dying clown

seasalt101

seasalt101

Active Member
sorry about your loss, just slow down take a deep breath and relax, if you don't have a qt set up you might lose your other clown, if you have a friend/relative or another fish store you can go to last resort try that if you can't the fish might survive they are in the damsel family (1 of the hardiest species) but look at it like this, the lfs is just out to make money, this forum is free, and the people here are in it for the love of this fine hobby,all they want is your success, yes you will here conflicting stories, and alot of the time 1 or more of the moderators will chime in with their expierience they are very intelligent and will not give you bad info, please please do not get your info from the lfs unless you see a degree in marine biology don't trust them at least till you know more and you see what they say matches up with the people here, and on here just because you see alot of post does not mean the poster knows everything but if you see 3000+ post that person does probably know what they are talking about...me i have somewhere close to 800 post still a newbie so think about it and if you use the archives here you will do fine good luck and let's hope your other clown makes it, and just for the record i'm pretty sure we have all killed innocent fish with only good intention, ive had a tank crash when i first started killed a bunch of fishies i still feel bad about it but i got over it and today i have a descent set-up and i haven't killed any fish in a long time you will get it don't give up tobin
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
i dont want him to die , and i wish i hadnt got him but like you said whats done is done, what do i want them to get to ? (what # is spiked out) then when it spikes do i add something or just let it go back down? they told me to add bacteria when it gets high to bring it back down, also i have never had any nitriates is this normal for day 8 if so when should i see them?
 
seasalt101

seasalt101

Active Member
ok you are in day 8 i believe on your post i saw0.25 ammonia if this is correct follow along, your ammonia should spike at 0.50-1 but it could go higher so don't hold me to that, then after your amonia goes down your nitrites will spike(go up) then they will fall and your nitrates will go up then will fall hopefully to 0 when these test all read 0 your cycle is complete this is when you do your water change 10-15% (have this premade at least 24 hours before you add it in) then you add your clean-up crew as you will soon see some brown algae don't worry it is part of a new tank it will go away for a clean-up crew get on the side-bar go to reef packages and order what you need if you don't like what you see go to inverts find what you like ask questions here about your list and order after being properly informed it's easy once youv'e done it for a bit...tobin
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
As I said earlier, you will need to get some sw mixed up and as soon as it is stabilized (24hrs) heated and areated or mixed with a powerheas, start changing the water. That will take some of the toxicity out of the water.
 
seasalt101

seasalt101

Active Member
if the amonia gets too high do the waterchange as recomended by hot833 he is alot more knowledgable than me he won't steer you wrong tobin
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Originally Posted by jessica47421
i thougth i wasnt suppost to do water changes during cycle
Well you shouldn't but if you don't lower the ammonia level the other clown will die along with all the other beneficial bacteria and critters in there now. Normally you should not change water during the cycle but normally there would not be fish in there either.
I am not mad or flaming you. It just discusts me when LFS people lie to people as they are starting out just to make more sales.
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
alright i think i got it, my amonia will go up then down then nitrites up and down then im done :cheer: then i can add clean up crew then fish? i have 24 hr satelite system is this good for lighting could i get some color in something other then fish with these lights? i plan on bahama star valentini puffer shrimp and chocolate and clown (hopefuly) fish wise when all done is there any thing color full that i can add with this?
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
alright what is the absolute highest i should let it get before i last resort do a water change? and i have 2 power heads plentum 2 hang ons do you think i will get dead spots and someone said i might need to get another power head put it in back at bottum pointing through rocks should i do this? i just want the absolute best for my tank and poor little clown
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Originally Posted by jessica47421
alright i think i got it, my amonia will go up then down then nitrites up and down then im done :cheer: then i can add clean up crew then fish? i have 24 hr satelite system is this good for lighting could i get some color in something other then fish with these lights? i plan on bahama star valentini puffer shrimp and chocolate and clown (hopefuly) fish wise when all done is there any thing color full that i can add with this?
Ok, stop and research all those choices cause that will be a horrible to watch.
The puffer will eat the shrimp, What size of tank again?
Chocolate chip star? Bad choice to as they will eat the clean up crew.
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Originally Posted by jessica47421
bahama star
ok, then what is chocolate? Don't add the star for atleast 6-9 months to let the system get established.
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
i went to a web site that had a compatable chart and i entered them and it said they was fine ??????? man there is sooo much difference in everything
 
gmidd

gmidd

Member
At the time just watch the Ammonia and have lots of water ready to do changes. Your Clown will be causing Ammonia spikes with its waste and you don't have the bacteria (or enough of it) to convert it to Nitrites and so on. I'm not sure about the additive of bacteria because you have a fish in there already
even still I thing those drops are a 3 week process.... if its the same one I got with my Aquarium purchase. I never used it since I did the raw shrimp method.
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by jessica47421
i went to a web site that had a compatable chart and i entered them and it said they was fine ??????? man there is sooo much difference in everything
You can't always trust what a book tells you. Experience always trumps booksmarts in my opinion. Even so called "experts" don't know it all. For example: my daughter's neurologist said food won't effect my daughters tics, but from talking with other parents who are dealing with this and now my own experience I have learned better. So I could listen to the doctor and allow my daughter to suffer, or I could take the pro-active approach and keep her away from what triggers her tics. So with that said, I would go with what people on here are telling you. They are not experts, but they have the experience that us noobies don't have yet. So take a deep breath, read what you can, but come back here and bounce it off a few people, it will make all the differnece in the world to your saltwater experience. Good luck!
 
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