Dead clowns

[zibnata]

Tank is about 3 months old.I had the clowns for about 1- 1/2 months .Last week one of them died. This morning the other one was dead. Could it just be coincidence,a bad batch of clowns,are my other fish doomed ?

 

I took a reading last week,and the readings were perfect.I did a 10 percent water change. I did'nt realize readings could change this fast . I just did these tests:

 

55 gallon

50lbs LR

 

ammonia- 0 ppm

nitrites- 0 ppm

nitrates- 20-80-ppm (hard to tell)

ph- 7.8

salinitity - 1.024

temp.- 79 degrees

 

Shoud I put that 8.2 ph stuff in the tank ? What do I do about the nitrates ?

Thanks

[onthefly]

"Call the company....you got defective clowns!"

 

First off, were they tank raised? Some people think these guys are bullet proof and a better option. I had a pair ocellaris (wild caught I think) and they did fine for 2-3 years, then one day I saw one of them breathing hard and the next day it was dead! All my parameters were fine, and all my other fish were fine....so I chalked it up to old age!

 

You need to get a good N'ate test kit and pin point that vaule. 20-80ppm is a huge swing. I've heard of people with tanks above 100, but that just doesn't seem healthy to me. It might shock the fish if they go from 0 N'ates to 80 N'ates, perhaps not as fast as high Amm or N'ite, but it could have been the cause. As for reducing them....If you have a deep sand bed (>3") try using Wiess' Live Sand Booster (coral vital - LSB ). That will start the process of denitrifcation in the sand, but it is not an overnight thing! TThrow in some macroalgae, Water change (duh!), and I think there are some denitrification resins out there you can put in your filter.

 

Next, instead of using that pH 8.2 stuff, use a good buffer (like Superbuffer dKH) and try to get the pH up above 8. Finally, I don't know if you have any corals. but if you only have fish and LR (FOWLR tank), you might want to reduce your SG to 1.020'ish. It is less osmotic shock/stress on the fish.

[zibnata]

thanks for the info