Big Rookie Mistake :(

685 Views 5 Replies 2 Participants Last post by on the spot, Apr 7, 2019

DeathToocher

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2019

So I set up a new tank, I had been letting the tank cycle for almost a month now occasionally adding API QuickStart. Yesterday I picked up 2 Picasso Clowns (yeah 2 new fish rather than one, feel like an idiot). They weren’t doing the best yesterday but one had started to perk up a little and was swimming around when I went to bed. I found the other dead this morning and the one that was doing better was now gasping for air. I did an immediate water change to get my ammonia down from the extra/dead fish. The one I have left will swim around but then return to the bottom. Im thinking he may pull through, my gut instinct is telling me that adding fish to the tank kickstarted the cycle. I added the appropriate amount of API (most likely more than I needed) when doing the water change. So yeah big mistake, bought 2 fish rather than 1 for a currently fishless tank and they were expensive little guys at that. Any advice on how to help the other clown pull through? I acclimated them properly using a drip system but now Im wondering if I did it too fast (acclimated for 1.5 hours on drip system). Again any advice at all would help me out greatly

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on the spot

· #2 · Apr 6, 2019

DeathToocher said:
So I set up a new tank, I had been letting the tank cycle for almost a month now occasionally adding API QuickStart...

Let's fill in the details of this 40 gallon tank - What's in it besides the occasional squirt and now one fish?

Filtration? Circulation?

What do you mean by cycle?

Two small fish in a properly prepared aquarium should have been fine. Especially over night.

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DeathToocher

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 6, 2019

I have an aio tank that I made from a 40 breeder. I’m running biomax as a bio filter and I’m using filter flow thats cut to the size of one of my baffles for mechanical filtration. I’m running a 400 gph return pump on one end with dual nozzle return lines and a 440 gph power head on the other. I just checked my ammonia, currently at 0.5

. The clown will swim around for a bit then go back to the bottom and rest and start gasping then go back to swimming etc.

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DeathToocher

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 6, 2019

I did some occasional phantom feedings for the course of almost a month, is it possible the tank didn’t cycle properly or at all?

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DeathToocher

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 6, 2019

on the spot said:
Let's fill in the details of this 40 gallon tank - What's in it besides the occasional squirt and now one fish?

Filtration? Circulation?

What do you mean by cycle?

Two small fish in a properly prepared aquarium should have been fine. Especially over night.

I have an aio tank that I made from a 40 breeder. I'm running biomax as a bio filter and I'm using filter flow thats cut to the size of one of my baffles for mechanical filtration. I'm running a 400 gph return pump on one end with dual nozzle return lines and a 440 gph power head on the other. I just checked my ammonia, currently at 0.5

. The clown will swim around for a bit then go back to the bottom and rest and start gasping then go back to swimming etc. I did some occasional phantom feedings for the course of almost a month, is it possible the tank didn't cycle properly or at all?

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on the spot

· #6 · Apr 7, 2019

DeathToocher said:
I have an aio tank that I made from a 40 breeder. I'm running biomax as a bio filter and I'm using filter flow thats cut to the size of one of my baffles for mechanical filtration. I'm running a 400 gph return pump on one end with dual nozzle return lines and a 440 gph power head on the other. I just checked my ammonia, currently at 0.5 . The clown will swim around for a bit then go back to the bottom and rest and start gasping then go back to swimming etc. I did some occasional phantom feedings for the course of almost a month, is it possible the tank didn't cycle properly or at all?

What materials did you use constructing the all in one part of this tank? Just trying to get a handle of where the ammonia might be coming from - .5 is crazy high for now one fish in that much volume over one day.

Did you chronicle any ammonia build and fade over the first month? source water? Salt? current specific gravity? temp?

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