ReedMarineBiologyClub
New Member
Hello all!
I am here hoping for some advice about a few mysterious deaths in our tank. About a month ago, we added our first animals to our 55 gallon Red Sea Reefer 250. Initially, we added two clownfish and three blue springer damselfish, and some corals. Our acclimation process was done by floating buckets of the store water in our tank so temperatures could reach equilibrium, then adding 1/4 cup of tank water into the bucket every four minutes until salinity and temperatures were the same, then gently scooping our fish into the tank with the lights off, then disposing of the store water. Beforehand we verified the following tank parameters:
Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit
Salinity: 35 ppt
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: ~20
Despite this, two damselfish did not make it through the night, causing much alarm. We went back to the fish store the next day, and they verified the ammonia, nitrites, and salinity of our water were good.
Flash forward about three weeks, our corals, two clownfish, and our one remaining damselfish have settled in nicely. They are actively exploring, eating, and water parameters remained stably at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. The corals are showing some small signs of growth as well. Following the recommendations of our local fish store, we added added our next batch of animals, this time a firefish, a royal gramma, and two damselfish to replace the ones who did not survive acclimation. This time, we ditched the buckets and instead floated their bags in the tank, with the lights off, adding 1/4 cup of tank water to their bags until salinity and temperature were equal, then gently scooped them into the tank. Once again, we verified the following water parameters:
Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit
Salinity: 35 ppt
pH: 8.12
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: ~17
This time, everyone survived the night. For the following five days, all fish were swimming around and exploring, and eating when fed; until today, when I came across one damselfish (the largest one so I could tell he was from the new batch) dead. I spotted him yesterday, hiding in the rockwork. He didn't come out to eat and he appeared stressed, but not necessarily ill. I have confirmed that everyone else is alive - but our Gramma is giving me some concern. I know they are notoriously quirky, cave dwelling fish - but he has been swimming on his side in this little pocket of rock and hasn't come out at all today, not even for food (see picture). I can see that he is alive, but this is still semi alarming given that the previous four days he has swam around at least a little, and come out to eat.
My question is twofold:
I am here hoping for some advice about a few mysterious deaths in our tank. About a month ago, we added our first animals to our 55 gallon Red Sea Reefer 250. Initially, we added two clownfish and three blue springer damselfish, and some corals. Our acclimation process was done by floating buckets of the store water in our tank so temperatures could reach equilibrium, then adding 1/4 cup of tank water into the bucket every four minutes until salinity and temperatures were the same, then gently scooping our fish into the tank with the lights off, then disposing of the store water. Beforehand we verified the following tank parameters:
Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit
Salinity: 35 ppt
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: ~20
Despite this, two damselfish did not make it through the night, causing much alarm. We went back to the fish store the next day, and they verified the ammonia, nitrites, and salinity of our water were good.
Flash forward about three weeks, our corals, two clownfish, and our one remaining damselfish have settled in nicely. They are actively exploring, eating, and water parameters remained stably at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. The corals are showing some small signs of growth as well. Following the recommendations of our local fish store, we added added our next batch of animals, this time a firefish, a royal gramma, and two damselfish to replace the ones who did not survive acclimation. This time, we ditched the buckets and instead floated their bags in the tank, with the lights off, adding 1/4 cup of tank water to their bags until salinity and temperature were equal, then gently scooped them into the tank. Once again, we verified the following water parameters:
Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit
Salinity: 35 ppt
pH: 8.12
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: ~17
This time, everyone survived the night. For the following five days, all fish were swimming around and exploring, and eating when fed; until today, when I came across one damselfish (the largest one so I could tell he was from the new batch) dead. I spotted him yesterday, hiding in the rockwork. He didn't come out to eat and he appeared stressed, but not necessarily ill. I have confirmed that everyone else is alive - but our Gramma is giving me some concern. I know they are notoriously quirky, cave dwelling fish - but he has been swimming on his side in this little pocket of rock and hasn't come out at all today, not even for food (see picture). I can see that he is alive, but this is still semi alarming given that the previous four days he has swam around at least a little, and come out to eat.
My question is twofold:
- What could have caused the deaths in our damselfish? The first two, I could chock up to our inexperience in acclimation, or bad luck. But this recent death confuses me. If it were water quality, I would not expect for our other damselfish to have survived 3+ weeks. As of today, our water parameters are identical to above, save for about a 5% increase in nitrates. I have ordered ICP testing regardless, just in case there is something we are not testing for. If it were acclimation, I would not expect for him to have survived 4 days, then mysteriously died on day 5 - or furthermore for the other three fish, acclimated in the same way, to be thriving. My only theory is that, there is some bullying between the clownfish and the damsels, and the damselfish in question was hiding quite a bit the day prior. Though no fin damage or injury was visible on the dead damsel, could he have been too stressed to eat, and thus starved? That would be potentially consistent with the fact that he survived for four days in our tank.
- Secondly, purely for my own peace of mind, do I need to be concerned for our Gramma pictured above? Normally I would chock it up to their quirky behavior, but the other dead fish and the relatively sudden change in behavior has me a little worried. He went from a mixture of hiding and swimming around to an entire day of hiding in the same spot.
