still need some help with my tank(been having problems for months)

[thommyboy12183]

about 2-3 months ago i got ick, and treated with copper killing off all my inverts. the ick was gone ever since no signs then i did about a 1/3rd water change on my tank about 2-3 weeks ago and when i added water back it killed off my green eel, spiney box puffer, and sailfin tang. I learned that could have been due to the fact i didnt salinafy the water before adding it to my tank and added teh salt to teh tank after(big mistake i guess but live and learn). my snowflake eel and 3 clowns lived through it. now its 2 weeks later about and i tried re-adding 10 turbo snails, a sea urchint, and 10 blue legged hermit crabs. the blue legged crabs were very small so i cant tell whose still there, the urchint is still alive but all my snails seem to be dead.(day after i added them) this morning they looked great but they are dead now. i cleaned out my fluval 300 and it was pretty dirty that now the water flow is about 100X fasterthen before out of the spout.
I tested my water and the nitrite's are low, ammonia is low, pH is alittle low, salinity is 1.023, and the nirtate is high(but outside of water changes i cant figure out how to lower nirtate)... what can be killing off everything in my tank? if no one knows does anyone know what i can do to figure out whats wrong? im so lost at this(its my first salt water tank its a 55gallon) i have had it set up since september and these are my first problems)

 

[Jerry W]

It sounds as though you need to slow way down and really do some reading up on the mechanics of a saltwater tank. At this point don't add anything else. If you treated your main tank with copper, it has likely been absorbed into substrate/rock, and will continue to kill off snails and some other inverts. If you have any measureable nitrite or ammonia, it is toxic to fish and inverts. You may have disrupted your biological filtration when you cleaned the filter. Adding fresh water and then salt was something you can't afford to do. Always have a batch of mixed/aged saltwater on hand. You can do this with a rubbermaid trash can, heater and powerhead. Do you have live rock in this tank? What are the real numbers for your water parameters; ammonia, nitrite, pH, nitrate, temperature? I think water quality issues are to blame for the fish deaths, and the copper is going to be a problem for some time to come.

 

[thommyboy12183]

yea i have about 50-70lbs of live rock in the tank , with the exact number of everything id have to go home and check im at work now. last week when i checked my water using the marine aquireium test kit(with ammonia, high level pH, nitrate, adn nitrite levels. My nitrite was the lowest color on the chart, my pH was alittle low 8.0 not 8.2, ammonia was on the lowest level on the chart which i wanna say is 0. but my nitrate was highid say about 40ppm. but im gonna go ahead and guess its the copper still in teh substraight killing the snails is there a way to get the copper out of the crushed coral or should i start doing on substrate change 25% at a time. ive only had the 3 fish die on the last water change i havent had any other problems the ick which i thought was pretty common was taken care of with out problems other then my snails dying off. but im assuming i still haev the copper left since my snails are the only things that died off recently

 

[andrewsmart]

buy a copper test kit for starters and see how much copper you have .

this is what killed your snails etc.

you may never get this copper out the tank fully.

do some large water changes though with pre mixed well aged saltwater at a matched temp and ph.

and run lots and lots of carbon.

 

[sperry]

Polyfilters are supposed to absorb copper

 

[thommyboy12183]

currently in the fluval i was running i have the 3 bags of carbon and those small white tube type things(that came with the fluval). Ill pick up a copper test kick when i get out of work today.

 

[andrewsmart]

i have heard of a product called cuprisorb or something like that whish may help draw the copper out of your rocke etc.

you may never be able to have inverts again though

that white ceramic media in your fluval is going to need replaced though as well but not all at once.

 

[cla337]

Dude if your tank is big enough, it looks like you're into big fish (puffer, eel) u should just run a fish only tank. then you won't have to worry about cleaning all the copper out. Just don't add snails, not sure about hermits. 70lbs is a lot of rock to replace or clean up.

If that sounds good to you. Slow down. Don't add nothing until u restabilize your tank. Maybe take out the substrate, add new substrate if you want, but just for aesthetics, ie enuf to cover the bottom. QT whatever fish is left, QT anything new u add in the future- research QT). And research this site.