Need Quick Help!!!

So my saltwater tank just finished cycling. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate 30. (I did a water change after checking) I went to the fish store and the guy gave me 2 scarlet hermit crabs and 1 clownfish. He also gave me a hardy coral for free! I acclimated them and put them in about an hour and a half ago. For food he gave me Instant Ocean Brine Shrimp, they are in packets and dont have to be refrigerated. My problem is I put a little piece of the brine shrimp in and it floated right past him. :-/ He seems to be staying in one spot next to my thermometer and doesnt leave it. Now I have 2 little peices of shrimp sitting in the sand waiting to become nitrate! Do you guys have any advice for what I should do?

 

well first, you shouldn't have added fish with nitrate at 30! keep doing water changes until this goes down. do a 25% water change now(suck up any food you can see on tank bottom).

And your cycle was not finished if you still have nitrate! derrrrr

 

Alright so I will do water changes daily to help keep nitrates down, but for feeding the fish, what should I do?

 

He will eat when he eats, really can't force it

 

I would recommend removing any excess food from further decaying and polluting your water. Fish will take time to acclimate in a new aquarium, and some may not eat for several days. Give your new fish some time to settle and try feeding again tomorrow or the day after.

Dan

 

Can you post a link to the exact food you got from your store? If it is dried brine shrimp, this will not suffice, as they have very little nutritional value. Try a pellet food, such as New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Forumla.

 

well, the fish is most likely stressed from 1. the move 2. the 30ppm of nitrate! So work on getting the nitrate down as your first move! might even go 50% water change just to get it out of there today. then do 25% Feed the fish a small amount every other day. If you just put the fish in today he is most likely scared of his new surroundings and stressed. Do you have rock work for him to hide in? Do you have a skimmer or anything to export nutrients?

 

+1 to this. most fish will not eat right away when introduced to a new (to them) aquarium.

+1 to the water change too...

 

Yes I have more than enough rock for him to hide. I will keep up with water changes and wait a day or 2 to feed him. Also I have 2 hermit crabs do I need to feed them?

 

When you feed the fish, they will pick up left overs.