Big water quality issues need help!

[1968OldsMan]

I dont know what is going on here the Diatoms are still there if you leave the light on do they get darker, cause mine do at any rate My Nitrate made a huge jump from zero to about 50ppm overnight. And i'm having a huge salinity issue it's up near around 1.030 i used one of the starter kits' it's premixed to the size (55 gallon tank) The tank is a month old i will be honest i have not done a water change yet i'm a little nervous about getting the salt mix right and such there are a few damsels and a puffer why these fish are alive i have no idea the decorations are fake i used live sand in it. It's weird i just dont know is there something i should put in the tank addative wise to regualte this?
I have an over the tank filter and a heater thats about it ph is at 8.0-8.4 give or take. I keep the tank at 78.2 degrees for now i used to keep it steady at 80.4 (digital thermo) when i lowered it the diatoms showed up (could that be an issue i dont know). Then again could this all be part of the cycling process i know i jumped the gun with the fish should i just ride it out and see what happens i'm just not sure what to do. Thanks Brian

[tatuvaaj]

1968OldsMan,

Diatoms are normal part of cycling phase, no need to worry about them. I don't think such a small temperature change has any effect on diatom population.

The nitrate jump sounds quite strange... most nitrate tests detect also nitrite and that could skew the results. Can you measure nitrite and ammonia?

IMHO you should fix the salinity as soon as possible. Just remove some water from the tank and add equal amount of fresh water (dechlorinated).

I hope the fishes survive the cycling process... do you think you could take them back to LFS until your tank is a bit more mature?

[1968OldsMan]

i have been in talks with one of the fish stores i'm on a first name basis with he might take them until things smooth out i bought the fish from petco and they wont even awknowledge the fact i bought them there let alone hold them for me.,

[tatuvaaj]

i have been in talks with one of the fish stores i'm on a first name basis with he might take them until things smooth out i bought the fish from petco and they wont even awknowledge the fact i bought them there let alone hold them for me.,

As I'm from Finland I have no experince with Petco but I've heard quite a lot bad things about them I understand that LFS doesn't have to take them back but it would indicate that the owner does care about the animals he sells.

[zhenya]

... i bought the fish from petco and they wont even awknowledge the fact i bought them there let alone hold them for me.,

Now why I am not surprized at this? I hope you also make appropriate dicissions and won't set foot in that store again, I always feel that I should only allow to be fooled once...
I agree with tatuvaaj 100%, the best couse of action would be to find a safe housing for your fish untill your tank becomes stable and be able to support them.
Don't be afraid to do a water change, it would be the best way to adjust salinity of your tank. You may also be better off double checking your test results of salinity and NO3 levels with different test kits, just to be sure that you are on the right track.

[1968OldsMan]

Yeah i bought a generic kit so i'm hopping the next kit will help me out a big more i got the salinity down to 1.023 which is good Hopefully the rest will calm as well. Yeah petco has some nice fish to look at but thats about it the only thing i really shop there for is Dog/Rat/and Ferret food for our zoo here lol. I wouldn't have bought the fish there at all but my fiance got a little anxious and went out and bought fish while i was at work so what was i gonna do lol thats a fight i'm not willing to pick, i just hope she doesnt learn her lesson the hard way.
She lasted almost a month cause the fish are only about a week old so well see i'll keep you guys/gals updated on to whats going on with the tank.

[Reefland]

What are you using to test the specific gravity of your tank? Going for such a large drop is a short period of time could be very bad. It would have been better to start bringing this down slowly until the desired level was reached.

[tatuvaaj]

It would have been better to start bringing this down slowly until the desired level was reached.

That's my fault I should have said that!

OTH I do think people tend to exaggerate the potential problems coming from salinity changes. After all, rather large salinity changes happen in nature too.

[1968OldsMan]

ohh man i really need to pay more attention....lol 'm just going to rde things out and see what happens. I'll hope for the best