Help!!

[israelnajar]

Stray voltage?

Turn off all your pumps and lights. Put them in the tank. Then turn things on one at time. If they start acting up to a certain device remove and replace it.

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039094#post13039094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by israelnajar
Stray voltage?

Turn off all your pumps and lights. Put them in the tank. Then turn things on one at time. If they start acting up to a certain device remove and replace it.

I doubt that. I also have a couple of hermit in there and they are doing fine.

The one thing that I notice is that the water is kinda greenish and when I do the ammonia test the reagents seem to clump together to form like a milky consistency.

Maybe I just have too much diatom or algae in the water and no oxygen?

I am suppose to get my skimmer in a couple of days, is that the reason?

 

[bzotter]

I can't think of anything that anyone hasn't already mentioned that would elicit that kind of immediate reaction other than some very bizarre chemical poisoning in your tank water. What did you use to clean the tank when you first got it? Any new equipment with possible chemical residues? But then again, if you drip-acclimated them overnight that would have to at least dilute the water you got them in from the LFS by more than the original volume, so they should essentially be in tank water already...very strange. I know this sounds stupid, but are you sure your drip feed is coming from the tank and not another bucket or some other source with different water parameters?

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039085#post13039085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BurntOutReefer
the water in the bucket is the same as the water in the tank by now with all that dripping .....float them and then throw them in....
how are you dripping them?

I did that and they just struggle to stay to the top and one of them lay down in the bottom almost out of breath.

The other one got blown around by the powerheads and soon after is too tired to struggle and got stuck to the sides of one of the powerheads.

I had to take them out .

The odd thing is they are doing fine in the bucket.

Can a tank be void of oxygen?

 

[matthewscars]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13038487#post13038487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acrodave
you say no ammonia.. but what are nitrite (n02). that will kill off fish also. and im sure your n03 are high also

Nothing kills damsels. Harpoon? maybe.

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039193#post13039193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bzotter
I can't think of anything that anyone hasn't already mentioned that would elicit that kind of immediate reaction other than some very bizarre chemical poisoning in your tank water. What did you use to clean the tank when you first got it? Any new equipment with possible chemical residues? But then again, if you drip-acclimated them overnight that would have to at least dilute the water you got them in from the LFS by more than the original volume, so they should essentially be in tank water already...very strange. I know this sounds stupid, but are you sure your drip feed is coming from the tank and not another bucket or some other source with different water parameters?

No from the tank.

Wouldn't the chemical kills the hermit crabs as well?

 

[abulgin]

Maybe, but I wouldn't discount stray voltage. I also would consider that your water may not be oxygenated.

 

[israelnajar]

I was just trying to help. Have you tried testing the water for stray voltage? If not how can you be absolutely positive? You have tested the water for certain chemicals and found nothing, so why keep testing?

But whats it going to hurt to eliminate something that you have not tried yet? It will take what 5 minutes if that.

 

[tmz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13038704#post13038704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
I'd set a quarantine tank to the same salinity/ph as your lfs and try again, taking them immediately straight from the bag, using your hand, no transfer of water---into qt. Then over the next couple of weeks adjust the qt water to match the tank. The really big deal in acclimation tends to be the salinity, so if you have already matched that, other factors being fairly equal, you should be ok.

I agree with the above technique and many of th other comments. It's not nitrite(chlorides in salt water make this no concern),could be ammonia, or something that's depleting oxygen. not too much flow. Not ph.
Best bets:
Ammonia, two weeks is really early to introduce fish into a cycling tank. I prefer a minimum of 6 weeks.New tanks often go through more than one cycle.

Osmotic shock. Marine fish have an internal salinity of 1.08 or so. They live in higher salinities because they can maintaina constant internal salinity by drinking lots of water and passing very little out in highly concentrated urine. Invertebrates can't do this and will perish if salinities are too high or low.This is a simplified expaination of osmoregulation. When a fish goes from a lower sg to a higher one it has to work very hard to adjust and gulp and process lots of water. If the change is too rapid it will have difficulty in maintaining homeostasis(balanced body chemistry and it's internal sg ). It is generally not a good idea to increase the sg by more than a point or two per day.

Dropping to the bottom and gulping may very well be the fish gulping water desperately to stop itself from being pickled.

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039437#post13039437 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmz
I agree with the above technique and many of th other comments. It's not nitrite(chlorides in salt water make this no concern),could be ammonia, or something that's depleting oxygen. not too much flow. Not ph.
Best bets:
Ammonia, two weeks is really early to introduce fish into a cycling tank. I prefer a minimum of 6 weeks.New tanks often go through more than one cycle.

Osmotic shock. Marine fish have an internal salinity of 1.08 or so. They live in higher salinities because they can maintaina constant internal salinity by drinking lots of water and passing very little out in highly concentrated urine. Invertebrates can't do this and will perish if salinities are too high or low.This is a simplified expaination of osmoregulation. When a fish goes from a lower sg to a higher one it has to work very hard to adjust and gulp and process lots of water. If the change is too rapid it will have difficulty in maintaining homeostasis(balanced body chemistry and it's internal sg ). It is generally not a good idea to increase the sg by more than a point or two per day.

Dropping to the bottom and gulping may very well be the fish gulping water desperately to stop itself from being pickled.

I have a lot of water flow and the and a surface skimmer. What can be depleting the oxygen levels?

Bacteria bloom?

I can see a thin flim of algae or bacteria on the aquarium glass and bunch of copepods are feeding on it.

The main thing is what am I to do with the 2 damsels.?

I still have an empty 10 gallon aquarium that I can put them in. Should I use the tank water or mix some new one and let the tank cycle some more?

 

[BurntOutReefer]

ok...so by now the tank and bucket are same water. This should include all chemical make-up etc......
the only other thing is stray voltage, (which you should have felt when you took the fish out.)......
I dont think its oxygen depletion, as you have enough water movement and nothing in the tank except hermits (is that correct?).
I would turn off everything and put one fish in and see what happens, and then turn on one equipement, and then the other (etc).... I would leave on efish in for a hour....if it bits it, then you know that there is something REALLY bad (and wierd) going on whith your tank.......maybe re-start the whole thing.....did you get water tested also at LFS to make sure your kit is ok?....
good luck.

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039638#post13039638 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BurntOutReefer
ok...so by now the tank and bucket are same water. This should include all chemical make-up etc......
the only other thing is stray voltage, (which you should have felt when you took the fish out.)......
I dont think its oxygen depletion, as you have enough water movement and nothing in the tank except hermits (is that correct?).
I would turn off everything and put one fish in and see what happens, and then turn on one equipement, and then the other (etc).... I would leave on efish in for a hour....if it bits it, then you know that there is something REALLY bad (and wierd) going on whith your tank.......maybe re-start the whole thing.....did you get water tested also at LFS to make sure your kit is ok?....
good luck.

WOW!

Well I turned off all the lights and powerheads and put the little guy in the tank.

He seemed to take it a little better this time but after about 5 minutes he floats to the top and stays there gasping for air.

I took him out.

When I turned on the powerheads and light again, my whole aquarium is covered with copepods or what I think is copepods. I mean like totally covered!

That freaked me out!!!

I used to seeing them about 20 or 30 at a time but thousands?

Are they taking all the oxygen?

Is this normal?

 

[abulgin]

Nothing about this is normal. Your pods are not taking all the oxygen. Have you taken your water to the LFS to have it tested?

 

[morphiii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039794#post13039794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abulgin
Nothing about this is normal. Your pods are not taking all the oxygen. Have you taken your water to the LFS to have it tested?

No.

Maybe I should have.

How much water should I bring to the LFS?

 

[abulgin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039945#post13039945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by morphiii
No.

Maybe I should have.

How much water should I bring to the LFS?

A small jar? Just enough to do an ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and alk test.

 

[Rob_Zamites]

+1 on the LFS test on your water. When in doubt about my water quality, I take a sample in, usually 3-4 oz is sufficient.

 

[Macimage]

As already mentioned, have the LFS test your water.

However, it really does sound like oxygen deprivation or stray voltage.

Joyce

 

[tmz]

Stray voltage will usually not bother a fish unless it finds a ground and becomes stray current. If it did you would feel it.SG jump or ammonia are still likely.

 

[weluvfish54]

when i was a noob i put damsels in my newly setup tank and nitrites killed them instantly. swam down and floated back up dead within 30 seconds..
way too early to add fish...definitely have your lfs test it..strange story.

 

[BurntOutReefer]

"Stray voltage will usually not bother a fish unless it finds a ground and becomes stray current. If it did you would feel it.SG jump or ammonia are still likely.".....CORRECT, but our guys been dripping them for now what feels like 3 days...with the tank water
.....the water in the bucket is the same as the tank now.....but yet they still live.....
morph......have you thought about taking up gardening instead?