hairless ape
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Ok.. I have had a saltwater tank for several years but have always only had purple lobster and hermits and snails in it which allowed me to be lazy with all the testing and upkeep.. never had any fish... about 2 months ago. the lobster died so I decided to try some fish... I completely cleaned and recycled my tank... 12g nanocube DX. went out and bought a cleaner shrimp a turbosnail and a tomato clown.. cleaned and tested religiously. then 2 days ago noticed the clown had a long white string hanging out of his poop chute. didn't have time to deal with it that morning .. got home that evening and it was gone... did a PWC that night as well as testing... everything fell right on the money except Ammonia was a little high... but I was hoping the pwc was going to fix that.. got home that night.. clown fish is nowhere to be seen.. search around a little and find him thrashing around in the bottom of the tank.. pull him out quick and try and throw him into my small qt tank but too late.. he is dead within an hour.. I can't help but think that it had something to do with that strange thing he had been trailing from his ass 2 days ago.. everything else in the tank is fine.. 2 hermits.. fine... cleaner shrimp fine.. turbo snail .. fine.. ... I am now a little gunshy.. I don't want to keep buying fish only to kill them unknowingly... I tested the water again after I pulled him out with all the same results..
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ph8.2
ammonia .25
phosphate 0
anyonen have any advice... if the Ammonia doesn't come down by the end of the day I will do another pwc.. but it seems odd that such a small rise in the ammonia would take out a clown.. I had always read that ammonia would need to be significantly higher to kill the fish.. a .25 fluctuation is just normal operation... any help is greatly appreciated.
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ph8.2
ammonia .25
phosphate 0
anyonen have any advice... if the Ammonia doesn't come down by the end of the day I will do another pwc.. but it seems odd that such a small rise in the ammonia would take out a clown.. I had always read that ammonia would need to be significantly higher to kill the fish.. a .25 fluctuation is just normal operation... any help is greatly appreciated.
