About To Give Up

[cathy joe]

I CANT KEEP ANY KIND OF FISH BUT DAMSELS. I STARTED WITH DAMSELS, I TRADED THEM IN AND GOT A BLUE REGAL AND THEN 2 CLOWNS. ALL DIED FROM ICH. AFTER A MONTH GOT 2 DAMSELS. GOT A ROCK BLENNY AND HE DIED AFTER A MONTH. JUST TRIED A YELLOW TANG AND HE DIED AFTER 3 DAYS. WHAT IS UP WITH THIS. SO I NOW HAVE A BLUE DAMSEL, A WHITE WITH BLACK STRIPS, AND A GROUP OF GREEN CHROMIS. ALL MY LEVELS HAVE BEEN GOOD. WHY CANT I HAVE ANY THING BUT A DAMSEL

 

[boomper]

Don't give up yet.......give us some more info and we can help you out.
How long has your tank been set up?
What are your exact water parameters?
Are you adding all of these fish at once?
What type of clean up crew do you have?
How often are you doing water changes?
How often do you feed?
The answers to these will help other members on the board narrow down possible problems for you. Damsels are heardy fish and can withstand poor water quality, which is why it may appear they are the only fish you can keep. Other fish are much more sensitive to changes in water quality, and your answers to the above questions will help us figure it out.

 

[cathy joe]

THE ORIGINAL TANK WAS ALMOST A YEAR OLD, BUT I CHANGED OVER TO A BIGGER ONE. THE YELLOW TANG THAT I ADDED TO THE NEW TANK IS THE ONE I CANT FIGURE OUT. WITH THE HISTORY OF ME NOT HAVING LUCK WITH FISH I WENT TO THE FISH STORE AND HAD THEM CHECK MY WATER. EVERYTHING WAS GREAT, EXCEPT MY ALK. IT WAS REALLY LOW. AND I DO RESPECT EVERYTHING MY LFS SAYS TO ME, THEY ARE GREAT. BUT I ADDED THE TANG AND HE SEEMED TO BE DOING GOOD FOR THE FIRST 2 DAYS. I CHECK HIM AT NIGHT WHEN I TURNED THE LIGHT OFF AND THE NEXT MORNING WHEN I TURNED THE LIGHT ON HE WAS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK BARELY ALIVE. THE ONLY THING I NOW I DID NOT DO WAS TURN MY POWER HEAD OFF. WITH THE NEW TANK I GOT A BIG POWER HEAD AND WAS TOLD TO TURN I OFF AT NIGHT

 

[loopy]

What is your water temp? Give specifics that Boomer asked for and you'll get answers. Good luck.

 

[cathy joe]

THE TANK WAS ABOUT A YR OLD
THE NITRATE WAS 15
THE AMMONIA WAS .25
THE TEMP WAS KINDA LOW, I GOT A NEW HEATER AND WAS TRYING TO ADJ IT. 70 DEGR, IT IS UP TO 76 NOW
I FEED ONCE A DAY
BUT LIKE I SAID HE WAS DOING GREAT AT NIGHT , THE NEXT MORNING HE WAS ON HIS SIDE ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK

 

[scubadoo]

How big was the yellow tang? If a medium size or bigger than it may have died from stress...tank is too small for a yellow tang. You can get buy with a very small yellow for a short period. Did the lfs tell you the tang would live to adulthood in your tank?
Also, did you add the fish all at once? If so, did the lfs say it was okay? Your biological filter needs to grow as you add animals to your system. If adding a small fish, you should wait 2-4 weeks or longer before adding anything additional. This will alllow your bacteria to grow with the bioload. Add too much at once and your fish will die due to a mini tank cycle. Damsels are hardy and can live through this which may explain why they did.

 

[scubadoo]

Temp needs to be higher....78 to 80 with lots of water movement. AMMONIA SHOULD BE ZERO! Very important as ammonia is deadly to most marine animals. Damsels are hardy and can survive. There is a chance your test kit is not accurate.

 

[farslayer]

Well, 70 degrees is certainly a problem, 76 is probably not much better. I keep my tanks between 80 and 82 with no problems. Any ammonia whatsoever is a problem, so your .25 indicates that your tank is either not cycled or there is a source of fresh ammonia somewhere such as dead bodies or uneaten food. Please go ahead and post your nitrites, pH and specific gravity as well.

 

[promisetbg]

Don't turn off your powerhead at night..that does'nt make sense.At night the PH will drop,turning off the powerhead will make it drop even more,and the fish need the circulation/oxygenation.What type of filtration is on this tank?Do you have any liverock in the tank?

 

[fishcake]

50 gallon tanks can be hard to keep fish like tangs. especially... if you don't use a skimmer and a fuge.I had a hard time with a couple kole tangs before i decided to move up to a 210 gallon with a 50 gallon fuge. Now I house 3 tangs 1 tomato and 7 cromis with no problems (knock on wood). the saying "size does'nt matter" does not apply when coming to Fish husbandry. You can always move up to a 75 gallon + and turn your 50 into a refuge. Then buy a yellow tang.

 

[loopy]

Cathy Joe, don't give up.....I was about to also. The people here got me through the tough situations...namely, my personal screw ups! Now my tank is running good, everything is alive. (Knock on wood over and over and over again.) Hang in there.....these folks will get you on the right track and you'll have a fantastic tank and you'll be thrilled!!!! Great Luck to you!!! Keep us updated!:yes:

 

[cathy joe]

SO WHAT IM GETTING IS THE TEMP SHOULD BE AROUND 80DEGS. THE TANG WAS SMALL ABOUT THE SIZE OF A HALF DOLLAR. I HAVE 40LBS OF LIVE SAND AND ABOUT 30LBS OF LIVE ROCK, WILL BE GETTING MORE WHEN IT COMES IN AT THE LFS. I USE A PRIZISM SKIMMER. DO I OR DO I NOT TURN THE POWERHEAD OFF AT NIGHT, I WAS TOLD THE TANK NEEDS TO REST AT NIGHT. IM NOT SURE EXACTLY WHAT THE NITRITE AND THE PH WAS, BUT IT WAS SHOWING GOOD. THE TANG WAS ADDED WITH A SKUNK CLEANER. BUT I THINK MAYBE I ADDED THE TANG TO SOON AFTER I WENT TO THE 50GAL TANK.

 

[fishcake]

Keep the powerhead going!

 

[howardcu]

I am going to agree with the others and say that the ammonia is your big problem. I would not add any more fish until that reads 0. I don't think the temp is your problem, mine usually runs at 76 or so and everything is fine. I have also had a time where the heater failed and the temp dropped below 70 and off the thermometer scale. Nothing died, everything was a little lethargic, but after the lights kicked on and started heating things up they all perked up. As far as adding too many things at once, it doesn't sound like you really added that many things at once. I have been bad and added 6 fish at once to a 55 to save on shipping from here and never had a problem. I do a 10% water change a couple days later and then again a week later when I usualy only do them once a month or so, but nothing died or even appeared stressed. I do have about 100lbs of live rock and probably 70lbs of aragonite in the tank with more rock rubble and sand in the sump area too. Plus the tank had been up for over 2 years.

 

[howardcu]

Oh and if you only have one power head keep it going. I have 3 Maxijet 1200's and the Eheim that runs the return from the sump and I keep the large Eheim and one powerhead on at night. The two other Maxijets are on the same timer as the lights. If you only have one powerhead in a tank of that size that could be a problem. Plus 30lbs of live rock is not really that much.

 

[queenangel920]

How were you acclimating the fish to your tank? That could be a problem. I would definatley say the ammonia and temperature where the culprits if they were correctly acclimated. If your lfs says everything was good, then you could of had nitrites too because .25 of ammonia is no good. Raise the temp. to about 80 degrees and do a water change.
Go and buy your own test kits too. That way you can test your water when you want.