Did I Hurt My Clowns?

[inawe]

I have a 37 gal tank with eclipse, 2 month old. Have had problems from the start. 3 clowns and just a few lbs LR. I am going to completely start things over during Christmas holidays and add a BUNCH of LR, but in the meantime, I did a 1/3 water change Sunday pm because my ammonia was too high. I cleaned some of the algae off the sides. I fixed the water the day before and left it with the air pump. I checked the tank water and the new water before I did the change. My readings are a little better, but still not to good ...ammonia - 4, pH - 7.0, nitrite - 0.5, nitrate - 0.
I woke up and at first I thought my clowns were dead...they were laying down, but I realized they were still moving some. I left the light off and by 7 AM they were swimming a little, kinda crooked and face down. By late afternoon, they were swimming pretty good (light off all day). This morning, laying on the bottom again. I turned ON the light this time. Started swimming crooked at first then straighted up. Seem to be all swimming ok now (6:30 AM). However, now they mostly stay at the bottom (they will go up some), where they did go all up and down tank. They were sleeping kind of behind the filter uptake on right side of tank, close to the top, but now they are on the opposite side and all the way down on the gravel.
My question... what did I do? What do I do in the future to AVOID this?

 

[tmreynolds]

I have a 37 gal tank with eclipse, 2 month old. Have had problems from the start. 3 clowns and just a few lbs LR. I am going to completely start things over during Christmas holidays and add a BUNCH of LR, but in the meantime, I did a 1/3 water change Sunday pm because my ammonia was too high. I cleaned some of the algae off the sides. I fixed the water the day before and left it with the air pump. I checked the tank water and the new water before I did the change. My readings are a little better, but still not to good ...ammonia - 4, pH - 7.0, nitrite - 0.5, nitrate - 0.
I woke up and at first I thought my clowns were dead...they were laying down, but I realized they were still moving some. I left the light off and by 7 AM they were swimming a little, kinda crooked and face down. By late afternoon, they were swimming pretty good (light off all day). This morning, laying on the bottom again. I turned ON the light this time. Started swimming crooked at first then straighted up. Seem to be all swimming ok now (6:30 AM). However, now they mostly stay at the bottom (they will go up some), where they did go all up and down tank. They were sleeping kind of behind the filter uptake on right side of tank, close to the top, but now they are on the opposite side and all the way down on the gravel.
My question... what did I do? What do I do in the future to AVOID this?

I'm by no means an expert but your levels are dangerous...

If the ammonia is 4 ppm, that is extremely high. Nitrite and nitrate levels indicate there is little or no nitrification going on. Judging by your figures, you're lucky they are still alive.

Your pH is way low aswell, should be 8.0 - 8.3.

Are you using RO water, whats your salinity, what else are you using for filtration, have you got a skimmer etc?

 

[SkiFletch]

pH of 7.0, ammonia of 4 and trace nitrite with no nitrate?

Something is horribly wrong. It sounds as though you did a water change with pure RO water? pH crashes all the way down to 7.0 are a very bad thing, as is ammonia levels of 4ppm. In the interests of safety and humanity, is there any way you can re-home the clownfish at an LFS, friends house, or somewhere else until you can get your bio filtration and chemistry sorted? The clownfish could be getting internal organ damage from so much ammonia that might be irreversable .

I realize that things get hectic around the holidays, but those fish won't last through till christmas in those conditions, I can almoast promise you that. And there's no way to correct the situation in a shorter timeframe anyways. Please try and find a temporary home for the clownfish

 

[inawe]

pH of 7.0, ammonia of 4 and trace nitrite with no nitrate?

Something is horribly wrong. It sounds as though you did a water change with pure RO water? pH crashes all the way down to 7.0 are a very bad thing, as is ammonia levels of 4ppm. In the interests of safety and humanity, is there any way you can re-home the clownfish at an LFS, friends house, or somewhere else until you can get your bio filtration and chemistry sorted? The clownfish could be getting internal organ damage from so much ammonia that might be irreversable .

I realize that things get hectic around the holidays, but those fish won't last through till christmas in those conditions, I can almoast promise you that. And there's no way to correct the situation in a shorter timeframe anyways. Please try and find a temporary home for the clownfish

Done! I set up my small tank and bought the saltwater from the LFS. Moved them over and they seem to be doing better. I hope it was in time. I'm still not sure what happened. I mixed my water exactly the same as before, let it circulate for 24 hours. As far as the readings, I may be off on them. I did that test myself.
I think when I start the water this time, I'm going to have my tap water tested to see if it is bad and needs something extra.

 

[SkiFletch]

Good to hear, lets just keep our fingers crossed for the clowns Yeah, tapwater + reef tanks do not mix. You're gonna need to look into purchaing an RO unit, or buying RO or distilled water when you re-start your tank. Tapwater can have all sorts of bad stuff in it that has no place in a reef tank. Its better for everything if you start ith RO water, mix it with the proper amount of aquarium salt and use that