Tag Archives: live sand

Saltwater damsel fish death?

I have a 55 gallon saltwater tank with a 4in. live sand bed, and a few pieces of fake coral. We have a power head (wave maker) a heater and a dual whisper filter with 2 bio-wheels. I let my tank run for a full month before adding (i’m not sure that did any good, but I waited anyway) just the other day I purchased 3 small yellow tailed blue damsels. Acclimated them just like we were told and even fed them live brine shrimp. The next morning, there was a white fish that was once blue laying dead at the bottom of the tank. Checked the levels the Ammonia was 0, pH was 8.2, Nitrite was 0, and Nitrate was 0, and the hydrometer said 1.022….The other 2 fish seemed fine and were swimming and eating …the next day yet another fish dead….checked the levels again I got the same results…now today they other fish is found dead in the same spot as the others? The pH is 8.3, so that is slightly higher but nothing else. What are we doing wrong? Anything we can do/buy that would help?

Saltwater fish help?

I have a 55 gallon saltwater tank w/ live sand. We didn’t get live rock because I’m not interested in having a reef anytime soon. So I have let it run for about a month fish free. The other day my fiancee bought me 3 small yellow tail blue damsels. Well we brought them home and aclimated them for the legnth of time the lady told him and one of the fish acted strangely and the next morning was dead. We feed the remaining two live brine shrimp and the seemed to be happy and healthy in their new home. Well to my dismay another one is dead. We’ve checked the levels and everything seems fine except the pH it’s roughly 8.8 could this have caused my fish’s death? What should I do now?

Thanks