why do my fish die?

i have a 29 gallon tank that i have had for a few months now. i started off by getting an Electric Damsel, a Three-Striped Damsel, and a Yellowtail Blue Damsel after i had my tank all set up and had ran for a couple weeks. the only one that survived was my Electric Damsel and i think that was probably because of my water quality and the fact i really didn't know anything about saltwater fish. a few weeks later i got a Domino Damsel and a cleaner shrimp. the Domino Damsel died about a week later and i noticed he would swim constantly against the current of my filtration system and was loosing color. the cleaner shrimp on the other hand was still alive and chomping on my dead domino damsel. and now 2 weeks ago i got an Ocellaris Clownfish and he was doing great until today when i also found him dead and being munched on by the cleaner shrimp. i did notice that when i first got the clown fish my electric damsel was hassling him but that stopped after i did a water change a few days ago. currently my tanks water is at about 80*F and 1.020. i was wondering why my fish keep going belly up but my cleaner shrimp and electric damsel have never had any problems.

 

Okay, first of all what your your params? Do you have LR> is the tank done cycling?

Thos are the major questions when it comes to fish dying.

 

Welcome to 3reef,

I think a couple issue may be going on

First it may be new tank syndrome, can you please post values for ammonia, and nitrates if you have them.

Another issue may be bullying, the type of Damsel you mention is an aggressive type, and may have been bullying the other fish. Stressed fish succumb to disease much easier and are less able to deal with new tank syndrome.

It sounds as though you are stocking rather quickly for a new system. A 29 gal tank offers little room for error so stocking should be done very slowly.

 

i thought my tank was done cycling because it had gained algae and stuff. i don't have any info on my water accept for what i put but i just did a water change so i figure my ammonia and everything i ok. i was also wondering if maybe it had something to do with me adding a few new items into my tank. i added a new fake plant and a few little rock things for them to swim through.

 

not exactly sure what this stuff is. what's LR? and are my params the ammonia and stuff in the water because if it is i don't know anything but the water temp and the specific gravity.

 

Hover your mouse over the letters LR. It's a new feature.

 

oh haha ok thanks. no i do not have and live rock in my tank yet.

 

I think you just added things too many fish too quickly. The initially addition of 3 fish at one time will cause another ammonia spike. The biological filter needs to be able to grow between the purchase of new fish. A larger tank may be able to handle it, but not a newly cycled 29 gallon in my opinion.

A test kit for the basics of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates is a most when keeping sw tanks.

Damsels can be very aggressive fish, not all but most.

I think you should also slowly bring up your specific gravity to 1.023.

Did the fish show any sign of disease like white spots, white coating, breathing heavily at the surface?

To really nail down the cause you need to know values of your water parameters.

 

i did not notice any signs of disease unless swimming close to glass is one. ever since the clown fish was put in the tank he never really liked to swim in the middle or off of the walls of the tanks. and will the addition of live rock help prevent things like this happening in the future?

 

If you have LR in there, there shouldnt be any problems really if the tank is cycled..

You need to go to an LFS or go and buy a test kit..You should never really add fish without knowing what your params are at.