Lighting

reefchaser

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My fish damsel's are getting black and blue. My cardinal's get real weak and sit at the bottom when my lights are all off at night. I dont know if they neef light at night. Please help.

75 gallon with 25 pds of live rock.
 
?? Fish "sleep" at night. as long as they are happy during the day. They do not need any light at night. In fact, providing it may screw them up.
 
I turned the light off for the last two nights and i lost one damsel and last night the other one turned black. I turned the light on and he got his color back and my cardinals started coming off the bottom. I don't know.

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What happened to your fish had nothing to do with the lights other then predators come out at night. Can you give more details about your tank? Fish need darkness and sleep like most animals. They usually find a "spot" where they will sleep and go there every night when the lights are out. They enter a trance-like state and are vilnerable to attack. Is it possible you have an unwelcome tank inhabitant like a mantis shrimp?
 
Fish will change color a little bit at night when they sleep and what not. The light being off at night had nothing to do with you losing your damsel im sure.
 
The damsel was like black and blue and was stuck to to the intake on the filter this morning. The other one that died was laying on his side when i left for work yesterday and was gone when i came home. The cardinals were sitting on the rocks barely moving.

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Need more info on the tank. How new is it (the tank)? Did you quarantine? Did you acclimate? Were all fish introduced at the same time?
 
I have had the tank for about two months. I've had the water and about 20 pounds of live rock in it for about a month. I just put the fish in there sunday. I have a 75 gallon tank with two marineland hob 70 gph filters with one 1250 powerhead. I have tested the water every day since I've had the fish. Nitrates are good. My hardiness is a little high. My ph is 8.0. I need to try to get it up but i dont want to do a water change until they get use to the tank. Thank you for your help.

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I put two damsels and two cardinals in the tank friday night. I have six hermit crabs and five snails.

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With it only being cycled about a month, the cycle may not be complete. You need to check for ammonia. At the minimum you added too many fish too fast. With a newly cycled (if it was) tank and adding 4 fish at once, that probably started another mini-cycle. The fish were stressed enough but being subject to ammonia will definately kill them. 25 pounds of live rock is no where near enough for that size tank either. 1-2 pounds per gallon.

What is your salinity levels? Many aquairium stores keep a low salinity level like 1.021 since it is cheaper. Most home aquariusts keep a higher level of around 1.025. If you just got them home, floated the bag for 10 minutes and let them out with that big a salinity swing that alone could kill them. Going lower to higher is very dangerous to the fish as it causes organ damage/failure. I always bring a refractometer to the store to check their levels. NEVER rely on what a salesperson tells you. When salinity levels are different you should drip acclimate your new fish before adding to the tank over about a 30-45 minute period.

You need to test for Ammonia and Nitrites. Nitrates are really not that important for a FOWLR tank.
 
Thank you reeferbob. I have about 50 more pounds that i bought off a guy. He had them outside for years. I have them in a tub right now with a pump running. Im checking to make sure there is no nitrate's. I will check for ammonia tonight in my tank. You think i should see if he would hold them until im ready. I don't want anymore to die. He told me i was ready.

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I want to put the other rock in there soon but i didnt want to stress the fish anymore than they already are.

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Well your levels look good. Sometimes fish just get stressed and die. Damsels are pretty hardy so if they die then you might want to look further into your processes. Do you use RO/DI or tap water?
 
No i don't. My money is a little tight. Is distilled water ok.

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I wanted to let you know reefer bob that they made it last night and looked pretty good this morning. I hope they getting better. I could not find the damsel and then he popped up.

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Quick question, what temps are you keeping your reef at? Are there major swings between day and night? This could be causing additional stress.


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