need some help

C

corylane21

well here is the deal. i had 3 damsels in my tank and it has been up and running for about 1 1/2 months and they were doing good minus the dominance issues. well i removed them and purchased 2 clowns and 1 Pajama Cardinal and sometime during the day yesterday one of the clowns died and the other died sometime during the night. i checked my parameters and everything was okay but the nitrates were above 20 but that was probably due to the fish in the tank dead for several hours. but the PJ is just fine so is it just bad luck or are the clowns more picky when it comes to the chemicals in the water. just need a little help that way i can learn some more before i buy anything else
 
also i check the gavaty and it was about 1.025 ish so i fixed that trying to make sure the second one wouldn't die but i woke up and it was dead as well...
 
well i think i figured it out i think there was to big of a gap in the salinity level. but i set the fish in there in the bag for about 15-20 min and then cut the bag and let some of the tank water enter for a min and let them free. they were fine for over a day then both died in a 24hr period but the cardinal is just fine
 
Yes, acclimating is for salinity, pH, etc., as much as it is for temperature. You should add a little water (many people use a shot glass for this - clean, of course!) at a time to the bag for a good 20-30 mins, till it's majority your water in the bag, before you release the fish into your tank. And do not allow any of the water from the bag to get into your system. There are many different methods for acclimation but you definitely need to give the fish a longer and more gradual period to get accustomed to your water. A healthier fish (such as perhaps your cardinal) may be able to handle the shock, but the fish is already stressed from being caught and bagged, and adding more stress from poor acclimation can lead to death (as, perhaps, in the case of your damsels).
 
I find the drip acclimation process to be the easiest and seems to be very effective. I use a empty bucket from my salt, empty the entire bag the fish came in into the bucket. Take a air tube and put one end into the your tank and the other into the bucket. Attach a control valve(this sell for about $1 at LFS) to the end that is in your bucket and start the siphon process. Adjust the valve so it drips about a drop every second at first, then gradually increasing the drip rate about every 15 mins, two drops per second then three and so on. Then after an hour and a half, varies per individual, get a container and capture the fish and then transfer it into your tank. Of course monitor your fish to make sure its doing ok and not breathing really fast. Don't have to float the bag in your tank and add water to it every 5-15 mins.
Hope this helps.
 
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