35 gal tank can't get going

[cstannard]

I have established a 35 gal fish only tank since Oct'99 but have yet to have it become stable, ie. stop the fatalities of the fish.I have lost too many fish to count. i have hires a professional who has been in the business for years and he manages a number of tanks in businesses around town. He also is baffled.Water always tests out fine.Temp 80. Light is on for 12 hrs/day. Fluval 304 cannister filter seems to keep tank clean. I have had several outbreaks of ick and they have been treated but I loose fish without any outward signs of ick or other parasites.Any ideas?

 

[clownfish]

What are your nitrate levels? Nitrate poisoning can cause unexplained fish deaths.
What are you feeding them?
What is the specific gravity? 1.023-1.027 is ideal.
How many fish are in there and how big are they? The usual max is 1" of small fish for every 2.5 gallons.
What species of fish do you have? Some are impossible to keep in aquaria.
There could be something bad in your tap water like lead or pesticides.
Also, some fish are still caught using cyanide. It poisons them and often later kills them.

 

[clownfish]

P.S. I hope you have some form of biological filtration media in your Fluval filter. If you have no form of biofiltration, that explains the fish deaths. But I assume you do have biofiltration (I hope) so that's not the problem. If you used copper for ick, you have to keep the level at about .15 ppm. Much more than that will kill fish. You need to keep the pH stable at 8.3-8.5 also. The ocean is the world's most stable environment, especially coral reefs, where tropical SW fish come from. The water conditions in your tank must be very stable because marine fish cannot tolerate wide variations in water quality.

 

[mr . salty]

I keep salinity at 1.018,as do most fish stores I've been to and heard of. Check your store and match there reading. Do the fish die right away??(a week or so) could be bad fish store, or maybe stress. If your salt is significantly higher than his,this may be a cause. STEVE

 

[cstannard]

Originally posted by clownfish:
What are your nitrate levels? Nitrate poisoning can cause unexplained fish deaths.
What are you feeding them?
What is the specific gravity? 1.023-1.027 is ideal.
How many fish are in there and how big are they? The usual max is 1" of small fish for every 2.5 gallons.
What species of fish do you have? Some are impossible to keep in aquaria.
There could be something bad in your tap water like lead or pesticides.
Also, some fish are still caught using cyanide. It poisons them and often later kills them.

The specific gravity is 1.025. Nitrates are within normal limits as is ph. I feed Ocean Star flake food daily and was using frozen brine 3x / wk but no with my solo clown fish remaining I'm only using flake.At most I have had 6 small fish at a time. I do use tap water that I treat with Aqua Plus to rid the cholorine. I may consider bottled distilled water.The fish I have recently purchased had been in the store owners tank for several weeks and were showing no signs of illness.

 

[cstannard]

The specific gravity is 1.025. Ph adn nitrates are within normal limits.I feed ocean Star flake daily and frozen brine 3x/wk but I have backed off on amounts since I'm down to one percula clown.At one time I have 6 fish in the tank all small except a 2.5 inch yellow tang.I have had a blue tang , several flame angels,several yellow gobies, a maroon clown, a royal gramma ad some other but I have rid my tank of any aggressive species such as the damsels that started the tank.The water I use is tap water treated with Aqua Plus to rid the chlorine. Should I try distilled bottled water?

 

[krazzydart]

cycle it with some cheap damsels or chromis..... start with only 3 ..... also a good filter is nice to have...
Originally posted by cstannard:
I have established a 35 gal fish only tank since Oct'99 but have yet to have it become stable, ie. stop the fatalities of the fish.I have lost too many fish to count. i have hires a professional who has been in the business for years and he manages a number of tanks in businesses around town. He also is baffled.Water always tests out fine.Temp 80. Light is on for 12 hrs/day. Fluval 304 cannister filter seems to keep tank clean. I have had several outbreaks of ick and they have been treated but I loose fish without any outward signs of ick or other parasites.Any ideas?

 

[clownfish]

I think you should get a skimmer and use premium carbon in your canister filter. Marineland's Black Diamond is a good brand. There may be too much copper in your tank if that's what you used. Also, consider trying a different LFS. Some fish are still caught by cyanide (very poisonous) and sold before they die from the cyanide. I'm not an expert, but there might be a weird chemical in your tap water. Try a R/O filter and test your tap water for nitrates. Please tell me you use marine salt, not table salt. Table salt absolutely cannot support saltwater fish for more than a few days. Kent, Coralife, and Instant Ocean are some of the best brands. I assume you haven't done anything really dumb. Good luck and look for a better LFS if that's the problem. Get a protein skimmer like a Bak Pak II also.

 

[clownfish]

How is the tank going now? Ammonia should be ZERO. NitrItes should be ZERO. NitrAtes should be less than perhaps 30 ppm. What type of BIO filtration do you have? The canister by itself won't do anything without either biological media in it or a separate biological filter. Did you ever use copper in that tank? Measure the copper levels with a copper test kit if this is the case. I assume this is your first saltwater tank, maybe your first tank period. I need more info about the setup if I can help you further.

 

[barry]

Hello cstannard,
Sometimes the only choice is to break down the tank, wash everything with freshwater thouroughly and start over. Perhaps there is a harmful substance, disease or other problem that can only be eradicated through starting over. I worked in a fish store for 2 1/2 years and sometimes this was all we could do with a bum tank. Good luck.

 

[percman]

your using tap water does your water run through any copper piping?????if it does copper is a rather deadly poison for any saltwater organsims..

 

[clownfish]

I think you should take your SW fish back to the LFS and turn the tank into an african cichlid tank. African cichlids are darn near bulletproof. If anything will live in that tank, they will. But if you have a skimmer, it won't work in freshwater. I recommend a bio-wheel filter such as the Emperor 280.
You must cycle this tank over again if you switch to FW. The bacteria are different.
Many african cichlids are almost as colorful as saltwater fish. If you choose to try freshwater, READ AND RESEARCH. It's easier than saltwater, but different. For african cichlids, the pH needs to be 8-9 and the water still needs to be hard. You need a lot of rocks for africans, but not live ones LOL.
I think freshwater fish, especially the tough african cichlids, would do a lot better in your tank. Go for it.