I just killed my fish

[Tripod1404]

Well today ammonia is a little lower. My question would be. Should I keep trying water changes? Add prime to existing water? Or just wait for it to cycle?.

By the way there are no bubbles in the sand bed.

Thanks for the feedback.

Do you still have anything big living in the tank (like inverts and fish), if not I would just cut the prime and WC and let it cycle. With prime you are locking up ammonia (prime doesn't remove ammonia, it just locks it up as a non-toxic molecule for some time), that might actually slow down cycling.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

there are some shrimps, hermit crabs and snails.

They dont seem affected by the situation at all.

 

[Tripod1404]

there are some shrimps, hermit crabs and snails.

They dont seem affected by the situation at all.

Strange, normally snails are very sensitive to ammonia and swings in water chemistry.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

Maybe I'm getting wrong readings? As I said I can see a lot of micro fauna but the ammonia is still above 2 ppm. I'm using red Sea test kit

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

oh and another question would be. Did this killed my coraline algae?

Thanks !

 

[Tripod1404]

oh and another question would be. Did this killed my coraline algae?

Thanks !

Did they bleach? Coraline algae is sensitive to water chemistry, they have requirements similar to stony corals (not lighting but chemistry). If they are bleached, it might have killed them. But they can recover if not completely bleached.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

Not really

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

Ammonia is still skyhigh (red sea max ppm) and has not changed since 3 days. Should I make a water change or just wait?

 

[Tripod1404]

Ammonia is still skyhigh (red sea max ppm) and has not changed since 3 days. Should I make a water change or just wait?

Can you use another test to make sure you test isnt faulty.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

its not... Im using it in another tank where all the fishes are in (qt) and is giving me 0 ammonia readings.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

well after the storm there seems to be the calm. Ammonia readings are at zero, nitrites and nitrates too.

I do have an algae bloom, not that horrific, but yeah just when the tank was cycling.

Some of the coral algae seemed to bleach, but lots of it survived. So Im glad because of that. Also the 2 fish and the whole cleaning crew is alive and kicking in the DT.

All my corals died tho. Couldnt do much in the end. I was not a huge loss. But a loss nonetheless.

So. What should I do from here?

The fishes are in QT, cant take them out at the moment since I need to finish the QT process for the old and new fishes that were already in the QT, to avoid contamination and passing a diease to the DT. I cant risk anything else at the moment haha.

Thanks again for all the support and help.

 

[Stolireef]

Unfortunately, it sounds like you used tap water after emptying your tank. I don't know where you live or the quality of your tap water but you're starting out into a bit of a headwind. I gather you are using RO/DI for topoff now.

I'd really suggest doing as Sk8tr suggests. Pretty much, don't do anything for a few weeks other than topoff the water. If you want the exercise, do a 20 gallon water change every two weeks and test at least weekly for Nitrites and Nitrate. I figure after a month, your fish will be done with QT and you'll hopefully be OK.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

yeah I had to use tap water to refill the tank during the emergency. Using RODI now for water changes and topoff

Water here is pretty decent. One of LFS who is really respected around here uses tap water for his tank.

I live in Costa Rica by the way.

I will do 20% changes every week during a month. During that time everything should be clear now (fishes and main tank).

I also reconnected my reactor with phosguard. Again ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates are at 0.

At the moment, cleaning crew is having the time of their life eating algae.

 

[Stolireef]

To be honest, I'd leave the reactor off line until you put your fish back in the tank. If nitrates and phosphates are at or near 0, why bother with it. Let the tank find a natural balance first. In fact, I could make a good argument that stripping the nutrients out of the water during a cycle is a bad idea.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

well I think its time for news...

The tank seems to be fine now. Even if there was a huge wipe out from the event in microscopic level the tank seems to be thriving now, lots of micro fauna during the night. The peppermint shrimps are laying eggs, I could see some of the babies a few days ago.

The surviving fish are doing well in the QT, space is starting to become an issue as they are becoming territorial. Probably will wait a week before a transfer to the main tank.

Im battling with hair algae, even if the test kit cant read phosphates, its really not the best brand (API), I still have some phosban working along with the chaeto in the sump, I hope I can bring it down in short term along with water changes.

I also bough a new coral, a really cheap one to see if there was any harm to it, it looks fine and starting to grow.

O also bough a beautiful clam, but its at the LFS while I get everything in check. My question would be if its ok to introduce once I get the fish in?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks a lot everyone for the support. I was really helpful during this chaotic process

 

[MurphyLong]

Reading this compelled me to share a story that I never told anyone... When I had first gotten into SW tanks over a decade ago, I had a 180g tank up and running, was about 3 years established, and everything was happy and healthy. Well, I'm a "tinkerer" (read: I don't leave things alone when I should) and I started reading about Vodka Dosing. (I can hear people slapping their foreheads already)
Well, this was my lesson in ATTENTION TO DETAIL with my tank. I don't remember what the formula was that I was SUPPOSED to be using, but I somehow misread a decimal somewhere, and ended up measuring in fluid ounces instead of milliliters. The first dose was all it took. Poured in Vodka before work, I came home to find my aquarium looked so cloudy and swirly that it was like pearlescent hand soap. My swimming fish were slamming themselves into the sides of the aquarium hard enough that it killed them, and they were bleeding. The lower-level fish like my blennies and dragonets hadn't been hit by this "cloud" yet. My skimmer was gushing the foulest skimmate I have ever smelled. I grabbed a return pump, threw it in the DT, and started pumping it into my bathtub. I managed to save a lot of corals and the blennies, but I ended up flushing the entire cast of Finding Nemo. I was a horrible fish murderer, and almost gave up, but it was my wife who encouraged me to just learn from it and start again, so I did.