Lost a damsel...why?

[AR15 guy]

I recently set up a small 10 gallon FOWLR tank. Only a pound of rock right now. I have had the tank up for maybe a week. Fish have been doing great. I have only fed them once. Came in today and one was dead. Checked my ammonia level and it is still zero. And my ph is 8.0. SG is 1.022 according to two testers. Temp is 79-80.

These damsels came from the same tank. Is it possible they began to get aggressive with each other? The one that is left is still acting odd. I am afraid he may die also.

I know 2 damsels to start a tank is too much. Buddy took my blue damsel and bought me a yellow tail like I wanted. So I went ahead and got another from the same tank. I had planned on adding them to my 38 within the next couple of days. Now I am not sure what I am going to do.

I was expecting high levels of ammonia....but that isn't the case. So they must either have been sick or fighting. My LR is growing and becoming more colorful. So I doubt the water is to terribly bad.

Any ideas?

PS: I did do a 15% or so water change earlier just in case.

 

[electrikat]

how long have you been doing sw?

 

[AR15 guy]

I had a 38 gallon tank set up for awhile. But that has been a few years ago. Just jumped back into it recently.

 

[electrikat]

So you said you planned on putting them in the 38 eventually, is it set up yet? And also, after a week you should have a high ammonia reading and some nitrite reading already. Also the lr was all you needed to cycle the tank. You don't need to use live fish. If you suspect the water(and I do) you should try to get rid of the remaining fish(either give to your friend or take back to store). Damsels are aggressive in general and are usually just a pain in the a. Make sure(and I'm sure you have)that the test kit you have is for sw. I have seen people recently who were using fw by accident and getting screwy readings. 10 gallons is pretty small and they may have gotten aggressive but it's probably the water. If you have a 38 why are you using the 10 as your main setup? I asked how long you had been doing this because I don't like to have people feel insulted by my answers and it helps to know how much you might know about it.

 

[AR15 guy]

I set up the 10 one day for no real reason. Since I had it empty and such.

38 had some piranha in it at the time I set up the 10 gallon. Now it is empty. That is why the 38 isn't set up yet. I was going to wait till I get paid to get some substrate and LR and such.

The test kit I used is for SW BUT it is pretty old. At least 2-3 years I would say.

My damsel is acting strange....which makes me think its the water.

Is 1-2lbs going to be enough to cycle it?

I was going to wait until I can afford to order 44lbs of base rock from liverocks.com for the 38 gallon. Not sure how much longer that will be. I am a poor college student.

I may take a water sample to the local store and see if they can test it. Maybe my testers are just to old.

 

[electrikat]

The test kits will last as long as a year but my last one only went for about 8 months then started testing funny, so 2 to 3 years is definitely bad. One piece of lr would be enough. The lfs will test all 4 of the usual parameters for you, usually for free.

 

[AR15 guy]

Yeah they test for free. I will take a sample over and try that.

I don't know what to do with the damsel. Buddy is also doing a 10 gallon. He has a blue damsel that seems to be doing very well. It was from a much better store than my two. Hopefully I didn't get sick fish.

 

[AR15 guy]

Lost the other damsel to. I am going to have to go buy some new test kits and see what is up. I have a feeling the 2 fish and the rock was just to much to soon. I hope thats all it is anyway.

 

[quarryshark]

I agree to check the test kit. After only a week, your cycle may not have finished yet.
How did you acclimate the fish?

 

[malkore]

Might I suggest fishless cycling in the future?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[RocketSeason]

What kinda water are you using???

could be something in the water.

 

[AR15 guy]

I think I figured it out.

Took my water and my SG tester to a good LFS. Come to find out my SG meter is off pretty bad. It is off .0025-.003 or so. I had my water set to 1.021 on that meter...which was making it pretty low. I bought a new one today.

Along with 20lbs of live sand for that tank. So I don't think my cycle will take long this time.

I do believe that was my problem.

 

[AR15 guy]

I will be doing the fishless cycle on my 38 gallon too. Thanks for the information.

Back when I did salt water the first time I never heard anything of this sort.

 

[electrikat]

Things change fast in this hobby.

 

[AR15 guy]

You think the low salinity played a factor in the fish's death?

 

[Phyl]

I don't think that the low salinity by itself could have caused their demise. I do think that pH swings as a result of low salinity/alkalinity or possibly shock from going from one SG to another too fast may have contributed. What was your acclimation procedure? Did you test the salinity and pH before and after introducing the fish? Sometimes that can play a part.

I have 2 fish doing hypo right now which is at a salinity of 1.009 and they're fairing quite well. They were brought down that low over the course of three or four days though.

 

[AR15 guy]

The low salinity could have been the straw that broke the camels back.

I do have a little bit of ammonia. But not much. However I did do a partial after the first one died so I could have took the level down some. I know I shouldn't have done a partial yet but I was attempting to save the fish.

Local store had their water at 1.026 according to my gauge...so around 1.024. While my water was actually 1.018-1.019. I let the bag float for awhile. Then slowly started letting water in. Over the course of 15 min or so and then released them. They did well for a few days. Then started acting bad and died.

 

[Jonathan G.]

it is very hard to tell... all in all IMO you just added the damsels too quick. I added my live rock, which was fully cured from my lfs and kept with fish in the tank(unlike a lot of lfs who sell "live rock" that is just in a tank by itself with a skimmer), and experienced no cycle at all. i added 2 baby O. clowns 5 days after the live rock but i will still admit that even with no cycle i added them too early. i'd wait if i were you till your pH is stable and everything 0's out as far as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates go.

 

[mjvincent]

I don't think the difference in SG would have killed the fish... Damels are very hardy fish and survive quite a bit of stuff (which is why they are used to cycle the tank). I think you would have lost the damsels in a period of two days if you had shocked them due to SG changes.

 

[AR15 guy]

If they were shocked due to the change would it normally take them a couple days to die?