[saltwaterdave]

I got a few questions about my set-up I have going.
30 gallon with about 3 to 4 " sand bed.....about 15 lbs of live rock(gonna get more ) I seeded the sand bed with 5lbs of live sand from a local reefer's 155 gallon.I have a 110 watts of pc lighting,I am running a skimmer and 2 emperor 400's,1 penquin power head.I have about 12 snails (some of which are reproducing ) Lots of feather dusters, asmall trumpet frag and a orange monti frag.1 peppermint shrimp. I had 1 damsel in the tank but he liked digging to much in the sand bed .I also have 2 christmas tree worms that came on some sort of clam,the clam moves around a bit but not to much.Ph is running 8.3,trites is zero,trates are zero,ammonia is zero.Now for the question......I brought 2 clowns false perc's,on Thursday,I had been watching them at the lfs for about a week,they ate and seemed to be doing fine,I got them home and acclimated them for about 2 hours,they took off swimming and seemed to be fine,well this morning I get up and 1 is dead and the other seemed to be laboring quite a bit to breath,he also looked almost like he was trying to shed,I took him out and put him in a qt tank,but he did'nt make it What is wrong???
Thanks,
David

[ChrisPrusha]

Dave,

How long has your tank been set up? You stated that nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are zero...when did you test it? How are the other tank inhabitants doing?

A two hour acclimation for a fish should be just fine. Something is obviously stressing them out...try testing the water one more time to see if the results are consistent. If something has perished in your 30 gallon (i.e. the first clown), water quality can change in an awful hurry.

What kind of skimmer, btw?

Chris

[Reefland]

Welcome to Reefland!

I know it is the obvious but what is your salinity compared to the tank they were in at the store? Sometimes it is the little things that are overlooked. A 2 hour acclimation is adequate but....

Regards,

[saltwaterdave]

The tank has been set up since May,I only had a couple of damsels in it until about August.I tested the water before I got the clowns then I tested it again after the 2nd one died,then I took a sample to the lfs and had them test it,then I came home and did it again,it still test the same.I do not have any fish in it at all now,I took out the damsels because they were digging up the sand bed. Evrything else is doing fine I even have Nassarius snails reproducing,we saw the new one about a week ago,the shrimp is fine,I feed him with my turkey baster,he actually grabs ahold of it and i squeeze out some food for him,it is really cool to watch him to that.I was praying on one would ask about the skimmer,it is a sea-clone that I have modified,pulls out a little bit of gunk but not to much.
The lfs keeps their's at 1.019 I keep mine at 1.024.I have tons of copepods,I have about a dozen feather dusters. Thanks for the Welcome
And thank you all for your help!!
David

[ChrisPrusha]

That's quite a jump in salinity, and I'm sure that caused at least some stress.

If all the other inhabitants in your tank are fine, and your water condition is in good shape (as it indeed appears to be), it's gotta be something with the acclimation process, or with the fish themselves. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Chris

[Reefland]

I agree with Chris, if all test results are fine it has to be either the salinity change or the fish initially had poor health. If you happen to get another fish from this store, make sure they have it for a couple of weeks and try a longer, slower acclimation process.

Regards,

[casey]

also you should be able to aclimate them within an hour at least to get them in the tank this is how we do it where I use to work remember being in that bag is also stressful to a fish.

[saltwaterdave]

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it
David