Two fishes just died

[naybedg]

Ammonia is 8?
To say that’s at toxic levels would be an understatement. It would be a miracle if anything survived at far lower concentrations.
80 ppm nitrate is also way higher than it should be. Even in saltwater, you don’t really want that above 20 ppm.
How long has it been set up and what did you do to cycle?
Do you have any pictures of the setup?

I’ve had it for a month

 

[naybedg]

Also you may need to do a water change with ammonia that high. I believe greater than 4ppm starts to slow down the cycle pretty aggressively as very high ammonia levels are also toxic to bacteria

Yes I just did a water change

 

[naybedg]

2 weeks is not enough unless you use water and live rock from a stable existing tank. Need about 4 weeks with good filtration and water flow.

Yea it wasn’t enough time for it to cycle, I was told other wise that’s why I put in fish after 2 weeks

 

[Cthulukelele]

Yea it wasn’t enough time for it to cycle, I was told other wise that’s why I put in fish after 2 weeks

Don't get discouraged. You're getting a lot of info thrown at you at once. The fact that you took the time to ask questions means you'll eventually get everything settled in. Take your time, keep testing your parameters, and once your ammonia reads 0 for more than 24 hours IMO you're ready for fish. The API ammonia test can also read false positive pretty often so if you get a strange reading retest before restarting the clock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My beautiful green canary blenny just died and my other clownfish is dying, is this because of new tank syndrome? I’m getting advice and doing everything right! What’s going on?

Edit: all my fish just died they were fine this morning!! What’s happening?

Unfortunately the tank is/was not ready for fish.
How did you cycle the tank and for how long?
Same applies to acclimation/introduction- how did you acclimate and for how long?
Blenny for sure is Not a good first fish.
Hang in there.... marine aquaria is a learning curve as well as enjoyment

 

[TehBrainz]

Yea it wasn’t enough time for it to cycle, I was told other wise that’s why I put in fish after 2 weeks

Unfortunately, you were told it was enough time by the same people that sold you the fish. Instead, they should've walked you through how to know when the cycle is complete instead of a "meh, should be good enough"

Hopefully they honored the return, even if for just store credit.

This community is 1000000x better than any LFS, even the best ones out there. Tons of articles from beginner topics all the way to the most advanced and in between.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

kudos on the kind helpful words guys!

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Did you do any research before buying fish? You can NOT listen to local fish stores, they are mostly interested in selling you some fish. Research goes a very long way in this hobby. How do you cycle your tank? Did you use live rock? Did you test along the way ? You are on the right forum here. People here are very willing to help you on this journey, but you MUST do some research first. Unfortunately, many people just j7mp in without any knowledge. Just start over, let us know where your parameters are, and get some decent test kits. I would recommend at least Salifert, Hanna if you can afford them. You MUST test along the way so you can see, first hand where you are in the cycle.

 

[naybedg]

Don't get discouraged. You're getting a lot of info thrown at you at once. The fact that you took the time to ask questions means you'll eventually get everything settled in. Take your time, keep testing your parameters, and once your ammonia reads 0 for more than 24 hours IMO you're ready for fish. The API ammonia test can also read false positive pretty often so if you get a strange reading retest before restarting the clock.

Thank you so much for this, I needed to hear this. I was so stressed and my anxiety was everywhere. Thank you so much for this. If it is ok can I ask you questions if I have more?

 

[naybedg]

Unfortunately the tank is/was not ready for fish.
How did you cycle the tank and for how long?
Same applies to acclimation/introduction- how did you acclimate and for how long?
Blenny for sure is Not a good first fish.
Hang in there.... marine aquaria is a learning curve as well as enjoyment

I cycled it for 2 weeks and I would acclimate for 15-30 minutes for the fishes

 

[naybedg]

Unfortunately, you were told it was enough time by the same people that sold you the fish. Instead, they should've walked you through how to know when the cycle is complete instead of a "meh, should be good enough"

Hopefully they honored the return, even if for just store credit.

This community is 1000000x better than any LFS, even the best ones out there. Tons of articles from beginner topics all the way to the most advanced and in between.

Unfortunately, very sadly, they didn’t do any returns or refunds or store credit.

 

[naybedg]

Did you do any research before buying fish? You can NOT listen to local fish stores, they are mostly interested in selling you some fish. Research goes a very long way in this hobby. How do you cycle your tank? Did you use live rock? Did you test along the way ? You are on the right forum here. People here are very willing to help you on this journey, but you MUST do some research first. Unfortunately, many people just j7mp in without any knowledge. Just start over, let us know where your parameters are, and get some decent test kits. I would recommend at least Salifert, Hanna if you can afford them. You MUST test along the way so you can see, first hand where you are in the cycle.

Yes I have live rock, I was testing it along the way I even have beneficial bacteria that I can add when water change but so far only done one. Everything was good until yesterday that’s when everything went wrong. I have been waiting to buy a test kit because they are very pricey but also because I didn’t know the correct one to buy

 

[Uncle99]

My beautiful green canary blenny just died and my other clownfish is dying, is this because of new tank syndrome? I’m getting advice and doing everything right! What’s going on?

Edit: all my fish just died they were fine this morning!! What’s happening?

Sorry for your loss.
We’ve all been there.
And we learn.

I can’t see this as a cycle issue based on what you posted.

 

[naybedg]

I want to thank you all for so much help and I am doing more and more deep research because this tank is my daughters and I wanted her to have something nice and also calming to look at since she is very energetic and it has helped her to not get riled up. But thank you for kind words and encouragement I needed it thank you. I will give an update here on the parameters in a week 1/2

 

[naybedg]

Sorry for your loss.
We’ve all been there.
And we learn.

Yes, I made mistakes and I’m learning from them and will make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.

 

[Uncle99]

These are the parameters in the tank rn

7.5 ph low

5ppm nitrite

80 ppm nitrate

2 -3 ppm phosphate

Ammonia 8ppm

I’m sad all the fishes are dead

Ammonia north of 2ppm may kill, certainly at 8ppm.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Yes, I made mistakes and I’m learning from them and will make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.

We have ll made mistakes, as long as we learn from them, all is good. It just makes things a bit h when lives are involved. I would recommend Salifert test kits, middle of the road price wise, but good quality.

 

[Uncle99]

Yes, I made mistakes and I’m learning from them and will make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.

And that’s all counts.
I’ve killed stuff, didn’t mean it.
This can be an unforgiving hobby.

Rock, sand, saltwater, flow, bottle bacteria, 2-3 days, add two fish.

Any bagged fish float for temp, then in they go, once the bag is opened, the ammonia in the bag water can spike.

Good luck.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thank you so much for this, I needed to hear this. I was so stressed and my anxiety was everywhere. Thank you so much for this. If it is ok can I ask you questions if I have more?

I'm happy to answer any questions I can. This is not one of the things I know the most about, but below I've linked to a post with lots of good info:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

A piece of live rock or 2 from an established tank will also massively speed up the process, but be sure to trust the rocks to be free of unwanted pests.

The gist is take your time, make sure no ammonia, and read about stuff as much as you can. Learning is part of the process and can be as fun and gratifying as the hobby itself.

A lot of people here (myself included and I'm sure you too) really care about fish and have strong reactions when we see something we find distressing. People want to make sure they get you the right info and prepare you to take proper care of the animals because we see a lot of posts where people jump in too quickly or aren't patient enough. That's why you get a deluge of responses. Keep your chin up and keep trying, just slow down.

 

[TienDC]

Making mistake, learnt from it, and stress are part of this hobby. 15 years ago, while changing water, I didn't realize my most expensive and favorite wrasse jumped out while I removed the lid. Found his body behind the tank a week later. I still losing a coral now and then today.