fish died in 3wk old tank need help

[bonzy_1127]

I have just recently set up a new saltwater aquarium(my first one) 3 weeks ago. My water perimeters are just fine other than the nitrite levels are at 2.0. i have a feather-duster worm, chocolate chip starfish, camel shrimp, 2 blue legged hermits, 1 red legged hermit, and 3 red legged cortez crabs. yesterday i added an electric blue damselfish, and woke up this morning with him at the bottom of my tank. does anyone have an idea of what may have caused this?

[CutthroatKid]

Nitrite caused that...
Your parameters are not just fine. You should have zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and less that 10ppm nitrate. I would slow down and let your tank finish cycling before you add anything else. You might lose some of those inverts before it's over as well...

[bonzy_1127]

i dont have much live rock, and i use live sand as a substrate. im trying to use the live rock to cycle my tank. i probably have about 10 lbs. of live rock and expect 22 more lbs in the mail tomorrow. should i add the live rock into my tank since it is still young and the nitrites are just now peaking?

[bonzy_1127]

the inverts i have are pretty hardy animals so im pretty sure most of them will survive except for maybe the chocolate chip starfish.

[twisted]

you may have hardy livestock, but you really shouldnt add anything for the first few months if you respect life no matter how small. im not saying that to be a dick, but you should have done some research before you started your tank. live rock if cured properly can go directly into your tank, but most that is mail ordered or from the LFS should be cured seperately for at least a week. it would be a good idea to cure it. if the rock isnt cured properly your levels could take a huge swing on the bad side of the scale......have patience and let your tank mature before you add anything else.

[TimH07]

you should not have any live stock in your tank at this time, uncured live rock can take up to 8 weeks to cure as well as your cycle at least 6 weeks from the last die off from the rocks.

if your nitrite is 2.0 than you can expect more die off that will cascade other deaths that will cause more ammonia that will cause more nitrite and so on.

most of what you should read is in the sticky at the top of the saltwater index here.

take a step back, read some information and you will succeed in this hobby.

[gregr]

Bonzy- you're situation is one that is heard over and over. You're getting good advice here- not sure if you're getting such good advice at your fish store. Well, if they told you it was ok to add the inverts then I am sure- you are getting bad advice from your fish store! It's so tempting to start adding stuff to a new tank but you gotta be strong and wait a little while. Especially with the new rock. Good news is that rock will likely have some life of it's own on it and usually a lot of it manages to live thru shipping and being added to a tank full of toxic nitrites and nitrates and ammonia. If you can get that feather duster out of there do it- otherwise it will die. The shrimp will too I think, and probably the hermit crabs as well.
While you wait for your tank to cycle try to read as much as you can. All you have to do now is replace evaporated water and wait. It won't be too long til you can add a fish or two.

[TimH07]

post your tanks parameters as well please,

specific gravity
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate
temp

later when it matters

calcium
alkalinity
magnesium
strontium

[Parrothead]

In addition to what Tim requested, how about some specs on the tank itself, SIZE, do you have a skimmer, sump, lighting etc.

Tanks,
Robert

[gregony]

Ahhh, the age old nitrite and ammonia test kit - if you have any measurable trace of either your fish die. That's the lesson everyone seems to learn the hard way. That said, 3 weeks isn't too soon if you had fully cured live sand and an adequate (roughly 1lb/+ per gallon) supply of fully cured live rock to start with - probably not for a damselfish anyway; wouldn't want to put a purple tang in there at that stage but damselfish are pretty tough critters. But all the other guys are right, a great tank can't be rushed and in saltwater language that means several months before a first fish should be added. You can tell when its time by the algae. The algae will go through several stages as the tank matures. When the rock starts to grow red or purple coraline algae, the hair algae is on the way out and, if you have a lot of light, the macro algae starts to prolifirate - that's when all of your parameters are probably where they should be. The Hargreaves (I think I spelled that right) book that is readily available at Petsmart, libraries, etc. has an excellent section on tank cycling. The book by Delbeek and Sprung (the name of which I cannot recall) has an excellent section on the algae process. I think you'll find it will be worth the wait.

[CutthroatKid]

The book by Delbeek and Sprung (the name of which I cannot recall) has an excellent section on the algae process.

Algae A Problem Solver Guide.
Part of the Oceanographic Series.

[bonzy_1127]

s.g. = 1.025
nitrite= 2.0
nitrate=0
ph= 8.0

the calcium, strontium, and molybdendum i have all added, but i have nothing to measure its concentration. i have also added iodide and trace elements along with osmo-prep(not sure if there is too much calcium in the water).
the tank is 75 gallons. i have a protein skimmer, a 48 in power compact light with the actinic lights, two powerheads, 3 if you include the one with the skimmer, and an emperor 400 filter with the biowheels(which i cant seem to get spinning). no sump.

Thanks for the advice by the way guys i really appreciate it, but what do i do with the livestock that i have???
Should i just stick them in a hospital tank until my nitrites levle off?

i do care about these lil guys, buy my nitrites were reading zero a week ago and i had thought the tank had already cycled because i had an ammonia spike which subsided, and the nitrites did not spike until a week later.

[bonzy_1127]

i also forgot to mention that i have an outbreak of brown algae all over my live sand, not the rock, but the sand. that is why i went ahead and got the crabs because i had read that they recommend such critters to keep it under control along with gravel cleaning.

[twisted]

the brown stuff is diatoms which is part of the cycling process...i wouldnt put the fish in a hospital tank because it isnt any more mature than the tank you have i would guess. what is important is water changes and keeping nitrates and ammonia low. just hang in there and stay ontop of the tank and keep you eyes peeled for cyano and dead spots in your tank. if you see a buildup of waste try to add more flow to the area. im not too familiar with the bio wheel filters but i would recommend adding a sump if you can. it is pretty cheap if you do it yourself. i used a 15 gal tank with a undergravel filter and a 3 in sand bed that works pretty good. the biggest purchase was an overflow box that ran me about 50 buks. it was well worth it though. i think the best part of adding the sump for me was it made water changes alot easier.(other than the filter capabilities)

[Parrothead]

Number one and most importantly, do not add anything to your water that you cannot test for, e.g. calcium, iodine, etc. at this point in your tanks life, these are not needed, regular 10 - 15 gallon water changes everyother week will provide your tank with everything it needs at this stage of the game, the brown algea is diatoms and is part of the cycle, remove the bio wheels, as the sand and live rock are your bio filter in a reef tank, all those wheels will do is provide a nitrate factory a place to setup, you will want to add a bunch more rock real soon, before your tank cycles or you will proably go through another cycle, and as Tim07 told you got to reef aquariums forum here in reefland and read the sticky, "read before you ask", the info there will guide you through the intial setup, if you get confused post and you will continue to get better advice than what your LFS is giving you, remember his job is to sell stuff so he can eat, and pay his bills, very few care about what happens in your tank, if yours did you would not have the livestock that you have in your tank right now. JMHO


Tanks,
Robert

[CutthroatKid]

You can see if your LFS will hold your current livestock until it gets all settled, or maybe even take them back and you just get more later.
Any idea what your skimmer is?
Robert has good info. I also would like to remind you of the stickies. They have lots of answers to general questions and you get them faster than posting and waiting...