Looking for Answers.....

[krisiks]

Hi everybody,
Hope someone can give me some answers.
I am new to the hobby. I was doing freshwater fish and had discus fish, they are still alive and are doing great Like everybody knows, when cycling a tank, nitrite will rise and then goes down and during this process we cannot add fish as it will die. And this also apply to saltwater if I am not wrong.
Now it is already 2-3 weeks that I have set up my tank and everything seems to be alright. I got everything from the sea, live rock, live sand, inverts, and 10 small fish which is about 1cm long (Don't know the name of the fish) and some small anemone (also don't know their names ), and last sunday I caught a boxfish and add it in my tank. For your information, my tank is a 70 gals. Last week I tested for nitrite and it was very high and I though everything would die in my tank but Yesterday I tested for nitrite again (the only test I have for the moment) and it was still high, and everything was still doing great, I feed them everyday and for the small anemone once a week.
Can saltwater creatures survive in high nitrite???
Can someone explain me???
Waiting for your reply.
Thanks.

 

[lanochka]

Are you doing some kind of an experiment and waiting for them to die?! When I was doing my cycling I bought the fish that was supposed to survive it. (just wondering...)

 

[legendary]

your tank is overstocked tootoo much at 1 time

 

[ricks280]

kris, why ask the board if you allready stocked up on victims?
you mentioned that the nitrites are high! sorry but that tank will crash big time.
i wont even mention anything regarding your stock

.
do your inmates a favor and return them to the sea, let the tank go for another 3 weeks and check all the parameters , not just nitrites but ph, ammonia, salinity, temp, calcium etc, etc.than ask questions and im sure people will be more than happy to provide you with good advise. sorry to sound bad but this is a hobbie to provide the best enviroment for the fish and others and not an experiment capsule............ :scared: (rick)

 

[krisiks]

First of all, I am not doing an experiment.
Secondly I got all these fish stuck in the live rock. I will tell you a brief story :
One sunday morning I went to the beach to get live rock and sand to cycle my tank. I just pull up the rock from sea and bring them home. At home when I put them in my tank, I have seen fish, inverts, and anemone coming out, then it was too late to go back to the beach. Therefore I kept them and if they do survive I will release them next sunday when I will go back to the beach again. During the week I feed them (fish, inverts and even anemone) and they were doing great. Next sunday before I go back to the beach everything was still doing fine and I just kept them for another one week Now it is more than 2 weeks that they are in the tank and they are still doing good and nothing die. THE END :joy:
My Questions :
1) I read on the internet that when cycling, just put live sand and live rock in, during cycling everything will die and this is part of the cycle. How come everyting is still doing fine in my tank even if nitrite is high? Weird, because I know that in fresh water, everything would die when nitrite rises.
2) Overstock is also depend on the size of the creatures in the tank, correct me if I am wrong. Everything in my tank is not more than 1cm long, only the box fish is about 1 inch. I am not against you people but I am trying to improve my knowledge in this hobby before I go further, I am trying to understand saltwater. What do you means when saying my tank will crash?? Can you define crash?? Thanks
3) Cycle : Do I have to cycle my tank if I get everything directly from sea?? Because bacteria already settle on the sand and rocks. Am I right?
Don't worry rick I will return the fish in the sea next sunday and let my tank cycle for another 3 weeks.
Thanks.
Kr|S

 

[darth tang]

Ok, A good rule of thumb is 1 inch per 5-10 gallons. This can be altered accordingly to type of fish and filtration. Your test may be bad. I suggest getting a new one. I would also suggest getting the other tests previously stated. Saltwater is a whole different ball game than fresh.
A lot of people have jumped on you....I apologize for that.
Let's start over, The rock and sand already had bacteria on it. What may not have had bacteria however is your pumps, glass, skimmers, filters, or other items you have in the tank. This is where you spike may most likely be coming from. Did you get the water from the ocean as well? Or you are over feeding and your inverts/ clean up crew aren't numerous enough to handle your load.
I suggest finding a fish store for saltwater fish and have them test your water for everything. They should do this free. Get the exact numbers, don't let them tell you things are fine, get the numbers. Then come back here and post them. Having just one test limits our ability to help as we do not have other crucial info that could help in an explanation. Right now it could be any number of reasons your nitrites are rising. Have the store check the nitrites as well.

 

[ophiura]

I'll start with this:
PLEASE do not get in a habit of taking things from the ocean - and even worse, returning them.
In some areas, this is illegal. Where are you from?
In some cases, it is not ideal. Certain types of sand, eg silica based may not be ideal. Not really because of the silica, but because of other minerals in the sand. Ditto for certain types of rock. So it is not worth it in the end anyway.
In still other cases it introduces foreign animals or pathogens into an environment and gives the hobbyist a VERY bad name in additional to causing ecological problems. And no fish should be raised, effectively being hand fed, and then be thrown back into the wild.
Cycling with these animals was really unecessary in the end. All you need is an ammonia source to kick start a cycle, and that can be from something as simple as some fish flake food. No harm to any animals in the process.
But you do want to be careful with stocking levels. You are going very quickly and eventually this may fail. Simply because animals are "still alive" does not mean that harm is not being done. Ammonia is the real brutal one, but nitrite isn't great. Ammonia tends to be the killer - whether in freshwater or saltwater. A tank "crash" means everything dies. And that is not a good thing. It means you have gone beyond the ability of your tank to process the ammonia. You have outpaced your biological filter. Often this won't happen with established LR but if there is die off, or if you are overstocked and over feed...you'll get a cycling tank.
I definitely agree that saltwater and freshwater are different issues entirely. Freshwater is more "forgiving" than salt, and you can stock more heavily than in a saltwater tank. A saltwater tank, ideally, would have less than 1" of fish per 5 g, whereas in freshwater that 1" per gallon rule is often used. But it is based on the fish and the animals. In the end, saltwater tanks are stocked FAR more slowly, and FAR lighter than a comparable freshwater tank.
Patience is the Golden Rule of keeping saltwater tanks, and this is a rough start. So I would definitely slow down, do a lot of reading, ask a lot of questions and get all of your water parameters tested.

 

[krisiks]

OK, I think I have understood and thanks a lot for your replies.
I will also get my water tested and come back to you.
I will just take the fish back to the ocean today or tomorrow instead of waiting til sunday. I can return the fish back but what about the inverts and anemones? Should I keep them during my cycling process?
I am in Mauritius, an island in the indian ocean. It is illegal to keep saltwater fish... BUT...

Thanks.

 

[ricks280]

hi kris, im glad you made that choice, it was nothing personal however, salt water fish just need that little extra monitoring than other fish, the rewards are great when time is given
for the aquarium to stablish it self, we did not try to punish you by our replies so, im sorry if it came that way

.
this hobby has great rewards providing that time, patience, and monitoring of levels are done on a weekly basis. im sure that you will have all of the above and a great place to get water, fish & inverts from where you come from. just get your self a good kit to check your levels and go for it! ( just try one small fish for a week or two) when all levels are correct , slowly add on. dont forget that any rock that you collect from the ocean will
have die back and will kick up your parameters ,so cycle it in another tank, bin, aerated for a period of two weeks than add it to your tank.

(rick)

 

[krisiks]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
Dun worry man, I am fine :joy: If you guys have not replied me that way I would probably keep all the fish.
But what should I do with the inverts and anemones? Let them die in my tank? :notsure:
And also what about my little boxfish, shall I release it

I like it and dun want to let it go because I dun think I will see one again

Thanks.
Kr|S

 

[ricks280]

kris, do the water test first and let us know the parameters. (you might be in luck)