2 Clown Fishes dead over 36 hours and 1 more acting weird! PLZ HELPP :(((

I respectfully disagree that this is an acceptable method. Hardy fish may survie, but it puts unnecessary stress when it can be easily avoided.

Got you on the financial sense, glad to hear that and not the way I thought you meant it. So sorry for the confusion there. As far as reasons for the losses, here are all the factors that would have contributed:

-tank not at all ready for the amount of livestock you put in at once (you should never have any detectable ammonia while livestock is in a tank btw)

-all fish added at once, so there was likely some aggression going on while all fish were trying to get settled

-not ideal way to acclimate the fish (as already mentioned)

-possibly bought some already weakened fish from your local fish store

-too many clowns to begin with; you should only keep 2 of the same species in a 30 gallon tank

Any or all of the above could have been the reason. And again, I really think your LFS messed up big time with all of this :-/

 

I really think this was a case of all the factors I listed, and not necessarily that his tank is infested with disease killing otherwise healthy fish.

 

As I already said, I think you should catch and bring back any remaining clowns and 3 Pajama Cardinals. Wait 6 weeks before adding another fish. Add the Clowns last, and a max of 2. Keep the total fish to 4-5. Add more liverock (or even "dead" rock) as soon as you can. You want 1-2 pounds per gallon.

 

Totally agree with this guy.. Devin poor poor advice

 

Plenty of people simply float the bags and add the fish, actually, that's how many fish stores do it...I only drip acclimated one fish...and that was a copperband.

 

I would personally March down to your LFS and tell them off for selling you 8 Fish at once.

 

Plenty of people do drugs doesn't make it right. I'm not saying that poor acclimation killed them, it could have, more likely it was all the fish added at once. But it only takes thirty minutes if that to properly acclimate a fish

 

if you have experience with freshwater, then you know that your biological filter has to build up to support livestock. That's why you can't add too many fish at once and why you should limit your livestock to a certain number.

Definitely in the future, don't get fish that are in an aquarium with several dead fish. You want to buy from a reputable place with healthy looking livestock. Most likely healthy livestock will also mean the business won't give you bad advice and sell you that many things at once (this is not a guarantee though) .....as Marshall said, you need to return most of your fish except for maybe 2 cardinals max with your CUC, otherwise, the rest of your fish may likely perish.

So sorry to hear that your first saltwater fish experience went this way. Follow the advice on here and you will be able to have a successful tank - more rock, etc.

You will see all over various posts on here, take it slow in this hobby and even though it's hard, it's how you have to take it if you want to be successful.

 

The big issue between fresh water and marine fish is that fresh water fish have a higher tolerance for NH4. You shouldn't have 8 fish in a 30g anyway, but certainly not by adding more than 1 (or two in a mature 6+ month old tank) at a time. Since your NH4 never originally spiked you probably didn't have a 'cycle' anyway. Return what you can now, wait for ALL NH4 and NO2 to disappear, then add 1 fish. Wait a few weeks. Add another. Rinse and repeat but understand you can't nearly have the number of fish in saltwater tanks as you can in freshwater and be prepared for that truth.

 

You're comparing apples to oranges. These are fish, not drug users. Look at fish.