dragonbear

Hello,

I recently set up a 10 gallon saltwater tank (I know its small). I placed live sand and about 12 lbs of live rock. The tank cycled and the levels read:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
pH 8.4
Temp 78
Salinty 1.023

I started adding snails around a month and a half of starting it. Two of the three had died and the one is still in it. I placed 2 damsels in the tank a few weeks later. The one damsel died the same night and the 2nd damsel died the next night. I went to a LFS and asked what it could have been. They said perhaps the acclimation process. So I bought a chromis and did a drip method acclimation process for about 2.5 hrs and placed it in the tank. The fish lived for two days and then died...

Currently in the tank are 3 hermit crabs and the lone snail. The snail has recently been falling over and doesnt seem to be his self. With all the levels checked out as mentioned above does anyone know why the fish can't make it past 2 days?

If you need more information I will be happy to provide it. Thank You!

Oil_Fan

First off, welcome to Fishlore!!

10 gallons is kinda small for a SW fish. That said, they should last longer than 2 days after a drip acclimation. So my next question is how were the fish behaving after you got them? Did they ever eat? Did you notice anything unusual about them?

And then again, it is possible the LFS had some disease spreading in their tanks and you caught the really infected fish...though that's just a guess.

cerianthus

Although ten is small, it's not impossible to have. Had 5-1/2 nano reef going back more than 10 yrs. My only problem was with keeping temp down in summer.
Firstable adding 2 damsel is not good idea. adding more than 2 isn't any better. Would avoid them for 10 G anyway since aggressive toward each other and othrs. one chromis should be OK.
As OF has said , it could be the fish. Maybe they just have arrived and needed more time to adjust to captivity or come out of jet leg, sort of, from long journey to lfs. Once well acclimated to tank, either yours or lfs, they usually thrive.
Snails should've been added once tank is well matured having enough algae for them to graze. Snail can be more sensitive to change of water condition, SG, temp, etc. so acclimated them and position them right side up on the rock or substrate rather just dropping into tank
Having said all that, the following is what I would recommend.
1. Do some research on fish diseases, especially on how to spot symptoms.
2. I do not know your locality but in NYC, Chromis are usually abundant in decent lfs.
Always ask lfs when they receive new fish. Go there on the arrival day and just check
the fish out. If you see fish you would like to obtain in abundance, go back few days
later, If still there, do check for general condition of whole batch. Seems OK then you
could purchase. Before you buy fish, you can ask staff to feed the fish (not damsel).
Usually, but not always, healthy fish will have good appetite and you can bring the
fish and pack of same food.
It may seem too much of trouble to go back and forth but this can save you great
deal of frustrations which may lead to 10G being on the sidewalk.
Do this until you are more familiar w/ salt water keeping.

In my 5-1/2 nano, used to have chromis, citron goby, even mandarin when tank was well mature along with LPS, polyps and other small critters. But I had few other Larger Reef set ups and I was well into reefing.

So have a patience and do read as much as you can. Hopefully, you are so succeful w/ 10 g, by this time next year, you will have few S/w set ups.

nemo addict

few things what test kits are you using ?? what are you using to supply oxegen to tank are you sure your tank cycled how where the fish before they died gasping , swimming in circles ?? curled up any symptoms ?

dragonbear

The test kit I am using is the "Master Test Kit" that includes nitrate,nitrite, ammonia, and high pH. I also bought a calcium test kit once I got the turbo snails. I also got the water checked at the LFS and the results were the same. The only things that I have that are adding oxygen to the tank are airstone, power head, and a waterfall filtration system. Is there anything else I should try?

The tank cycled once I added the live sand and live rock. The ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate went crazy. Nitrate at one time was up to 80. After about 5 water changes the levels came down. For the past 3 weeks all the levels have remained at 0, so I believe it had cycled.

I bought the damsels at one fish store and once they died I went to another pet store to get the chromis. So the fish were from 2 different stores. In both cases they got the fish the same day or the day before. The first damsel that died, died over night. It was hiding in the live rock and then next morning was in the sand... The second damsel lasted 2 days and appeared great the second day. His stripes were blacker and whiter (it was a 3 striped damsel) than the night before. At around 7pm he began breathing very heavily. I tested the water levels and once I finished checking all the levels the fish died. The levels came out normal. I tried researching the fast breathing rate online but couldnt find anything. I went to another LFS after the damsels death and explained everything. She said if your levels are fine then it may have been the fish. Shre said that the damsels were aggressive and not to go with them, instead try a chromis which is way more passive and hardy. She also explainned to acclimate the fish for between 2-3 hrs using the drip method. So I did an acclimation for 2.5 hrs and placed the Chromis in the tank. How long is an appropriate acclimation period?

The chromis looked fine the first night, swimming towards the surface in a corner. The second day it began to venture out of the corner and into the middle of the tank. It was breathing normal and the color looked great. Then around 6 pm it went down lower in the tank behind some live rock. I came home around 8 and the fish was dead. Sine then my one turbo snail has not moved which is very unusual since he use to move around all the time. The website WetWebMedia says it may be high magnesium in the water which killed the snail. I'm going today to get those levels checked. Would high magnesium also kill the fish? What other levels should I be checking besides ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH?

Thank You!

kloseo

i would add some live rock, and let cycle longer , around a month then try adding fish
i dont think the live sand is enough to support the fish
also are you sure the hydrometer is calibrated correctly and not off on the salt levels

kloseo

maybe add additional air pump
sounds like low oxygen level if fish are panting/breathing hard
that would kill fish correctly

defcon11

how much total circulation per hour is your tank getting? I have a 29 gal tank for example and I have a 3 powerheads and a protein skimmer for a total of 1600 gallons circulating per hour. Maybe you just need to get a another powerhead.

travie

What was the salinity of the tank at the near the time of death? Probably didn't test for that at the time of death, but it would be nice to know. Did you use FW to top off the tank due to evaporation? Did you add this FW to the "water fall filtration system" or straight to the tank?

catfishlover123

I might think it could have been the acclimation process or disease spread by other fish at the LFS

dragonbear

I think it was something in my water. I purchased the API tap water filter and did a 50% water change one day and then 20% the next. Since then I have had better luck with the tank. Everything in there has lived for over a month now! Thanks for all your help.

cerianthus

Someone who can not afford RO/DI and high water bill, I think API Tap water Filter (used to be called Purifier) is God send. And Environmental Conscience. Hey, I did not say people who owns/operate RO/DI is not, so dont start!!!! LOL!!!