need assistance right away
need assistance right away
Take a look at my thread in the tropical fish emergency section, it's got all the details.
Re: need assistance right away
Your tank's clearly still in the cycling process or maybe something's gone belly up in there. Either way, it's time to take action, and fast.
You need to do a massive water change, like, now. Have you got a spare tank or somewhere to temporarily relocate your livestock until you get this under control?
Your salinity's a bit off, has it dropped suddenly? And what's with the temperature, is that a recent change too? pH's a tad high, by the way.
You need to do a massive water change, like, now. Have you got a spare tank or somewhere to temporarily relocate your livestock until you get this under control?
Your salinity's a bit off, has it dropped suddenly? And what's with the temperature, is that a recent change too? pH's a tad high, by the way.
Re: need assistance right away
The temperature's been steady at this point for a week now, and I only noticed the salinity drop when I did the water test - didn't catch it earlier. I've just done a 15-liter water change and I'm going to monitor the tank for a bit longer to see how things go.
I removed all the rock to check for any potential issues, and it seems like nothing's died in there - both crabs are fine, although they were hiding, and the shrimp are a bit subdued but they're active as soon as I get near them.
Now I'm trying to figure out what might have caused this. I've got a few possibilities in mind: something triggered a tank recycle, the amount of DD aquascaping putty used in this small tank caused a toxic buildup, or those tetra aquarium wipes I used might have had an adverse effect. I think the wipe thing is a bit of a stretch, but the other two options seem plausible.
It's all happened pretty quickly - just in the last two to three hours, really. The fish were all swimming around normally this morning, but things started going wrong after I rescaped the tank. The nitrite levels actually just spiked back up today, after being at zero earlier - same with the ammonia.
Everyone seemed fine when I first added them, though - the clown and damsel have been in there for a week, the scooter since last Friday, and the rainbow since this weekend.
I removed all the rock to check for any potential issues, and it seems like nothing's died in there - both crabs are fine, although they were hiding, and the shrimp are a bit subdued but they're active as soon as I get near them.
Now I'm trying to figure out what might have caused this. I've got a few possibilities in mind: something triggered a tank recycle, the amount of DD aquascaping putty used in this small tank caused a toxic buildup, or those tetra aquarium wipes I used might have had an adverse effect. I think the wipe thing is a bit of a stretch, but the other two options seem plausible.
It's all happened pretty quickly - just in the last two to three hours, really. The fish were all swimming around normally this morning, but things started going wrong after I rescaped the tank. The nitrite levels actually just spiked back up today, after being at zero earlier - same with the ammonia.
Everyone seemed fine when I first added them, though - the clown and damsel have been in there for a week, the scooter since last Friday, and the rainbow since this weekend.
Re: need assistance right away
I'm curious to know how your coflakes are doing, as the whole story doesn't quite add up.
If the fish are stressed, I'd expect to see the same with the coflakes.
In a normal setup, where invertebrates are added first, 0.5 ppm Ammonia and Nitrite should stress the coflakes first, followed by the shrimp, and then the fish. The damsel might need even higher levels to show any reaction.
Given your non-standard setup, with fish added quickly to a small tank, I suspect the nitrofying bacteria were initially low in number and couldn't reproduce fast enough to handle the bioload from the fish. These bacteria grow slowly in freshwater, preferring pH levels around 7.3 and 7.6, and even slower in saltwater.
If you haven't overfed the coflakes, the bioload must have been very small before the fish were added.
Regarding the salinity, it's possible you got a misreading depending on the instrument used.
Water test kits can also give strange values. I recently had an issue with overfeeding in my nano reef tank, and my usual Dry-tab test kits showed 0.25 / 0.15 / 30 ppm for Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. To confirm, I used my API test kit, which is designed for both salt and freshwater, and it showed all zeros for the nano reef. However, this API kit might be less sensitive.
My guess is that the high Ammonia and Nitrite levels are due to adding fish too quickly to your tank.
If your coflakes are fine and the fish look stressed, I'd suspect the fish are either settling in or have some issue with themselves.
If the fish are stressed, I'd expect to see the same with the coflakes.
In a normal setup, where invertebrates are added first, 0.5 ppm Ammonia and Nitrite should stress the coflakes first, followed by the shrimp, and then the fish. The damsel might need even higher levels to show any reaction.
Given your non-standard setup, with fish added quickly to a small tank, I suspect the nitrofying bacteria were initially low in number and couldn't reproduce fast enough to handle the bioload from the fish. These bacteria grow slowly in freshwater, preferring pH levels around 7.3 and 7.6, and even slower in saltwater.
If you haven't overfed the coflakes, the bioload must have been very small before the fish were added.
Regarding the salinity, it's possible you got a misreading depending on the instrument used.
Water test kits can also give strange values. I recently had an issue with overfeeding in my nano reef tank, and my usual Dry-tab test kits showed 0.25 / 0.15 / 30 ppm for Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. To confirm, I used my API test kit, which is designed for both salt and freshwater, and it showed all zeros for the nano reef. However, this API kit might be less sensitive.
My guess is that the high Ammonia and Nitrite levels are due to adding fish too quickly to your tank.
If your coflakes are fine and the fish look stressed, I'd suspect the fish are either settling in or have some issue with themselves.
Re: need assistance right away
Most of the coflakes seem fine, one's still a bit stressed, but that's been ongoing since we got it - it's always been a bit of an oddball, putting its polyps out then quickly withdrawing them. However, now it does look more 'open' than before.
The fish are doing better today, which is a relief. I've decided to do a daily 10l water change, which is roughly 22% of the tank's volume, but considering the amount of live rock we've got, it's probably closer to a 25% change.
What's still puzzling me is the sudden change in the fish - it was like they just flipped a switch. I've dealt with ammonia issues in freshwater tanks before, and while it was noticeable, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as this. I'm starting to wonder if the hammerhead coflake I introduced might have been the culprit - it was a small frag, but maybe it brought something unwanted with it. The rescaping was the other major change, but I'm not sure if that would cause such a drastic reaction.
The fish are doing better today, which is a relief. I've decided to do a daily 10l water change, which is roughly 22% of the tank's volume, but considering the amount of live rock we've got, it's probably closer to a 25% change.
What's still puzzling me is the sudden change in the fish - it was like they just flipped a switch. I've dealt with ammonia issues in freshwater tanks before, and while it was noticeable, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as this. I'm starting to wonder if the hammerhead coflake I introduced might have been the culprit - it was a small frag, but maybe it brought something unwanted with it. The rescaping was the other major change, but I'm not sure if that would cause such a drastic reaction.
Re: need assistance right away
I think it's worth considering the timeline of when all the fish and the coflake were added. Was it all done in a relatively short period? I'm inclined to agree with the notion that a sudden spike in bioload could've triggered the water parameter changes. As for how quickly the fish were affected, it's not entirely surprising - after all, if we inhale something toxic, we'd react swiftly, and I imagine it's similar for them.
Re: need assistance right away
It appears everyone is now in a better state. I've dug out the tank's stats from the past 10 days and it's interesting to see that the ammonia spike occurred 5 days ago, followed by a nitrite spike 4 days ago, and then both returned to zero until this recent issue arose. Upon retesting today, prior to the water change, I noticed that the ammonia levels are still increasing. This has led me to wonder if perhaps a hitchhiker on the live rock may have died, given that none of the introduced fish or invertebrates have perished and all are accounted for.
Re: need assistance right away
I've had to do repeated water changes and I'm pretty sure my local LFS is getting tired of me buying all the RO they have. Unfortunately, all the livestock except the hermit crabs has died.
I'm planning to drain the tank down later and start again from scratch. Should I do a thorough clean of the live rock before restarting, or is there something else I should be doing to get it ready for the new cycle?
I'm planning to drain the tank down later and start again from scratch. Should I do a thorough clean of the live rock before restarting, or is there something else I should be doing to get it ready for the new cycle?
Re: need assistance right away
Try and preserve as much life as you can on that LR, Nyxora - keep it in saltwater, there's still a good chance some beneficial stuff is clinging on.
Re: need assistance right away
I'm still here, and the hermit crabs are doing great, clinging to life as usual.
One of the coflakes is a real survivor, looking healthier than ever - all its polyps are out and it's thriving. The hammerhead coflake is also doing amazingly well.
The mushroom polyp coflake seems to be flourishing, I could swear it's got more polyps than it had this morning. The leather coral is okay, not perfect but it's hanging in there.
I've been thinking, maybe the Xenia pulse coflake was the culprit, I did think it looked a bit off for a few days and I wondered if it was dying and causing the ammonia spike. Since I removed the dead fish and the dead Xenia this morning, everything seems to be on the mend.
One of the coflakes is a real survivor, looking healthier than ever - all its polyps are out and it's thriving. The hammerhead coflake is also doing amazingly well.
The mushroom polyp coflake seems to be flourishing, I could swear it's got more polyps than it had this morning. The leather coral is okay, not perfect but it's hanging in there.
I've been thinking, maybe the Xenia pulse coflake was the culprit, I did think it looked a bit off for a few days and I wondered if it was dying and causing the ammonia spike. Since I removed the dead fish and the dead Xenia this morning, everything seems to be on the mend.