new sw

mbenson

mbenson

New Member
I have a new 29 sw tank. Never had sw before.Have been reading sw for dummies. Tank is only about 3 to 4 weeks. I have had 2 yellow tailed damsels, 2 domino damsels, 1 striped damsel, 1 yellow tang and 1 perc clown. 1 striped damsel got sick and died. The yellow tailed damsel has caused us to lose the other yellow tailed damsel and both domino damsels. The yellow tang. the perc clown and the yellow tail are all doing fine now. What species can I add next and be safe. So far I followed the recommendations from the ***** store close to where I live until I found this web site. This site is the greatest. There are not a lot of choices around here in NE Arkansas. Thanks in advance for any advice you have available.
Mike
 
yetex

yetex

Member
Sounds like you need to stop listening to *****. Thats the best advice you can get right now. First off your adding to many fish to quickly. And then your also having trouble with your selection of fish. Get rid of the Tang, it will grow to large for a 29 gallon tank. Give me the levels of your water tests. I wonder how they are after adding that many fish that quickly. What kind of substrate do you have? How much liverock do you have? What type of Filtration?
 
T

thomas712

Guest
:mad: ***** advice :mad:
Add nothing else to the tank!!! Your tank needs to stableize first. The cycle takes over a month depending on certain factors.
Do you understand the cycle proccess?
I can practaclly guarentee that if you got your fish at ***** then your tank has a healthy case of ick :mad: .
Do you know what ick is?
Please take the time to explain your tank, filtration, lights, liverock, substrate, fish only, fowler, reef. Everything about your tank that you can think of..Are you testing for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.
In my opinion you moved way to fast, you need to slow down. Talk to us and we will help.
If ***** is the only saltwater store nearby then you will need to set up a Quarentene tank, or order fish online. Then it is still the best idea to have a Q-tank to protect your investment.
Thomas
 
mbenson

mbenson

New Member
Thanks for the help. I wished I had found this site before I bought. My PH is 8.2,ALK normal,NH3 is .50,NO2 is .0, NO3 is
.25. I have a FO tank. I have Marine pebble size substrate.
My tank is actually a 26gal bowfront,w/Tetratec Pf150 bio filter,
Tetratec 100w heater, a 24"flor.19w light.
My wife is going to cry when we get rid of the tang.
Mike
 
yetex

yetex

Member
Well getting rid of the tang will help alot. You wouldn't want it any ways. They can get ich very easily and especially in a 29 gallon where it would be stressed.
 
yetex

yetex

Member
Well as far as your water levels go
your tank has not cycled
I would suggest returning all the fish you have and basically start over. While doing this i would suggest that you change your substrate to a Deep Sand Bed. Do a Search on DSB on this message board and you will turn up tons of information about them. This will benefit your system in the long run.
Once you have that done then it is time to let the tank cycle. This time varies from tank to tank. Place a raw shrimp in there from the local store in there and let it rot. Then take it out once your ammonia has peaked and sit back and relax till all the levels go down.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Mike - First of all,,, forgive me..... I am usually very good about welcoming new members. :D Welcome aboard :D
As to the tang, your wife may cry now but how hard would it be if you repeat the same mistake a few times.
Sounds like you bio load is going to spike your ammonia, this is the most leathal to them, damsals may tollorate it, but I am afraid the tang may not. If you can return him do so, but call first, you don't want to stress him out by bagging him and get refused at the store. If you have to keep him then you may have to do some water changes to keep that ammonia down.
When adding fish it is wise to add only one, and then wait for two weeks before adding another, this will give your biological bacteria a chance to catch up with the increase in bio load.
Let us know if there is anything else
Thomas
 
mbenson

mbenson

New Member
I guess the three fish I have left are going to have to be my trial and error as bad as i hate it. ***** made it very clear that the guarantee on the fish is gone when you walk out the door. The closest sw store is 40 miles from here including the *****. When we went looking for an aquarium we were looking at freshwater until the clerk talked us into a sw. As gullible as I am and as much as i have always admired the beautiful colors of tropicals I fell for the sw. I know now I jumped the gun. Right now the tang is very docile and still has a beautiful bright color and the 3 I have left get along fine. Any advice is appreciated.
 
mbenson

mbenson

New Member
How fast do yellow tangs grow or reach their max. size? Since I can't take him back or no one I know close by has a sw tank, I want to give him all the care I can.
 
jillian ayers

jillian ayers

Member
Welcome to the board! It is a terrible thing that you had to come here under these circumstances and it really infuriates me that any store would do that. :mad: As for the tang, I would really suggest that you find another hobbyist or even drive way out of your way to get rid of it. If you really want it, buy at least a 55 gallon tank, cycle it, wait a little while after that, and then add the tang. Tell your wife to think this way, you are saving the life of a beautiful fish and all of us on this board know what it is like to lose a fish we liked alot. From what I have read of tangs, it will probably not survive a tank cycle. I hope you go back to ***** and tell them what idiots they are :mad:
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
yetex, I did a search for dsb before I posted and it returned nothing. Is there a trick to it?
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
how far are you from LR and Searcy if you are able to get to Searcy go to the Fish bowl on Race street the owner and staff are vary knowledgeable. in LR there is a place on cantrel cant remeber the name though they are very helpful as well.
other than that take the advice on the board I have never been to a ***** and from all I have read have no interest in ever going (nother story just do a search for ***** and will turn up a lot of threads). the people here arent out for money and have tried anything and everything that you can think of LOL .
good luck
Mike
 
mbenson

mbenson

New Member
Searcy is about 120 miles and Little Rock is 188 miles. I actually have a sister and brother-in-law that own the National Park Aquarium in Hot Springs but they are 245 miles away. So I would imagine that after my tank cycles my best shot at buying fish will be on this website. I will come back and ask about compatible fish after my tank cycles. Thanks.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
yeah in that case I would order offline before I would buy at *****. the only thing is that when orfering online you are usually looking at pictures that resemble the ones you get unless otherwise stated.
Mike
 
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