I don't know whats wrong

[DeadOrAlive]

Hi,i just started my tank yesterday and a introduced 2 clownfishes and a scarlet cleaner shrimp to my FOWLR tank which is currently running on a canister filter and a roughly about 10 gallons. The clownfishes and cleaner shrimp were doing fine the day before but when i woke up this morning, both fishes died but the cleaner shrimp is still alive. I don't know whats the cause of death but i already checked the salinity and temperature and they both are in the acceptable zone. Can someone please help me with this???

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you just started your tank yesterday, it sounds like you never cycled it and the fish most likely died of ammonia poisoning. Guessing you don't have an ammonia test kit? Nitrite test kit?

I'm thinking these articles are a good start for you...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/6/1/Ammonia-conversion-to-nitrate/Page1.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

Welcome to AquariumAdvice, and please keep asking questions once you read those articles over.

 

[DeadOrAlive]

Oh ok thanks for the links,it really helped me out alot but i was wondering how long does it take for the tank to cycle the ammonia and nitrite before i can start adding fish??? And can i just continue leaving the cleaner shrimp in the tank to help produce ammonia for the tank instead of buying a raw shrimp???

 

[thincat]

That's what the test kits are for. It should explain it in those articles. As the ammonia gets higher you stand a good chance of loosing that shrimp also.

 

[austinsdad]

You won't be a ble to keep the skunk. Assuming you removed the dead fish, there isn't likely enuf ammonia to get things going. And once you do get things going with an ammonia source to cycle, the shrimp won't make it thru anyway.10g tank is gonna be real hard, especially if you don't do any homework first - kinda like you just did .

You should have an ammonia test kit like yesterday. Get ammonia and nitrite kit ASAP. Read up on cycling a tank as prescribed.

How much live rock in there?

Also, realize you may not have fish for 3-5 weeks at the most. Take your time or you'll kill more things. I guarantee it. A 10g tank is small for a newcomer and things can get bad REAL fast. Any chance you can start out with something larger, say 40g maybe?

 

[DeadOrAlive]

I used to have a 50 gallon tank but it's in pretty bad condition and if i were to buy all the equipment again it would cost me afew hundred so i decided to start a 10 gallon instead and see how things went. If i can actually keep the fish alive after cycling i think i will start up the 50 gallons. I currently have about 5 live rock in there,3 medium ones and 2 small one. All of them are fully cured so i tought it will speed up the cycling process.

 

[joy13]

To give you an idea I started an eight gallon tank with sand and rock for an existing tank it still took 2 weeks before everything was 0 then I waited another week to make sure there wasn't a spike in ammonia or nitrites again. Then I started with a CUC before adding my one and only fish.

You can start with a 10 gallon but you have to stay on top of WC, top offs (be prepared to do at least 2 a day) and testing.

The first thing about SW is patience nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

 

[austinsdad]

You said you'll determine the status on the 50g if you can keep fish alive in a 10h. Thing is, you might kill them a lot faster in a 10g than in a 50g. takes a LOT of work IMO to maintain a 10g. Be prepared. That "few hundred" in the 50g will leave you with much less stress - on you and the fish.