Fish are dying!

[iceman14555]

I would get bacteria in a bottle to speed up the cycle. I use stability by seachem.

There are products out there that detoxify Ammonia like sechem's prime. You have to be careful using that too because the chemical just bonds the harmful Ammonia for 48 hours. Then it becomes toxic again. Essentially, while bonded to Ammonia, the beneficial bacteria can use that for the nitrogen cycle. Your test kit will still register the Ammonia while dosing prime. Prime won't 'get rid' of the Ammonia. The nitrogen cycle will.

I agree and would pick up some turbo start 900 by fritz zyme, this stuff is refrigerated and smells like concentrated red tide. That will really boost your bacteria especially since your tank is somewhat new.

Thankyou silent_circle. We've used prime in our other tanks but ran out. Will definitely pick some more up and try the stability product.

Be careful when using too much of a good thing, it can have negative effects, usually Prime is used to detox tap water, I wouldn't dose it on regularly to rid your tank of ammonia, like silen_circle said before.

Dumping too many chemicals into your new tank can cause it's own problems too, so try to stick to natural supplements if you are going to pour it in. Good luck...

 

[tunedtank]

I second sugar magnolia any amount of amonnia is toxic and that your tank is still cycling i would recommend not adding anything new until proper test results state cycle is over. Also whats happening to the fish before they die are they going do slowly or fine then dead. Have you been looking at night for any hitchhikers that could be causing this although nothing probabbly survived the cycle if live rock was placed in before but auggestion none the less

 

[BigCountry74]

next time you acclimate. use a empty bucket and a long section of rubber air tubing. tie a few knots in the air tuping and start a syphon with it from the 100g into the bucket, so its slowly dripping into the bucket (sorta like an IV ). poor the fish and their water from the fish store (bag) into the bucket. it takes longer (which is good) but is actually easier and better method of acclimating than the floating method.

 

[ravi197699]

acclimation

acclimation

+1 with this method much much easier that floating....

next time you acclimate. use a empty bucket and a long section of rubber air tubing. tie a few knots in the air tuping and start a syphon with it from the 100g into the bucket, so its slowly dripping into the bucket (sorta like an IV ). poor the fish and their water from the fish store (bag) into the bucket. it takes longer (which is good) but is actually easier and better method of acclimating than the floating method.

 

[nitr8]

Check my posts. There is one that says fish die within 24 hours. The last two fish have I've introduced have lived after $100s of dollars down the toilet. The key to my success could have been one or more of the following three factors

1.) Tank is now 7 months old. Maybe cycle wasn't compete yet.

2.) No acclimation! Sounds crazy but I scoop the fish out of the bag with my hand and straight in. I don't agree with the salinity swings everyone seems to be so worried about. In a storm the salinity in the ocean can drop locally quick and raise just as fast. Why isn't the beach lined with dead fish after every storm?

3.) I introduce new fish into my refugium first for a few days before putting them into the display. This is a stress free environment with a whole lot of gut loaded pods to eat.

Hope this helps.

 

[tmz]

It may be ammonia but may be something else(disease , a toxin,low oxygen perhaps), based on the symptoms and test results.
Ammonia spikes can be tricky to detect,though. Often they have done the damage and the ammonia has oxidized before one can test for it.

Typically fish affected by ammonia poisoning exhibit: gasping at the surface for air;lying on the bottom,lethargy, purplish gills, red streaks ,shredded fins and sometimes darkened color. Some fish are more sensitive to it than others but all will die from it at some level. The loss of equilibrium ( upside down swimming) may have something to do with the effect of oxygen deprivation and/ or ammonia poisoning on the fish's central nervous system .

For acclimation, treatment and disease prevention going froward this thread may be of interest:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2185929&highlight=fish+acclimation+and+quarantine

For now , I'd,personally, let that tank cycle more ,particularly with the new spike in ammonia. I'd wait for at least two weeks of zero ammonia readings and the introduce pre quarantined fish in small numbers . A little food for the fishless tank along the way can help build the population of ammonia oxidizing bacteria.

If a disease like cryptocaryon irritans(ich) is the cause of the fish deaths then the tank needs to be fishless for 72 days.

A toxin may come from some death and decay somewhere in the rock or from the tank ,equipment or additives. Silicone work on tanks using a product with mildecide has been reproted on numerous occasions to kill tanks for example .

Running granulated activated carbon may help and or polyfilter may help if it's a toxin.