Dead fish

[blkhawk10]

when I started I had 3 damsels one big one, one little one, and one medium size. Within a couple days the little one was dead, and now after a couple weeks the medium sized one is dead. I noticed that the big one was very territorial on the medium one and bit a good sized chunk out of his tail. Is the big one what's killing my fish. My tank is also still cycling.

 

[kreach]

My guess is that the death of the damsels was caused by the fact that your tank is cycling. The high levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate inherant in a cycle is probably what killed the fish...
It's sad to see this happen. I don't understand why LFS employees still tell people to cycle their tank with live fish. :nope:

 

[blkhawk10]

Why hasn't the big one died? Wouldn't they all die at the same time?

 

[kreach]

Not necessarily. When you cycle with live fish, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose some of them (which is why I don't recommend cycling with live fish), but sometimes one or two will make it... it's just luck...

 

[trigger reid]

you can cycle by puting a piece of food in to get all you perimeters going

 

[dorie]

Live Fish or LR are both good for cycling the system...
I am a srtong believer in LR....the cycling is shorter 2 weeks at the most....you do need a good skimmer and filter system (don't penny pinch these 2 items).......the bigger the better...can't go wrong on more better than less...

 

[kreach]

For the record, I'm not denying that you CAN sucessfully cycle a tank with live fish... I just don't think you SHOULD. It's just cruel to the fish, in my opinion...

 

[dorie]

SOOOOOOOOO True too cruel...
cycle with brine shrimp...fish food etc...lots of ways to do it....my LFS recommended the LR and or shrimp under LS....can't go wrong....you will be rewarded...also be very patient go slow don't rush....when your readings are right...still go slow and add your species one at a time...waitng at least 2 - 4 weeks before adding anything else....less agressive first...
I personaly did the LS and LR along with shrimp under sand....

 

[tyr-sog]

Originally posted by kreach
My guess is that the death of the damsels was caused by the fact that your tank is cycling. The high levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate inherant in a cycle is probably what killed the fish...
It's sad to see this happen. I don't understand why LFS employees still tell people to cycle their tank with live fish. :nope:

It's all about the $$$

 

[skirrby]

Originally posted by kreach
I don't understand why LFS employees still tell people to cycle their tank with live fish. :nope:
im sure they tell them this so they can get money from them buying the damsels.

 

[daniel411]

Was it also not, relatively common practice to cycle a tank with damsels not so long ago?

 

[kreach]

Originally posted by Fish_Boi
i dont agree with ur replies on the cycling with damsels.
damsels are the hardiest SW fish, i cycled my 29 gal with 5 damseles and no losses. it is a bad idea to cycle with LR b/c u kill all the stuff that makes the rock live, so whats the point in paying fo expensive LIVE rock when you KILL it. damsels will do fine during the cycle anf i tried to cycle my tank with cocktail shrimp but it got all moldy and stunk he room up, so thats not a good idea IMO
As far as the cycling with damsels go and whether or not it's cruel, it comes down to a matter of opinion. Your opinion on that is different than mine, so I'll just leave it at that.
On the live rock however, I have to disagree. If you watch your levels during your cycle and do water changes as necessary, you DON'T kill everything on your live rock... you just lose what was already dying in the first place. Your LFS puts the rock through the same cycle in order to make it cured. And then, you end up paying them a couple dollars more a pound for the cured live rock... when you could have bought it uncured and saved some money by doing the curing yourself during your cycle.
As for the shrimp, I agree that cycling with a shrimp is a stinky way to do it... but it does work.