I just set up a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium the day before yesterday, and I bought 2 firefish yesterday to start the aquarium cycling. This morning, both of the firefish were dead for no obvious reason. They were not sick when I bought them. I did water tests this morning for specific gravity, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and calcium. The only thing that I noticed out of balance was that the ammonia was between 1 and 2 mg/L. I used 60 lb. of cariblife aragonite sand, and used insta ocean on filtered tapwater (pur waterfilter). The filter I am using is an Eheim Professional II, without activated carbon. The water temp was 80 degrees.
What do the more experienced aquarists think happened? Was it the ammonia, was it to hot, could there be some other impurities in my tap water that were not filtered out that killed the fish? Could there still be chlorine in the water (I assumed the tap water filter removed it). Please help, and what should I do before I buy any more fish.
Thanks.
What do the more experienced aquarists think happened? Was it the ammonia, was it to hot, could there be some other impurities in my tap water that were not filtered out that killed the fish? Could there still be chlorine in the water (I assumed the tap water filter removed it). Please help, and what should I do before I buy any more fish.
Thanks.