Clownfish Died After Intro Into 10g Saltwater Tank

I have a 10 gallon nano tank setup for the past one month n did continue to check the water parameters. All the readings were perfect ammonia 0ppm nirites 0ppm n nirates 5ppm before adding the clown I did a water change. I brought the clown accimated it for nearly 45 min and then slowly introduced it in the tank. When the clown ws in the process of accimation everything looked fine he ws also so playful that he literally looked at me wenever I viewed him frm above n would kinda dance. But once introduced in the tank he was normal for 1 hour or so and all of a sudden he started to breadth rapidly. He did not eat that night n the nxt day wen I came from work he was dead. I don't know what had happened n when I checked my ammonia level it skyrocketed. It was as if the tank jst decided to start to recycle itself.

So was it the ammnio spike that killed the clown or was it something else ?

Before adding
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nirates 5ppm

After the clown died
Ammonia 4ppm
Nirites 1ppm
Nirates 0ppm

Was it that the bacteria could not handle the load of the addition of new fish ?

 

I ran my salt water tank live rock only cycle for 3 months before I added anything at all to it. nano tanks are extremely hard to maintain if you aren't patient and very very vigilant. what was your SG? temp? do you have live rock? I guess I just want to know more about your set up lol. filter, substrate, powerheads, rock etc

 

I don't have live rock but I have added live sand n also used the microb lift nit-out to cycle m tank
Sg: 1.023
Temp: 28 c
Powerhead m sure about it but I have directed the flow mostly towards the rocks
I have a hang on back filter.

Does too much flow make a clown tired or sumthing ?

 

did you have dry rock in there?

I keep my SG at 1.026 since that is what my salt water store keeps their tanks at.

there is crazy flow in my tanks and my clowns do great so I don't think that is the source of the issue.

do you use a marine conditioner? what was the source of your bacteria and what fed them during your cycle time? I'm leaning towards your tank not being cycled at all. live sand is basically a bag of wet sand unless you pulled from the ocean or from an already established tank and immediately put it in your tank. even then, there isn't a whole lot of bacteria in the sand to begin with.

 

If you used something like Seachem Prime that locks up ammonia, after 48 hours it releases the ammonia.

4ppm is ALOT of ammonia. There must have been ammonia in your tank, just bound up or unreadable by test kit.

 

I dint use any marine conditonar n to start m cycle I put few pellet food in the tank n then used the microb lift (bottle states: contains live nitrifying bacteria). And few hours before adding the clown the ammonia was 0 nirites 0 only nirates ws 5ppm.

Yea I had dry rocks (you won't love rocks in where I live )

And also the LFS tld me to keep m sg between 1.023-1.024.. is this correct or is this on the lower side ?

 

chris X No I dint use any conditioner here is the pic of the bottle I use for cycling the tank

 

ok, you need to cycle that tank a whole lot longer trying to cure dry rock

its a little low in my opinion, but its within "safe".

def keep cycling the tank- the key to salt tanks is extreme patience. don't rush it or you will waste a ton of money and have a bunch of frustration.

 

Ok sure ill let the tank run for atleast 2months before adding any new fishes to it ... Thanks

 

just keep checking your parameters. you will see the cycle- ammonia spike, nitrite spike, and finally end in nitrates in the tank. having a nano tank, you will need to stay on top of top off and water changes. and use a conditioner! you need to remove the bad stuff in the water to keep everything healthy

 

Ok ill get a conditioner for the tank do u knw any specific one which will work the best ?

 

4PPM is ALOT of ammonia. Let me say again, 4PPM is ALOT of ammonia. One dead fish will not create that much overnight.

The ammonia was in the tank before your added the fish. It may have been unreadable, but it was in the tank in some form.

 

Oh ok so its the ammonia that killed the fish

 

Yeah. Cycle that tank a lot longer. And get that dry rock cured

 

jessakitten thanks will surely get the rocks cured before adding the fishes .. too bad I really liked that fish

 

Most ammonia tests can't distinguish between bound and unbound ammonia. It might be different in saltwater but I doubt it.

 

May be I added the fish in too early I should have waited a bit more longer