A friend of mine called me up yesterday and he informed me he recently got a 150g saltwater tank. It is a week old, and he already has a 8-9" bamboo shark, 5" diamter stingray, three yellow tangs, one 2ft dragon moray, one 4" clown trigger, one 4-5" volitans lion and three or four small damsels. And its only a week old! So I went over to his house and tested the water. pH and salinity are good, nitrates are zero, but as expected the nitrites are above 1.00ppm and the ammonia is somewhere between .5 and 1ppm according to a red sea test!! I don't know if the cycling is starting, or if it is going to just get worse and worse and totally crash. What should I tell him to do? I am thinking do another test tomorow and if it is better then just let it be and take its course naturally, but if it has gotten worse then do a big big water change to save the critters. I know this will throw off the cycle, but its better than everything dying. Do yall agree that is the proper thing to do?
severe new tank syndrome
- Thread starter tripleup05
- Start date
I agree with the the other 2 post, except for the damsels. I would take all the others back and leave the damsels in for the cycling.What kind of filtration does he have. Does he have any live rock, and if so how much. I would also try and remind him just how important patience is in this hobby. It is hard in the beginning, but it is worth the waite in the long run.
****discosure*****
I am a newb what do i know???
****discosure*****
I am a newb what do i know???
Evidently all of the fish were purchased in Florida, so he is hunting around for a fish store that will take them and hold them. So far nobody will. They will buy them from him, but then make him buy them back at a regular price. Thats not the most customer friendly thing ever, but i guess the folks do have businesses to run. Anyways, as far as filtration goes it appears to be a wet/dry sump system. It is about 30 gallons and it is packed with bio-balls. However, he didnt even have the pre-filter foam thing in place. I asked where the foam was, and he was like "oh thats what that is for..." I just kinda shook my head 
No live rock or live sand. So assuming nobody will take the fish, would the water changes be the best bet? I know it will throw the cycle way off, but wouldn't it eventually stable out? And no, I don't have any filter pads or anything for him to use. I run a HOT Magnum, but it gets cleaned weekly and therefore killing any built up bacteria. I had a sponge in my quarantine, but I let that fall by the wayside. I know...shame on me
No live rock or live sand. So assuming nobody will take the fish, would the water changes be the best bet? I know it will throw the cycle way off, but wouldn't it eventually stable out? And no, I don't have any filter pads or anything for him to use. I run a HOT Magnum, but it gets cleaned weekly and therefore killing any built up bacteria. I had a sponge in my quarantine, but I let that fall by the wayside. I know...shame on mednorton1978
Not picking on you, but that's frowned upon as it introduces a species that may decide the tank is theirs, and not let anything else in; and it's cruel to the damsels, to make them endure the harshness of cycling now that LR can do it alone.
I would say no. You'd have to change nearly 100% of the water almost every day to prevent the Ammonia/Nitrite levels from becoming lethal. By doing this, the tank can not cycle then either. He needs to get those fish out of there, and do a lot of research before putting anything else in. It's obvious he knows nothing, and that will cost him in both money, and frustration.
So other LFs's should take care of his screw up? Think about it. Your asking someone who makes a living off buying/selling livestock, and a very meager living at that, to take care of your fish (and some of those require high levels of care, the shark for example) and expecting to not pay anything for it? What happens if the fish die? Is that LFs responsible for replacement?
Here's the example of not knowing what he is doing: Those damsels are going to be food items (yum, live prey) for a few of the larger species in there. Singrays need a very fine sandy bottom, they bury in. The moray will prefer large rock caves. The Lionfish will be a big eater in the near future. Both the shark and stingray would be much better off in about 3x the size tank he has them in.
Basically, stop him now, back him up about 30 steps, and have him understand the problems he has to deal with.
Not picking on you, but that's frowned upon as it introduces a species that may decide the tank is theirs, and not let anything else in; and it's cruel to the damsels, to make them endure the harshness of cycling now that LR can do it alone.
I would say no. You'd have to change nearly 100% of the water almost every day to prevent the Ammonia/Nitrite levels from becoming lethal. By doing this, the tank can not cycle then either. He needs to get those fish out of there, and do a lot of research before putting anything else in. It's obvious he knows nothing, and that will cost him in both money, and frustration.
So other LFs's should take care of his screw up? Think about it. Your asking someone who makes a living off buying/selling livestock, and a very meager living at that, to take care of your fish (and some of those require high levels of care, the shark for example) and expecting to not pay anything for it? What happens if the fish die? Is that LFs responsible for replacement?
Here's the example of not knowing what he is doing: Those damsels are going to be food items (yum, live prey) for a few of the larger species in there. Singrays need a very fine sandy bottom, they bury in. The moray will prefer large rock caves. The Lionfish will be a big eater in the near future. Both the shark and stingray would be much better off in about 3x the size tank he has them in.
Basically, stop him now, back him up about 30 steps, and have him understand the problems he has to deal with.
Ammonia and nitrite is very toxic to fish, much more toxic than nitrate. You need to get him to ask someone else to take care of the fish until he is ready, otherwise, they won't last long in that septic tank for long. Time is not on his side, and I would give the fish away for free if that's what it takes to save them from definite death.
Any local marine club that you can send SOS? Some may be nice enough to bail him out for a few weeks, but again, time is ticking.
Any local marine club that you can send SOS? Some may be nice enough to bail him out for a few weeks, but again, time is ticking.
Tazdevil,
I was speaking from my personal expierence on cycling. My cycle began with 2 small damsels, and that was 8 1/2 months ago. My damsels were never harmed. My thoughts on the damsels asuuming the tank is theirs is quite simple. The damsels are probably the smallest fish you will have in there, so the new additions are bigger, and from my personal expierence the damsels never bothered the bigger new additions. The know their place on the food chain. I would say there is more than one way to cycle a tank. what worked for me may not work for another. For me i had great success. I thought about getting rid of the damsels, but because of all they went through i decided to keep them.
I was speaking from my personal expierence on cycling. My cycle began with 2 small damsels, and that was 8 1/2 months ago. My damsels were never harmed. My thoughts on the damsels asuuming the tank is theirs is quite simple. The damsels are probably the smallest fish you will have in there, so the new additions are bigger, and from my personal expierence the damsels never bothered the bigger new additions. The know their place on the food chain. I would say there is more than one way to cycle a tank. what worked for me may not work for another. For me i had great success. I thought about getting rid of the damsels, but because of all they went through i decided to keep them.
dnorton1978, Like I said, I wasn't picking on you personally. It's more a cruelty thing than anything else as far as the damsels are concerned. Back in the 80's, when I had my first salt tank, I cycled with damsels then (it was the standard). I had no idea that the cute little three spot (domino damsel) would become a terror in a 45 gallon tank. It did (no big surprise now), That one fish killed many that in their own right were aggressive in nature.
I agree completely with 7. When I said take the fish back to the LFS I wasn't expecting them to pay him...seven ephors":1oienq9v said:
He made a mistake. Mistakes, especially with reefkeeping, can cost you money (sometimes, LOTS of it) on top of everything else.
Take the fish to someone who will take care of them, regardless of whether or not he'll get the fish back. Or leave them to die in the tank... Or barely, cruely survive (doubtful).
This is in no way a putdown. We all make mistakes! Let's just try to make this turn out in a good way!
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