Jwendt15 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I've been doing freshwater tanks for years and decided to finally get into a Nano Reef setup. I have a 14g BioCube that has been setup for 2 weeks now. Everything stock at this point except for an additional powerhead and substrate with the bioballs. I used water from the LFS to fill the tank. Also used bacterial seed from Seachem for the first week to get the cycle going. After the first week, I took a sample to LFS to have that tested. He said everything looked good and mentioned that I could put my first fish or two in. I went with a tank-raised clown. For the first three days, all was going well. However, today, I noticed that he appears to be breathing heavy and quickly. He also started hanging around the bottom, just laying on the sand (upright at least). Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all zero. Temp is 78 and pH is 8.0. Salinity is in line. I also did a 20% water change just to see if that could perk him up. No change yet. I called the guy I had been working with and he mentioned that some people have oxygen issues in Biocubes with the stock filter. Only thought at this point was to add an air stone to see if that helped. Any other thoughts? His condition seems to be fading and I'd hate to lose my first fish. Really thought I did everything right on this one. Link to comment
Newstead Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Try pointing the return nozzle up to agitate the surface water to help oxygenate. Was the LFS sure ammonia was zero? Link to comment
Jwendt15 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Sorry, forgot to add that. I did point the nozzle up to agitate the surface. Also left the cover open for a while (not sure if that even matters). LFS did mention ammonia was close to registering, but he would call it a "zero". I tested again and it is very close to zero. Link to comment
Newstead Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Wish I could think of something else. Sounds like you are doing all you can. Hope he makes it! Link to comment
Tamberav Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 What do you mean by water from the LFS? Freshly mixed water or water from one of their tanks? Did you use live rock from the LFS? I would add some seachem prime just in case. Link to comment
righttirefire Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 So in my opinion there are varibles... I "cycled" live rock from my LFS. 2 weeks working on it. Bio-spira. Almost instantly fixed it... water from LFS. I believe there is something to water out of "their" system but it's hi-risk, low -reward. Some fish just act goofy as the acclimate to a new system. I'd say test, monitor, feed, water change. If you're Testing at 0. Salinity is stable at 1.025, personally preference, fish is eating. Let it get comfortable. Moving is stressful. Monitor and wait before adding anything farther. It's hard, but it works... Link to comment
Jwendt15 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 It was water from his tanks. I added about 15 pounds of dry live rock. Maybe I should have waited longer with the dry LR? Link to comment
Nixperience Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Dry rock is not live. Your tank probably hasn't truly cycled yet in 2 weeks time. You're probably getting little mini cycles that are stressing the fish. You will be getting a big cycle soon now that the fish are in ther pooping. I would get some Prime and Stability. Prime will detoxify the ammonia and nitrites and also help the fish with their slime coat. Stability is great bacteria that turns over ammonia to nitrates very effectively. Dose them every day for the next few weeks and hopefully your fish will survive this. Link to comment
Jwendt15 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Well, I ran an airstone for 2 days and he is surprisingly doing much better! Downfall of the airstone is of course the salt creep. Any thoughts on how I could improve oxygen in the tank without an airstone? I know quite a fee people upgrade the pump that comes with biocubes, would that help? Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Well, I ran an airstone for 2 days and he is surprisingly doing much better! Downfall of the airstone is of course the salt creep. Any thoughts on how I could improve oxygen in the tank without an airstone? I know quite a fee people upgrade the pump that comes with biocubes, would that help? Aim the returns higher so they disrupt the surface or perhaps buy a skimmer to improve aeration. Link to comment
Jwendt15 Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 Well, an update on the clown. I don't think it was due to a lack of oxygen. Admittedly, at the advice of the LFS, I added him too early. Ammonia/nitrites were too high and the tank hadn't finished cycling. Parameters are in line and he seems to be doing great. However, one of his gills is red and seems to be protruding slightly. It has been like this for about 10 days. I was hoping it was irritated but it hasn't subsided. Here is the best shot I could get. Any thoughts as to how this can be treated? Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Glad to hear the fish is better It could be ammonia burns that made the gills red and protruding. Not sure how that is treated. Link to comment
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