Please help! Shrimp dead- water results

[Shadysjl]

Hi Please help ive just bought a sand-shifting star & 2 blue legged hermits. I came home to find my cleaner shrimp dead so I immediantly started to test my water here are the results:
Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrate-100
nitrite- 0.75
ph-8.00
p04- 0.1

Can anyone help me I dont know what the levels should be & The lfs is closed. What should I do about my new cleaning crew? Will they be ok? They are currently being dripped.

HELP

[Shadysjl]

The shrimp did look like it was eating a coral btw. Some polyps.

[SweetTang]

By looking at your water parameters, it doesn't look like your tank has finished cycling. How long has it been set up? What other livestock do you have in it?

[SweetTang]

Parameters should look like this:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = Ideally close to 0, but less than 5 for a reef tank set up and less than 20 for a Fish only set up.
ph = 8 is not terrible, but needs to be higher...closer to 8.4
pO4 = Closer to 0

[Shadysjl]

I have a few corals in there, 2 snails & a red legged crab. Its been goin 3 weeks & my lfs said it would be ok as the live rock was already cycled

[thegrun]

Agreed, has the cycle completed or is the ammonia a new spike? Ammonia and nitrites should be zero and the nitrate below 20 for a fish only system, very close to zero if you plan on keeping corals. The Ph is okay and the phosphates are also okay although it is nice to keep them below 0.05.

[snorvich]

No ammonia or nitrite. Is this a new tank?

[thegrun]

Originally Posted by Shadysjl

I have a few corals in there, 2 snails & a red legged crab. Its been goin 3 weeks & my lfs said it would be ok as the live rock was already cycled

If you have ammonia and nitrites, the tank is not cycled and you should not be adding livestock. Please slow down and let nature take its course. read up on the stickies at the top of this forum regarding seting up a new tank.

[Shadysjl]

roughly 3 weeks old tank.

[patsfan1130]

Do us and yourself a favor and stop taking advice from this LFS. They told you it was ok to put a SSS in a 3 week old tank?

Read the stickies here and ask tons of questions. You will learn more here than any LFS could teach you.

[Shadysjl]

I won't buy anymore now but what about the starfish & blue legged crabs? Are they going to die?

[SweetTang]

You may want to set up a QT tank with more stable water parameters and move at least your corals in there, if not everything. Those water levels can take a toll on them pretty quick. You also will want to do a water change....those are some pretty high Nitrate numbers for that young of a tank.

[Shadysjl]

How to I get the correct levels? Just keep doin water changes?

[Shadysjl]

I did a water change day before yesterday. Should I do another one?

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by patsfan1130

Do us and yourself a favor and stop taking advice from this LFS. They told you it was ok to put a SSS in a 3 week old tank?

Read the stickies here and ask tons of questions. You will learn more here than any LFS could teach you.

I would agree. LFS want to sell stuff quickly whether it is appropriate or not. RC folks want you to be successful.

[thegrun]

The ammonia and nitrites will drop to zero on their own when the cycle is complete, but it can take 4-6 weeks. Water changes will bring down the nitrates. The crabs and starfish will likely not survive the ammonia poisoning they are being subjected to.

[snorvich]

Unfortunately the starfish will likely starve unless it dies before then.

[Shadysjl]

The day before yesterday I took a water sample to get tested and everything was fine. A day later its all messed up. It's so sad my poor shrimp and now my poor wallet coz everything's just guna die. It's a 10gallon nano tank. I dont have a qt tank or sump so the star and crabs are guna have to go in the dt.
Peed off now feel like chucking it all out

[SweetTang]

I honestly would find somebody that you knew with an established tank and see if they would take your livestock until your tank is ready....either that or just take them back to the LFS and demand a refund. Education and Patience is key to this hobby...especially when you are just starting out.

Nano tanks are tough.....especially when starting out. Very minor changes can throw your levels out of whack.

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by SweetTang

I honestly would find somebody that you knew with an established tank and see if they would take your livestock until your tank is ready....either that or just take them back to the LFS and demand a refund. Education and Patience is key to this hobby...especially when you are just starting out.

Nano tanks are tough.....especially when starting out. Very minor changes can throw your levels out of whack.

Good advice. However, the OP should learn to test his/her own water. Nothing good ever happens quickly in this hobby.

[Shadysjl]

Unfortunatly I don't know anyone with a marine tank :,(

[Fizz71]

If the readings were fine one day and off then next then one of 2 things happened...a set of readings were wrong, or something died and spiked the system. You really need to start testing yourself, a nano is actually harder to keep than my 300 gallon system because things go bad VERY quickly. Seeing a 100 nitrate in your tank at 3 weeks tells me something very bad happened and the rock probably was cycled, but it can only do so much. Can you take the livestock back to the LFS? Let them hold it until the ammonia and nitrite 0 out. Either way though you're going to need some water changes to get the nitrate down.

[Shadysjl]

my shrimp died. So maybe that caused it? Water change tomorrow!

[Fizz71]

You took it out...right?

[Shadysjl]

Yes I did