Is my fish tank doing okay?

Question

Yesterday I set up a new fish tank with 2 little-neck saltwater clams. I dropped in an algae pellet (as the clerk at Petsmart suggested) and let it be. Throughout yesterday I saw the clams extend their foot out of their shell, retract, etc. Today morning I surprised to find the tank water to be cloudy (though I believe this is because of the algae pellet) and one of my clams having his foot out, though both of them are tightly shut. Also, I found some white web-like stuff at the top of the tank, which I am not sure what it is. Is my fish tank doing okay, or is there something wrong?

Corydoras · Accepted Answer

This tank is uncycled, meaning that the ammonia output from the algae wafer and the psuedofeces of the clams have polluted the water. It is cloudy from a bacterial bloom, which happens when too much ammonia is put into the water before there is enough good nitrifying bacteria established in the tank. They are tightly shut from the stress of poor water quality in their tank, and clams eat suspended material, so instead of a pellet, grind it up into a powder, add tank water, and use a target feeder for corals to squirt it right at the clams. Also, when a clam dies, they pollute the tank very quickly. Here's my suggestion. Get rid of the clams for now, dismantle the tank, reassemble it, and search up on fishless cycling. Then you can put the clams back in for a healthier life, though keeping non symbiotic clams can be challenging.

Anonymous · Answer

you need to cycle it the nominua turns into nitive thats really powerful an its really bad for fish

Is my fish tank doing okay?

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