I've had my 35g hex marine tank established for about a year. My well-intentioned but totally inept boyfriend decided to put a year-old sponge that was sitting in a box in the tank "for decoration". Overnight the tank turned into an aquarist's nightmare!
Somehow, all my livestock (gramma, urchin, shrimp) survived with the exception of a small blue tang I recently added. Many of the animals living in my live rock have perished but there are still some small anemones and a clam hanging on. My royal gramma has developed eye-pop, probably due to physical trauma because some of the rocks were knocked over a couple of days ago when we were removing the sponge and other organic matter from the tank. I've been feeding him fresh fish (tuna and salmon) with Garlic Guard and spirulina.
My initial water test revealed ammonia levels at 3.0 mg/L and nitrates at 50 mg/L. I am going out to buy a nitrite test kit this weekend. We've done three fairly aggressive water changes (10g each time) spaced one day apart and added Prime to both the pre-existing water as well as the water added to the tank. This morning's water test shows ammonia at 1.5 mg/L and nitrates at 25 mg/L. This is still much higher than I would like but I'm concerned about doing too many water changes. Is there anything else I can/should do or should I simply wait now and see if conditions improve?
Somehow, all my livestock (gramma, urchin, shrimp) survived with the exception of a small blue tang I recently added. Many of the animals living in my live rock have perished but there are still some small anemones and a clam hanging on. My royal gramma has developed eye-pop, probably due to physical trauma because some of the rocks were knocked over a couple of days ago when we were removing the sponge and other organic matter from the tank. I've been feeding him fresh fish (tuna and salmon) with Garlic Guard and spirulina.
My initial water test revealed ammonia levels at 3.0 mg/L and nitrates at 50 mg/L. I am going out to buy a nitrite test kit this weekend. We've done three fairly aggressive water changes (10g each time) spaced one day apart and added Prime to both the pre-existing water as well as the water added to the tank. This morning's water test shows ammonia at 1.5 mg/L and nitrates at 25 mg/L. This is still much higher than I would like but I'm concerned about doing too many water changes. Is there anything else I can/should do or should I simply wait now and see if conditions improve?
