Fish keep dieing

[Guy W]

Well my tank has been up now for 1.5 months. It's a 29 gallon (not bio cube, regular glass style tank). I'm running an Aqueon HOB power filter, a Remora HOB Skimmer, and I have a 2-3" Live Sand bed and 45 lbs of Live Rock. The lighting is Current USA Orbit Marine Pro LED running 10 hours a day. I started the tank with a bacteria starter, bio-spira and all cured live rock.

I've had a series of fatalities and I don't know why.

1st death was a Royal Gramma. I put him in and about 2 weeks later it was just gone. This was about 2 weeks after putting him in the tank.

The next fatality was a clown. He was in the tank 3+ weeks, one day looked very pale and wouldn't eat, the next morning I found him dead on the sand bed and hermit crabs and shrimp eating him.

Today my second clown was dead, same as the first one. He was looking pale yesterday and this morning he was dead and stuck to the HOB filter intake.

I started the tank with the Gramma and 2 clowns. After the Gramma vanished I replaced him with a 6 line wrasse. The wrasse looks fairly healthy so far, and also I'll note I've never seen him harassing any of the other fish in the tank.

I do weekly 10 gallon water changes with RO/DI water and Reef Crystals salt.

Here's my tanks parameters as tested today after lights had been on for 2 hours.

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
ph - 8.0 to 8.2 (hard to read test kit)
Alk - 9 dKH
Calc - 540 ppm
Phosphates - .25 to .5 ppm (hard to read test kit)
Salinity - 1.024
Temp - 78F


Thanks for the feedback.

 

[dweber618]

Hard to say for sure, sounds like some sort of disease/infection is killing them off. It doesn't sound like you do any sort of QT procedure. Maybe read around some more on the forums on QT procedures and how to treat for common diseases...flukes, ich, etc.

 

[Reverend Reefer]

how do you put new fish into your tank?

 

[Guy W]

Since I'm only planning on the 3 fish I didn't do any QT procedure. I put them in the tank with a drip acclimation over 45-60 minutes. My hope was that I'd add the 3 fish, they'd be fine, and I'd never be adding more fish, just corals which I'd dip, again.

 

[Reverend Reefer]

is there anything else in the tank that is alive?

 

[Swanwillow]

Do you have corals or anemones?

Something sounds.. off. Usually with a tank set up the way you do, you'd have some sort of nitrates. Can you borrow a trate test kit from another local reefer?

 

[chimmike]

When you do the water changes, how do you do them? Pre-mix salt and bring up to temp before changing?

 

[Reverend Reefer]

i just re-read your 1st post and noticed that you do have hermits and a shrimp alive. how long have they been in there? what is in your HOB power filter, just carbon?

 

[Reverend Reefer]

if i had to guess, i think maybe yer tank hasn't fully cycled yet. maybe i'm confused by the timing but if your tank was set up just 1.5 months ago and you've been putting in fish 2-3 weeks ago, then the tank was barely set up before you started putting fish in. i would wait a couple more weeks before trying again.

 

[Lucky Lefty]

My first thought is maybe something oxygen related. You wouldn't think so with the filter and skimmer, but in such a small tank it may be getting used up faster than its replenished. Just a thought.

Also, you didnt mention what you are feeding and how often. 2 to 3 weeks is just enough time for a fish to starve to death.
Were they eating, and were they plump? Or were they skinny?

 

[Guy W]

Crabs and shrimp, and snails, all been alive and well for a month or so. About 10 hermits, 3 shrimp, and 8 snails.

No corals yet just fish and cleanup inverts.

I do water changes Saturday, make 2 buckets of Ro/Di, mix in reef crystals salt, add power head and heater to mix for 30-60 minutes. Siphon off tank water and pump in new water. Sometimes I also do a 1 bucket midweek change but not every week.

The hob filter is an aqueon I use there carbon filter pad and change them weekly when I water change.

 

[Guy W]

I feed new life spectrum most days, some time a frozen food. They always eat great until the day before they have died.

 

[Guy W]

No signs of ich or disease. They look and eat fine. Go pale and stop eating and die next day in the case of both clowns. Didn't see the gramma he just vanished. Here's the clown a few days ago.

 

[gone fishin]

Could be the salt is not mixed well enough, If this is the case the fish can be getting there gills burned.

 

[Guy W]

Could be the salt is not mixed well enough, If this is the case the fish can be getting there gills burned.

Would that happen 3-4 days after a water change?

 

[gone fishin]

Would that happen 3-4 days after a water change?

Could be a cumulative effect and after a few WC's that's it. Just tossing it out there.

I use Reef crystals myself and I know my water is not clear after 30-60 minutes. I use a mag pump to recirculate the water in a brute can.

 

[Guy W]

These 3 deaths have taken place over several weeks with lots of time between them, not really close together, and my water looks pretty well mixed when I do the transfer, but I have no idea what's wrong. I'd think they would all happen at once if it was that no?

 

[Docdiggy]

Anything being sprayed in the air?

 

[gone fishin]

These 3 deaths have taken place over several weeks with lots of time between them, not really close together, and my water looks pretty well mixed when I do the transfer, but I have no idea what's wrong. I'd think they would all happen at once if it was that no?

sorry misread the post. I thought you added the fish at different times.

 

[Syntax1325]

10 gallon weekly water change on a 29 gallon tank seems excessive in my opinion, especially with it being so young. Maybe you are getting parameter shifts with the water change causing stress. 9dkh seems really low for a newly stocked tank using RC. Just an idea. Try testing the dkh of your mixed water to see if a swing could be the issue.

Good luck.