Worried!!! Damsel just died!

[makofury]

Hey everyone, I put in 3 1/2"-1" domino damsels in my tank this past Sunday to cycle the tank. Today the smallest of the three was at the bottom of the tank breathing heavily, he was dead when I checked right now. His fins were frayed but he had a large white mark on his belly. The other two damsels seem to be fine but I'm worried that something is wrong with my tank. The damsel that died was swimming and eating yesterday and I don't know what happened today. And I just checked right now and it looks like one of my other damels has bulgy eyes...this really sucks because I took every precaution to make this tank work, I truly believe now that this tank is cursed!!!!
MakoFury

 

[oceanblue]

Mako,
recheck your water params again..including temp and salinity. Do remember though, that you're putting these fish into unfavorable water conditions initially for the purpose of cycling the tank. They do die like any other fish if the water is bad enough. The other possibility is that they had something before you brought them home, and the stress has let it get the better of them. water params first, then call the lfs and see if they've noticed any issues, any other's coming back? let us know the params..and what happens. good luck, Dave

 

[frenchman]

When I originally cycled my tanks, I got two dominos and two blue damsels. The only ones who made it through were the blue damsels. The dominos died very quickly during cycling. Cycling is by far the worse conditions you can ever have and it's pretty hard on these poor fishes.

 

[makofury]

Ok, I tested my water, it has been one week since I've had these fish. Ammonia - 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate - 5, Salinity 1.021, Temp. 79, ph 8.3. The water conditions are near perfect so I don't know how the damsel died...
MakoFury

 

[funkincredible]

there should be some ammonia from the fishies, do you have live rock, and if so, was it already cured? What is the update on the bulgy eye. My guess is that the fish was diseased when you acquired it, and the stress from moving tanks and probably being picked on by the other two stressed him out leading to the death.

 

[makofury]

I have Nature's Ocean Live Sand, the eyes still look kinda bulgy but the fish is really active and eats...so we'll see..