high ammonia

[samantha68]

my tank has been going since april 13th my ammonia is high it has now gone to 1.0 HELP i have fish in i did the bio support in on the first day of new fish then 7 days after like i was told to ..so the 22nd it had the bio support put back in but it is now 1.0 are my fish going to die??????????????????????? they seem fine ..what can i do??????? any HELP would be nice

 

[kittykitty]

Sounds like you may have added your fish too quickly, if you've only had it set up for 13 days. 13 days is not long enough for your tank to cycle even with the bio support. Don't do any water changes, this will just prolong the cycle. What do you have in your tank? You may just have to wait it out, but if you have any delicate fish in there, I would suggest taking them back to the LFS and maybe having them hold them for a few weeks.

 

[birdy]

I am assuming that bio-support is one of those products that "claims" it instantly cycles a tank. I do not like those products and a good cycle will last 4-6wks.
Give us some more info on your tank, substrate, LR, filtration, water circulation. Type of water. How many and what type of fish, how often you feed.
Sounds like you are in the middle of your cycle, depending on what type of fish you have in your tank, you could just let it run it's course. If you have more delicate fish you may have to do water changes everyother day to keep the levels good, it will eventually cycle either way.

 

[kittykitty]

Originally posted by Birdy
If you have more delicate fish you may have to do water changes everyother day to keep the levels good, it will eventually cycle either way.
But don't go crazy and do like a 50 percent water change.

 

[birdy]

yes! small changes 10-15%.

 

[samantha68]

I have a volitan,furry lion,blue tang and a naso in ..crushed coral on the base and live rock,tavertine rock.instant ocean salt,tank started on the 13th with the bio support then a fish in on the 16th then spread out the other 4..big als told me that i could put the fish in because of the bio support.i put the bio support in again on the 16th.feeding once a day tetra marine flakes and natrural dried seaweed,feeders

 

[kittykitty]

Okay, you are definitely moving entirely too fast. Your fish might be okay, but I would do like birdy said and do SMALL water changes every other day.
When you say feeders, do you mean live feeders? If so, what kind?

 

[birdy]

Even though you have a large tank, That is way too many fish to put in a new tank at once, and you probably haven't even really cycled yet. I really worry about your blue tang, they are sensitive and shouldn't be put in a tank until it is at least 6mo old.
Honestly I am not really sure what to tell you, the very best thing to do would be to return all those fish and start over with a real cycle with a cocktail shrimp. Once your cycle is finished you can add ONE fish every two to four weeks (with such big aggresive fish you may want to wait four).
You said something about adding mushrooms, I don't think that is a very good idea, sounds like you have an aggressive setup and corals don't do very well in an aggressive tank

 

[samantha68]

my pet store will not take marine fish back just freshwater...damn it...i was going by what they told me
sooooooo do my 10% and hope for the best??? or ???

 

[samantha68]

see the pet store is who told me to go with the mushroom that it is a great one to start with and that it would go great in my tank

 

[samantha68]

i am feeding the lions gold fish feeders (told at the store)

 

[birdy]

I think you need to find a new LFS.
Lionfish, are terribly messy eaters and will screw up your water quality. The water quality is not as important for fish, but for corals it is very important.
At this point go ahead and do water changes every other day, I would do around 10%, test your water often. Watch your tangs for signs of Ich.
Keep us posted.
If you want a good book on Saltwater aquariums:
The New Marine Aquarium, by Michael S. Palleta
The Conscientious Marine Aquariist, by Fenner
Natural Reef Aqariums, by John H. Tullock
The last two books are very similar so you wouldn't need both.
Do some searches on here about cycling. that should
give you a good idea of what you are looking for.

 

[samantha68]

ok thank you i will do a water change right now about 10% and look for those books tonight all my other readings are perfect it is just my ammonia that is bad

 

[birdy]

You should not feed freshwater feeder fish to saltwater fish, it is very unhealthy. Instead get them eating meaty food that are not live, go to the grocery store and get cocktail shrimp, squid, fish, clams. Chop them into bite size pieces and feed them that. If they will not eat non-living food, try putting the food on a feeding stick and moving it around like it is live. There are saltwater feeders (damsels, chromis), but that gets very expensive.
Good luck, don't worry you are not the first person to get bad advise from your LFS, but if you read here and ask a lot of questions your tank should be fine.
The other thing you may want to reconsider now or in the future would be your substrate, you will battle with nitrates with crushed coral, it just traps the debris horribly, sandbeds are much better. be sure you have a gravel vaccume and vaccume that CC out frequently

 

[kittykitty]

Originally posted by samantha68
i am feeding the lions gold fish feeders (told at the store)
If you are going to keep the two lions, DO NOT feed them goldfish. Goldfish are nothing but fat and oil, and on top of that, they are freshwater fish, a prey item that a lionfish would never come across in the wild, and would never be a part of its diet in its natural life. IN the pet trade, goldfish are bred in massive quantities, and they are not cared for like fish that are sold for display purposes. Many of them die, and many of them carry diseases that could harm your fish. They are dirty and hold no nutritional value whatsoever. Your fish will not survive if you are constantly feeding them goldfish. It is okay to give them one or two as a snack (or for your entertainment) every once in a GREAT while, but do not feed them as a staple diet.
Have you tried feeding them any frozen krill or silversides? If they will not take any frozen foods, you want to find some live ghost shrimp, and feed them that instead of the goldfish until you can ween them onto frozen foods.

 

[samantha68]

no i was just doing the feeders...i guess i 'm going to the grocery store tonight...i'll try that .i wasn't that keen on the feeders anyway .I love the look of the lions and was just feeding them as told at store ..Thank you very much ,i want to do whats best just was being told the oppisite..i just finished my 10% water change now ..thanks again..so do that every other day for how long?

 

[greatfullreefer]

Originally posted by samantha68
all my other readings are perfect it is just my ammonia that is bad

Ammonia is just the beggining of the cycle, expect your Nitrites to elevate next and then your Nitrates. There is NO SUCH THING as an instant cycle. Most LFS are the Devil

and will say whatever it takes to make a Buck (Sad but true). Please take the advise of people that have been in the hobby for fun and NOT PROFIT. The fine peeps on this board have a wealth of information that they are all ready and willing to share for the love of the hobby and not the almighty Dollar.

 

[billb]

This shows whats happening (and going to happen)
http://www.billsext.com/cycling.htm
I have all three books listed above and they are great.
I found that reading "The New Marine Aquarium" first, helped introduce a few topics, and made reading the other two a bit easier. But all three books are excellent (in my view)...
The questions/answers/and practices, found on this forum are of great help. Good experienced folks, certainly will to help you along.
Good Luck!
Billb

 

[jlem]

Are you feeding your Tangs seaweed? You can get packs of dried seaweed at the grocery store for like a buck. Feed your tangs a couple inch square piece of seeweed everyday. If you don't mind siphoning your C/C during water changes then there is nothing wrong with C/C. Matter of fact if you do biweekly 10 gallon water changes and vacumm out your C/C everytime you will be removing waste completely from your system. I do prefer the sand just for looks though. If you do keep the C/C then make it no deeper than and inch at the deepest.

 

[samantha68]

I did a 10% earlier today and vaced the c/c out at the same time .i also have a protien skimmer on it do they really help?