake11rebel · Mar 12, 2015

I would do a 5 gallon water change and mix more up for another one in a few days. Take everything slow, only bad things happen fast in this hobby. Make sure you use RODI water and if you cant get that use distilled until you can afford a unit. A 29 is way to small for a yellow tang and the mandarin will probably eat thru your copepod population quickly. Hopefully it is eating frozen brine or mysis. Take plenty of time to read. If your wondering about something search it here more than likely someone has had the same problem. The ammonia is the most dangerous of the 4 you posted so get that to 0 asap. hope I helped

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

I have been feeding frozen brine shrimp, once a day (about the size of a nickel). The Tang is pretty small, I know when he gets bigger I will need to go to a bigger tank or get rid of him. I will do a 5 gallon water change tonight when I get home. I want to keep from killing everything, so any advice is very much appreciated. I beieve I remember seeing so "water conditioner" in the supplies I got too. I didn't know what it was for.

mguili1947 · Mar 12, 2015

I agree with Blake11 rebel. You probably stirred up the sand when moving and it release nitrate,amonia,nitrite in the water. Do the 5 gallon changes every other day till the numbers go down.

Blake11rebel · Mar 12, 2015

The water conditioner is only for when using tap water to make your water change. I do not recommend using tap water. It can cause all sorts of problems.

Pete polyp · Mar 12, 2015

I would suggest removing the tang, Clarkii and mandarin ASAP and take them to the lfs. The Clarkii will end up killing the ocellaris, the tang and mandarin both need larger tanks. You would probably be fully stocked with the 2 clowns and diamond goby in a 29.

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

When I added water is was distilled with reef crystals. So even with distilled water I don't need the conditioner?

Blake11rebel · Mar 12, 2015

Right. If you don't use tap you don't need the conditioner. Reef crystals is the kind i use.

Mike in CT · Mar 12, 2015

Prime conditioner will neutralize the ammonia if the water changes are not doing enough. Can still use with RODI water if it's warranted.

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

I only have the heater that is in the tank. When doing these changes can I just dump the 5 gallons in without being up to temp? should i do a gallon or so at a time?

Blake11rebel · Mar 12, 2015

I would try and get the temperatures as close as possible. You dont want any huge swings in temp. I would do it all at the same time but pour it slowly.

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

You are a lifesavor...maybe literally for these fish. Thank you for all your help!

Pete polyp · Mar 12, 2015

You can use a water bottle filled with hot tap water as a heater. I always just use room temperature water (around 70-74 degrees) without issue

NanaReefer · Mar 12, 2015

Where ever you are, there has got to be other reefers around. Find them! Let people here know the area your from. Since your LFS is not willing to take fish, you'll want to find someone to take your Tang and Mandarin. Or possibly all the fish if your wanting to start over with ones you choose.

What a way to get introduced to SW

Welcome to R2R, you couldn't have picked a better place to start. Good luck and keep us posted.

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

Yeah it was quite the experience. I really like the fish that are in there, except the Clarkii (He seems to be an *** to the other clowns) He will be the first to go for sure.I hate to get rid of the tang and manderine, those are probably my favorite. They are still very small (Clarkii is bigger). But everyone on this site knows way more than me at this point. I would like not to start over, but I also don't want to kill them. Thanks for the welcoming, everyone has been awesome so far. I will keep you updated after the water change and re test.

Pete polyp · Mar 12, 2015

The problem with the mandarin is that it usually only eats pods. Your tank is too small to sustain a population large enough to support it. It will eventually starve and die.

CastAway · Mar 12, 2015

I would be insightful to know how long the tank was running with those particular fish. Perhaps the mandarin was being fed live pods, and not from a sustaining brood within the tank. Expensive, but possible. Throw up some pics dnelson24, let's see your windfall. :xd:

dnelson24 · Mar 12, 2015

This is the tank. I took this pic about 8 hours after resetting up at my house. The manderin seemed to eat the brine shrimp pretty well. I have read that feeding live pods can be expensive if you do not have a refuge....Because i'm new to this as of Saturday IDK what a refuge tank does, but I know I don't have one lol.

Blake11rebel · Mar 12, 2015

Its just a place where they can repopulate without being eaten. There are several styles. You can also grow macro algae in them to reduce nitrates and phosphates, which fuel bad algaes.