new aquarium dead firefish

[txfishfan]

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.

 

[frazin78]

Hi,

I am sorry that you lost some fish so early. I am not too sure if that amount of Ammonia would kill fish but I know ammonia is very poisonous to fish. I would do fishless cycling if possible to avoid any more deaths. Just test your water weekly and see your ammonia go up, then your nitrites and once those are both disapeared your are good to go. I didn't see a protein skimmer in your list and this should be a serious consideration as it will prevent the nitrogen cycle all together. I dont' know why you would measure calcium, I thought this was only measured when you have hard corals but then again I could be wrong. I don't think the tap filter removes all the clorine. I would use a chlorine remover to make 100% sure it's all gone.

A few items you might want to add to your tank to avoid any future deaths would be the following:

Protein Skimmer
Live Rock also refered to as LR on this board
Fishless cycling

I hope this helps a little. btw yes I know a big tank like looks empty and I know how tempting it is to put fish in it but no point wasting your money and you get the same results just make sure to introduce fish slowly to the tank after your cycling is complete. I would only introduce 1 fish per month to help the bacteria grow.

I hope some of this helps.

Jc

 

[OrionGirl]

Ammonia is the most likely killer. Firefish are NOT good fish for cycling, and cycling with fish is not needed. Go get a cocktail shrimp, toss it in, and wait until ammonia/nitrites = 0, do a water change to reduce nitrates, then add fish. Basically--slow down and learn what's happening in there before purchasing any more fish, or any other inverts.

Live rock will definitely help out--it will introduce the beneficial bacteria to your tank, and this is the primary filtration that you want to have strong and healthy.

For your water--check to make sure you don't have chloramines to contend with instead of chlorine. Chloramines must be treated to remove them (and the ammonia that results from breaking the chemical bond). From your high initial ammonia readings, I would suspect this may be happening in your tank--and tap water filters do not remove chloramines. You may also want to check your source water, after filtering it--other than RO filters, there aren't many that will remove all impurities from tap water.

 

[reefpicker]

Hi,

It is interesting that your fish died in 24hrs. The cycle had not begun yet so I would assume that was not it. I doubt that they fought to death, so that leaves one explanation... unless they came in from the pet shop extremely sick or stressed out, I believe, as Oriongirl pointed out, that chloramine in your water killed them. Unless I miss something, I do not understand or see any reason why you did not use a cheap (very cheap) anti-chlor solution...

Please dechlorinate your water next time or make certain it does not have chloramines.

 

[kreblak]

Tap water filters don't remove half of what they claim to. Your fish died awful fast, and you have a lot of ammonia for them to be in the tank for 24 hours. I think Oriongirl is on the money here, fishless cycling is the way to go. Go to the grocery store, get an uncooked cocktail shrimp (just one) and toss it in your tank. You don't need to peel it or anything. The shrimp will begin to rot, and as it does it will give off huge quantities of ammonia, which kick starts your biofilter. Your will see your ammonia get very high, then begin to decrease as the bacteria multiply and process it all. As they do, nitrites will appear and follow the same cycle. Once your ammonia and nitrites have both hit zero (should take 45-60 days, give or take) your tank is cycled. You will need to test for nitrates at that point, and if they are above 25-50 ppm do a water change to lower the levels, and then you can add fish.

Also, I would start using reverse osmosis (RO) water. It doesn't need to be dechlorinated, and will contain no phosphates, silicates, or nitrates, as city tap water is known to contain all three of these items in some cases. Phosphates and silicate will fuel the explosive growth of brown algae (diatoms) in your tank, and nitrates will fuel green hair algae growth, which you don't want either.

 

[wayne]

Live rock and a protein skimmer + 'The New Marine Aquarium' by Michael Paletta. Distrust any shop that advises cycling with fish