[jaydm93teg]

ok i have a 55 gallon tank. I put turbo start in there and let it go for a few days went to the fish store and got some live rock and 3 damsels to help cycle the tank. The damsels were fine for the first 2 tays. Yesterday i saw that one fish had a white cloudy substance on his tail. still swimming and eating fine. Both other damsels also fine. Today i get home the one "hurt" one half of his tail is missing?? and one of the other damsels cannot get himself off the bottom, he doesnt have any white on him he just cant swim and his tail fin looks as if it has been eatin. The thrid damsel is swimming eating evertthing seems to be perfect. WHAT IS WRONG?

[Reefland]

Hi jaydm93teg, Welcome to Reefland!

Simply put, your tank is not suited for fish at this time, not even damsels. You should just let your tank cycle with the liverock your purchased and nothing else until the cycle is completed. You are introducing fish into an environment that has ammonia and nitrite present which are both toxic and fatal to fish. Despite what the store told you, putting damsels in this tank was not a good choice.

[jaydm93teg]

so there isnt a disease or anything its just the levels of amonia and nitrate or that is causing there fins to come off or even dissapear i mean it looks like they have been kicking each others butts. so i should just take the fish out and get some more live rock for the next few weeks or so

[Reefland]

Damsels are extremely agressive so either the fin problem is due to their natural agressiveness or the levels in the tank.

I would remove all fish and throw them at the person that sold them to you and purchase the total amount of liverock you want to stock the tank for the final appearance and let the tank cycle with strictly the rock.

[Brian35]

I would say at least a month minimum. I ran with just water for the first week, live rock for the next 2 weeks and then a tester fish the fourth week. You may be ready before then for fish but i found that folks who rush the tank have unexpected problem sooner and later. just go eassy and watch the water. Besides it gives you a chance to be sure of how you want the set up look =)

Brian

[jaydm93teg]

yeah im watchin them now and i see that one is snapping at the other 2 very aggresive little guy. im prob about to purchase 30lbs of TBS rock and then i will have 20 lbs. of i think it was called coral live rock that i bought from the fish store. thanks for your advice. What fish should i start off with afte rthe tank is cycled. Would chromis be ok?? i want something cheap that i just want make sure i can keep them alive before i invest alot of money. THanks again.

[Reefland]

The common blue/green chromis would be excellent starter fish for you system after the tank has cycled.

[Brian35]

chromies are nice and easy. they like to school so get a few

[jaydm93teg]

what are yalls thoughts or opinons on TBS rock??

[Reefland]

I can't comment, I've never had their rock. I have used gulf rock in the past though and it is pretty dense stuff. 30lbs of gulf rock won't take the same space that 30lbs of Fiji would.

[cesar]

Well Jay to be honest once I finished my tank cycle I introduced 2 clowns into my tank. They were doing great. Only problem was when I introduced the blue tang (prior post respond). But I noticed and in my opinion, clowns are quite hardy.

[jaydm93teg]

well i figured out that the one healthy damsel was basically kicking the ass of the other 2 fish. during the nite really i guess.....he ended up eating the tail fin off the other 2 fish and they both died......im planning on getting aobut 30 lbs of TBS rock to finish up my cycle. and as long as this other damsel stays alive i will most likely start off my post cycle with some clownfish. Now if the damsel dies i will go with the chromis.

thanks for all the info. if anyone has any other suggestions for me i would gladly like to hear them. thanks again

[Reefland]

Go ahead and get rid of the Damsel that remains. You will have a difficult time adding new fish in the future without the damsel abusing them.

[cesar]

I had at one point 4 damsels. Man they are nazi's of the aquarium world. I had one mean basta*d, a dominoe damsel. Sad, but i was glad when it died. Guess who got rid of him? My 2 clowns.

[jaydm93teg]

yeah i was just gonn leave the damsel in there to help cycle my tank and in about a week or so im gonna get rid of him...and go with the clowfish.