What is wrong with my tank?!

D

DirtGandhi

AC Members
Dec 27, 2009
15
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0
Fremont, CA
I need some advice. I recently got new sand for my tank. It has 25% old water adn 75% new water. I placed carbon pellets into the filter. All my fishes were doing fine for the past week until today when my Goby jumped out of the tank, two new baby clown fishes died after 4 hours they were placed into the tank, and my turbo snail is trying to escape too! My cardinal fish and chromis are doing fine...maybe because they are hardy fish?

What is wrong with tank? the ammonia level is low, nitrates are low, the SG is 1.021. is the snail hungry because is there is no more algae to graze on? Are my carbon addition hurting them? I didn't use carbon before this and it's the only thing i did different. or could it be the amount of new water presented?

i've made a horrible mistake and i dont know what it is. please help...Thanks in advance.
 
how long did you let the tank cycle because you want 0 ammonia before you add any fish. also some fish are jumpers and it happens from time to time that a fish might jump out of a tank especially an open top tank. i cant help you with the clowns as they are hardy fish so something must have been wrong with them, the tank, or your acclimation process. some snails are intertidal snails which means they come out of the water from time to time i know my nerite snails are almost never in the water from what i see.

also how much live rock do you have? how much sand did you add and was it live sand or dry sand?

oohh yeah and what size tank is this
 
thanks MB, my live rock is still curing and is not in the tank. I have about 15 lbs. the tank is a 20 gallon. The sand i added was dry sand that i found at petco in the marine section. Thank you for your insight.
 
Glad your curing the live rock outside of the tank...Personaly, for a 20 gal tank, i think you have too much livestock in there..or rather, you were planning...A goby, a cardinal, chromis and a pair of clowns...i would stick to just a couple of fish in there....You say your ammonia and nirate is low, what are the actual readings??

What aclimatization process do you use?
 
Reefscape, the readings were 1.0 ppm ammonia, 5.0 ppm, and 1.022 for SG. I know the tank has been fully cycled again since the sand and big water change. The stocking of the tank is now only 2 chromis and a cardinal =(.

Thanks RS.
 
the clown fish deaths definitely sound like they could be an acclimation issue to me... happened to 2 of my friend with their newbie tanks.... they simply did the 'float the bag for 30 mins' trick & put em in... next morning, no more clowns. Am not saying that this is how you acclimated yours, but the 4hrs then both are gone scenario definitely sounds like it could be something to do with that.
 
it also sounds like you have no rock in your tank which wouldnt be a good thing with that many fish. if you do have rock in the tank how long did u let it cycle because with those parameter measurements it sounds like the tank is going through a cycle. did you add all of those fish at once or slowly over time
 
No there arent any rocks in the tank yet. The tank was once established but i did total extermination of the bristle worms by taking out the rocks and i'm not curing them in a separate bucket. the tank is definitely cycling since i changed 75% of the water and added new sand. Yea i know...i should've know better. The fishes were introduced immediately back to the tank after the change. The older fishes (chromis and cardinal fish) are pretty hardy and they are doing fine now. but going to definitely wait on putting back the rocks. I'll pass on any other fish as you are right about it being overstocked for the 20 gallon tank.
 
1.0 ppm ammonia is quite high, in fact and not safe for any of those fish, regardless of their hardiness. I suggest you either keep performing very large (at least 50%) water changes or find some cured and/or established rock to add immediately. I don't understand why you are trying to exterminate bristleworms, as the vast majority of them are beneficial. What exactly have you done to "exterminate" them? It may very well kill much of the rock, depending upon what it is. One last option for now is to see if there is anyone (friends, fellow hobbyists, LFSs) to hold your fish until you get the situation under control or just return them. Adding fish to a tank that has had that many changes and no rock is just asking for problems.
 
Amphiprion, Thanks for you the advice. I plan to take immediate action of taking my fishes to a friend and letting the tank cycle. As for the bristle worms they were huge and over tanking my tank. Aren't they predatory towards fish? esp if they are big enough.

I bathed my rocks in hot water and re curing it as we speak.
 
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