Sick green chromis

[jester]

OK this is my first tank just got it 3 days ago My main tank is not ready for fish yet because the delivery guys brought the wrong light fixture so I do have a 20 gallon quarintine tank and I bought some fish for that 2 blue chromis ,2 3stripe damselfish and 2 3 spot dominos and 2 orangetail blue damsels I put these in the quarintine tank because thets what i was told to do by my lfs and i put a shot glass of live sand in the tank everyone looks fine except my one green chromis he is breathing fast laying on bottom and turning unpside down I dont know what is wrong with him but i think he is dying what should i do with him I am going to pick up the light at 7 tonight from the lfs please help I dont want my other fish to die I have him in a fish net at the top of the tank because the other fish are bitting him the quarintine tank is made u of aeclipse top with the total filtration BIO-Wheel Efficiency it that good enough thanks for your help sorry I am a newbie

 

[jester]

OK the green chromis is gone he died and i just fed them the other chromis is not eatting but is acting fine what should i do with the quarintine tank will the other fish be ok

 

[steve-s]

If the 20 gal was uncycled, adding 8 fish right away will most likely be the problem. You should take 5 back. QT tanks should not be overtaxed as they will not be able to handle the subsequent ammonia process. The ammonia destroys the hemaglobin in the fish's blood preventing them from breathing. I would suggest a few water changes until some fish can be returned.

Have you tested the ammonia and nitrite in the 20 gal?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jester]

well both of the green Chromis died I went to the good lfs and that is what they told me as well we got these fish because the lfs close to us said to put that many in but today when i went to the good lfs that is far away told us that is why they died so I now have 4 fish in the main tank and 2 in the quarintine tank so I hope it works out well they told me to leave it like this for 2 or 3 weeks then bring them some water and they will test it for me and let me know what to do I am not going to any lfs except for the one that is far away because they now what they are talking about I never should have gone to the other one well I guess you live and you learn I love this site it is great thank you for your reply

 

[steve-s]

For future reference, it is not necessary to establish any tank by using live animals. I urge you to read >>this<< artcile on fishless cycling. I will save you alot of grief and preserve the fish that would have otherwise been subjected to this outdated practice.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jester]

I will do that next time i wish i read this first my ammonia levels are very high i changed alot of water but they are still high should i change more

 

[two11devan]

Something I have learned.....Your LFS store will rarely tell you the best thing to do for your tank and or fish. I have run into some problems with them giving me some bum advice. It might be because they just didn't know any better or it may be because they will do anything for a sale, but your best bet is to go in to the store with a plan and get all your info from here before hand I have never gotten any bad advice from this forum!

 

[jester]

I will from now on thanks for the help

 

[cthie]

I'm pretty new to this also, so take my advice with a grain of salt. You say you have a uv sterilizer, I'm not sure if this is compatable with a reef aquarium. If you're using live sand the point is to allow bacteria to grow and be helpful. I'd check into it further. My advice is be patient. I'm a couple of months in and still having ups and downs.