Clownfish Fin Rot : I have no idea what to do

[domination2580]

G'day guys
Look, cheers for your help but sadly, I got home and he was dead
It was definitely fin rot, his whole fin was gone and he looked terrible. It happened so quick, it about 15 hours he was dead, I'm getting ready to do a little water change. Look, I just want to set it straight, I was persuaded by the LFS that cycling the tank with clown fish was the way to go. I got the fish but then after hours on the internet realised I made a mistake, I'm pretty mad about them assuring me it's safe. My LFS isn't the best, I'm sure you guys have some pretty good ones. They have quality gear but just don't give great advice. Can you guys continue to help me, I have no idea what to do now, how long until I should get another fish in and how should I keep the cycle going, I do have a little hermit crab in there at the moment

I would be upset work the lfs too. What your going to watch is the nitrogen cycle. Your going to have ammonia, then that's going to be converted to nitrite then the final is nitrate. So your going to watch for ammonia to go down over night, same with Nitrite. Once both of those have gone down overnight, you can slowly add fish in. You can either add the ammonia by pure ammonia or just putting in a little piece of food and let it decay.

 

[melypr1985]

ammonia to go down over night, same with Nitrite

Just to be clear, this wont happen over night. He means that your waiting for both of these to be zero before adding any livestock. It could be a week all the way up to a couple months before your tank cycles completely. Every tank is different and every cycle is a bit different as well.

We'll always be here to help you out! Don't worry about that sweetie. You can always post on R2R to double check anything they tell you before acting on their advice.

 

[melypr1985]

ammonia to go down over night, same with Nitrite

Just to be clear, @Nick17 this wont happen over night. He means that your waiting for both of these to be zero before adding any livestock. It could be a week all the way up to a couple months before your tank cycles completely. Every tank is different and every cycle is a bit different as well.

We'll always be here to help you out! You can always post on R2R to double check any advice that LFS (or anybody) gives you before acting on it.

 

[domination2580]

Correct @melypr1985. It will take time for the bacteria to populate. But once it is, you will watch for the bacteria to be able to consume ammonia and nitrite overnight. It will take some time for it to drop to 0 overnight.

 

[domination2580]

I apologize for not making it clear. Thank you @melypr1985 for the helping hand!

 

[melypr1985]

Correct @melypr1985. It will take time for the bacteria to populate. But once it is, you will watch for the bacteria to be able to consume ammonia and nitrite overnight. It will take some time for it to drop to 0 overnight.

Right.... a test. Basically if your tank can process 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours, then your golden.

 

[BRB]

my cycle, i thought took about 3 1/2 - 4 week weeks, and everything was about all 0's with no ammonia, and then I added a damsel and two clowns and the tank was not done cycling, i added them saturday and woke up monday morning to everything dead, did a few tests and everything read super high after it pretty much all zeroed out. it took my tank 2 1/2 months to fully cycle.
i learned the hard way.
people use ammonia additives to speed up the cycle and i hear people add frozen shrimp to help the cycle as well, but listen to the more experience individuals for sure.

 

[swoons]

Oops