Hi! I am a novice Saltwater fish-tank owner for about 8 months. I have a 36 gallon tank that I had regularly serviced. I was slowly working on my tank, first I added live rock then a few damselfish and a peppermint shrimp and then a few hermit crabs. These fish, etc were doing very well in my tank.
Then recently I decided to get a VHO light and an anemone and two clown fish two add to my tank. The anemone died (various reasons including the condition of the water) and one of my clown fish was in distress. The next day I called to get my tank cleaned and the coral removed. My regular guy (Dan) was out of town so I called over a new guy (Jim) to service the tank. He said that there was an ammonia spike in my tank and that I might lose a fish. (at this point all fish in the tank were looking great except for the small clown fish that was in distress since the moment I added him to the tank).
The new service guy added his own saltwater, changed the water, did some other stuff and took out my bubble stick which he said was not appropriate for my tank and said that I should get a power head instead. He left and I was feeling confident that things were heading in the right direction with my tank, however the next morning I woke up and found EVERYTHING in my tank DEAD! Hermit crabs, shrimp fish and ALL. I even think my live rock was effected because there were pink milliworm type things crawling out of the rocks.
Is this possible? Could a ammonia spike cause this much distress in an otherwise semi-healthy tank? I can understand the death of the clown fish but I had the Damsels for 8 months and they have seen it all in my tank and they survived...but not this time. Was it the ammonia or was it this guys fault? He says he had nothing to do with it....
PLEASE ADVISE!
Then recently I decided to get a VHO light and an anemone and two clown fish two add to my tank. The anemone died (various reasons including the condition of the water) and one of my clown fish was in distress. The next day I called to get my tank cleaned and the coral removed. My regular guy (Dan) was out of town so I called over a new guy (Jim) to service the tank. He said that there was an ammonia spike in my tank and that I might lose a fish. (at this point all fish in the tank were looking great except for the small clown fish that was in distress since the moment I added him to the tank).
The new service guy added his own saltwater, changed the water, did some other stuff and took out my bubble stick which he said was not appropriate for my tank and said that I should get a power head instead. He left and I was feeling confident that things were heading in the right direction with my tank, however the next morning I woke up and found EVERYTHING in my tank DEAD! Hermit crabs, shrimp fish and ALL. I even think my live rock was effected because there were pink milliworm type things crawling out of the rocks.
Is this possible? Could a ammonia spike cause this much distress in an otherwise semi-healthy tank? I can understand the death of the clown fish but I had the Damsels for 8 months and they have seen it all in my tank and they survived...but not this time. Was it the ammonia or was it this guys fault? He says he had nothing to do with it....
PLEASE ADVISE!
