Beginner - need help determining fish health

I started my first saltwater fish tank about a month ago. About a week later I added the first first. I originally got 2 tomato clownfish and 3 black and white damsels. One of the damsels ended up dieing about a week later. I am not sure but this fish was the smallest of them and the store I got them from tends to have a rep of selling unhealthy but I am very limited in where I can buy fish in my area. The tank is now starting to establish and I think I am ready to add a couple more exotic fish like a flame angel (any suggestions to what are the websites to buy fish would be great) and possible something else but I want to make sure that the fish that are in there are healthy first. I have posted some pictures of the fish and I know they aren't the greatest pictures. Any information you could tell about how to determine if there healthy and how to diagnose diseases would be very helpful or if you could point me to a good resource that explains it?













Also I have been having a little brown alga growth in my tank. Any suggestions on how to keep it down? What fish could I get that eat algae like I think some tangs do?

 

HI and welcome!
I don't have any saltwater tanks so I wouldn't know, but I would normally leave a new tank to settle for about 2-3 weeks (just for future reference ;D) as to the algae I have that sometimes too, but it easily comes off, I also have one of those things where it has something on the inside of the tank and is magnetticly moved around by another on the outside of the tank, looks something like 2 blocks on either side o the glass, make sense?
Good luck!

 

Hello I think another damsel kill it I'll recommend for all saltwater tank or reef to don't put damsels also I'll recommend to remove all damsel because they can kill ur clown fish
War ur water reading u use Ro system?

also u need to add live sand n I think that decoration is no for saltwater aquarium

 

Hi, welcome to Fishlore

To help us, if you could fill in your aquarium info (My Profile -> About Me) we'll be able to make better recommendations.

What size tank is this? (need to know this for stocking suggestions)

Do you know your parameters?
- Specific Gravity (should be between 1.021 to 1.026)
- pH (should be around 8.0 to 8.4)
- Temperature (should be around 26-27C, 78.5-80.5F)
- Ammonia (should be 0)
- Nitrite (should be 0)
- Nitrate (should be showing a value, up to 20ppm max)

Is this a Fish Only or Fish Only with Live Rock?

Has the tank cycled?

How did you acclimate your fish?

What filtration methods are you using? Protein Skimmer?

What is your water source? Natural Sea Water or Mixed [do you use RO water]

IMO, you don't need Live Sand, but an arognite based sand would help in maintaining your pH and Alkalinity.

The brown algae is likely diatoms. Perfectly normal for a new setup, and will go away on their own.

The damsel death is hard to determine the cause. It could have been an unhealthy specimen from the start, or it may have been bullied by the other damsels. It's unlikely the clowns caused it, unless the tank is too small resulting in territorial issues.

It's also possible that the tank hadn't cycled, or that the introduction of too many fish too quickly resulted in a mini-cycle, and if the damsel was already weak, it may have succumbed to ammonia poisoning

When buying fish, they should appear healthy in the shop. Signs of a healthy fish are that they are active, have good colour, bright eyes, and no obvious signs of physical damage or ICH, and most importantly, they eat.

 

My tank is a 37 gallon tank with fish and some live rock. I use a Marineland Penguin 200 biowheel filter with 2 filter cartridges in it. I have thought about upgrading to the penguin 350 which has 2 biowheels but I don't think I need to. Any thoughts on that?

Temperature - 76 degress, I was originally told to put in in between 72 and 78.
sg - 1.0215, is this to low?

I just did a test this morning and my ph does seem to be a little low at 8.0. Its usually at 8.2. Why could this be? How do I fix it?

The ammonia and nitrite readings are at 0.
The nitrates are also at 0.

In am not to worried about the third damsel. He was the smallest one and I think the other fish killed him. I really just got these fish to establish the tank as I was learning.

Also I was told to change 20-25% of the water every 2 weeks which I have been doing. Is this correct? After I do this the next morning there's a white coat of something on the inside wall of the tank. It usually goes away by itself in a couple days and the water is then clear as day. What is this and is t normal?

Also I was told to only feed them once a day. Is this a good thing to do or should I do twice?

 

HI ph is to low but don't worry ph is more importance for reef tank if u want u can buy oh buffer to put it 8.4 u can change ur weather every 3 weeks 20% when u have more fish or corals every 2 weeks. U need to buy Ro system n prepare ur water one day before changing( Ro water+ salt) to prepare water use another container with a pomp (pomp help dissolve salt)

 

I'll assume you have a Fish Only, or Fish Only with Live Rock?

My tank is a 37 gallon tank with fish and some live rock. I use a Marineland Penguin 200 biowheel filter with 2 filter cartridges in it. I have thought about upgrading to the penguin 350 which has 2 biowheels but I don't think I need to. Any thoughts on that?

Personally, I don't recommend these types of filtration systems on a Saltwater tank, especially if you have Live Rock. If you don't have LR, then you could get away with the filter you have, particularly in a non-Reef tank (where nitrate control is super important)

A protein skimmer would be a great addition to your filtration, but again, in a FO setup, not the end of the world if you don't have one.

37G is a good size, but I would think you are now stocked.

Temperature - 76 degress, I was originally told to put in in between 72 and 78.

It's a little on the cool side, but not too cold. Maybe bump it up to 77, without a skimmer, I wouldn't increase any higher. The skimmer injects oxygen into the water. Saltwater doesn't hold as much oxygen as Freshwater does at the same temperature, so you need to be careful not to over-heat and cause oxygen deprivation.

sg - 1.0215, is this to low?

What did you use to measure SG? 1.0215 is not necessarily too low, probably too low for a reef, but for FO, it should be fine, especially with the stock you have.

I just did a test this morning and my ph does seem to be a little low at 8.0. Its usually at 8.2. Why could this be? How do I fix it?

I wouldn't mess with pH. 8.0 is fine for most fish. If it starts falling below 8.0 then yes, you want to bring it back up, but quite often it will have fallen due to other factors.
At 1.0215 SG, it is expected that pH will sit a little lower, to bring your pH up (if you wanted to), I would first look at increasing the SG to around 1.023, but do this SLOWLY (bit by bit, over a week), you have live-stock and don't want to cause osmotic shock.

The ammonia and nitrite readings are at 0.
The nitrates are also at 0.

Great! As long as the tank has actually cycled, and now the nitrates hold at 0.

In am not to worried about the third damsel. He was the smallest one and I think the other fish killed him. I really just got these fish to establish the tank as I was learning.

Not ideal (cycling with fish) But I think you'll be fine, I would keep your live stock as is, and possibly think about adding clean-up crew if you wanted more life in the tank.

Also I was told to change 20-25% of the water every 2 weeks which I have been doing. Is this correct? After I do this the next morning there's a white coat of something on the inside wall of the tank. It usually goes away by itself in a couple days and the water is then clear as day. What is this and is t normal?

I change 10% every week, 20% once a fortnight is not a problem either. There are so many opinions on water changes in Saltwater (as there is in Freshwater too).
What water are using? If you're mixing your own, the white coating could be precipitated calcium, but without knowing what water you're using, it's hard to make a call on it.

Also I was told to only feed them once a day. Is this a good thing to do or should I do twice?

Again, a number of opinions out there on this one. I feed once a day.

HI ph is to low but don't worry ph is more importance for reef tank if u want u can buy oh buffer to put it 8.4 u can change ur weather every 3 weeks 20% when u have more fish or corals every 2 weeks. U need to buy Ro system n prepare ur water one day before changing( Ro water+ salt) to prepare water use another container with a pomp (pomp help dissolve salt)

Respectfully, there's no need to buffer pH. The overall pH is a result of other factors, including Magnesium, Alkalinity and Calcium. In a reef environment, these three macro elements need to be monitored and supplemented accordingly, and the resulting pH is what it is. In a Fish Only setup, 8.0 is fine.

Using RO water is the ideal, but is not 100% necessary in FO setup. I do agree that mixing your water prior to use is a necessity. I mix my salt water about 6 hours prior to using it. It is heated, and I have a large pond pump in my 8G mixing container to keep it moving around. This all depends on what salt mix you use.

If you're using Natural Sea Water, then pre-mixing is not quite as important, but pre-heating it is definitely recommended.

 

I usually don't mix the water ahead of time but I will now that I know. I usually just use the tap water with a tap water conditioner and instant ocean sea salt. What is RO? I have never heard of this before.

Also you said that my tank is pretty well stocked for the size but I was looking to get one more fish, a flame angel. Do you think the tank is definitely not big enough for this? Also you talked about, "Clean up crew". What are some fish recommendations for that?

 

RO = Reverse Osmosis, it's a highly filtered water, that removes all impurities, it is commonly used by reef keepers for its pure nature; https://www.fishlore.com/reverse_osmosis_deionization.htm

A Flame Angel could work, although a Coral Beauty may be better as they are a little smaller (Flames will do ok in 30G min, but with other fish, it may become a bit aggressive, as angels can.)

Clean Up Crew - a term for saltwater aquariums, refers to the algae and detritus eating organisms such as snails, crabs, starfish and sea cucumbers. The need for all these animals in the same aquarium is sometimes debated. Sand sifting starfish can make short work of a sand beds, sea cucumbers can release toxic compounds that are harmful to fish and crabs can kill snails for their shells and pick at sessile invertebrates. Some reef keepers like to keep only snails for these reasons. (https://www.fishlore.com/fishdictionary/c.htm)

 

What is the best website to buy fish from? I haven't been able to find a good local fish store unless anybody has any recommendations in the Cleveland, Oh area.

Also, should I have an air stone in tank?

 

No to the airstone. Airstones in Saltwater will result in a nice foam forming at the water surface (Similar to the foam you get at the beach when waves crash)

Where to buy fish online? I'm not sure, hopefully some of our US salties will be able to help with that. Maybe aquabid