Fish Dropping Like Flies

[wooden_reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10293024#post10293024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Vincent Moore
I am going to go with the aquarium is too new and I am going too fast thing. The nitrogen cycle is over and I need to change what it says under my name. I don't know how high the ammonia got during the cycle as I did not have an ammonia test kit due to them not being available here in China. Some friends of mine picked me up some on a trip back to the States. Anyway, I will raise the salinity as there seems to be a lot of people indicating its too low. I changed my powerhead to a smaller one (fish dieing before I did this too) as the other one was just too strong even at its lowest setting. The coral was beeing blown off the rocks no matter what direction I pointed it and the fish hid inside the rocks all day to say out of the current. By switching to a smaller head, the plants are moving around just fine and so are the fish. I can see air bubbles on some of my rocks to it appears there is enough oxygen in the water. I might search ebay and see if I can find an oxygen test kit and have a look to see what it is. My other issue is I feel as if I am over feeding the fish. Some web sites say feed 2 or 3 times a day. While the ammonia hasn't spiked on me from feeding, it often crosses my mind the fish have died from eating too much.

I will not add or change anything for another 4 weeks. I hope no more fish die. In the mean time I will report my water readings and take pictures as I can.

In some cycling, the nitrite peaks but the ammonia never does. An ammonia peak generally kills all fish. If any fish lived through the cycling, then it is not optimal. That is why using fish to cycle a tank for fish is generally a poor method. Fortunately, careful gradualism may work out for you after some grief.

If the method of collection was uniformly bad, other aquarists may have the same problem. Are you a member of any club that can communicate with the LFS?

Don't forget basic gaseous exchange.

 

[Marsha]

Simple solution to low ph is to put a powerhead near the top of the tank and get the water moving along the surface. I was having trouble with this too. I moved one of my power heads with the nozzle directed toward the water surface. The water at the top of the tank is moving rapidly. Within two days the pH level rose to 8.4 and has stayed there since. It is caused by not enough oxygen in the tank and the movement on the surface brings the oxygen level up and therefore the ph level too without additives.

 

[Vincent Moore]

Ok everyone, I have uploaded my photos of the aquarium. I hope I have given you the right link.

http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa129/1991Syclone/

Please give me some feed back on what you see.
Thanks
Vincent

 

[kmf507]

What are the dimensions of your tank? It looks awfully small to be a 55 gallon.

Also, most people recommend you wait until a tank is established 6 months or so before trying a clam.

One recommendation I have is to slowly (a chunk a week or so) remove your sponge padding and bioballs/ring things from your sump. These are great for freshwater, but can keep your nitrates high in saltwater. You might want to try cheato instead?

I like the way you stacked your rocks. Also, the euroreef skimmer is supposed to be great.

Seriously though, in the photos the tank looks like it holds 29 gallons at most. It is probably too small for some of the fish you want to keep. Even if it is 55 gallons
A) that is too small for two tangs
B) the dimensions are such that it is probably not enough for one tang

I would slow down on adding anything. Raise your salinity with water changes to about 1.024-1.026, and make sure your water is free of clorine, copper, etc.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[amike5]

By looking at your picures, your PH problem is a lack of ventilation. You have a completely covered top (no ventilation) and a completely enclosed sump area (no ventilation). That PC fan isn't doing much for you, I can see the condensation on the piping. Get a 6" clip-on fan and have it blowing onto your water in the sump and leave your cabinet doors open for a day or two, see if that corrects your PH. If it does, cut a good size hole or two into the back of your cabinet for ventilation.

As far as your fish dying, it's most likely bacterial or parasitic; all of which could have prevented the deaths of heathy fish by proper quarentine procedures. Always quarentine for six weeks without exception, you will be happier in the end as well as your fish.

 

[ggk1988]

the reason your ph will not go up is because your nitrates are so high. high levels of ammonia, nitrite or nitrate usually crash your ph. when you bring your levels down your ph will go back up

 

[aquarius77]

How many tangs do you plan to stuff in that tank?

You need to slow down and let it mature, and take your tangs back to the store.

 

[davidryder]

That's a pretty neat tank... there really isn't any other reason besides the fact that you just probably moved to fast that your fish have died. Then again they may have been doomed before they left the fish store...

Anyway, just wait it out and add things very very slowly.

Best of luck!

 

[aquarius77]

Another thing that im wondering about is how hot the tank gets? Looks like the MH light fixture is RIGHT on the waters surface, thats got to transfer a ton of heat. Have you checked the temp with a few different thermometers at different points in the day/night?

 

[wooden_reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10294486#post10294486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amike5
By looking at your picures, your PH problem is a lack of ventilation. You have a completely covered top (no ventilation) and a completely enclosed sump area (no ventilation). That PC fan isn't doing much for you, I can see the condensation on the piping. Get a 6" clip-on fan and have it blowing onto your water in the sump and leave your cabinet doors open for a day or two, see if that corrects your PH. If it does, cut a good size hole or two into the back of your cabinet for ventilation.

A different tangent is gaseous exchange, where 02 and c02 are exchanged.

A tank does not needa lot of ventilation for gaseous exchange, only to prevent overheating. Lack of air movement around the tank is unlike the cause of insufficiient 02 going into the water, as the amount that dissolves is really rather small.

Are you sure you have enough gaseous exchange? Do you have a water current moving near the top? Are you skimming the surface? Do you have a correctly designed overflow box and does water form a thin layer on the inside of your overflow box? In short, are your promoting gaseous exchange?

 

[Vincent Moore]

The tank is deffinately 55 gal. I put 12.5 5 gallon bottles of water in it when I first started it up. I will SLOWLY remove the ceramic media around my pump as suggested and leave the doors open to see if this helps the PH. There are 6 computer fans mounted under my light to provide ventilation there and I have an ossilating fan mounted above the sump blowing directly on the sump area itself. I guess the pictures of my sump area are rather old (They were start up pictures) and I should put some on there of what it is now. I DO feel the sump has adiquate ventilation because of the fan but I will leave the doors open a few days and see if there is a change.

As far as quarantine goes, you are right I should do that. The fish I bought came straight from the ocean and went straight into my tank even bypassing the LFS tank. Not a smart thing on my part and I will be sure to purchase another small tank and power head so I can do a proper quarantine in the future.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback and I will try everything I can so I don't have any more dead fish.
Vincent

 

[wooden_reefer]

"Not a smart thing on my part and I will be sure to purchase another small tank and power head so I can do a proper quarantine in the future."

A powerhead is possible but a simple medium sized power box filter intended for about 20 gal tank is what I recommend.

How long do you plan to quarantine your fish? What do you intend to do during the quarantine? What do you think you need to do? What equipment and filter do you need to have? I think you have to plan ahead otherwise you would have problems again.

 

[smcnally]

I would suggest reading up a lot about this hobby before you add any more animals to your tank. I can tell just by looking at your pictures that you didn't research anything. You certainly should not have a sailfin or yellow tang in there. The unexpected deaths of your fish could simply be that you didn't take the proper precautions or even take the time to find out what their individual needs and requirements were.