re: cycling after fish died

[rica5tully]

I tried to cycle a 10-gallon tank with a ocellaris clown and it didn't make it (died on day 11). What should I do now? I hear that the tank will continue to cycle, but is there anything I should do? Should I do water changes? Should I throw a piece of food in there every couple of days to add some amonia? Thanks.

[VoodooChild]

I always heard just to leave the fish in there.

[OrionGirl]

If this is your first SW tank, you've set yourself up with some big challenges. Smaller tanks are hard to keep stable. You'll need to pay daily attention to the tank, monitoring it closely until you get into the right schedule.

Before we can say what will happen, we need to know what is still in the tank, what are the parameters (ie, where are you in the nitrogen cycle), specific gravity, alk, ph, ect.

[rica5tully]

I keep careful tabs on the tank because I know it's small. Everything seems to be very stable:

Temp: 79
Ph: 8.3
Specific gravity: 1.023

There is still a little amonia (as of last night) but I'm in the nitrite phase. Nitrites are high.

Thanks!

[OrionGirl]

Then you're good to go. You may need to supplement the bacteria with ammonia, since it will eat it all before the tank finishes cycling (assuming you removed the dead fish). Small chunks of shrimp will work fine.

Otherwise, good luck--I am in the planning stages of a 10 gallon marine myself.

[rica5tully]

Thanks. I've been throwing some flake food in there from time to time to add amonia. But I'll check into shrimp.

What are you putting in your 10-gallon?

[OrionGirl]

At this point, I'm planning on having a few small corals, 3-4 shrimp, 3-4 hermits, 2-3 snails, live rock and sand, and maybe a single fish--something like a small goby, or a small angler (which would change the shrimp issue a bit!). Haven't worried much about that since I can't even set it up to cycle until mid-March--I'll be out of town for a week and doubt our housesitter needs another thing to worry about.

[rica5tully]

Are you going to run a skimmer on that 10-gallon? If so, what kind?

[OrionGirl]

I haven't decided. If I keep the stocking level low enough and do water changes once a week, I think I can avoid a skimmer. If I do need one, I'd probably go with the prizm, just because it's cheap and will be fine on a small system.