Help for my friend's new tank!

[Luis]

A friend of mine got his 50g tank last week. He filled with 20 pounds of live sand 10 pound of live rock (just to start) and 2 damsels, after a week he added two more damsels because he didn't got any ammonia with two. his sump run out of water yesterday and he got a bunch of bubbles all day long in his main tank, at night he filled up the sump with RO water the fish looked a little bit stressed because of the bubbles but as soon as he pour the R.O. water they started swimming around and then after two hours one of the damsels died. he went to sleep a little bit drepressed and this morning he found all the fish dead. His P.H. was 8.2 all the time and all the other parameters were 0.

Can you help him to resolve the mistery? I don't have a clue.

Thanks guys. I wanna help him because he just started and he is filling a little bit drepressed.

 

[Ben1]

Theres many reasons they could have died.

No fish should be in any tank untill it is fully "cycled". It is a much better to cycle the tank with cocktail shrimp, or a bunch of flake food or what ever just not fish.

I had my sump run low in my first year and the tank filled with those tiny bubbles that make the tank look like its filled with milk, around 96' and didn't have any mortalitys related to that.

In anycase, setting up a tank the right way right from the start is a big thing. I would stress him to buy all the equiptment he needs to sustain what he plans for his tank now. All the live rock in bulk over the net, Drmaccorals.com has some decent stuff....set up the aquascaping.

Then throw some sort of food in the tank for 30-45 days. I would then tell him to do a large water change, check all parameters then restock with one fish at a time, with atleast a few weeks between adding new fish. This time should give some time for him to save up for the fish he really wants. Adding a clean up crew after the cycle can also be a good idea.

HTH, somehow. There is to many invariables in the post to tell you why the fish died. Was his Ph realy always ideal, even at night? How was it tested? Was it the ammonia, there was most likely a bunch in there. Theres many reasons they could have died.

 

[Anonymous]

I have heard/read that in extreme cases of highly oxegenated water the gills can become infused with micro bubs. and kill the fish. I have had skimmers blow micros into my tanks with no ill affects, so not sure if I believe this. Andt

 

[jsbradbury]

I agree with Ben- setting everything up before you add livestock of any kind is key. Also- tell your friend to stay away from damsels, he'll be kicking himself in the ass later.