Sudden Nitrite spike

$8 vs restarting the tank properly instead of continuing to do it the wrong way... Hmm.. I think I'd eat the 8 bucks and just do it right. The reason your friends are losing fish as well is cuz that LFS isn't educating you people properly. The advice has been given, by 2 people. Now it's up to you to follow it or keep wondering "why?" when something goes wrong in your tank.

Good luck.

Oh and sand doesn't work with an undergravel filter. Undergravel filters are considered by most, myself included, to be the absolute worst form of filtration for a saltwater tank. Learn how to let the tank take care of itself, then yer making progress. =)
 
I agree with everything said... The only thing I wanted to add is... If you buy a fish and it dies within a few weeks, it could be an accidental death, a sick fish, etc. But if you have that many fish die in a tank within weeks, hey, something most be really really wrong!

Also, keep in mind that your tank is really small. You should keep easy going and good-manered fish... For a 15g tank like yours, I would keep a pair of tank-raised clowns... after you learn more, maybe in a few months, you can add one or two more fish...


BTW Switch LFS.

Bottom line: re-build your tank, use sand (there are real, fact-based, reasons why you do not want gravel, I can tell you in another post), throw the ph buffer to the trash can (so you are not tempted to use it again)...

Normally, I would have told you to keep the starfish, but just this time I would go with the fish-less cycling thing. The starfish has to go. Starfish are usually very sensitive to nitrites and ammonia... I am pretty sure they will not survive a cycle...
 
Think of a fishless cycle as ummmmm, basically, hell on Earth =) The ammonia levels will get so high, any living creature not designed to consume the ammonia will be eradicated. Then, once it is over, those that WERE designed to consume it will have reproduced in great numbers and can support the relatively piddly amounts of ammonia your fish can produce.

I think somewhere along the path of this thread, I missed the fact that we are talking about a 15g tank. NO lionfish, be that a dwarf or a full size is suitable for a 15g tank at any stage of its life. The only fish that are suitable for a 15g are smaller clowns such as Perculas or Skunks and some damsels. Lions are high level predators and they need space. Also, and I really doubt you'd ever see this in a tank, but choco star can get 15" across =) Again, I doubt you'd ever see that away from the ocean, but it could happen.

Ok, I went back and re-read your original post. You didn't mention the 15g part =P The animals you mention are called copepods and they congregate where plants are growing. Safe and a welcome addition to you tank. Sadly, they won't survive the ammonia very well.
 
Actually its not my friends that are loosing the fish, its the LFS that keeps loosing fish, so theres no real place take the starfish too. I might just keep everything in there including the water and just change the gravel over to sand (i already have live sand in there, in fact 1" of live sand ontop), and do frequent water changes until the nitrates drop. This would basically be the same thing as cycling, except it wouldnt involve taking out all the water and putting new water in, which would be all that would be involved in a cycle. Currently theres 0 Nirites and 0 Ammonia, with high nitrates, which from what i have been seeing will happen in a new cycle anyway, by changing the gravel over to 100% sand it would be already at the nitrate phase.


Also the LFS here is the only one that sells SW fish.
 
Last edited:
The thing you are missing is that your gravel is covered in the bacteria that is consuming the ammonia in your tank. There is an article on the web about how to convert over properly, but I don't know the url. I believe it is on Fish Whisperer's site. Anyone got a link for him?
 
There ya go! Thats the place, and here is the link directly to the articles. He covers cycling and swapping that gravel out.

http://www.fishwhisperer.homestead.com/articles.html

Monty is a giant in our hobby and he has helped MANY of us get past the stage you are at right now. Listen to him. I consider him EASILY on par with a Dr. Ron or a Robert Fenner. I'm sure both of them would agree with me there.. Well, probably not Dr. Ron, he's an arrogant old bottle tipper! Anyway, Monty rocks, you'd do well to follow his advice.
 
Hi,

Dr. Ron, he's an arrogant old bottle tipper
Click to expand...


:) At least I am not the only to get that impression from him...


But I would not put FW up with the giants of our hobby...

I have to say that with very few exception almost all the "giants" or VIP in our hobby are either arrogant or only interested in making money. Except Tom Frakes, Martin Moe, and Bill Adison... At least from the ones I have met...

Martin Moe is just a very very pleasant and nice person... I love his books. He is very talented...

BTW What happened to Julian Sprung columns in FAMA? I have not seen anything from him in the past few months...

He is a really cool guy but extremely intere$ted ! :)

Actually after I went to MACNA I was a little depressed, especially after the second one, because I realized that this hobby is really about money... and most of my "idols" are buisnessmans... Well, again, with the one exception of Martin Moe, who signed my book :cool: and chatted with me for a little while...

What ever happened to FW anyway? Havent seen his post in quite a while...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom