Same question you've heard 10000 times

[Kep]

I have a very successful coral tank. I maintain SPS, soft corals, and clams without a problem. But for some reason fish new fish do not work in my tank. I have found fish to be the most difficult part of saltwater! I have listed my parameters below:

Salinity: 51
Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia: undetectable
PO4: not tested
Mg: 1500 (has been up near 1900 before)
Calcium: 450
dKh:7-8
Strontium:15ppm
Temperature:79F +/- 1F

Everything has been very stable for a long time; I have several fish that are fine; a gramma, chromis, rabbitfish, double saddle back butterfly, bangaii cardinal. I also have cleaner shrimp and 200+ hermits.

Everytime I add a new fish it dies within 3 days. I acclimate each fish and it seems to do fine, eating well, no heavy breathing, then one day I just can't find them... I've lost 2 spotted gobies and a fairy wrasse. I'm much more afraid to buy a new fish than I am a new SPS frag! Any idea what might be going on? I'm clueless.....

 

[Kep]

To correct myself, I tried two Diamond Gobies, not spotted. Perhaps I'm trying too difficult of fish and they don't work? If so I'm open to any comments, criticism, or suggestions! I would really love to have a variety of beautiful fish to complete my reef, but only if I can do it right. I just feel so guilty every time one dies. :/

 

[Dan9]

Do you have a top on your tank? Those three fish are jumpers. Just a thought, hope that helps.

 

[uglyamericanV1]

info needed....
any other inverts?
what is salinity 51 mean? i thought i was suposed to be like around 1.024 to 1.025
when you say the fish "die" do you just never see em again or are they belly up...

it maybe due to the fish looking like the rabbitfish or butterfly and getting their clock cleaned for em. i have a lemon peel tang that immediatly took to beating on the new coral beauty i just bought.......so that might be it. depends on the fish. heck you might try a reef safe wrasse (or any other fish with a "long" body. OR just get a bigger fish (any fish bigger than the butterfly, that really is probably the reason, or go the opposite way, try a really sneaky tiny fish)
if you really want to get crazy, move the aquascape all around, this will make them "reset" their territory boundries......

also, how big is your tank? you might not have enough territory.....ie one of the fish might hog all the space.

 

[Chibils]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12249373#post12249373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by uglyamericanV1
what is salinity 51 mean? i thought i was suposed to be like around 1.024 to 1.025

51 is the ppm, I believe. If so, that's VERY high. 1.022-1.026sg is somewhere around 33-36ppm, iirc. If not, feel free to correct me.

 

[ssavader]

Another thought to help confuse the picture. The fish in your tank may have developed resistance to a disease causing organism in your tank, thus no symptoms and they do well. A new fish, on the other hand, would not have any resistance, and hence would succumb to the infection. Set up a QT tank, using water from your aquarium and QT your next fish. If it dies in QT, it could be "the" disease organism (bacterial, fungal, parasitic). If it lives in QT but dies in your display, you most likely have a killer!

 

[Kep]

Salinity 51 = 1.025

I actually have never found any of the three fish. The crabs make VERY fast work of anything dead.

150gallon. Jumping could be a problem, but if they did jump out and end up behind the tank don't you think I would smell the decomposition? (I can't get behind or see behind the tank)

So you think it may be a species related problem and not a fundamental tank issue?

Maybe I should try a smaller fish that does not have a jumping problem. Any suggestions?

 

[Kep]

Must be absolutely reef safe obviously. Thanks.

 

[Kep]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12249702#post12249702 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ssavader
Another thought to help confuse the picture. The fish in your tank may have developed resistance to a disease causing organism in your tank, thus no symptoms and they do well. A new fish, on the other hand, would not have any resistance, and hence would succumb to the infection. Set up a QT tank, using water from your aquarium and QT your next fish. If it dies in QT, it could be "the" disease organism (bacterial, fungal, parasitic). If it lives in QT but dies in your display, you most likely have a killer!

How common is it to have such a pestiferous disease in a tank?

I would really like to have a QT tank. I just don't have one at the moment.

 

[jdieck]

Note that diamond gobies will starve if they are not trained for prepared foods, they live out of stuff in the sand bed and if the bed is not matue full of worms, pods and 'lil creatures they may not survive.

I would increase salinity to 53 (I am assuming you measure microsiemens)
How is the PH?

 

[lecher]

Do you have dogs or cats? If so they might have eaten any fish that jumped out before you even knew about it. You could make a mesh top for the tank.

 

[Kep]

Ph 8.0 at night to 8.2 in the day. Sorry, I should have included that.

As for pets, nada. If the fish jumped I would have smelled them.

I should also be a bit more clear. I actually added the double saddle back for awhile for aiptasia control, (which by the way did a great job) and he was thriving in there until I had to pull him for harassing my gonioporas. :/ So I have added some fish that have been successful, I was just very discouraged by the diamond gobies and the fairy wrasse.

 

[melanotaenia]

fish jumping you might not necessarily smell; they dry up into jerky pretty fast, unless they are giant meaty fish; I have found jumpers months after losing them, in jerky form, never smelled the fish.

Maybe try a fish that has a higher resilience level

 

[Ventralis321]

when I get new fish I put them in a stick on the glass container made for bettas and stuff. It helps them acclimate to the environment. when a new fish is put in an established tank the tank mates smell something different weather they think it's food or an intruder they will take action. Putting them in a container first eliminates those two particular problems. You'd only have to leave them in there for a couple days too.

 

[zemuron114]

sounds like you have an intruder. I would use a red light at light to try and locate it.

Also, it may be a disease as ssavader suggested. New fish may die off because of it while old ones are use to it. Anything is possible in this hobby!

i would first try and locate a crab or something eating your fish at night. If you can't find it, i would QT EVERYTHING and see if they still die in the main display. If they do, i would then take out all fish in main display for at least 6 weeks. anything fish eating related will die off by then and it will be safe to add more new fish.

 

[FishboyBT]

Were they small fish?Maybe a mantis?

 

[Kep]

I don't have any problems with any other fish, so I doubt it's a predator. A disease perhaps, but from what I am reading, the two species I had trouble with, diamond gobies are difficult to feed, and fairy wrasses are jumpers. I think I've convinced myself that it's a species related issue.

Any recommendations on fish?

 

[uglyamericanV1]

im really gung ho about my filamented flasher wrasse......he thinks about jumping but never has (but i bought a cover anyway to stop all the evaporation from my new halide so problem solved). christmas wrasses, filamented, carpenter wrasses all good choices, but they jump....get a glass top

clown gobies are tiny fish but totally awesome. the one i have is a green clown goby who was really shy at first but now rips food out of the mouth of the wrasse.

i would stay away from tangs and butterfly fish atm until you figure out the problem. also away from shy fish like watchmen/small shrimp gobies or firefish.......

a pseudochromis could be a good idea. again, small fish, but they look really cool (esp the arabian one, the orange neon one i mean) got lots of personality plus can stick up for themselves.

hawk fish would be good unless you have sexy/harlequim/emperor shrimp.....a long nosed hawk would be a good idea. if the shrimp you do have are big, you could possibly go with a flame hawk. both are peaceful but should be able to stick up for themselves in a fight.

im pretty sure all the fish i mentioned are hardy and not picky eaters.

 

[Lotus99]

I agree about not smelling dead fish, if they're small. We had a couple of jumpers that we only found by searching around the back of the tank with a flashlight.

We also had a couple of fish go into the overflow, before we got that covered up with some mesh.