Cycling....and a dead fishy....

[sharky222]

Need advice!

My tank has been up and running for about 3 weeks, with live rock and sand. I guess it is cycling?....but no sign of ammonia yet.

I added a chromis and a blue damsel about 10 days ago. They seemed to be doing well, so I added another 5 chromis and another blue damsel 2 days ago.

I found the new damsel dead today :( (he actually didn't look too lively when I put him in, and wasn't eating, so this was not a huge surprise). All of the other fishies are doing great. Still no sign of ammonia.

Question is: do I leave the dead fish in the tank? Or remove it? Will it help the tank cycle?

[daniella3d]

wow, remove it and from now on do a quarantine on all your new fish for at least 4 weeks. This is to avoid introducing something nasty like velvet disease and contaminating/losing all your fishes.

what tank size is that?? If you have liverock that was cured your tank may be cycled already but do not add fish too fast or you will create another cycle.

Especialy if you have a large tank and plan on adding a lot of fish, quarantine is a MUST or you might lose them all very very quickly. It's anoying I know...I currently have a hippo tang in hyposalinité in order to cure white spots and it's going to be there for another 4 weeks before I can even put it in my tank. I just can't wait to see that beautiful fish in my tank but patience is a virtue here...nothing less.

Need advice!

My tank has been up and running for about 3 weeks, with live rock and sand. I guess it is cycling?....but no sign of ammonia yet.

I added a chromis and a blue damsel about 10 days ago. They seemed to be doing well, so I added another 5 chromis and another blue damsel 2 days ago.

I found the new damsel dead today :( (he actually didn't look too lively when I put him in, and wasn't eating, so this was not a huge surprise). All of the other fishies are doing great. Still no sign of ammonia.

Question is: do I leave the dead fish in the tank? Or remove it? Will it help the tank cycle?

[reefwars]

you shouldnt add any fish untill amonia and nitrites are zero and you need to wait for them to appear and then drop to zero then you should see a small spike in nitrates in which you can do a fairly large water change... you added way too many fish way too soon i only have 3 fish in my 33g that has been runing for years.i would advise to take out the dead fish and any living ones untill your sure youve completed your first cycle which will happen in time i guarantee. after of which you should add a cleanup crew then 1 single fish .you should let your tank stabilize before adding anymore fish then. my rule of thumb is if your starting from scratch minimum month and a half before adding any fish, and even then you really really really need to add them slowly.the smaller the tank the more these rules need to be followed.if you stick to this guideline your sure to have success without any losses.


once you have no nitrites or amonia and your nitrates are low you can think about adding hardy corals if thats your intention:):)


some good advice is to read and be patient dont plan anything in your first month just watch your tank.... after your first month you can add a clean up crew for a couple weeks then thing about adding a small fish.

also never add liverock or anything that could hold dead organic matter to your tank or it will just start another cycle:):)

[sharky222]

Yes, patience is a fairly new concept to me :) .

The tank is 81g shallow (w/56 gallon sump). I didn't plan to add any more fish for a long while, so I will remove the deceased and see what happens in the next month or so.

All of the rock was cured, but the first batch definitely had some die-off between the time I bought it and added it to the tank (I added the rock in 2 batches, but it was all in for a few weeks before I added the fish).

[reefwars]

wow, remove it and from now on do a quarantine on all your new fish for at least 4 weeks. This is to avoid introducing something nasty like velvet disease and contaminating/losing all your fishes.

what tank size is that?? If you have liverock that was cured your tank may be cycled already but do not add fish too fast or you will create another cycle.

Especialy if you have a large tank and plan on adding a lot of fish, quarantine is a MUST or you might lose them all very very quickly. It's anoying I know...I currently have a hippo tang in hyposalinité in order to cure white spots and it's going to be there for another 4 weeks before I can even put it in my tank. I just can't wait to see that beautiful fish in my tank but patience is a virtue here...nothing less.



its sad that not enough people run quarantine tanks , above is some really good advice i would never add a fish without spending a month in quarantine and for good reasons once disease gets into your tank its hard to get rid of. a quarantine tank can be made for very cheap under a 100$ easily and can save you thousands in dead fish and coral.plus everytime your tank has to deal with unstability it will have to re stabilize which is just another set back in start up time:) establishment is what your aiming for and the easiest way is too play it patient for the first year.dont add alot and let your system grow after the first year you will have a very stable tank that you could add just about anything too... theres too many tanks around that are just getting by and lets face it this hobby isnt cheap and no one wants to lose out on their investment which is why alot of reefers dont make past the first 6mths.

also like noted above if you bought cured liverock you may not see much of a spike depending on how you got it to yourhouse. if your liverock wasnt cured then time is all it will take:):)

[reefwars]

Yes, patience is a fairly new concept to me :) .

The tank is 81g shallow (w/56 gallon sump). I didn't plan to add any more fish for a long while, so I will remove the deceased and see what happens in the next month or so.

All of the rock was cured, but the first batch definitely had some die-off between the time I bought it and added it to the tank (I added the rock in 2 batches, but it was all in for a few weeks before I added the fish).


in your 80g its still too many fish too soon everytime you add a fish your system has to adjust to the bio load of each fish if you add a bunch of fish at once your system gets overloaded and the good bacteria will have a hard time catching up which is where youll see a rise in nitrates and possible bad algae like diatoms and the dreaded cyano. for fish youll end up with ich or even worse marine velvet which is super hard to completely remove:):)

[reefwars]

canreef is a great site for info and if i were you iwould post everymove made and ask other reefers what they would do before doing it yourself, after all alot of us have been doing this for years and have dealt with alot of problems and are more than glad to help someone from making the same mistakes we all made:):) cheers on the new build and i would recommend starting a tank journal here and youll get all the advice you could ever want:):)

[sharky222]

Good advice, thanks! Will a) set up a QT and b) learn patience. :)

[daniella3d]

Not to mention that using a QT might eventualy save your the REAL hassle of having to catch all your fishes to treat them outside the main tank in the event you get velvet and need to treat with copper.

It can be a real pain in the neck to have to catch all the fish to treat them. Beleive me a QT is a blessing :)

Good advice, thanks! Will a) set up a QT and b) learn patience. :)