Where did I go wrong?

Harry C · Oct 16, 2014

I was hoping some of you can point me in what directions I should be looking. I'm sorry if this is wordy. I started a biocube 29 sept 1. I laid down 20lb live sand, and about 15 lbs live rock. Bought my water premixed at a LFS that came highly recommended by trustworthy sources, and confirmed they use RODI. Left it alone all month, short of adding some more rock. At the end of September my Diatoms had already bloomed, tests were tracing any ammonia nitrite or nitrate, and out of boredom and stupidity I threw in a blue legged hermit and a Carribean Nerite snail, as well as a few frags a friend gave me. Beginners stuff, some yellow zoa polyps, green mushroom, and a patch of something he called "sea grass coral", which looks like what I see identified as star polyps. All the coral seems to be doing fine. Never saw a cyano bloom, idk if that is perhaps due to the hermit devouring what was left of the diatom bloom. I do have a brown algae growing on the glass. about a week later, I removed the gargantuan blue leg hermit and replaced him with 10 dwarf red leg, and 10 astrea. Three days ago, I pulled the trigger and put in my first fish, a Blue Damsel, it was small about 1 inch, ate like a champion and seemed to me to be content with her new tank. This morning she became crab buffet. Still testing no ammonia nitrite and nitrate. I know that none of you can say with any certainty what killed poor Dotty, but can any of you point me at what I should be looking for? I thought I did good I waited so long. They say those Damsels will live through the cycle (I know, its cruel, I didn't do it, im just saying) so whyyy does 3 days in my fully prepped tank kill whats supposed to be such a hardy fish? I don't want to add any livestock without knowing why she died, but I don't see how im going to figure it out. Please help.

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 17, 2014

Good just be a freak accident or occurrence. Was your rock live rock? How big was the fish when you bought it? And if you plan on adding more fish I wouldn't go with a damsel. They can be very mean.

saltyphish · Oct 17, 2014

Lots of things can come in to play. Stray voltage, live rock leaching something, illness, and of course just plain ole bad luck.

hybridazn · Oct 17, 2014

It might not have had anything to do with your tank. But possibly your acclamation process did it.

Daniel@R2R · Oct 17, 2014

How did you acclimate your damsel? I'm leaning toward that being the issue since your coral and inverts are still living. It is also possible that it was just a strange coincidence.

Daniel@R2R · Oct 17, 2014

Also, can you give us your tank parameters? I know you said 0 nitrite and ammonia, but what about ph, salinity, temperature, nitrate, and phosphate?

juggalogentry · Oct 17, 2014

i agree with what was said above, first and foremost if it was a water quality issue the inverts would be some of the first to go (think of them as your canary in the coalmine) and second maybe it was just pure coincidence, considering that the damsel would have most definitely caused you more problems in the long run with aggression, it seems for the better (although still sad)
What are your exact params in, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, ph , temp and salinity
(acclimation may have been the culprit if any of those are too far off from the water you took him from)
for future refrence, theres a reason the word dam is put in damsel, they are little jerks and near impossible to get out once you got them in

SloppyJ · Oct 17, 2014

The real problem with this post is that there are reports of no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. I find it hard to believe there no nitrate.

Check your test kits. What kind do you use?

juggalogentry · Oct 17, 2014

low nitrate is a trademark of a newly cycled tank, i had zero nitrates for about a week after cycle, then it all began, it rose to 30 ppm before i could regain control at about 5 ppm

Bad Company · Oct 17, 2014

Huh, it could just be plain bad luck. I have a yellowtail damsel in my tank, and it is the lowest on the pecking order (except for the hawkfish and mandarin which seem exempt). My yellowtail is awesome, they are supposed to be one of the least aggressive damsels. Also my flame angel keeps it in line.

SloppyJ · Oct 17, 2014

juggalogentry said:
low nitrate is a trademark of a newly cycled tank, i had zero nitrates for about a week after cycle, then it all began, it rose to 30 ppm before i could regain control at about 5 ppm

Low nitrates are surely not a sign of a new tank. Like you said, they rise because of the cycle. Even with the OP using live rock, I would still expect there to be some traceable amount of nitrate.

juggalogentry · Oct 17, 2014

in that case, it could have very well been user error on my part as well

Harry C · Oct 17, 2014

Thank you all for replying. Lots of questions to answer! I'll try to hit them all in order as received. I apologize because I cannot figure out how to format this so it wont all be in one paragraph. SO, in order, Yes, the rock was all live when I put it in, what I put in originally came out of a sump at my LFS, and what I added later came out of a friends tank that was taken down. She was about an inch in length. Acclimation could have very well been it, I floated and dumped him at the advise of the LFS. I know it was a bonehead move. He was so confident on the hardiness of the fish, he said that more delicate species would require drip acclimation but that the damsel would be fine. But she lasted a good 72 hrs! My parameters, reading untraceable amounts of ammonia nitrite and nitrate, SG 1.023, temp stays at 80 have seen any fluctuation there. Ph is either 8.0 or 8.2, kind of unsure how to read that test. Unfortunately I do not own a test for phosphates as of yet, I will pick one up this weekend and followup on that. The test kits are all from API Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. As far as the nitrates being to low, maybe its not a zero, its not the neon yellow that the test kit has for 0, but its surely not any of the orange bars below it. Very yellow. I really appreciate you all responding. Think I'll just enjoy my softies for now and try again next month. I knew she might have been aggressive like you've all said, I just wanted to go cheap on the first fish just in case this very situation played out.

Harry C · Oct 17, 2014

I also wanted to add that one of the live rocks I put in had a bit of purple/pinkish algae on it, which has been spreading like wildfire across the rock. If I'm doing my research properly, that means the water quality is good, right? I want to make a confession, I started this tank on a slim budget, and I didn't even buy tests until three weeks in. My levels have all been almost 0 since then. Is it a possibility that I went through the spikes in the first three weeks and leveled off before I even started testing? That what I assumed, since Ive seen no change in the tests in three weeks, other than a slight rise in nitrate after I added some more live rock, which dropped back down within a few days. I also want to add that I bought the cube used from a friend, so I'm assuming that the bio-balls retained some beneficial bacteria from previous use. I rinsed them in saltwater well when I setup, but still, I figure something lived through that.

Harry C · Oct 21, 2014

And the winner is... Sloppy J!!! I was not using my nitrate test properly. Was not mixing up the bottle and the test properly. So I tossed out the nitrate test and started fresh, nitrates @ 40 ppm. Guessing the drastic change from the clean LFS store tank to my nitrate spiking tank killed poor dotty.

Myro3g · Oct 21, 2014

I would go with blue green chromis instead of damsel. They are the least aggressive of the damsels. They will kill each other so I started with 4 an I only have 1 now.