Hi Everyone,
I own a small 90 Litre (sorry I don't know the conversion to gallons) Salt Water Aquarium with about 7kgs of Live Rock, coral sand, which I've been cycling since early August 2009. I have not yet performed my first 'water change' as per my Local Aquarium's advice. Temp consistently at 26 C. Salinity 0.23. (I test my water - Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, Salinity and Temp daily if not every other day and my Local Aquarium also test for me weekly while I'm a beginner)
The Marine Fish I currently have are: a pair of mated reef Percular Clowns (first in), a Flame Angel and 6 x Domino Damsels. (I waited at least a fortnight in between each new addition, Clowns, Angels, Damsels)
I introduced the 6 x Dominos on Saturday and all went well with the introductions, apart from a little territorial behaviour from Flame Angel nipping at the new damsels who came near his domain.... all other fish good.
Yesterday (Monday) I found my Lemonpeel Angel lodged head first in one of the live rocks crevaces... I thought maybe he was stuck so I nudged him with a net and he swam swiftly to the back of the aquarium behind another rock and layed down on the sand. Within the next half hour he stopped moving altogether and died.
As I mentioned I'm still cycling the tank, the nitrate has not yet spiked completely and is currently measuring 20ppm (ammonia 0 nitrite 0)... was this the reason for Lemonpeel's death? Was he the most sensitive? (all other fish are behaving normally and eating well)
Or was he not impressed with the new introduction of little gangsters (dominos)? (Although they didn't seem to physically bother the Lemonpeel as he was the peaceful one, not like Flame) Perhaps it was the biological load increase (the addition of 6 fish at once) that caused Lemonpeel's death?
Anyway, I'm very upset at his death. I feel like I've failed at my aquarium hobby before I've even filled my tank with fish or completed my first water change!
If I could get some advice on what the possible cause of death was, I'd like to understand better and I'd be very thankful.
Regarding fish compatibility, I introduced my Dwarf Angelfish at the same time (thinking/hoping they'd both be in the tank for a long time) so now I can't add any more Dwarf Angelfish because the Flame will get aggressive towards the new inhabitant.... right?? Can I introduce another Dwarf Angel after a certain amount of time? After a year of keeping a healthy Aquarium perhaps?
(Out of interest, the only other livestock I wanted to add after my water change was a Sixline Wrasse, a Blue Tang and an Anemone, not all at once, in fortnightly intervals water levels permitting. I did my research with fish/coral compatibility, but never took into consideration early death of a fish introduced in a pair)
Any advice from Marine keepers would be really appreciated.
Thanks
I own a small 90 Litre (sorry I don't know the conversion to gallons) Salt Water Aquarium with about 7kgs of Live Rock, coral sand, which I've been cycling since early August 2009. I have not yet performed my first 'water change' as per my Local Aquarium's advice. Temp consistently at 26 C. Salinity 0.23. (I test my water - Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, Salinity and Temp daily if not every other day and my Local Aquarium also test for me weekly while I'm a beginner)
The Marine Fish I currently have are: a pair of mated reef Percular Clowns (first in), a Flame Angel and 6 x Domino Damsels. (I waited at least a fortnight in between each new addition, Clowns, Angels, Damsels)
I introduced the 6 x Dominos on Saturday and all went well with the introductions, apart from a little territorial behaviour from Flame Angel nipping at the new damsels who came near his domain.... all other fish good.
Yesterday (Monday) I found my Lemonpeel Angel lodged head first in one of the live rocks crevaces... I thought maybe he was stuck so I nudged him with a net and he swam swiftly to the back of the aquarium behind another rock and layed down on the sand. Within the next half hour he stopped moving altogether and died.
As I mentioned I'm still cycling the tank, the nitrate has not yet spiked completely and is currently measuring 20ppm (ammonia 0 nitrite 0)... was this the reason for Lemonpeel's death? Was he the most sensitive? (all other fish are behaving normally and eating well)
Or was he not impressed with the new introduction of little gangsters (dominos)? (Although they didn't seem to physically bother the Lemonpeel as he was the peaceful one, not like Flame) Perhaps it was the biological load increase (the addition of 6 fish at once) that caused Lemonpeel's death?
Anyway, I'm very upset at his death. I feel like I've failed at my aquarium hobby before I've even filled my tank with fish or completed my first water change!
If I could get some advice on what the possible cause of death was, I'd like to understand better and I'd be very thankful.
Regarding fish compatibility, I introduced my Dwarf Angelfish at the same time (thinking/hoping they'd both be in the tank for a long time) so now I can't add any more Dwarf Angelfish because the Flame will get aggressive towards the new inhabitant.... right?? Can I introduce another Dwarf Angel after a certain amount of time? After a year of keeping a healthy Aquarium perhaps?
(Out of interest, the only other livestock I wanted to add after my water change was a Sixline Wrasse, a Blue Tang and an Anemone, not all at once, in fortnightly intervals water levels permitting. I did my research with fish/coral compatibility, but never took into consideration early death of a fish introduced in a pair)
Any advice from Marine keepers would be really appreciated.
Thanks
to the salty side of life - I suspect I am not going to tell you what you want to hear. You need at least 10 k of live rock in your tank to adequatly filter your tank
