Can anyone awanser this?

[Nakie31]

I am having a problem with fish diying my tank is about 4 1/2 months old I have live rock and sand. When I bought my first fish maybe a month later I got three green chromis, and two clarner shrimp, two weeks later I got 2 black and white clowns with the orange face, one of the clowns died one day later, but the store replaced it. About two weeks later I got 1 Fire fish, and 2 Cardinal fish. Everyone was doing great swimming around the 72 gal. tank. So I thought I was doing everything right so I went to a different store and got 2 orange and white clown fish, and two zoanthids frags. Two hours later 1 of the clowns was stuck on the power head, the power head I thought they forced water outwards, then the zoas closed up and still have not reopened. A few days later my Fire fish died, I checked all my levels and everything was great. the about two days later one of the Cardinals died then the Chromis start diying the levels and salinity is steady at 1.025 them the second Cardinal died the 3 clowns are still swimming all over, I noticed that all these fish were hanging over at the same rock just before they died I also noticed that I had no problems before I got the last two clown fish. O yea did I mention that after I got the clown I also got cyano so I'm fighting that to, So at the time I posted this I now have 1 orange and 1 black and white clown and the two cleaner shrimp and about 15 blue lag hermtis left. So my question is this do you think that the 2 orange clowns bought something into my tank that is killing my fish if not what can it be?

72 gal. bowfront
salinity 1.025
ammonia 0
PH 8.8 (high I know)
nitrate 0
nitrite 0

 

[uncleL]

Hey There! I feel your pain! I had the same thing happen when I first started 26yrs ago! To start your cycle I would take all the fish back until you get stable temp?? Add Dr. Tim's Bacterial and two Clown Fish "NEMO" Let that run for a month.....add some good live rock. I only added one fish a month. You have to let the tank have a chance to keep up with the BIO load. Do you have a Skimmer? Do you have a ATO and using RO/DI water?How long did you tank cycle? Did you use any type of bacteria to start the cycle? What is the tank Temp?

 

[gigamanx]

I'll give you my personal experience with a 55g bow front. I was losing fish randomly and all kinds of different species. At first, it was actually a banded shrimp that was snapping at the fins of the fish as they went by. I caught him once holding onto a green chromis and dragging it down. My biggest issue, however, ended up being my LFS. I'm not sure why as they are very large and have high turnover of stock, but changing to a different store has given me a lot more success on keeping them alive. A side thought, is it possible that you're not climatizing the new stock to the tank before putting them in? Are they under any undue shock between the store and your tank?

 

[uncleL]

I only added any type of corals mushrooms, Zoa's after six months.....and a piece of live rock every month for six months. You have to take it SLOW I know its hard but it will save the fish and money$$

 

[uncleL]

Oh....what is the salinity at the LFS? I acclimate my fish for 1hr and add 1/4 cup of my water every 10mins

 

[Sk8r]

Nakie, we have a sticky called SETTING UP that outlines the way it OUGHT to work.
I gather you're not quarantining. You may have ich in the tank. You could have brook. Question number one---has any unquarantined fish been in the tank?

 

[Clownfish Chris]

Also, QT and TTM to greatly reduce the risk of introducing a disease into the tank. I would suspect that this is what happened. What did the fish look like before passing? How did they act? Did it look like they were gasping for air? Also, did you drip acclimate them? This can cause damage to the fish if not done very quickly and should be done only in an emergency in spite of what retailers may tell you.

 

[Nakie31]

WOW guys thank you for your quick replies. The guy at the LFS at first said I didn't need a Skimmer then when all this happen on of the other guys that I texted told me to put one on so yes now I do have a skimmer and waiting for a better one to arrive.I have a tank waiting to become a QT just need to set it up but you got me with TTM. I did notice that my orange clown fish is missing it's left fin but he seems to swim fine I thought the 2 black clowns has attacked it. I have seen the shrimp try to grab some of the fish as they swim by. I don't know the salinity of the LFS. should I use the water from my main tank in the QT? When I acclimate my fish I drain of half the LFS water put the rest in a bowl with fish then add 1 cup of my tank water every 5 min. for 20 min. ( I feel so bad cause I don't want any fish killing fish in my tank and I can't keep them alive) this won't stop me though I will be a great reefer one day.

 

[e048]

Skimmer is a must, qt and drip all your fish add them slowly maybe once a month is a little too conservative I've done one every 2 weeks as qt allows

 

[toothybugs]

1) Stop listening to anything your LFS says. Sounds like they're fulla BS.

2) QT. Set one up (as Sk8r said, the Setting Up stickies are incredibly helpful) and use it properly. As you will learn in that sticky somewhere: Leave your fish in the bag and whip up a quick batch of freshly made saltwater to match the salinity of the bag water. Float it for a bit to temp acclimate, then just open the bag in to your QT. The fish should be fine since you've floated for temp and the salinities matched before you released the fish. Don't drip acclimate - too much potential for disaster.

Edit: You don't have to be told the salinity of the LFS water. Test it yourself with your own equipment before you put the bag in any tank.

3) Relax and take a deep breath. This should be fun. If you aren't comfortable doing something, wait a bit and read up on what you should be doing first - this means NOT buying something on impulse. trust me, you will be able to get it again. Corals, fish, etc - you can get them later when both you and your tank are ready.

4) I repeat #3 - be patient and have fun

 

[Nakie31]

Thanks everyone time to slow down

 

[hkgar]

Whatever you do QT,QT,QT. Can't say it often enough. If you have ick you have a real problem with getting out of a existing tank. There are only 3, let me repeat 3, ways to get rid of ick.

I would not add, or even start a quarantine, until I knew, or ruled out Ick, what was killing my fish.

The long drip method of acclimation has pretty much been replaced, by many of us, by just salinity and temperature match (leave bag in tank for 20 minutes, then make sure the salinity matches and add them. Make sure you know the salinity of the water where you are getting the fish and your QT water should match, then, if necessary, raise the salinity VERY (as in several days) slowly. Fish do not do well with quick salinity changes.

 

[Sk8r]

Yes. Fix it in your mind that fish can talk a small fast lowering of salinity fairly well.

Raising salinity on a fish rapidly, however, can do serious organ damage. Down a bit is safe, up is danger.

And once you open a bag with a fish in it, you should get that fish into his qt home well within 30 minutes. Time in the bag produces ammonium from waste, etc, but the minute that bag is opened, a ph shift (as co2 escapes) converts the ammonium to lethal ammonia. That's why the pre-set qt is so much safer. The fish is already stressed. With the pre-set qt the salinity change can be spread out over days, so he'll hardly notice it.

 

[hkgar]

Yes. If you don't know the sg of the source of the fish, i.e. LiveAquaria keeps and ships there fish with an sof 1.017. Even a two hour drip to acclimate will be way too fast of the sg increase to 1.024. That is about a 7 day acclimation to sg.

It might be Divers Den, one ships at 1.024 and the other at 1.017. You should never but fish from both in the same order.

Many LFS keep low sg and also run low levels of copper to keep Ick at bay.