have lost my fish twice now.

[pfloyd1223]

i have a 55 gallon tank. 45lbs, live rock. I have been cycling this tank probably about 4 months now. in the tank i have 1 damsel, several hermits, 3 snails, sally lightfoot crab. couple little brissle stars. all sorts of hangers from original live rock. I have lost 2 pair of clown fish. really cant figure out why. the first pair i didnt know of the drip method. so second pair after learning my lesson learned several youtube turtorials later. i had the second pair live from saturday to thursday. they seemed fine the first 2 days but never ate. i tried frozen, pellets, flakes. they ate nothing. its been 3 weeks since, i still show no signs of stress from other inhabitants. have done a water change and measured levels are within normal paramitors. [moderator edit]lol, i dont know what im doing wrong. o and it was from two different stores i purchased and the second store is very clean and i trust them. i dont wanna kill another set but really want a pair of them in my tank. any help?

 

[carey]

What are your water parameter? Salinity, ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?

 

[iDream]

You've been cycling for 4 months? If you're still in the cycle it makes sense that the clowns didn't survive, they died of ammonia or nitrite poisoning.


What kind of test kit do you have? Try and test and give us the numerical results of the tests, "within normal parameters" doesn't help us at all, especially if you are indeed cycling you're parameters are no where near normal

 

[squidward]

If ur still in cycle i would be useing a heartier fish like a v tail grouper to finish the cycle .

 

[iDream]

If ur still in cycle i would be useing a heartier fish like a v tail grouper to finish the cycle .

I suggest using no fish to cycle

 

[squidward]

I guess u dont have to use a fish ! It jus worked for me

 

[Flake]

It will work, but not only is it cruel to the fish, it's incredibly slow.

To the OP, I suggest returning that remaining damsel and finishing the cycle out before adding fish again.

Give this a read: Cycle your salt tank

 

[pfloyd1223]

i used the word cycle loosesly. the tank was completly set up with live rock for 5 weeks before i put the damsel fish in. it has been 4 months since i introduced the fish, then crabs, then snails. my salinity steady at 1.024. my ph is at 8.0. nitrites and nitrates are at zero.

 

[Flake]

and your ammonia?

 

[iDream]

If you're tank was cycled, you'd have nitrates unless you have a refugium

 

[leftyfish]

If they died because they never ate, then maybe it was just the fish? Try tank raised clowns. If your tank has good parameters and is 5 months old then it should be pretty stable. Do you do water changes?

You can you test the water they come in when you get home, set up the drip, dump out half when it doubles and keep doing that until the bag/ bucket water equals your tanks water. Lots of testing, but piece of mind that you did everything to acclimate them. Also, buy them somewhere else if you got them from the same place, maybe sick before you are bringing them home.

 

[pfloyd1223]

yea i do water changes every 3 weeks. test my water every week. ive done the drip. im starting to think ive just gotten an unlucky pair. the pair was pretty acive. ive got lots of hidey holes. not sure.

 

[Purevil21]

3 weeks is too far between changes. How much are you changing when you do a PWC?

 

[Purevil21]

Also, you don't have enough rock in your tank. Optimally you should have 1-2 lbs. per gallon. You should have atleast 10 more lbs. preferably more.

 

[Purevil21]

What are you using as a filter?