HELP!

[erikharrison]

I have a 47 gallon column tank with 3 damsels a midas blenny, a yellow spotted boxfish and a lionfish (the common one) and about 2 dozen ghost shrimp. I performed a water change today to lower the ammonia in the tank (25% water change) and my blenny, and lionfish seem to be stressed. they are breathing heavy and the lionfish is just kinda "walking" around the tank... any ideas about what is going on? my salinity is 1.020 and temp is 79 degrees. I removed the live rock that was in the tank as per instructions from Alamo Aquatics. I have one other rock in there but it was not "Live". Is it possible the shrimp are putting off alot of ammonia??

[Ping]

Why did they reccomend removing the live rock? Is the rock new (uncured)? Is the tank new?

What do you have for filtration and current?

[jc]

Did you use tap water? If you did maybe it was a reaction to the chlorine.

[erikharrison]

Why did they reccomend removing the live rock? Is the rock new (uncured)? Is the tank new?

What do you have for filtration and current?


the live rock was uncured, i moved it out of the tank prior to the water change, and i have a filstar x2, i also put a airstone to help aerate the water.

yes i used tap water, but i used dechlorinator and prime.

[hobogato]

how old is the tank? (how long has it been set up)

[Ping]

High ammonia? That is a high fish load if the tank and filstar are new. Was any live sand used at start-up. Possible low bacteria count if the system is new.

Do you have the rock curing now.

A thought is, maybe, daily 10% water changes until the system has an increase in helpful bacteria. (Does anybody else agree with this)?

[jc]

It's got to be that uncured live rock. I place about 40 pounds of uncured rock in an empty aquarium and the next day my whole house smelled like rotting fish.

[Texreefer]

Ping , thats a good start, but like Hobogato i would like to know when the tank was set up.. it sounds like amonia because thats why he did the water change.. sooo it was either not cycled fully or the addition of uncured live rock shocked the system into another cycle, my advice is lower the bioload on the tank ,cure the rock in another sytem, continue with daily 10% water changes and add the cured live rock back slowely.alos if you are new to saltwater your best advice is from some of the long timers on this board. there are a million different ways to start a tank and a million different miriacal cures. and everyone is right.. if your going to take advice from a lfs.. spend some time looking at their systems and ask yourself if you want your tank to look like that. because what they do is what they will advise you to do. ok im done.. hope things get better with your tank

[Texreefer]

PS, i can actually spell. i just can't type worth a darn :unsure

[erikharrison]

The tank is about 3 weeks old. Yes we used live sand. We took out the live rock, (it is curing in another tank) but the lion fish is still breathing heavy.
We have 2 dozen ghost shrimp, would that cause the ammonia levels to drastically increase?

[demodiki]

Wow, you need to read. I recommend:
http://wetwebmedia.com/marineSetUp.htm
http://wetwebmedia.com/marsetupii.htm
http://wetwebmedia.com/fishinvsetup.htm
Good luck.

[hobogato]

The tank is about 3 weeks old. We have 2 dozen ghost shrimp, would that cause the ammonia levels to drastically increase?

yes, so would adding all those fish to a tank that had not cycled properly. the boxfish and lionfish in particular are heavy waste producers and can drive up nitrogen waste in well established tanks.

[hobogato]

if you want to try and save those fish, you have two options.

1. see if you can find someone with and established tank that wont mind keeping them for you for a while
2. do small (10%) water changes daily to keep the nitrogen waste down as much as possible until your biological filtration can keep up.

adding some fully cured liverock will speed the process some, but you have a rocky road ahead.

[safeuerwehr]

be cautious about using any ammonia reducing additives as they only mask the problem....as you have read, your system is still in its infancy and needs time to mature, by adding all that livestock your only adding to the bio load, its like feeding a chunk of steak to a new born. I would follow hobogato's advice and give your tank time to mature, and the best sound advice in this hobby is patience and don't rush things......I could foster your lion fish for you in my FOWLR tank.....good luck.

alfred

[erick]

To help cycle the tank get some Bio Spira for marine. Some say it instant cycles a tank, although I have found that not to be the case, but it does contain the LIVE bacteria needed to help in the cylcing process. It will help reduce ammonia/nitrites, and start a bacteria colony that will convert nitrites to nitrate.. Hope this helps... BTW Polly's pets sells Bio Spira..

[erikharrison]

ok, i went and bought 3yr old live rock, 7 lbs of it, and some algae (the algae that eats ammonia), and tested my water prior to adding this and my ammonia levels are down from 6.0+ down to about 2.0..... Finaddict has a gr8 deal on live rock btw (3 bux/lb) and 5 dollars for a handful of algae. I just added some kent ammonia detox to bring the levels down some more, and im hoping that the 80 dollars i spent tonight will adversely affect my ammonia levels. I did notice that my lionfish is breathing less heavy, much much less, and he seems to be a little happier than he was yesterday. I also tested the ammonia levels in my plastic bucket of live rock and it is lower than my tank after being on its own since last night. Do you think I should go ahead and add it to my tank?? BTW thanks so much for ALL of the advice. I feel like the uber nub (and I am) and you guys probably saved me from tossing my salt and just f/watering it! Also, I live in San Antonio as well, by Churchill, just to let yall know I'm a native too! Can anyone tell me what the name of the algae is??? I forgot, and for some reason keep thinking its malachite

[blueboy]

chaetomorpha, but it doesn't metabolize ammonia, it metabolizes nitrate. so, you still need the bacteria to turn your ammonia to nitrite, then nitrite ti nitrate, then the chaeto will help you by using the nitrate to build tissue, then when the ball of chaeto gets too big, you just throw some out(or give it to another reefer), and you have exported some nitrate from your system!