Help with dead fish after 2 days

[CobraSnake7]

I bought a bicolor Cherub Angel from my lfs, and in less than 48 hours it was dead.
1. Took it home in a bag on a one hour trip to my home. It died in less than 48 hours.
2. It was in the tank for less than 48 hours. In the tank are 3 Damsels, 2 Clarkii Clowns, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Atlantic Candylactus Anemone, 15 Red Leg Hermit crabs, 15 snails. No aggression.
3. It ate a few Brine Shrimp, and a few flake food pieces.
4. pH =8.2, A=0.50 (was 0.25 when put in the day before),No2=0, No3=20, salt content=1.022/28 using a refractometer, temp=82
5. The fish looked OK
6. It showed no odd behavior
7. It was mostly hiding, but did swim about the tank a little.
8. I did not quarantine the fish

9. I acclimated it using the water it came in the bag, put it in a 1 gallon tub, and added 1/4 cup of tank water each 5 minutes. I know some say to use the drip system at 4 drops per second for anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or more. Some say 2 drops per second. To me, the water the fish is in will be much colder than the tank water when you put the fish into the tank. So who is correct, and why, and which way is correct?

10.My tank is a 50 gallon that is 48"x14.5"x16". After all the sand and rocks were placed in the tank, it took only 40 gallons to fill it. I have an Eheim canister filter good for up to 60 gallons. Don't shoot me until you read all of this story. I used tap water to originally fill my tank. My TDS meter read 018ppm, and each water change I used RO water from my lfs.
I put in 30# of old live sand(dead), 40# of live sand, 31.5# of very pourous live rock, 30# of base rock (like Fiji)

11.I have added no additives to my tank.

My Clowns and my Damsels are just fine, so what do I need to do to keep an angel alive. I ask because I had a 30 gallon tank going for about 3 months before I started my 50 gallon tank. In it I lost a Lemonpeel Angel after 10 days, a Keyhole Angel after 5 days, a Coral Beauty Angel after 10 days because it had Ick, and around 4 Ocelerous Clowns in a months time. I took down the 30 tank, and used the live rock from it to add to my 50 gallon tank. In this tank I did not cycle it properly, and that is all I will say about that.

Please give me some good advice from more than just one person, like maybe three or more, if you will. Thank you, Larry

 

[carey]

If you are showing any ammonia reading you should NOT be adding any fish or livestock. You said your tank isn't properly cycled and i would agree. The first thing you need to do is get the cycle complete. When you get a reading on ammonia you need to do a water change right away.

 

[CobraSnake7]

Help with dead fish

I think you misunderstood me. My 30 gallon tank was not cycled properly. I belive my 50 that I am using now was cycled about correctly. I waited about 30 days before I added any fish. It had an amonia reading of less than 0.25, but not 0, when I put the Angel in it. All the other fish have been in it for one to two weeks, and are doing fine. It is just my Angel's that I am having a problem with. I put one Damsel in it two weeks ago out of my 30 tank, put two more Damsels in a week later from my lfs, and two Clowns a week after that from my lfs. The Angel I put in a week after that. At that time my tank has less than 0.25 amonia, a pH of 8.3, No2 of 0, and No3 of 10. From what I have been told, and read, it all seems pretty good to me. Please give me some feedback. I forgot to mention that I have done a 10 gallon water change every week for five weeks using RO water from my lfs, having done the last one 5 hours before adding the Angel.

 

[Sergie]

Any ammonia is highly toxic to any fish or invert. Trying to acclimate to it's new surroundings is stressful enough to weaken your angel. Plus you have fish that could be territorial enough to stress the angel even more. Then you have the ammonia and it's a pretty deadly combination.

 

[Rutrag]

To reiterate what Carey said, you need zero ammonia. Angels are more sensitive than clowns and damsels, and aren't going to have as much tolerance for ammonia.

I believe the ammonia issue may be coming from the rate at which you added fish. Six fish over two weeks is a lot pretty quickly in a 50.

I also noted that it looked as though you had a pretty wide range of salinity. You want to shoot for consistency

 

[Rutrag]

As far as acclimation, you're not only trying for a temperature match, but also to gat the fish used to the chemical properties of your water as well. I actually use a small styrofoam box to help insulate from temperature changes during the process. If your house temp is far off from the tank temp, you might consider using a small submersible heater to keep temps equal during the process.

 

[CobraSnake7]

Help with dead fish

Thank you for the idea of using a styrofoam box to help keep the water temp more even, and also maybe even to use a small heater. Also the info on getting the new fish used to the balance of the water in my 50. My salinity is this 1.022/28 meaning 1.022 salinity on the left side of the chart, and 28 SG reading on the right side. My refletometer reads both. I put 6 fish in my 50 over a 5 week period, not a 2 week period. I really am thankfull for any and all the advice I get here. So, thank you all so much. Any more advice???

 

[Rutrag]

It had an amonia reading of less than 0.25, but not 0, when I put the Angel in it. All the other fish have been in it for one to two weeks, and are doing fine. It is just my Angel's that I am having a problem with. I put one Damsel in it two weeks ago out of my 30 tank, put two more Damsels in a week later from my lfs, and two Clowns a week after that from my lfs. The Angel I put in a week after that.

The quote above says the other fish (5 not counting the angel) have either been in the tank two weeks OR beginning two weeks ago, you started adding fish to the 50 beginning with the damsel from the 30, but then suggests a timeline spanning three weeks:

1st fish = damsel from 30
2nd & 3rd fish = two more damsels from LFS a week later
4th & 5th fish = two clownfish another week later (2 weeks have passed)
6th fish = angel another week later (3 weeks have passed)

Can you please clarify your timeline?

 

[CobraSnake7]

Help with dead fish

It has been explained to me by someone that knows a lot more than me about fish in general. Dwarf Angels are more sensitive than clowns and Damsels, and a lot of other fish to begin with. Add to that the fact they are wild caught, thrown into a large container, then eventually put into a shipping container to be sent to a LFS, then into a small aquarium, then into a bag for the customer (me), then a one hour ride home to my house, then in a while put into my 50 gallon tank sooooooo stressed out, that it would be almost a miracle for it to live any length of time. Stress is a killer. Any other explainations???

 

[CobraSnake7]

Help with dead fish

I took a sample of my water in my 50 tank to my LFS for them to test it. When they did, the pH was 8.3, Amonia was 0, Nitrite was 0, and Nitrate was 10. My test at home was the same except the Amonia was .25. I believe that their kit was more accurate than mine, as I was using a fresh water kit on it. I was told that the API kit for salt and fresh water was the same, but I have doubts about it. After the test around 2 PM, I left, and came back around 7, and bought a Wrasse that was majenta in color, and about 1.5 inches long. I acclimated it, put it in about an hour later, and a lousy $3 Damsel picked on it so much that I put the Wrasse in a cage inside my 50 tank. The next day it was dead. Lousy Damsel. What can I put in my tank that won't die???????

 

[EriksFish315]

Take the damsels out then you won't have an issue with them lol that's all you can do about that one.