Cycling with two clownfish

[thisnthat]

Hi so I’m new to the whole saltwater aquarium hobby and I’ve been enjorying it so far. Currently I’m trying to cycle my tank and I have dry rock with salt water and two small clownfish in a 30 gal. Here are the parameters: Salinity 1.023, Ammonia .7 ppm, Nitrite .25 ppm, Nitrate 10 ppm, Ph 7.9, Temp 78-79F (getting close to the end of the cycle fingers crossed). I know that I should’ve used a fishless cycle but the fish were bought without my knowing and couldn’t be refunded. When I acclimated the fish they seemed content and fine with their surroundings out in the open swimming around together. These clownfish showed no signs of sickness in the store and were together in a tank at the store. I’ve been testing everyday and have been doing water changes once or twice a week to keep the Ammonia at a manageable level for the two. I have been tampering with the ph trying to get it to the 8.1-8.2 range and it seems to be affecting the fish (I’ve done this over a span of a week and it’s been only .1 per day at most) nothing drastic. They are swimming diagonally and are startled easily. They go to high flow areas of the tank and seemed to be stressed. I did some research and It leads me to believe that it’s swim bladder disorder from stress on the fluctuating water levels. So I waited a couple days and they seemed fine. I put some Dr. Tim’s eco balances to promote the nitrifying bacteria and they seemed to start this swim bladder phase all over. There is no redness on fins and they seem to be breathing fine. I may have made them sensitive from constant ph changes but it was over the span of a couple days and at most by .1 in ph. I’m worried they are permanently going to be sensitive from water parameters changing and some advice would be nice. (Ps I may have adjusted the ph a little higher than .1 on one of the days of the week and this may have been the reason, or it’s because of the stressful ammonia in the water)

 

[Jekyl]

Feed very sparingly and keep an eye on ammonia. Should be fine.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

You shouldn’t be doing water changes during a cycle. It will run it’s course and complete.

Do you have somewhere to put the clowns where they won’t have to live in a tank full of ammonia? You may have been a bit hasty here. Take your time. Your tank and pets will thank you.

 

[Jekyl]

You shouldn’t be doing water changes during a cycle. It will run it’s course and complete.

Do you have somewhere to put the clowns where they won’t have to live in a tank full of ammonia? You may have been a bit hasty here. Take your time. Your tank and pets will thank you.

Water changes won't hurt anything in this case. Ammonia is the issue that needs to be watched. If ammonia is at a concerning level then do a water change. Get some biospira if available and there won't be any more concerns. Dr. Tims works. Just takes longer.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Water changes won't hurt anything in this case. Ammonia is the issue that needs to be watched. If ammonia is at a concerning level then do a water change. Get some biospira if available and there won't be any more concerns. Dr. Tims works. Just takes longer.

Maybe I’m old school. I don’t put fish in a tank with ammonia in it.

 

[thisnthat]

You shouldn’t be doing water changes during a cycle. It will run it’s course and complete.

Do you have somewhere to put the clowns where they won’t have to live in a tank full of ammonia? You may have been a bit hasty here. Take your time. Your tank and pets will thank you.

No I don’t have an alternative tank. I should look into getting one as a quarantine in the future, but currently no. And I’ve had multiple people tell me that... I have ocd and wanted to get the levels just right but I think that’ll do more harm than good by messing with it too much.

 

[hlaalu]

Honestly my clown fish are like tanks. My two are 9 years old, have gone through 2 tank changes, and 2 house moves. I'm guessing there was a lot of die off and mini-cycling there. And every time I've rearranged rock work they always go to the same boring corner in the back of the tank lol.

 

[Jekyl]

Maybe I’m old school. I don’t put fish in a tank with ammonia in it.

Best case scenario yes. However that is not the situation he/she is in.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

that’s why I asked if op had a place to move his fish to. Complete the cycle naturally then add healthy clowns back.

 

[MaxTremors]

No I don’t have an alternative tank. I should look into getting one as a quarantine in the future, but currently no. And I’ve had multiple people tell me that... I have ocd and wanted to get the levels just right but I think that’ll do more harm than good by messing with it too much.

Don’t go chasing PH, even if you have corals, a PH of 7.7-7.8 won’t hurt them, they’ll just grow a little more slowly. Unless you’re a coral farmer and need the fastest growth possible, chasing PH is a fool’s errand. Your fish and corals won’t care (obviously you don’t want it lower than probably 7.6, but otherwise 7.7-8.5 is fine). Also, clownfish swim weird, they don’t swim like similarly bodied fish, they’ll swim diagonally, parallel to the glass, even upside down under a ledge, unless they look completely out of control or are swimming weird in an ungraceful way (the swim weird but it’s graceful, if that makes sense), then there might be an issue, but to me it sounds like they’re just being normal clownfish.

 

[Gedxin]

Welcome to the salty side!

As for your situation, I'd personally recommend dosing with nitrifying bacteria (Tim's eco balance doesn't really help a cycle a lot.) Something like Dr. Tim's One and Only is more appropriate. You have dry rock, so doing those daily water changes (which is necessary to reduce ammonia from your fish) to build up your bacteria population is gonna take a while.

 

[thisnthat]

Welcome to the salty side!

As for your situation, I'd personally recommend dosing with nitrifying bacteria (Tim's eco balance doesn't really help a cycle a lot.) Something like Dr. Tim's One and Only is more appropriate. You have dry rock, so doing those daily water changes (which is necessary to reduce ammonia from your fish) to build up your bacteria population is gonna take a while.

Yes that’s exactly what I used to start the cycle (the Dr. Tim’s one and only) and as for the water changes go... do them daily or let the tank settle for a couple weeks?

 

[thisnthat]

F

 

[Hawaireefer]

It's possible that the diagonal swimming is natural. They sometimes swim funny to submit to the more dominant fish, or for other social reasons.

 

[Cell]

No excuse to cycle with a fish these days. Use bottled bac if you want to stock immediately.

 

[dedragon]

Yes that’s exactly what I used to start the cycle (the Dr. Tim’s one and only) and as for the water changes go... do them daily or let the tank settle for a couple weeks?

Dont do a water change until at least ammonia is at zero, add fritzyme 9 or 900 as well if you still have any ammonia. It is probably one of the fastest cycling bottled bacteria, dr. tims good just slower

 

[dedragon]

lol nvm this is pretty old guys