3 Fish Died over Night

[stewart]

I need help, my rusty angle and domino damsel died this morning and i have no clue why. My royal is missing and i can't find him ive checked all over the place. I checked my water and everything is fine except my Nitrate. My Nitrate levels are 10ppm. I have no clue if this is way too high are not. Ive had problems like this before and could never figure out the the problem. I need suggestions cause i do not want lose another batch of fish.

 

[nicetry]

Tell more about your system; how long has it been set up, filtration, is there live rock? post all of your water parameters including pH, salinity and temp. Nitrates if 10 will not harm otherwise healthy fish so I'm thinking this was not the cause. Were the fish exhibiting any symptoms prior to their death? How long have you had these fish?
Another possibility would be a predatory crab or shrimp. THey can hide in rock work and remain undetected for years.

 

[stewart]

I set up my fish tank around september. It used to be a fresh water tank but decided to turn it into salt water. I have no clue what the filters are but they are very old. What i did was take my dad's tank which he has had for years and turned it into salt water. My ph is 8.2, my nitrites is 0, ammonia is 0, and my salinity is good too. The temp is 85. My other fish seem to be doing fine, i have a green mandarin, and lawnmower blenny left. I also have a florida pink tip and rock anemone. My anemone was doing bad a week earlier but i put it in my other qt tank and now it is fine. None of my fish had any symptoms and looked fine the night before and ate and every thing. I have ample live rock 20-30lbs, live sand, heater, a big and small filter. This is all in a 55 gal. I have had these fish for 15 or so days, except my lawnmower. On my second day my hippo tang died. I have a serpent starfish but i doubt that is the culprit. This is not the first time this has happened and im tired of losing fish.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Stewart
I set up my fish tank around september. It used to be a fresh water tank but decided to turn it into salt water. I have no clue what the filters are but they are very old. What i did was take my dad's tank which he has had for years and turned it into salt water. My ph is 8.2, my nitrites is 0, ammonia is 0, and my salinity is good too. My other fish seem to be doing fine, i have a green mandarin, and lawnmower blenny left. I also have a florida pink tip and rock anemone. My anemone was doing bad a week earlier but i put it in my other qt tank and now it is fine. None of my fish had any symptoms and looked fine the night before and ate and every thing.
What kind of test kit are you using? How old is it? That is an awful lot of fish in a two month old tank to not have readings for ammonia and nitrite. How much rock do you have? You said that this has happened before, but the tank was just set up not that long ago. Can you please back up and tell us what all has happened since September? What fish have you had and when were they introduced? How long did they live?

 

[stewart]

i waited 3 weeks before bringing fish into my tank. my first fish died when i left my mom in charge of them when iwent to newyork. But im an idiot did not have a heater and the weather was gettin cold down here in georgia. My first batch of fish included a hippo tang, spotted mandarin, lawn mower, royal. During my newyork trip my other small tank started leaking so my dad moved my 2 damsels to the tank. When i got home i 2 fish dead and the new one dead a day. Nov1 i got new fish. i checked my water and was good so i got more fish.

 

[stewart]

When i got my water tested. the pet stores owner suggested a kit and he got me good one he said. I know him he wouldnt

[hr]
me over.

 

[sepulatian]

Okay, first the fish that you got were not the best for a new tank. How did you acclimate these fish? Do you have powerheads in the tank? What is your SG reading? What is the temp? Have you ever had an ammonia and nitrite spike? How did you cycle this tank?

 

[stewart]

What fish are good. I just floated the fish. Do not know what apower head is or sg reading. the temp is 85. No and no. I just let the water flow for 3 weeks with the live rock in.

 

[groupergenius]

Water temp?? No one ever asks.

 

[t316]

That's getting on the hot side isn't it (85)?

 

[hurleykid69]

the same happend to me my yellow tang, mandarin, and clown died within 24 hours of each other the reason is my tank has ich check your fish for it cause with that and the high temp it could stress your fish to death

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Stewart
What fish are good. I just floated the fish. Do not know what apower head is or sg reading. the temp is 85. No and no. I just let the water flow for 3 weeks with the live rock in.
Marine fish need to be drip acclimated. Your water is different than the water at the LFS. They have to be drip acclimated for at least 2-3 hrs so they can get used to the change. Acclimation shock is one factor of why they would have died. You also need water movement. Salt water is very dense and has little oxygen in it by itself. Powerheads push the water creating air flow, this is the same effect as waves. The SG reading is the specific gravity of the water. It tells you how salty the water is. If you have only fish then the reading should be around 1.023, if you have invertebrates such as crabs or snails then it should be closer to 1.025. There are directions on how to drip acclimate if you look to the far left of your screen. There is a yellow sign that says flash next to it.