Something crazy happened last night...woke up to a dead Blue Damsel..HELP!

[jsb]

Okay...My tank has been up between 3 and 4 months now. My water levels have been staying at
Ammonia - .25
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Alk - 2.2
Ph - 8.6
I got a Ca test kit for xmas, along with a Maxi Jet 900, I picked up 4 Scarlets, and two Turbos the day before xmas. I tested my Ca and it's at 300, and I put my Maxi jet in yesterday. (that thing has got some flow!!)
Anyway, my fish were fine yesterday, and this morning I was checking the tank and I noticed a blue damsel laying down in his hiding spot...not moving...laying on his side...I can't find the other blue damsel, but one was aggressive out of the two. My striped damsel is in his little hole swimming but won't come out. What happened while I was sleeping last night. :scared:
My levels don't seem bad, do they?
Jeremy

 

[cprdnick]

Your ammonia is not zero, which means that it is not what it should be. If your ammonia isn't zero you can be pretty sure that killed your fishy.

 

[karajay]

Was the fish actually already dead when you saw it? If so, the corpse itself in the tank could have sent your ammonia up.
Was it the aggressive one that died? In my experience with damsels, if one starts showing weakness, the others will pick it to death.

 

[col]

Your ammonia is 0.25 and your pH is 8.6.
Ammonia should be zero and pH should be 8.1 - 8.3
With a high pH the ammonia will be worse.
How long have the fish been in there?

 

[jsb]

Well I can't get my Ammonia any lower than that. I even use an RO unit. I think it's the test kit personally, because I've spoke with several people here who get the same reading from this test kit, plus I even tested my Ro water and it had .25. The Ph is a little high, I've been trying to get it to come down, but I haven't had a lot of luck. The fish have been in the tank for about a year. A relative gave me the tank about 3 top 4 months ago. It's wierd. My numbers have basically been the same for over a month. the only change was the snails and crabs, plus the new power head. I was wondering if the snails and crabs caused the problem. I think it's the weaker of the two, but it's hard to tell. If I could find the other one, I might be able to tell, but I don't want to rip up my LR. I also was told that small amounts of ammonia wasn't that harmful, and probabl some what unavoidable in the larger cities. Oh well, thanks for the help.

 

[cprdnick]

If you are using an aquarium pharm. test kit your ammonia has a pretty good chance of always showing .25 higher than it is. Mine is like this.
But the ph problem should be fixed.

 

[calvindo]

your damsels are probably killing eachother. how does the fins and tail look? I had 6 chromis and now only have 4 left... they were constantly fighting each other, to a point that one of them doesnt even have a tail left. have a visual of your fishes... i doubt its the ammonia and ph level. those fish are very hardy :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish

 

[jsb]

I think I may have figured it out...and if that's it, I'm so pissed. I looked at my striped damsel, and he looked like he was gasping for air or something. That made me think of the power heads. I took the air flow thing off my old power head, and when I added the Maxi jet I turned the air waaaayy down. I have them lower in the water to create current for my LR, and hopefully soon to be corals. I turned the air way up to compensate the lack there off. Hopefully, this was it, and my final fish will be back to his self soon. I can't believe I did that.
Nick, I guess I need to focus on my water changes to control the ph. I've only been doing 10% once a week. Mainly that's due to the amount of RO I can pump out at a time. I always think about a change a the last minute, plus I have to add about 2 gallons a week just from evaporation.
I give an up date a little later today to let you know how old stripey is doing.

 

[calvindo]

yea, water changes is a must... i can be wrong with the fish fighting, that is just whats happening in my tank. I have 3 maxijets 1200's and 2 rio 2700 for return water, so i doubt water flow is causing of your fish problem.

 

[cprdnick]

A 10% waterchange a week is more than enough. Most only do a 20-25 % every month.
So you think that it was due to lack of oxygen in your tank? If that's so, I wouldn't worry about bubbles in long term. I would just get a PH to disturb the surface of the water. In marine aquariums the oxygen comes from water flow. Granted you may have good flow under the water, but a PH at the top churning the surface will help with CO2 exchange.