Thank you for the link. I will work on piecing together a timeline, and in the mean time I will read any links you send my way.. I'd say my biggest problem with my inability to care for these fish is that there is almost too much information on the net. Much of which contradicts other information. I'll be happy to read from a link that someone has provided and says it's a good link. I'm definately not adding fish for another couple of months either.. ..
I do, however, still find it a touch odd that all three times the tank "failed" it was the morning after I added that darned "water clarifier" to the tank.
Oh, and when I said cloudy it was more like.. just dirty looking water.. the clarifier is supposed to bond with anything floating in the water so that it can be sucked down by the filter..
When i said I changed my carbon filter I mean just the carbon, not the foam or the white cubes (I'm not really sure what they are).
The fish have survived water changes with no problem, and my freshwater fish (although not the same in practice, but the same in principal) have done fine since the very first fish.. (he's the first fish I ever bought and still kicking 2 years later).
I still have the delemna of what's left. The fish, crab and shrimp that are left are still alive and well in the "bucket".. I have a heater in there, but no filter. I'm going to get a small filter for it today so they can survive a couple of days in there.. Since I didn't have time to care for the bucket this morning I had my wife periodically kinda stir the pot to .. i have her just stir it gentally with the heater and pull the heater up and down to make sure some O2 gets to the bottom of it. The fish and others are still doing great she said. They're swimming happy and healthy looking.
I set up the tank though.. let it sit for 3 days and talked to a person at the "petco".. .. big mistake.. I bought two damsels, put them in there and they died a week later.. I started reading.. I found out about cycling and all.. I emptied the tank, replaced filters and started over. I put 3lbs of live rock in and let the tank sit.. I turned the light on in the day, off at night..
tank looked nice.. but nothing going on..
watched .. .. Nitrates, nitrites and amonia was off the chart.. .. definately not good for fish, but I didn't have any..
I waited.. .. waited.. nothing seemed to be getting any better.. I kept reading.. I knew this was a good thing, my tank was cycling..
One day it got a lot better, but not perfect.. .. then it got worse again.. then.. bam.. it was all cleared up.. I have the color charts and whatever the BEST one was for everything is where I was.. pH was like 8.4 I think.. can't remember if that's right.. dark purple on the color chart.. Amonia was 0, nitrites and trates were 0 also. As I said I don't remember all the numbers, but I do check the water at least weekly and compare to the color chart that came with the test kits...
Anyway.. it was about 6 weeks in when it was all clear.. I waited 2 more weeks just in case..
I added two damsels (because they're cheep) they were fine.. All was well .. ..
I cleaned the tank 1 week later.. 20% change.. the water was all clouded so I added the infamous "water clarifier"..
it was about 6pm (most gets done at this time because its when i get back from work).. Mistake 1.. I should do this on Saturday so i can monitor the fish for a longer period of time..
..
anyway.. next morning.. dead..
brought the water to the LFS.. Water was perfect....
2 weeks later.. all looked ok.. 1 damsel.. ..
2 weeks later.. still looked ok.. 1 clown
1 week later.. cleaned the tank.. looked cloudy. added the "clarifier"..
next morning.. dead... tested water.. looked perfect still.
2 weeks later.. all looked well. ..
1 more damsel.. 2 weeks later.. another damsel..
few days later cleaned tank..
few more days later 1 clown fish..
2 weeks later cleaned tank..
3 weeks later 1 beauty angel
2 weeks later 1 tang..
1 week later, added some clarifier..
next morning.. DEAD..
Checked the water .. looked fine.
In between the weeks during the first batch of the last set of fish I added a shrimp.. (I bought 1, my daughter wanted the smallest weekest one they had so the lady gave it to me figuring it'd just die no matter where it was.. it lived for the duration of the the rest of the fish.. I'd say 4 weeks).
I was also adding hermit crab and an emerald crab per week during the last set.. ..
I don't like killing these fish.. trust me.. I don't think.. they're just fish.. I prefer my fish to my dog.. they're great.. I love watching them.. I put my hand in the tank and let them come near.. I've grown close and attached to these fish.. It may read as though I'm just doing this blind, but I do a lot of reading and I ask a lot of questions.. a Friend of mine works in the zoo aquarium, has a degree and has a lot of knowledge, I ask her a lot of questions as well.. She has been a great help.. I want to know what Im doing that is killing, what appears to be, healthy fish in one night.
The food..
.. brine isn't all they get.. Yes ,I dont have any plant life .. I have a variety pack of frozen food.. .. The LFS said that would be fine. they eat well.. but not a hole cube twice a day.. I waste about 1/4 to 1/2 a cube each feeding because they don't eat enough in the 2 min time frame.. I don't pour it all in unless they eat it all..
Brine is what they get most, but not all they get.
So.. that's that.. I'd love any feedback, please keep the criticism for the sake of criticizing to a minium. Constructive Criticism is welcome, as long as it's meant to teach me, not belittle me.. I feel aweful enough..
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