Cali Kid Corals

Newbie 8g tank

Chrism1330

Chrism1330

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Hi guys, I just bought an anemone yesterday and two clown fish, my water parameters were good but all of a sudden I noticed my fish gasping for air more than usual. When I added them yesterday I did the usual, acclimate, add some water from tank to the bag little by little. When it was time to put them in they were doing fine. Took them a few mins to swim around the tank get used to it. Now it seems like somethings off, I did water check with api kit and my ph was low and my nitrite is high. My salinity right now is 1.023. What do you guys think? I was going to do a water change would that solve the issue?
 

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I am by no means and experienced salt water person. But it looks to me you have high nitrites. Is your aquarium not cycled yet?
 
ReyDeFarts said:
I am by no means and experienced salt water person. But it looks to me you have high nitrites. Is your aquarium not cycled yet?
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Its cycled I used the water from my 24g tank, this 8g has been sitting with just a pair of pep shrimp and a hermit to test water and make sure everything was ok before adding clowns.
 
Nitrites only matter when a new aquarium is first set up. Otherwise it’s rarely tested. Need more information. Details. Gasping usually is lack of oxygen. Aim a power head at the water surface. See if that helps.
Btw. Picos are extremely difficult to keep.
 
I’d second pointing the wave maker at the surface to create some agitation to add some oxygen to the tank. Also could you send some close up pics of the side of the fish? It is possible they may have Brooklynella a parasite that attacks the gills, making it impossible for the fish to breathe. You can usually tell with little brown spots on the fish.
 
Can you replace the (glass?) lid with a mesh screen to increase gas exhange? The pH is too low (7.4) which reinforces @phc567 hypothesis that oxygen is low /CO2 is high because it could cause low pH. I guess an air bubbler would work with the glass lid but they are noisy and probably not a good long-term solution. Keep in mind when you increase the pH from 7.4 to 8.0 you will get 4x more of the more toxic form of ammonia-nitrogen (NH3) so do it slow...
 
Twisted said:
I’d second pointing the wave maker at the surface to create some agitation to add some oxygen to the tank. Also could you send some close up pics of the side of the fish? It is possible they may have Brooklynella a parasite that attacks the gills, making it impossible for the fish to breathe. You can usually tell with little brown spots on the fish.
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I pointed the power head up towards the water as advised by you guys. Clowns look very healthy no brook spotted.
 

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Chromis said:
Can you replace the (glass?) lid with a mesh screen to increase gas exhange? The pH is too low (7.4) which reinforces @phc567 hypothesis that oxygen is low /CO2 is high because it could cause low pH. I guess an air bubbler would work with the glass lid but they are noisy and probably not a good long-term solution. Keep in mind when you increase the pH from 7.4 to 8.0 you will get 4x more of the more toxic form of ammonia-nitrogen (NH3) so do it slow...
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Thank you for that advise I also was thinking of maybe getting a mesh lid since the glass lid is already a hassle, worried it might crack when handling it. I did move the power head up to the surface it has a cover on it for the anemone so not sure if maybe its not blowing enough? Would another power head be helpful on the other side?
 
One note, reusing water from an established tank doesn't cycle a new tank. It is better than nothing, but generally the expectation is the high surface area stuff (sand, porous rock, carbon media, ...) are the more prominent bacteria sources. That might've been what you meant, but calling it out just in case.

The jump in waste from a shrimp and hermit to all that plus two fish and an anemone, in a nano, seems like it could plausibly lead to a spike in bad stuff.

I'd personally do a relatively large water change if it was me. I'd pull upwards of 50% of the water out, add ~20% new fresh, and then drip acclimate style add the rest of the water. My logic being get the bad stuff out fast partially, and then add in the rest of the clean water a little slowly.

In a nano/pico size tank, the big advantage you always have is you can solve a lot of problems with water changes easily.

Edit: also keep in mind in a big water change, matching salinity and temperature is important. Don't accidentally do a 50% water change with room temperature water.
 
I also suspect O2 as the others said. Where did you get the fish from if I may ask? Some places run very low/high salinity in their stores also possible you may have shocked them a little bit if there was a big difference between yours and theirs. In the past Ive also bought what I thought were healthly clowns that died within two days of getting them while all existing fish were fine.

I always check salinity from bag or container of water fish came it before doing drip acclimation, I've personally seen low as 0.20 and high as O.31
 
richiev said:
One note, reusing water from an established tank doesn't cycle a new tank. It is better than nothing, but generally the expectation is the high surface area stuff (sand, porous rock, carbon media, ...) are the more prominent bacteria sources. That might've been what you meant, but calling it out just in case.

The jump in waste from a shrimp and hermit to all that plus two fish and an anemone, in a nano, seems like it could plausibly lead to a spike in bad stuff.

I'd personally do a relatively large water change if it was me. I'd pull upwards of 50% of the water out, add ~20% new fresh, and then drip acclimate style add the rest of the water. My logic being get the bad stuff out fast partially, and then add in the rest of the clean water a little slowly.

In a nano/pico size tank, the big advantage you always have is you can solve a lot of problems with water changes easily.

Edit: also keep in mind in a big water change, matching salinity and temperature is important. Don't accidentally do a 50% water change with room temperature water.
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Im going to do a water change, I believe when i moved the rock all the dirt and poop was sitting under and it caused it maybe to have that spike? Definitely will keep that in mond when putting the water back in, i have another heater to make sure its matching the temp of the tank and salinity.
 
MichaelB said:
I also suspect O2 as the others said. Where did you get the fish from if I may ask? Some places run very low/high salinity in their stores also possible you may have shocked them a little bit if there was a big difference between yours and theirs. In the past Ive also bought what I thought were healthly clowns that died within two days of getting them while all existing fish were fine.

I always check salinity from bag or container of water fish came it before doing drip acclimation, I've personally seen low as 0.20 and high as O.31
Click to expand...
I got them from my guy Steve at Lucky Ocean. Im more than certain he runs the water levels at the right level. They were swimming just fine last night. I just can only think that this spike happened due to me moving the rock and sand. I will definitely keep that in mind to check the bag salinity next time i buy fish from other stores. Im doing the water change now and hopefully i can get a better update in the next few hrs. Appreciate all the advice :)
 
Mochix said:
Hey Chris….if the 2 clown fish don’t get better after the water change u might have to move them into your 24. U can use a Kritter box and keep them in the box just in case the pair of clowns attack them.
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Ok sounds good, ill pick one up from the store today if they dont get better. Appreciate the advice.
 
so I've done two water changes in my pico reef tank and my nitrates still seem to creep up and be there even after a water change. Everything else seems good. I haven’t even fed the clowns after the water change and nitrates are around 0.25. Should i be worried? Any suggestions on how I can get my nitrite to 0?
 

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Put some established rock or sand from your 24 gallon tank in there ASAP. I see 0.25-0.5 ppm ammonia on your test kit. As said before, almost all your nitrifying bacteria live in your rocks and sand, and you basically started a fresh, uncycled tank and put in a large bio load with the two clowns, anemone, cleaner shrimp, etc.

Skip feeding tomorrow too.
 
Stop bothering to test for nitrites, it’s just a distraction and they honestly don’t matter. Ammonia creeping up is what can kill your fish. Seriously (just read the first couple paragraphs): https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php#:~:text=Its toxicity in marine systems,measuring in most marine systems.

That honestly looks like a zero ammonia reading to my eye. the API ammonia test kit never really gets truly yellow and the amount of stress created because of these damn test kits is too high!

That being said, it’s still a young tank so following @Darkxerox advice is not a bad idea!
 
My ammonia reads zero, my nitrite is reading high and my PH is reading low again. Anemone is slowly dying. Adding rock will help this solution?
 
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