Green Chromis help!!!!

[_aurelia_]

I'm in the process of cycling my 12g nano. I've added microbacter7, to prevent any spikes. Yesterday I added 2 green chromis. They did very well for ~5 hours. Then I shut the lights off, and they bolted into the live rock. They didn't come back out all night, then this morning they looked terrible. One had dark splotches all over his body. Both were gasping for breath. The one with the splotches died soon after, but the splotches disappeared upon death. I'm afraid it has something to do with my live rock; I got it from my lfs which I later heard horror stories about. I had already added the chromis (from a reputable lfs). I removed the rock, and manually oxygenated the water and dropped the temp 2 degrees down to 78. I checked my params today:

SG 1.024
pH 7.8
Amm 0.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

This chromis that is still alive has good color, but is still gasping. I feel terrible I don't know what else I can do. Help?

 

[Greenpillow]

Do a water chand ASAP. Also I'd lower the temp.

 

[carey]

Since you arent cycled the fish are causing ammonia to build up,. You need to do a water change as soon as you get a reading of .25 or higher.

The temperature is fine, as long as it's stable leave it where it is. My biocube runs hot at 81 but its consistent.

 

[_aurelia_]

I know this might be a silly question, but as a general rule should the ammonia always be under 0.25 (besides when cycling)? I did a 25% water change, but still lost the chromis. Returned the questionable live rock back to the lfs, going to let the tank cycle completely before adding anything else.

 

[Greenpillow]

I know this might be a silly question, but as a general rule should the ammonia always be under 0.25 (besides when cycling)? I did a 25% water change, but still lost the chromis. Returned the questionable live rock back to the lfs, going to let the tank cycle completely before adding anything else.

Yes.. Ammonia should be zero unless cycling. Ammonia is fish waste and is toxic to the animals in general.