fish dying

[stlrams88]

For some reason I cannot keep fish alive. Picked up 2 Clarkiis tuesday at lfs (right out of the shipment box), and both were dead this morning. They were hosting a sebae and took food immediately. They seemed to be healthy. I have lost a number of fish recently including 3 wrasses (at different times), and probably 4 clownfish (at different times as well). I do not know what happened, I think the Clarkiis died due to shipping stress maybe. I drip all fish for 1 hr before they go in the tank. Use Ro/Di water and regular instant ocean salt. Current inhabitants are only 2 tiger brittle stars. all coral, clams, and nem are doing great. I had a large pair of clarkiis for a while but gave them away because of their aggresiveness.

Equipment:
24 Aquapod, 150W Sunpod, Prizm Skimmer, 2x Koralia 1, 1x Koralia nano, maxi-jet 1200 as the return pump.

Tank Params-
Ammonia-slightly high (not lethal) I will post the exact number later.
Nitrites-0
nitrates-0
ph-8.3
calc-around 440
Dkh-3.5
SG-1.024
temp-peaks at about 81 during the day around 78 at night.

Dosing:
Aquavitro- Fuel, Iodide, (recently stopped the iodide).
B-Ionic- Calc and alk

Thanks for the help.

 

[an411]

There shouldn't be any ammonia present in the tank if I remember correctly. Have you added anything recently that died and was never taken out? How long has the setup been up ?

 

[stlrams88]

Been up since last september. I had a huge ammonia problem last week from a dead coral, and it killed off most of my stuff. I did a 60% water change and ammonia is reading very little, so it must have been too soon. Is there anything that will pull out ammonia? apparently water changes dont work for me.

 

[stlrams88]

Did another 6 gal water change and it seems to have helped things. I just still dont know what is killing these fish but not clams and coral and the anemone.

 

[Lyfey]

ammonia at any percentage is lethal. How much rock do you have in your setup? There should be no ammonia present if you have the correct rock / flow / substrate ratios.

 

[Lyfey]

And too much iodine will kill fish also, practically instantly

 

[stlrams88]

The iodine is stopped for good. It is an aquapod 24 i probably have about 25 pounds of lr. No substrate, tank is all barebottom. Would adding substrate help? I just tested ammonia right after the water change and it is still reading .50ppm. Could the test kit I have be wrong? I added purigen to my filtration reccomended by other reefers for its ability to remove ammonia. This is really becoming frustrating.

 

[stlrams88]

I think I have the solution. 75% of the rock i used was not live=no bacteria, no substrate=no bacteria, honestly I probably did not really let the tank cycle long enough, because i used that stupid bio-spira. Lesson learned, never again will I start a tank without cycling it through.

Tank was also very overstocked, with 2 clowns, mccoskers flasher wrasse, carpenters flasher wrasse, six line wrasse, and a spotted mandarin. I should have never put all of those fish in there.

 

[Lyfey]

Hardest part of the hobby is learning the hard way. Sorry for your losses but many more aquatic animals will live healthier due to their sacrifices. And .5 ammonia will pretty much kill everything swimming in that tank. Why the choice of a really small tank for your first sw setup?