Hello and heartbroken

[RobertMcall]

Hello, first time poster and a long time lurker. I just joined here and I'm heartbroken (I found my clowns dead this morning). Cycled the tank for a month with Ocean Direct Caribbean LS and wet live rock. LFS gave me the green light BEFORE I added Ricky & Lucy. Had them for three weeks with no issues. Fed them pellets & mysis shrimp. Had them in with a couple of nassarius snails and a tiger conch. I'm headed to my LFS to have my water tested and will report back. Temped to throw in the towel...bur I refuse to. I owe it to Ricky & Lucy to figure out what I did wrong and get it right. First attempt at SW aquarium.

[RobertMcall]

Turns out my ammonia levels were elevated. Eyesight obviously isn't what it used to be using reagents and color coded cards. To ensure such accidents don't happen again, I've purchased almost ALL of the Hanna Testers. I'll wait a few weeks before I decide to add clowns again or not. I want to master water parameters before I proceed again.

I think my ammonia problem came from my clowns only accepting pellets and not the mysis shrimp and I was fearful that pellets would increase my nutrient load on the tank and leaned too far into feeding shrimp that they weren't eating and it deteriorated into ammonia. I'm sure that had I caught the ammonia levels in test, a 50% water change would have saved them. Hopefully, going with the Hanna testers will prevent me from misinterpreting the readings.

Running a Fluval EVO 13.5 FOLR tank in Northern Virginia.

[j.falk]

Don't give up.  You're just getting started.  Everyone has a loss at one time or another.  It happens.  Learn from your mistakes and get better as you go.

 

Tip:  Smell your tank.  If it has a stinky fishy smell that's usually an obvious sign of ammonia and it's time to do a water change.  

 

Any leftover food laying in the bottom of your tank or caught up in your filter will break down into ammonia.  Feed lightly and if there are any leftover pieces of food floating in the tank, scoop them out with a net.

[RobertMcall]

2 hours ago, j.falk said:

Don't give up.  You're just getting started.  Everyone has a loss at one time or another.  It happens.  Learn from your mistakes and get better as you go.

 

Tip:  Smell your tank.  If it has a stinky fishy smell that's usually an obvious sign of ammonia and it's time to do a water change.  

 

Any leftover food laying in the bottom of your tank or caught up in your filter will break down into ammonia.  Feed lightly and if there are any leftover pieces of food floating in the tank, scoop them out with a net.

Thanks J.Falk for the encouragement. I need it. I'll do a 10% water change weekly, going forward. I was under the impression that the snails and conch would digest all the uneaten food. WRONG! I changed the filter-floss in my return almost daily, to no avail. Going forward I intend to feed lightly, test every other day and change filter floss daily. I'm hoping that the Hanna testers makes my readings fool-proof.

Those clown fish depended on me and I let them down. It's one thing to die due to natural circumstances. This is on me. Ignorance and/or neglect. Yes, mistakes made. I just intend to do my DUE DILIGENCE going forward to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I feel bad. The self flogging will now stop. It's part of my learning process. This whole saltwater aquarium thing is a journey. I'm sure I'll learn, progress and grow with all the incredible information here in these forums.

Thanks again.

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Welcome to the greatest little slice of the interwebz!

 

Don’t throw in the towel… We all have losses, it just doesn’t get talked about enough. For whatever reason, I always take it way harder when a fish dies, than a coral. it’s happened to ALL of us at one time or another. 

This is a hobby that requires patience. That’s been the hardest lesson for me to learn, but it is so vital in having success. You got this, just take your time. 

[RobertMcall]

24 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

Welcome to the greatest little slice of the interwebz!

 

Don’t throw in the towel… We all have losses, it just doesn’t get talked about enough. For whatever reason, I always take it way harder when a fish dies, than a coral. it’s happened to ALL of us at one time or another. 

This is a hobby that requires patience. That’s been the hardest lesson for me to learn, but it is so vital in having success. You got this, just take your time. 

Thanks, NoOneLikesADryTang.

It is hard. In only three weeks my wife and I became really close to Ricky & Lucy. I must be getting softer in my older years. As a combat vet who's used to bumping back against those things that go bump in the night. I took the death of these two clown fish pretty hard, as did my wife. They were living creatures and I killed them.Yeah, yeah, some people tell me, "they were just fish." Other than combat, my mantra is "You don't kill it unless you intend to eat it." You get the point. I'm done with my forty lashes. Moving forward.

I have the patience. I just don't like others paying the price for MY mistakes. I've got this. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Success is inevitable.

Thanks again.

[j.falk]

My very first ocellaris clownfish jumped out of the tank through a one of the cutouts in my All Glass plastic aquarium lid the same day I bought him.  I checked on him that night, he looked be doing fine, went to bed and the next morning found him lying dead on the carpet.  I felt really guilty about that.  😐

[RobertMcall]

J.Falk, I feel ya on that one. But we actually felt that we had bonded with them They greeted my wife and I every time we came to the tanks. I will get two more in a few weeks.

Came home and checked my ammonia levels TWICE with the Hanna tester. .03ppm I'm just getting started. My conch hasn't moved in 24 hours. I hope IT'S not dead. LFS told me to not put any food in the tank for 48 hours and to do a 20% water change the day after I do. I'm going to test for ammonia at least twice a week going forward. I don't want this to happen again.

Research tells me that alkalinity is the highest priority of all the water parameters. Hanna alkalinity tester should arrive tomorrow.Between the Hanna testers and the Red Sea Multi test kit. I should have water tests covered.

Thanks!

[travoose]

Ugh sorry to hear about this.  I have a pair of clowns for about about 18 months (knock on wood), I would be devastated if I lost them at this point.  Hang in there!

[RobertMcall]

8 hours ago, travoose said:

Ugh sorry to hear about this.  I have a pair of clowns for about about 18 months (knock on wood), I would be devastated if I lost them at this point.  Hang in there!

Travoose, thanks for the encouraging words. I intend to hang on. Seems to me that several people on her have my six. I appreciate that.

[RobertMcall]

Update: Conch died. Zombie snails made quick work of it. Ammonia levels never rose above .03 ppm. Just to be safe, I did a 20% water change after cleaning the glass. Then replaced filter floss after the change. Tank looks pristine. LFS wants me to put GSP on an isolated rock in the tank...maybe I will in a couple of weeks. I put just a sliver of thawed mysis shrimp in to feed the snails every three days. Will continue to do water tests every other day for the next two weeks. Starting to see flecks of coralline algae in the tank (seeded it with an encrusted frag plug from the LFS). Replaced the stock light on the Fluval EVO13.5 with the Fluval Marine 3.0.. What a difference in programming schedule ability. Thinking about a Seneye Reef Aquarium monitor...need to do more research. (Just found out the Seneye is a PAR meter as well.)

[mcarroll]

On 4/5/2023 at 1:05 PM, RobertMcall said:

Cycled the tank for a month with Ocean Direct Caribbean LS and wet live rock.

On 4/6/2023 at 7:37 AM, RobertMcall said:

Turns out my ammonia levels were elevated.

Out of curiosity, how "elevated" was it at the time?

 

I'm not sure the problem was in the testing....I think it was in the (over)feeding.  

 

New test kits might still be a good idea, but I don't think the old kits were to blame per se.  

 

The only test that might have saved your fish (aside from not over feeding) was a Seachem Ammo Alert.   These operate continuously – not limited by the times you're willing/able to run a test – you can see ammonia levels all the time.  With conventional (even digital) test kits, obviously you only see ammonia levels when you test....so ammonia can still be a problem for "some time" before you're able to be aware of it.  (These Ammo Alerts are hard to beat for use in a new tank.  Almost perfect.)

 

A more gradual stocking strategy might have helped as well.  Two clowns equals a lot of feeding...which naturally leads to a lot of ammonia production for the tank to handle.  

 

Starting off with smaller live stock and allowing more time between individual additions keeps ammonia quantities smaller AND allows the bio-filter (and the rest of the tank!!) time to catch up to and adjust for the additional load.

[Carp890]

Morning Robert sorry about your loss. First off I don't think it's ammonia that killed your fish, what is your salinity readings, alkalinity, nitrate,nitrite readings . Picture of tank please and list of equipment. Crystal clear water looks great but hides problems. Were do you get your water, mix your own is best then you know it's right it's easy to do, don't chase number's take your time everything in your tank takes time stability is the key to success good luck pal 

[banasophia]

Hi! So sorry about your fish… it always surprises me how attached I can get to my fish and how devastated I feel when I lose one. I agree with @mcarroll … I would also recommend adding an ammonia alert badge to a new tank. And to reduce the chance of further cycling problems, I would personally add a bottle of BioSpira to provide the additional bacteria. 
 

I also agree with @Carp890 that it’s possible there may have been something else going on, though, so we want to help you make sure there’s no ammonia but no other issues either. What’s the salinity and temp, how’s the water level/evaporation situation, and how about water flow and oxygenation? As @Carp890 mentioned, a pic of your tank would be really helpful so we can check it out for any other issues you may need to consider. 
 

Edit: I see your original posts are from a few weeks ago, so hopefully you’ve sorted everything out now, but we’re here to help if needed.