Very Very Confused

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bj5z25

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
50
Location
USA
Today I woke up turned on my lights to my 2 week old 75 gal tank and found yet another 1 of my 3 damsels laying on the bottom dead. I am very confused on wy this is happening, I thought damsels were the most hardy fish and the best starter fish. Now I only have a domino damsel left. I have 20 lbs of live rock, rena canister filter, red sea turbo berlin skimmer, 48" coalife pc lighting and a undergravel jaubert filter. Why are all of my starters dying. And what should I do to prevent any future deaths?
 
Were you using the damsels to cycle the tank? If so, it is my understanding that damsels have only about a 50/50 shot of surviving the cycle (and you'll hear many suggesting the more humane "fishless cycle" method).

You may want to post your current water parameters, so that the experts can give you a good diagnosis.

Based on my little bit of knowledge, you'll be advised that you'll need more like 100 lbs of live rock, if you want natural filtration.

Best of luck and I wish the best for your remaining damsel.
 
I agree it sounds like you are cycling with these fish and this could be the reason they are dying. The ammonia and nitrites during a tank cycle can be deadly. I would suggest doing a water change and test your water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Please post your results so we can help determine your problems and how best to handle it. As mentioned already, if you are cycling, there are ways of doing it without having fish suffer through the cycling process or even dying. Since you already have the fish, water changes will help alleviate the problem but will slow down the cycling process. Check out our articles section on the Nitrogen Cycle to find out more. HTH
 
Do you have test kits?? Is the tank cycled? Cycling with fish is not the best way as your finding out.
you need to test for ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate you need to have kits for these. Have you done any water changes during the cycle? IMO the undergravel filter is crap and will only hurt the tank down the road... I would take it out now while the tank is young.
 
It isnt actually a powered filter. It is a plenum style deep sand bed filter.
 
Ditch the undergravel filter.

How do the experts feel about live sand? I used it in my 15-gallon tank and it cycled very quickly and no fish died. My understanding is that it already has the beneficial bacteria in the sand. I know you can buy it at the lfs, but get expert opinions, just because it worked for me doesn't mean it's the right choice. All I did was add 10 punds to my aragonite.
 
IMO if you're going with enough cured live rock, live sand isn't necessary. the rock will seed the sand eventually, and the rock has all the bacteria you'll need to get started.

That's the other issue I see here: 20lbs of rock in a 75gallon tank. You need at least 55lbs more rock at a minimum to have sufficient LR for bio-filtration. Money better spent there than on DSB plenum gear, which is debatable about how good/useful it really is to the marine ecosystem.
 
Thanks for the input, I guess I could have just bought more live rock and stuck with my aragonite. Oh, well... it worked out okay.

Think I'll just go try the vinegar test! :wink:
 
sdellin are you talking about that stuff they call LS thats stored in plastic tightly sealed bags and put on a shelf for months?? IMO that is not LS... Glad it worked out for you...
 
seaham358 said:
sdellin are you talking about that stuff they call LS thats stored in plastic tightly sealed bags and put on a shelf for months?? IMO that is not LS... Glad it worked out for you...

Yeah, that's what I bought. I had this freshwater lfs contact for years when I had fish before. When I set up a saltwater tank, I asked for aragonite and they recommended that sand to help me get started. It was nicely squishy in it's little tightly sealed plastic bag, but supposedly it's supposed to help with cycling.

You see, now I have all these nice, expert people to ask and bug the heck out of. I'm definately learning a lot on this site!
 
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