I am new to the hobby and currently have a 6 month old 14 gallon tank (skimmer included). The tank started off with a 1 month cycling period. I then placed 2 duncan corals that have begun to bud, followed by 4 Zoas later on, one torch much later, a hammer, a (small) GSP, a pair of clowns, one sexy shrimp.... and in the past three weeks, one rock flower anemone. For the cleanup crew, I have one small violet/purple urchin (free from the LFS), 1 hermit, and at least 6 larger snails (there are some smaller ones crawling around the tank that came with live rock). I know I have some brittle stars and a centipede like thing in there as well that must have come from the rock, they really only come out at night though.
My corals seemed to be growing well and my clowns (≤ ~2inch, been with the tank since month 1) seemed happy enough in their own little corner of the tank, so I wanted to add a small (≥~1 inch) yellowtailed blue damsel. I got the fish from an LFS I normally purchase coral from, and for the first day, the damsel looked fine. Hiding in and out of rocks, and was a really great fish to look at. It seemed like it was getting along with the clown fish, and generally it stayed towards the middle of the tank under the rock arches while the clowns preferred their spot closer to the back. Every once in awhile I noticed they would look at each other, but not much more than that happened. I fed the fish once, and saw the damsel eat a few things, then spit it out if it was too big.
Last night, about 24 hours after purchase, I noticed the damsel was coasting along the ground, and seemed like it was opening its mouth more. Just before I went to bed, I noticed it was in the darkest corner of the tank. The clowns looked fine, so I thought it was just possibly in their nature. This morning, I couldn't find the damsel anywhere, but I noticed my rock flower anemone now looked like it was almost standing up. Not 5 minutes later, I see it slowly coming out of the coral after the lights turned on. My RFA has never had an issue with the clowns, and it is placed towards the very bottom of the tank.
Was there any issue with my tank that caused the damsel to slowly deteriorate? This could be the current inhabitants, the chemistry of the water... etc. I have my parameters below which were taken today and the LFS said it looked alright. Is there anything else I should test for? Are the parameters off?
Thank you very much for your time and patience!
My current water parameters are:
My corals seemed to be growing well and my clowns (≤ ~2inch, been with the tank since month 1) seemed happy enough in their own little corner of the tank, so I wanted to add a small (≥~1 inch) yellowtailed blue damsel. I got the fish from an LFS I normally purchase coral from, and for the first day, the damsel looked fine. Hiding in and out of rocks, and was a really great fish to look at. It seemed like it was getting along with the clown fish, and generally it stayed towards the middle of the tank under the rock arches while the clowns preferred their spot closer to the back. Every once in awhile I noticed they would look at each other, but not much more than that happened. I fed the fish once, and saw the damsel eat a few things, then spit it out if it was too big.
Last night, about 24 hours after purchase, I noticed the damsel was coasting along the ground, and seemed like it was opening its mouth more. Just before I went to bed, I noticed it was in the darkest corner of the tank. The clowns looked fine, so I thought it was just possibly in their nature. This morning, I couldn't find the damsel anywhere, but I noticed my rock flower anemone now looked like it was almost standing up. Not 5 minutes later, I see it slowly coming out of the coral after the lights turned on. My RFA has never had an issue with the clowns, and it is placed towards the very bottom of the tank.
Was there any issue with my tank that caused the damsel to slowly deteriorate? This could be the current inhabitants, the chemistry of the water... etc. I have my parameters below which were taken today and the LFS said it looked alright. Is there anything else I should test for? Are the parameters off?
Thank you very much for your time and patience!
My current water parameters are:
| Test | Value | Units | Date |
| pH | 7.9 | 22-Jul-24 | |
| Phosphate | 0.3 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Nitrite | 0.1 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Nitrate | 26 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Ammonia | 0 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Alkalinity | 150 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Magnesium | 1386 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
| Ca | 379 | ppm | 22-Jul-24 |
