something has gone wrong? 2 dead fish so far

I have 3 damsels and the frist two died and now i only have 1 left. And now the last one stopped eating
\
My salt level is 1.023
ammonia is .5
nitrate is 10
nitrite is 5


also i have some hermit crabs and snails. but, if the levels were off, wouldn't they die first.


Anyone have any idea to this problem?

 

How old is the tank?

 

looks like you are still in a cycle...........ammonia should be zero...even for damsels

how old and how big is the tank

 

the tank finished the cycle around 5 days ago i checked, and it is 30 gallons

 

its not done with the cycle is there is stil ammonia. thats probubly whats killing them it should always be ZERO

 

What did you use to cycle the tank?

Did you add all the Damsels at once?

Are you running a skimmer?

How much live rock/base rock is in the tank?

Adding too many fish too fast can overload the bacteria and cause the tank to cycle again.

 

You are probably experiencing new tank syndrome. If your tank finished cycleing 5 days ago, you should only have one or two fish in there. That's it, nothing else. You have to take your time. You should wait at least 2 weeks between adding fish, to let your tank adapt to the changes. Or you will overload it and cause new tank syndrome

 

Keep your chin up and do what you can!

Yes, definitely, Ammonia and Nitrite should both be at 0. I was told a few times that it's a good sign that Nitrate is there at all. It means the Ammonia and Nitrite are being converted to Nitrate. The fact that Ammonia and Nitrite are still present means that your tank didn't actually finish cycling, unfortunately, or that it's going through a "mini-cycle." I think at this point, either term would apply.

Did you put the damsels in the tank in order to cycle the tank? Have they been there since the tank was set-up, I mean, or did you only add them after your cycle was finished? Do you have live rock, live sand, or a filter with biological filtration built in attached to your tank (bio balls, bio wheel, something of the sort?) If you do have live rock or live sand, how much do you have? Are you running any other filters? Do you have a protein skimmer? How much circulation do you have in your tank (powerheads, returns from filters/protein skimmer, that sort of thing.)

Hopefully the damsel pulls through and the snails and crabs, too. At this point, you can only really wait it out and allow your biological filter in your tank to establish itself. Wait for Ammonia and Nitrite to reach 0, and stay at 0, for a few days.

There's two options here you could possibly consider but I wouldn't do them without more advice. The first one is adding a product like Amquel or Prime. It will reduce the ammonia level in your tank. Supposedly, Amquel puts it in a form that bacteria can use but won't harm your fish. It also claims on the bottle that it won't interfere with a cycle. Some people really dislike adding chemicals like that, and feel like it's only prolonging the cycle, though. I really don't know enough about it, but perhaps someone else does and could weigh in.

The second one would be to add a bacterial additive to help establish your biological filter (in your sand, rock, and other biological filtration) and thus help make your tank safe again more quickly. Again, it's something I'm not familiar with that much. I read about them briefly when I set up my first tank a few years ago, but at the time there was an awful lot of disagreement about whether they worked or did anything at all. At the time, it seemed to me like people were claiming the most success from the refrigerated versions of these additives. The purpose of them is to add the bacteria you intend to grow during a cycle to your tank in order to speed the process up. Again, I wouldn't do it unless someone with more experience gave you advice and recommended a specific product.

EDIT: I felt bad being able to suggest a product to neutralize ammonia but not an additive. I checked a couple of products out, mainly out of curiosity, and I found a couple that you may want to investigate further if this is the route you wanted to take but didn't find anyone able to provide a definitive answer. While I have not tried these myself, and therefore am not vouching for them, it seemed that through my searches the companies behind them were more or less reputable and that some people using them had some good reviews, though other people remained skeptical. The first was a refrigerated product named FritzZyme's TurboStart 900 for Saltwater - you would need the one ounce size. The second was Aquabella's Saltwater Aquarium Water Treatment System, a shelf-stable product. If you are unable to get a hold of either of these as soon as possible, you'd probably need to use AmQuel or Prime to get your ammonia down to stop any damage to your damsel and then apply them (and stop the AmQuel) as soon as you used it. Keep in mind that even if you do use one of these products and it works well and saves your damsel, you should still give it a few weeks before considering adding anything else to your tank so that the biological filter has time to fully establish itself!

Personally, I don't think there's any substitute for building up your biological filter on your own. That's what the cycle is and that requires waiting, unfortunately. Then again, I could also understand why you might want to take another alternative. I just want to give you all your options. Unfortunately, I'm not informed enough to tell you about these last two.

Anyway, if your last damselfish ends up dying, and your levels of Ammonia and Nitrite still haven't dropped to zero, you're going to need to continue your cycle in one way or another. The one option I hear often is just to leave a piece of raw frozen shrimp in the tank and allow it to decompose. Or I've even heard that a small bit of flake food will work. Someone may have to confirm that, but I don't see why it wouldn't. Leave the shrimp in (or keep on adding a small bit of fish food every day, whichever you've picked) until Ammonia and Nitrite both show 0 for a few days. Take the shrimp out after that happens, and then, do a 25% water change. Then your tank is cycled.

Don't feel too bad . At least this is happening now, rather than when you have a bunch of expensive fish in your tank. Damselfish are notorious for being evil little buggers, and they have been known to harass and kill fish way bigger than themselves. If it had to happen, at least it happened to the evil fish, right?

I know it's hard to see the silver lining right now when this is happening, but just keep in mind that mistakes are really learning experiences. Be glad the mistake that happened to you now happened to you early and happened to you relatively inexpensively. Plus, don't blame yourself. This could happen to anyone in the same situation. In the meantime, read as much on this forum as you can - there are many good articles and informative posts - and in any other form that you can. Inform yourself so you know what your choices are so you can minimize things like that happening again. I'm still beginning for a second time myself. I've got a lot to learn still. Ask a bunch of questions whenever you have a question in the beginners section of the forum. You'll probably be asking a question that a lot of people have wondered, too. And you'll definitely see a ton of mine.

Just trying to give you some advice, one beginner to another. I hope I've helped more than I've hurt!