cycling with damsel

[0000]

My tank that has been cycling for about a week with live rock, I added a yellow tail damsel.

Its been in there for 4 days already, and it is fine from what I can see, it swims, hides, and eats.

my water is about at all the levels it should be at,

Why does everyone say not to use damsels to cycle the tank, will it take some time till mine dies, or will it be fine?

Also I plan on adding 2 clowns by the end of this week. Will the yellow tail damsel be aggressive to the clowns?

 

[austinsdad]

Try to imagine living in a cesspool. Or in a setpic tank. The damsels can live thru the cycling, but imagine having that ammonia go thru your gills if you were a fish.

I'd suggest you remove the damsel now and take him back to the lfs. Add a piece of grocery store shrimp to get the ammonia up.

I hope you have an ammonia and nitrite test kit so you can tell how successful the cycling is - rather than just waiting "4 days".

And yes, there is a good possibility the damsel will bother any new fish you add. Then you get stress. Then someone gets sick. Then all your fish die. OK, maybe not that bad, but the potential for all that to happen is there.

Look into our articles section on cycling SW. You'll see how easy it is to do with a raw grocery store shrimp.

 

[Krypt]

Why does everyone say not to use damsels to cycle the tank, will it take some time till mine dies, or will it be fine?

Also I plan on adding 2 clowns by the end of this week. Will the yellow tail damsel be aggressive to the clowns?

That is exactly why people should not cycle a tank using live fish. Your not only torturing that fish by putting it through the cycle, but it seems your also fine with killing a fish in order to get your tank going. You should take that fish out of the tank and return it to the store until you properly cycle the tank using fishless methods. It's not hard, all you have to do is throw in a raw shrimp, wait for the ammonia and nitrites to spike, take out whats left of the shrimp, wait for the ammonia and nitrites to go back to 0 and your good to go.

If you do not cycle the tank correctly, then your basically just flushing money down the toilet if you buy the 2 clowns and you won't be making any friends with your method of cycling here.

 

[HN1]

I agree with the above sentiments. There is no reason to cycle with fish. With your current approach, all you will succeed in is spending money and killing fish. There is so much good information here and elsewhere on how to properly cycle. Why not heed the advice of those with more experience?

 

[austinsdad]

Another thing. You say your water levels are what they should be at. Can you explain that further????

I'm especially interested since you are trying to cycle a tank. How high did your ammonia go up to? And the nitrites?

What are the readings now?

 

[austinsdad]

On June 11, just 3 days ago, you asked questions about the raw shrimp method and folks expained that to you. What made you change your mind and do the damsel anyway?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/shrimp-for-cycling-130537.html

 

[0000]

THIS IS WHY:

I tried doing water tests on my own and was getting pretty weird results, probably becuase I was doing something wrong.

I filled a cup of my water and took it to my local aquarium store (not petco or petsmart a legit fish store that only sells saltwater stuff).

I told the guy it has been about a week or less with my live sand and rock.

He did the tests and told me everything is almost exactly where it should be.

He told me to go home and do a 10% water change, and then I can add a few fish and some snails and crabs.

If I knew my water was bad, I would not buy damsel just so it would specifically cycle my tank.

Obviously my cycle is not complete since its only been about a week, but I just what the lfs guy told me.

 

[0000]

Also to Austinsdad : I will try to do water tests again tonight and post results.

 

[HN1]

THIS IS WHY:

I tried doing water tests on my own and was getting pretty weird results, probably becuase I was doing something wrong.

I filled a cup of my water and took it to my local aquarium store (not petco or petsmart a legit fish store that only sells saltwater stuff).

I told the guy it has been about a week or less with my live sand and rock.

He did the tests and told me everything is almost exactly where it should be.

He told me to go home and do a 10% water change, and then I can add a few fish and some snails and crabs.

If I knew my water was bad, I would not buy damsel just so it would specifically cycle my tank.

Obviously my cycle is not complete since its only been about a week, but I just what the lfs guy told me.

Bad advice would cause me to question their legitimacy.

 

[austinsdad]

Cool. Post the results and let us know.

P.S. - don't rely on the lfs. We'll help you, but you gotta learn some stuff too.

 

[0000]

Bad advice would cause me to question their legitimacy.

well I actually watched him do all the tests, its not like he took one look at my cup of water and said " looks fine, your good to go"

first he used the electric refractometer or whatever, it read is 1.025

then he tested high range PH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite

 

[ilostnemo]

whats the name of the fish store?

 

[0000]

whats the name of the fish store?

RMS Aquaculture, pretty sure its the only one that exists

 

[ilostnemo]

well maybe next time instead of the employee just telling your "water is fine" you ask to see results

 

[0000]

well maybe next time instead of the employee just telling your "water is fine" you ask to see results

he did show em to me, the tubes color matched the color of the index card, or atleast pretty close to it.

It was showing 0 ammonia, but what I dont know is if my ammonia went up and went down already? how long does it usually take?

 

[Jimbo7]

It can swing rapidly, but usually for a reason you would notice/influence. Adding a fish, a dead fish, a large dead invert, and overfeeding are the major causes. You should really invest in your own test kit set. The essential 3 are ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Ammonia and nitrate being a little more important after you monitor a cycle.

 

[melosu58]

Cycle your salt tank

 

[iDream]

people say damsels are bad because they are ridiculously hard to catch because few keep their damsels after cycling, to answer your question without any criticizing yelling =]

and yes damsels are aggressive to everything, i had to return mine after it killed another damsel and almost my two clowns =/

 

[Red Beard]

I'm noobish, but at my LFS, I was told that bringing in water can cause inaccurate results through heat gain/loss, light exposure, ect...might want to invest in a decent test kit, as you will be testing your levels in the future as you add stock and on a regular basis.

 

[ilostnemo]

yeah a test kit is one of the things you need first..