New, confused, and now a little sad.

[livinsalty]

Hello new friends! I am hoping someone can help me. I know this is long, but I want to give you all the info I can.  I wanted so badly to get into saltwater. I did so much reading and research and talked to so many people at my LFS. My problem is it seems everyone says something different. Which is confusing, and I believe I messed up. I will give you all the info I can, so maybe you guys can help me. I purchased a 30 gal tank with a decent light, filter, live rock, heater, and powerhead. I added live sand, switched the filter to a canister filter, and added a protein skimmer. Purchased saltwater from my LFS and started my cycle. LFS person said to buy some seed and add it as directed to help with the cycle. After two weeks, my ammonia was 0 and my nitrates were 10, but my nitrites were still high. LFS person said do a 10 gallon water change and add prime. FA week later my cycle was complete. ( ammonia was 0, nitrates were 10 nitrates were 0 and ph was 8.0.  I was still hesitate to add fish, but LFS person said I could add some coral, but suggested soft coral stating I needed to wait to add hard corals as they were a little harder to keep. I added a zoa, and pulsating zenia. Both were doing great. Fast forward a week and I added two baby clownfish, and a few days later added 3 astraea snails and 3 hermit crabs. 1 emerald crab, and 1 conch snail. fast forward another week and I am well into the ugly stage at this point so LFS suggested I add 2 nassarius snails, and a sand sifting starfish. They also said I could get a BTA. Please dont attack me, as now that I have read more, I know that I should not have added a BTA for months and that my starfish is questionable. ( I thought the LFS knew what they were talking about, since all of them have salt tanks of their own.) I also added a bottle of copepods at this time. 

Fast forward a week, everything seems great and thriving. No issues. parameters still great. Still alot of algae/diatoms in the tank but I know that can last awhile. Last week decided I was ready for more fish, so I added a royal gramma, a bangaii cardinal, and a skunk clownfish and a diamond goby. Everything has been fine. Monday I checked my parameters and my nitrites and nitrates were starting to rise, but ph was good and ammonia was still 0. I assumed the slight rise was adding the fish. Yesterday, my nitrates are at 20 and nitrites are at 2.0!!!!!! I did an immediate 5 gal water change and added some prime to my water. upon further inspection, I found my emerald crab was no longer among the living in the tank. I removed him immediately. I noticed my zoas closed up and my Zenia was completely open but not pulsating. I figured it was because I was messing in the tank. This morning, Parameters are still off (the water change didnt help at all) Zenia and zoa were the same, and my cardinal fish is laying on the sand. Alive, but barely. Everyone else seems fine. I pulled it out and put it in the qt. with an air stone. I dont know what else I can do for it at this point. SO, thats where I am at. Where do I go from here? Am I going to lose everything? Should I do a bigger water change today? Anything I should add or not add to the water now? 

Thank you in advance for reading this, and for any helpful advice you can offer. I am so new, and I'm trying. 

[mitten_reef]

I'm not a fish expert, but...

6 fish in a small space....could it be fish-on-fish aggression, and not water-related?  two types of clowns in one small tank aren't ideal, the only two species that could be compatible with each others are true percula with occelaris, but that still as a pair, not in 3.  

also, does any of the fish look sick? you could have sickness with fish possibly as well. 

20 nitrate is nothing to worry about....just keep an eye on it to not get too high.  the sudden rise is probably because you added 4 fish at once - the bacteria in the tank can't keep up, but the population will catch up eventually. 

[MLS_Reef]

I have had bad luck with bangaii cardinal fish.

That happens once in a while.

 

I feel a bit panicky from your post.

If I were to give advice it would be slow down. Dont buy any more live animals until your tank stabilizes. 

 

Bacteria need to build to move ammonia all the way to nitrate, in general i think its kind of frowned upon to water change out because you have high nitrites. You want to let the tank work through the nitrites if its cannibalizing all the ammonia. Water changes inhibit or slow the nitrites to nitrate conversion.

 

 

[Pjanssen]

Seems to me you moved too fast, but you can't go back, so slow down moving forward. It's been my experience to not completely trust the LFS. Sure, ask them questions, then based on what they tell you go home and research it more. 6 fish added that quickly in a 30 gallon is a lot. Maybe the fish store can take some of them back (Though I doubt they will). Generally speaking, most people add clean up crew before adding fish, unless they are using the fish as part of the cycle process.

Also, are you feeding your copepods? Your tank is not mature enough to support them. Phytoplankton is what they eat.

Your Emerald crab likely starved without without any algae growth to consume. Save that addition for a later time or be prepared to feed it algae sheets or flakes.

Sometimes pulsing Zenia won't pulse if there is too much flow, as they really don't need to. Try moving them to a spot with a little less flow They are a good first choice for coral though. Just be prepared for rapid spreading if conditions are right, they can easily take over. Try isolating them on their own island.

Good luck! Keep us posted.