What is happening to my Tank??

[thommyboy12183]

I did a 1/4 water change yesterday and added VitaCHem (vitamins) to my tank and by the end of the night my sailfin tang started loosing its color. So I took him out and put in a smaller tank and he regained his color overnight. Then when I woke up this morning my spinney box puffer fish lost all his color and was dead. and my green eel was very stiff and dead. I checked my water the pH was a little low (7.9ish) nitrite was 0, and ammonia was fine, the nitrate was high (but I don’t know how to fix it)... and I think my thermometer is broken so I can tell if the water is too hot or cold (but it feels normal. Does anyone have any idea at all what’s wrong? I don’t want my other fish to die. Someone please help.

 

[thommyboy12183]

come on someone out there must know whats wrong... please help

 

[arizona tech]

are the fish new?how was the eel stiff?did it get out of the tank? what is the temp in the tank?

 

[IMAGINEER]

Did maybe the temps get too low , plus the vitamin overdose . Whats the salinity ?

 

[IMAGINEER]

always have a backup heaters and thermometers !!

 

[thommyboy12183]

the eel was curled up like a horse shoe in the tank and when i took it out it was stikk not moving, all the fish except the eel were 2+ months old, salinity was abount 1.022 alittle over.
im guessing the temp was too cold cause the 3 clowns that survived were huddled around the heater, and a snowflake eel. so i turned the heater up to heat up teh rest of the tank possibly if that was the case and now they are swimming through out alittle more. but my therm. read its liek 86* which is too high im at a lose for whats wrong, unless they got stressed from teh water change.

 

[thommyboy12183]

i put in vitamines for a 50 gal tank even though mine is a 55 how much should i put in from now on? also is there a way to figure out whats wrong before i try replacing the fish i lost?

 

[TerryB]

Always use a quarantine tank and be able to test and report your pH, temperature, ammonia and maybe the oxygen readings. Without more information from you there are dozens of possible reasons for your problem. Without the tools (all of your info) how can we guess? What is the history of the tank and inhabitants? Do you quarantine? When was the last addition to the tank? etc, etc, etc.

Terry B

 

[LisaD]

How long was the change water mixed and was it matched for pH with the main tank? "Raw" (not premixed for long) saltwater can kill fish.

What water did you use to mix the salt water? If you use tapwater and did not use a dechlorinator/dechloraminator you could have had toxins coming in (your tap could also be where the high nitrates were coming in).

How much VitaChem did you add, and why? I typically don't add it to the water, just to food.

What sized tank do you have? Was there any reason you were doing such a large water change all at once?

How long has the tank been established? Is it fully cycled and mature? What kind of filtration?

Do you have a properly operating thermometer and hydrometer (or refractometer)? It's very important that you can accurately measure water parameters.

I'm curious, when you say ammonia is "fine" do you mean it is low, or zero? Ammonia should be undetectable to be in the safe range.

How high were/are the nitrates?

I feel for you. Please don't take all the questions and advice as insulting. We are trying to get information so we can help you.