I Think My Fish Are Dying!

[unisonsports]

I just got this 40 gallon saltwater tank. I put in the water, the proper amount of salt according to the gauge, i put in the water conditioner stuff and let it sit for a few days. I bought 2 damsel fish from petco and one of them died in udner 30 minutes (i beleive the lady hurt him when putting him into the bag at the store, he was a very whily fish) and the other one seems to be doing fine. I assumed that the lady hurt the first fish so i decided to buy a second fish. This time i bought a clown fish and i named him Albert Brooks (guess why). Anyway, he seems to be swimming on his side, and hanging arround the top of the tank. He is very active howerver, i have seen him swim very fast, however its always on his side (he was swimming normal at the pet shop). I reached in and lightly touched him and he didnt even move, as if he wasnt scared or maybe he couldnt move, i'm not sure, but i dont want him to die... what should i do?? Oh, the water tempeture is also at about 79f.
I dont have any shelter in the tank, such as plants yet, so the fish tend to hide near the heater, are they hiding near the heater for shelter, or is that a medical problem?

I'll attach a photo of him, its not a good photo but its the best i could take.

P.S. I observed the lady as she put this fish into the bag, and she was very gentle, no incodents.

 

[unisonsports]

BTW, i was thining it could be swimblatter desiese, but he seems to be able to control him self fine. his tail doesnt float or anything, he just seems to enjoy swimming on his side for some reason. I dont know if its nitrates or anything casue the other fish (damsel) is doing fine, no problems. Both of these fish were purchased within 30 minutes from each other. These are the first fish i put in my tank so i know the water is clean... Hopfully this problem will resolve its self by tomarow

 

[SamUK]

im not sure about marine but dont you have to cycle the tank the same as freshwater?


i would of thougth it was a bigger process with marine fish cos the waters totally different to what comes out the tap.

 

[Bloo]

Sorry can't help but I've asked one of the mods to move your post across to the Saltwater Section where you will be able to get more help.

Good luck !

 

[*Lucifer*]

hey, how pretty is ur clown fish, never kept saltwater fish b4, but if hes eating then hes prob fine, thats what they say anyway!!!! how big is ur tank? does it require alot of maintenance? Lou

 

[Bloo]

hey, how pretty is ur clown fish, never kept saltwater fish b4, but if hes eating then hes prob fine, thats what they say anyway!!!! how big is ur tank? does it require alot of maintenance? Lou

A fish always lying on it's side is really not fine at all

 

[unisonsports]

I dont know about cycling... the guy at the pet shop never said anything about it when i bought my tank. Furthermore, he's not eating because he's only been here a few hours and i'm assuming he's still a little stressed out.

 

[unisonsports]

Oh ya, and when its night time and i turn out hte lights, he seems to do this in the rear left corner, near the filter/heater. Im assuming thats his sleeping spot

 

[OohFeeshy]

OK.... SG? Got live rock? How much? Filter? Protein skimmer? I take it you used tap water and not RO? What are the water parameters?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

[Yeah you need to read up on cycling, because it is essential to the life of fish, and anything else ever going into it. Is Petco the one who told you all this? Well, never go there again. Its no wonder why that fish died, its not necessarily how the lady treated him, but they dont have a good survival rate of their fish. AT ALL. I went there one day, and came back the next to see 15 of the fish I actually payed attention to the previous day DEAD. And they have overstocked tanks, which may be contributing to the poor survival rate. Find a LFS that seems more trustworthy and can give you some info on cycling and stuff you need to set up a tank. And clownfish are NOT good cycling fish. The only water conditioner that might help you cycle your tank would be Biospira, so try to find some.

 

[Navarre]

Ok this is scary, really scary. Sorry, I dont mean to be rude or anything but the LFS never gave you any information nor did you come to this forum and ask us what you should do?

What are you using to filter the tank? If its anything other than matured liverock then the tank wont be cycled and you will probably have dead or dying fish within 4 or 5 days as the ammonia grows and burns their gills and eventually drowning them. If you have liverock then the minimum amount needed for a marine setup is 1lb per gallon so 40 gallons is 40lbs of liverock to be able to run the filtration system without mechanical assistance.
No skimmer? this means the nutrients and added waste will not be removed fromthe system before it decays and thus the ammonia spike (when it comes) will be very large indeed.


The fish dying so fast was probably because of the PH difference rather than misshandling. As you seem to have no liverock then i assume that the PH will be way out of synch with the PH at the store. Your PH should be reading around 8.0-8.4 and tested with a Marine PH test kit not a freshwater one.
The fish probably went immediately into shock at being inroduced into a tank with very different PH readings. The temperature/SG etc can all be identical but if the PH is not the same then the fish can die very very quickly. The other fish was probably very lucky and maybe a little fitter so it managed to adjust to the new water conditions better.

As for the clownfish acting strange. This is actually very normal clownfish behaviour, they will keep high in the water if they feel threatened or uncormfortable, they are poor swimmers and they shy away from rockworks where they canfall prey to moray eels etc. Its only when they have something to host in that they usually no longer show this behaviour.

As for addingplants??? Err marines dont have plants, they have algaes in limited shapes but that is all, Thats is the only plant that we marine enthusiasts have at our disposal, the rest are living corals (which are of course not plants at all but living creatures).

 

[unisonsports]

Ok this is scary, really scary. Sorry, I dont mean to be rude or anything but the LFS never gave you any information nor did you come to this forum and ask us what you should do?

What are you using to filter the tank? If its anything other than matured liverock then the tank wont be cycled and you will probably have dead or dying fish within 4 or 5 days as the ammonia grows and burns their gills and eventually drowning them. If you have liverock then the minimum amount needed for a marine setup is 1lb per gallon so 40 gallons is 40lbs of liverock to be able to run the filtration system without mechanical assistance.
No skimmer? this means the nutrients and added waste will not be removed fromthe system before it decays and thus the ammonia spike (when it comes) will be very large indeed.


The fish dying so fast was probably because of the PH difference rather than misshandling. As you seem to have no liverock then i assume that the PH will be way out of synch with the PH at the store. Your PH should be reading around 8.0-8.4 and tested with a Marine PH test kit not a freshwater one.
The fish probably went immediately into shock at being inroduced into a tank with very different PH readings. The temperature/SG etc can all be identical but if the PH is not the same then the fish can die very very quickly. The other fish was probably very lucky and maybe a little fitter so it managed to adjust to the new water conditions better.

As for the clownfish acting strange. This is actually very normal clownfish behaviour, they will keep high in the water if they feel threatened or uncormfortable, they are poor swimmers and they shy away from rockworks where they canfall prey to moray eels etc. Its only when they have something to host in that they usually no longer show this behaviour.

As for addingplants??? Err marines dont have plants, they have algaes in limited shapes but that is all, Thats is the only plant that we marine enthusiasts have at our disposal, the rest are living corals (which are of course not plants at all but living creatures).

The tank has a built in filter, i dont know about a skimmer though. As for live rock, i suppose i'll buy some today then if its as important as you say it is. The fish seems to be acting fine however, but if you say they will die in a few days, i'll get some liverock and look into a skimmer. Anything else i should do?

 

[J-Money]

you got a hydrometer to actually measure what your SG is? You may have put too much/too little salt to get the salinity you want. you need to make sure you measure it.

Edited to add I see you said you measure'd it according to a gauge, was it just the instructions on the bucket of salt, or was it a hydrometer?

Also you say you have a built in filter in the tank...what's that mean? like an undergravel filter?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Umm... I think, tbh, the only course of action you should take is to take the fish back to a shop and find out how keeping fish works....

 

[Chac]

Did you do any reasearch on keeping marine livestock at all??