Everything that enters my tank dies!!!

[varg1]

Ok so i saw that my scarlet hermit was out of his shell today. I thought maybe he would find another or something, but latter on i found him dead. I went to my LFS to pick up a chromis to see how that would fare in my tank and a coral banded shrimp to take care of my bristle worm infestation. As soon as i put the chromis in the tank he lost control of his fins and began sinking and breathing real fast and heavy. I took him out and put him in my QT, and thought he was a goner, but i just looked and sure enough he is swimming and alive doing well now. The coral banded shrimp is now dead. I have had my tank cycled for over 4 months now, i added some live rock so there was a miny cycle but now my nitrites and ammonia both read zero! What is going on, im very worried and am looking for awnsers.

 

[varg1]

Nitrite is 0, nitrate is 5,ammonia is 0, sg is 1.026, temp is now 8o but goes up to 82-83 during the day when its really warm.

 

[varg1]

Oh yeah and my nasarius snails are still alive. And i did not use the drip method to acclimate the chromis or coralbanded shrimp, i just left the bag in the tank for about 20-30 min.

 

[Billybeau1]

You have water chemistry problems. Not sure where yet. Need more info.

Lets start with what kind of water do you use ?

 

[varg1]

I get my water from my sink, i use prime on it and let it sit for a while...My other fish in my other tanks are doing fine its just this tank.

 

[Billybeau1]

Well then it just may have been the acclimation process for the chromis and shrimp.

As far as the hermit, it just may have been his time.

If your other tanks are doing ok, I would just be a little more careful when introducing new livestock.

 

[varg1]

It has to be my water. Now im finding tons of bristle worms dead on the ground...I work as a car detailer we use lots of chemicals, but when im there i where gloves constantly, and when i put my hands in my tank for whatever reason, i basically burn my hands under hot water and put a pair of rubber gloves on I use for changing water and such. But that is a possibility, but i would like any more suggestions on what it could be.

 

[Mark NJ]

What kind of pH readings are you getting?

 

[varg1]

8.o thing is, all my readings are great, right no. I cheaked myself with my API test kits and took it to the LFS and it was the same. I put a polly fillter in the back of my tank, and put a new carbon pack in there aswell. I guess ill see what happens.

 

[varg1]

How hot would it have to get in a tank to kill fish basically instantly,and kill snails over time? My temp has gotten to 84 before. Soon after i noticed i opened the top and put a fan on to skim the surface.

 

[davew0670]

stray voltage?

 

[varg1]

I was thinking the same thing, i have 2 koralia 1's in my tank and a stealth heater, its an aquapod so it came with the powerhead. what could be giveing of voltage? and how?

 

[varg1]

Bump

 

[wtac]

My guess would be from the K1's. I was using a current detector while doing some wiring work around a friend's reef. I forgot to turn the beeping pen off and tucked in my belt loop. When we were chatting and my hip was close to the aquarium, it was beeping. After plugging and unplugging things, it was the K4's that were setting off the pen.

JME

 

[paulamrein]

It could be household cleaners, pesticides, stray voltage, someone accedently spilled something in your tank and is trying to hide it from you. There isn't a parasite that effects fish and inverts and most don't kill that quickly. May be the temperature. Are your other tanks saltwater or fresh? Oxygen content may have a play as well, though you have fans blowing on it. The thing is, stray voltage usually doesn't effect the fish too much, if it was enough to kill the fish it would be enough to kill you. My guess would be a chemical got into the tank, or, as I'm typing I also thought of a guess if it is a used tank, it may have copper leaching into the water. Either any of those or YOU'RE CURSED!! j/k

 

[mmedeiros2]

Poss. voltage problem

Poss. voltage problem

It is possible that if the hot and nutral wires in your pump or heater were exposed to the water, fish could be electrically
Zapped very quickly.
I once cracked the heater in my FW tank and killed an angel fish instantly.
The reason why you might not be getting zapped is because some part of your body must be grounded. DO NOT put your hand in the tank and then touch ground to test.
You should be able to test for voltage with an inexpensive volt meter. Place one probe in the tank, and touch the other to ground. A ground point that is handy is the round hole of the three female slots in a 120 VAC outlet, or the screw hole that is used to fasten the outlet plate. These ground points will be ground providing the outlet is properly ground to the electrical panel. to test for the ground point, measure on the 200 VAC scale from the screw or round hole, to the SMALLER slot on the outlet. It should read aprox. 120 volts.
If you can get your hands on a volt meter it could be worth a shot.

 

[varg1]

I unplugged one of my korails, and put the chromis in after 4 days of being unplugged....sure enough the chromi is doing great. But now i have a whole bunch of dead worms, and snails in my tank.Thanks for all the ideas guys, couldnt have figured that out on my own.