lionfish not looking too good

[djpj001]

hello i my tank is about a month old after proper cycling. It's a 90 gallon predator tank. My 4 inch lion fish has cloudy eyes and is not moving as a usually does. He's mostly hanging out in the bottom. I took a water sample to my LFS and they told me my pH is low and nitrate levels are a bit high. I decieded to remove a cup of water from the tank and mix in with baking soda which I then slowly added to my sump in 45 secs intervals, to help buffer the water. I am not observing any weird behavior from my other fishes except for the goatfish who seems to high a little bit more on the bottom but seems to be ok in his activity. i believe the problem arises because i'm overfeeding them but feeding is such a complicated issue that i get alot of different opinions on how often I should feed my fish, it's driving me crazy and i think i'm going to start feeding them once a week. anyways I need some advice on this issue if anyone can help me. let me know if further information is needed.

Thank you,
DJPJ

[jhnrb]

I know time is important, but, you have given any information so that we can help. you need to provide a complete water parameter levels, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, oxygen, calcium, salinity, pH, alkalinity, what you are feeding and how much how often, temperature, what equipment you have running, size of water volume, what you are adding, how much and how often. water changes, which salt, how do you prepare it. and anything else you can think of. once the information is provided something may turn up to indicate some of the items that may be contributing to your problem.

The 1st thing is that you stated that your system is a month old. If that is true you have not allowed your system to mature enough to handle the large preditors you have added and I really suspect at this time you have increased your bio load a bit too fast and too much. Your system needs to be at least 6 months old to accomodate the waste the preditors create. anyways provide the information noted above and we will try and help. finally doing the baking soda is not recommended, you take the chance of creating an imbalance in your water chemistry. while you are compliling the information asked for, I would refer you to the helpful articles forum and the beginners articles on page one, and while you are there feel free to browse the articles of interest. your difficulties are addressed completely in the various articles in my opinion. good luck and will watch for more information. Thankyou for the post and welcome.

[ReefWannabe]

Its likely your getting what imma start calling Grunt syndrome. Or new tank syndrome. Post up your readings and go from there.

[minireefer]

Also besides the over bio load there could be a lack of oxegen in the tank.What are your using for water flow(power heads,pumps,filteration)?Do protein skim?If not not I would recomend one.I t will help remove excess food and nutrients before they become an issue.Also do you have life rock this will help with the bio in the tank.

[fishman]

Nitrates are your trouble lions are real sensative to nitrates.U just going to have to do some daily water changes to get them down .Good Luck

[djpj001]

Sorry I Took So Long To Write Back. The Current Situation Is That I Have 80 Ppm Nitrate Levels That Is Whats Giving Me The Most Problems Right Now. Everything Else Is Stable, Ph, Nitrite, Salinity, Temperature And Water Flow Is Good. I Beleive The Problem Arose When I Supposedly Added Cured Rock A Week Ago. I Did A Water Change Today And Added Since The Problem Arose 2 Large Bottles Of Cycle And Live Bacteria. My Question Is? Should I Remove The Rocks Or Should I Let The Rocks Cycle In The Tank? So Far 2 Fishes Have Died ( A Box Fish And A Yellow Angel Fish) All The Other Fishes Look Stable But Not 100%. The Cloudiness In Their Eyes Have Dissapeared And I Have Chosen Not To Feed Them Until Nitrate Levels Are Gone. I Have Also Added A Mesh Bag With 2 Cups Of Crushed Coral In The Sump To Buffer The Water And Keep It Stable. I Also Wanted To Know If I Should Be Running My Protein Skimmer Bc I Heard They Tend To Get Rid Of Free Floating Bacteria. Please Let Me Know If Their Is Any Other Info I Can Provide To Help Me With This Problem.

Thanks For All Your Help

Djpj