I accidentally used safe start for a saltwater tank

Some of you may have seen the thread I started earlier concerning my new clownfish that unfortunately died. A user brought to my attention that the problem may have been the fact that I used tetra safe start plus in my cycle. I feel so dumb because I looked back and tss+ does in fact say that it’s for use in freshwater tanks! Just for reference, I have a 10g nano tank that completed its cycle in about 3 weeks after adding tss+ at the beginning of that. I also did a 1/3 water change the day before adding the fish. It died the same night (though it seemed quite healthy during the day. Look back at op for more details). I guess I was wondering if you guys think my blunder of using safe start is what killed my fish? And if so, how should I fix the problem? Will I have to do a 100% water change??

Do you have live rock , live sand , test kits ? Saltwater nano tanks are tough because things can change so fast . Were you using Prime and Stability , they are both helpful in a new tank .

It is very unlikely the safe start had anything to due with the fish death , however it didn't do a thing for cycling your tank either. Did you check the salinity of the water the fish came in and make sure your tank was the same or do a longer acclimation ? Sometimes a quick death is due to osmotic shock .

Gkat66 said:

It is very unlikely the safe start had anything to due with the fish death , however it didn't do a thing for cycling your tank either. Did you check the salinity of the water the fish came in and make sure your tank was the same or do a longer acclimation ? Sometimes a quick death is due to osmotic shock .

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The safe start said it was for freshwater, as I discovered now that it’s too late. You’re saying that it’s unlikely that the issue was the safe start? And when you said that it’s unlikely that it helped to cycle my tank, did you mean that because I used a fw product in sw? I bought the fish from petco where the employee told me that he was living in water with 0.021-22 salinity. The salinity in my tank is 0.023. She recommended that I temperature and drip acclimate him, which I did. When I brought him home, I put his bag in my tank to adjust the temperature and then slowly added some of the water from my tank to his bag. After an hour or so, I released him into my tank. Do you think that was a good enough acclimation or no? Also, if he died due to osmotic shock, what are the warning signs for that? Are there any? Because he seemed to be perfectly fine. He was swimming around and exploring and didn’t seem to be having trouble breathing or anything. Additionally, how long would it take for him to die? And in the future what can I do to prevent this? One last thing—he was a baby. Do you think this affected anything? Are the babies more sensitive or something?

Gkat66 said:

Do you have live rock , live sand , test kits ? Saltwater nano tanks are tough because things can change so fast . Were you using Prime and Stability , they are both helpful in a new tank .

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I have live sand and the api liquid saltwater test kit. According to my testing data, my tank was done cycling last week but I waited until this weekend to get the fish just to make sure. I also tested the water this morning after I found him and the parameters were still good

The starter bacteria for freshwater wouldn't survive in saltwater.
About salinity , it is measured in PPT, 36 PPT = a specific gravity of 1.026 , specific gravity is measured with a refractometer or hydrometer.

Gkat66 said:

The starter bacteria for freshwater wouldn't survive in saltwater.
About salinity , it is measured in PPT, 36 PPT = a specific gravity of 1.026 , specific gravity is measured with a refractometer or hydrometer.

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The salinity in my tank was 1.023 specific gravity while at the store it was 1.021-22. Do you think the slight difference in salinity could be enough to put the fish into shock?

It's not likely that small difference had any affect. Most fish stores especially the big ones have lower salinity 1. because they want to save money on salt 2. as they sell fish and bag them using tank water , those tanks are auto topped off with freshwater. It is likely your tank isn't truly cycled yet. The good bac needs to have a place to populate , live rock is that place. The more you have the more stable your tank will be. Keep in mind if you add live rock it will cause a small cycle to start again . My best advice is to go slow , add live rock and test,test,test. I'm wishing you the best , just remember to go slow ( I know that's hard ) .

Gkat66 said:

It's not likely that small difference had any affect. Most fish stores especially the big ones have lower salinity 1. because they want to save money on salt 2. as they sell fish and bag them using tank water , those tanks are auto topped off with freshwater. It is likely your tank isn't truly cycled yet. The good bac needs to have a place to populate , live rock is that place. The more you have the more stable your tank will be. Keep in mind if you add live rock it will cause a small cycle to start again . My best advice is to go slow , add live rock and test,test,test. I'm wishing you the best , just remember to go slow ( I know that's hard ) .

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Thank you for all the help! One last thing—would the bacteria populate on lava rock as well? I currently have lava rock but no live rock. I will try to add live rock if it makes all the difference though

Live rock has aquatic origin and really can't be replaced by lava rock. Live rock comes in different shapes and types, also wet or dry , cured or uncured. Google it or better yet search Live rock on YouTube , I know there are some good informational videos on the subject.

The top photo is a new tank with cured but not mature Live rock, the other pictures are of fully mature rock , if you zoom in you can see purple coralline growing

Apwhite said:

The salinity in my tank was 1.023 specific gravity while at the store it was 1.021-22. Do you think the slight difference in salinity could be enough to put the fish into shock?

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No. That change in salinity did not kill the fish.

Apwhite said:

Thank you for all the help! One last thing—would the bacteria populate on lava rock as well? I currently have lava rock but no live rock. I will try to add live rock if it makes all the difference though

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Yes. The beneficial bacteria will grow on any hard surface and that includes different types of rock. It takes about 4-6 weeks for good filter bacteria to grow on rocks and other surfaces. If the rock was in the ocean (or seawater at a shop), then it should have some bacteria on it.

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Baby fish don't travel as well and if the fish was chased around the shop tank when it was being caught, that might have contributed to the problem.

How long did it take the shop assistant to catch the fish (a couple of seconds or longer)?

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I assume you checked the ammonia, nitrite nitrate and pH of your tank water before getting the fish?
Have you checked it since the fish died?

Did you use tap water and artificial marine salts to make up the salt water?

If you used tap water, did you dechlorinate it?

Have you got any pictures of the fish?

How many anemonefish were in the tank at the shop?
How long had they had them for?

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And to the original question, no the Tetra Safe Start did not kill the fish.

Colin_T said:

No. That change in salinity did not kill the fish.


Yes. The beneficial bacteria will grow on any hard surface and that includes different types of rock. It takes about 4-6 weeks for good filter bacteria to grow on rocks and other surfaces. If the rock was in the ocean (or seawater at a shop), then it should have some bacteria on it.

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Baby fish don't travel as well and if the fish was chased around the shop tank when it was being caught, that might have contributed to the problem.

How long did it take the shop assistant to catch the fish (a couple of seconds or longer)?

---------------------
I assume you checked the ammonia, nitrite nitrate and pH of your tank water before getting the fish?
Have you checked it since the fish died?

Did you use tap water and artificial marine salts to make up the salt water?

If you used tap water, did you dechlorinate it?

Have you got any pictures of the fish?

How many anemonefish were in the tank at the shop?
How long had they had them for?

---------------------
And to the original question, no the Tetra Safe Start did not kill the fish.

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It didn’t take very long to catch the fish, not more than a few seconds. I did check the water parameters before getting the fish. I did a 1/3 water change the day before. I checked before and after the water change, as well as before getting the fish. I checked the water after he died and it was mostly the same but had 0.24ppm nitrite. I used RO water in my tank and IO salt. I used some of the tetra water conditioner in preparation of getting the fish as well. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the fish. When I found him he was lying at the bottom of the tank and did not have any physical concerns like white dots, red gills, etc. At the shop, he was in a tank with only one other fish—another baby ocellaris. I observed them for about 10-20 before purchasing one and they did not seem to fight or be aggressive to one another. I’m not sure how long the shop had them for, but like I said, they were pretty small (an inch or less). I will attach a photo I took when he was still alive