Couple of Fish Questions

[zdaytonaroadster]

As i said, i'm new, tank is about 4 weeks old at this point, but seems to be doing well, but i have a question on to of my fish. (tank stats just before water change (which was done today), Ammo >1, Nitrate .5 ppm, Nitrite 5 ppm)

1. Is a Coral Beauty really supposted to be this shy? Srsly, he almost never comes out from m rock work. I watched the tank for 2 hours and he came out maybe 2-3 times for 3-4 seconds. I heard they are shy, but i'm kinda worried about him not eating. I have cured live rock, so maybe he's eating algae? He seems bright and colorful, and swims just fine. Had him about a week.

2. Do i have a retarded clownfish? I got a bubbletip anenome just for him, but he wants nothing to do with it. At night, one of the damselfish will host in it, but the clown (tank-raised False P.) doesnt seem the least bit interested. When i got it, there was another clown hosting in it, but that was about week and a half ago..

Thanks

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

Oh and one more thing, i had lots of yellowish/brown algae, but now its disapearing, i just turned my UV light on after about a week of it off (turned off for turbostart), is that whats killing it? Just wondering

 

[johnr2604]

O.K its common for clowns not to host and especially if you have a more aggresive damsel already there. The brown algea is most likely diatome blooms which is common in a new setup they normally disappear like you said but I guess the UV could be helping.

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

^^ok, cool thanks

 

[camg]

There have been cases of clowns not finding nem's for six months

 

[ace1204]

Sometimes it take a while for the clown to host give it time took over a month for my FP to host its nem. Also make sure you do a couple more water changes this week. if your ammonia is at a 1.0 then it is probably causing some stress to the fish and could actually kill them depending on how healthy they are. Ammonia needs to be 0

 

[johnr2604]

I missed the ammonia. Thats probably your answer on the coral beauty.

If its only a month old then it sounds like you may be stocking it to quick. Just like the saying says "only bad things happen fast in this hobby"

 

[blind1993]

my coral beauty hid for 1 day and now has a school with my scribble rabbitfish and 1 chromis.

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

sorry ment to say ammo <1, not >1, sorry cant edit

 

[drnecropolis]

Your fish are suffering if the nitrite is 5 and there is ammonia in the tank. Waaaay to early to be adding 'nems also... slooooow way down

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

Retested water after change Ammonia=0, Nitrite.25, Nitrate 10ppm, my pervious tests were faulty (long story)

 

[tebriel]

still wanna get those 'trites and 'trates down to 0. Are you using RO/DI? I see you're running a UV, but what about a Protein Skimmer? Do you have a refugium where you could possibly place some cheato macro algae or the like?

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

Have protein skimmer/filter combo, it does ok job, but looking to get more powerful unit next paycheck. Dont have refugium. Using Purfied water at first with Intant Ocean, RO unit will also be bought soon (been doing water changes with Sea Water from Blue planet)

 

[sparksfly]

Next time you go to Blue Planet tell Tiffany to check the water for you also. Just as a backup. But the trites and trates need to come down. Also how often and how much do you feed?

Jimmie

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

SparksFly;186420 wrote: Next time you go to Blue Planet tell Tiffany to check the water for you also. Just as a backup. But the trites and trates need to come down. Also how often and how much do you feed?

Jimmie

once a day, just enough better my fingers, no more than the fish can eat in 2-3 mins

 

[tebriel]

probably should drop down to once every other day at least, fish don't get that much food in the wild

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

will do

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

dawgdude;186439 wrote: I would also pick up Seachem Prime and stability and dose them to the tank. It will help minimize the affect on the fish while your tank finishes cycling.

I've got both of those, have been using them since day one , also have buffer, trace, and iodine

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

dawgdude;186446 wrote: WOW, Ok well up the amount of Stability you are using then. The stability should be helping more than it is. I wouldnt add ANYTHING to your tank for 2-3 weeks because if you are dosing prime and stability AND you are still showing a cycle, then you have way more of a cycle going on than you think.

i moved 2 of the damels to another tank to start it cycling, just have the coral, and 3 other damsels right now

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

Update, i lost one of the Dominos (he didnt look that good when i got him) but everything else is fine. One of the yellowtails go in a fight with the other a few weeks ago and lost a lot of its tail, it has now nearly grown back. The Coral Beauty is a lot less shy and comes out quite often now. Anenmone is doing good, nice rich green.

All in all seems to be going well, maybe in a month or so (after water tests of course) I can start with some soft coral.

Also updated my gear got a more powerful skimmer, a canister filter, and a phospate reactor, going to have a sump make in a few weeks.