Quarantine tank - Dead fish

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Sanfordandbro

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 18, 2011
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Las Vegas
New to the marine tank..Have a 150g that had a ich issue, brought in from a local store...was able to save 1/2 of the fish.. But found a need for a quarantine tank..

So set up a 30g , store sold me 4 damsels to cycle the tank.. have sand, and nothing else in the tank. Hang on the back filter , that hold a little bio max style stuff..

Anyway, fish where breathing heavy..I thought maybe it need some circulation, and installed a powerhead... too late I guess, they all died a day later..

water is 7.8 ph ( added buffer) ammonia 1.0 , nitrite 1.0 , and nitrate is 0

what killed them?
Another thing, I have 2 small damsels , dead in the bottom of the tank, right now. Should I just leave them there, and let the tank continue to cycle? Or is there another to finish it from here?

Thanks
 
looks like its the cycling of the tank that killed them. What we call new tank syndrome.
If ammonia and nitrites were at 1.0 ppm, thats deadly in most cases.
If you want to do a fishless cycle, which I would do, go and pick up a bottle of Seachem Stability. Cycle with that. Will cost you about 11 bucks for a large bottle, 8 bucks for a small bottle. Then test water in about a week, see were you are.
Hope that helps
 
I agree, the ammonia toxicity was what killed your fish. Even though damsels are relatively hardy, they are not immune to the effects of ammonia. Maybe this will put it into perspective...

Most fish are severely affected by ammonia levels above 0.06 ppm. If your levels were 1.0, then the damsels were exposed to roughly 17 times the harmful dose. That's difficult to recover from.

I agree that fishless cycling is the way to go, especially nowadays when there are so many alternatives to exposing fish to the harmful cycle. You could dose the tank with household ammonia, or use a product like Seachem Stability or Dr. Tims.

Edit: Take out the dead damsels. As they decompose, they risk adding harmful pathogens to your tank.
 
Ok.. Thank both of you. I will remove the dead fish and look to get some ammonia.. I rememer a thread here..that says get the pure type..

How much ammonia to I add and how often..

I'll do a search too..
 
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