All fish dead, Completely Confused

J

jason490

Guest
Hello Everyone,
I have a huge problem. I have a 28g bow front setup with about 2-3 inch live sand substrate, the carib sea type. I have one live rock with some polyps and other stuff on it. In the tank were 1 purple tang, 3 small clowns, 1 small maroon clown, 3 blue damsels, and a horseshoe crab. These fish were doing fine and eating for about 2 days so tonight I decided to turn the light off to give them some rest, within 15 minutes all were dead. Gasping like they didn't have air and laying on their sides. Almost immediate death.
I checked PH, nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, all were 0 and PH was 8.3
I am at a total loss here. Any ideas?
Jason
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
u wer waaaaaay overstocked and had some fish that shouldnt have been in there, the fish got stressed from being so crowded and died
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
well, first off, the tang in that size tank was mistake one, mistake two was3 small clowns, (can't have more than 2 clowns) and then a small maroon mixed with the small clowns. damsels especially will bully tankmates, and a horseshoe crab gets huge and arent meant for aquairiums, oh, and you were overstocked.
 
ol'salty

ol'salty

Member
How long was the tank setup for? Just by reading your post, it looks like the fish were added to the tank and only lasted for 2 days. That's too many fish to add at once.
 
payton 350

payton 350

Member
okay you probably had no oxygen in the tank ....or possible huge ammonia spike will all those fish in there.....that's a HUGE BIOLOAD for such a small tank........if your lfs said that this was all okay...do not EVER go back there......if you did this on your own please read as much info as you can on this site first...buy some books......it will save you a ton of money and headaches in the long run.........
people lets not rip him/her too much , let's help them correct their mistake .....we all made mistakes too
 
J

jason490

Guest
Yes, the tank was just setup a couple days ago. Now for overcrowding, these were very very small clowns. The tang was small too so I don't think it was overcrowded. But I mean they all kill over at one time? That seems very strange. And only when the light went out?
 
J

jason490

Guest
so how long does it take a tank to cycle with live sand? Like I said all the readings were normal.
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
your tank was overcrowded.... and clowns don't mix well at all, but most likely the cycle killed it.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
it was being overcrowded dude, having 8 fish in a 28 is too much, having 8 fish in a 100 is alot. u should at max have 3. tangs need a minimum of a 6' long tank, regardless of size. u can only have two specimens of 1 species of clown per tank. plus the horseshoe shouldnt be kept as they get way too large for tank. this happened to me once as well. i dont want this to happen to any1, so heed my word, next fish u put in there should be in 6 weeks. only have 3 fish, such as the two clowns and a goby of some type.
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
i am still very new to this too (learned alot in here) but i know when you first set up a tank in the first few days the reading are all where they are suppost to be until the tanks starts to cycle and mine is now in its almost 9th day and it just started to get readings on wed so 4 days after set up. and even after cycle i think they said you have to just get one fish at a time till u see all is well.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Jason, I'm really sorry to hear about your losses. That being said, before going on to re-stock your tank, please, please, please read and research starting a marine tank correctly. If your tank has only been set up for 2 days, you need to let it cycle with live rock, live sand, and add a fresh cocktail shrimp from the grocery store to kick the cycle into motion. Then you need to let the cycle take its course over a span of a few weeks. There are no shortcuts.
Again, sorry about your fish. Good luck, and please research before adding anything to your tank.
Lisa :happyfish
 
J

jason490

Guest
Well from what I read and was told, this new sand is instant cycling. It says "Just add fish" So was this wrong? I thought the process of cycling was to let the substrate build bacteria, if the sand already has it, what is the point?
 
payton 350

payton 350

Member
okay to get you guys started in the right direction read this https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/200520/whats-the-1st-thing-you-wish-you-had-known
then when you have a question about something say live rock.....go to the search bar and type it in....read those threads....then type in say clownfish and read on that ...etc......anytime something new comes up that you have a question on this is a great way to get the answers.......many many newbies have very similar questions and it's very likely they have been answered so this should help alot.....Good Luck and have fun but # 1 rule PATIENCE
also the Archives has a lot of good info
 
b0bby1

b0bby1

Member
JASON SUICIDE MIGHT BE AN OPTION...jk...but u are boarderline retarded for putting in all of these fish. a tank the size of urs should only have about 3 fish that get the maximum size of 2 to 3 inches. u have way to many fish in that small of a tank that require bigger tanks. plus uve only had the tank for 2 days goin i would recommend adding a fish per month. ive thought it out and suicide is an option now that i think of it.
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
sounds as though you was mislead in alot of ways just as i was but by finding this site and talking with these ppl i think i have learned alot and i have alot more to learn as well but i know i have live rock and live sand and im just starting to cycle but i did mine the wrong way by adding clowns and one has died so i know they are right by telling you to wait till cycle ends to add fish. did your lfs tell you it was ok to get all those fish with that size tank? i have 55 gal and they said i could just get like 4 so that is alot for ur tank i would think.
 
ol'salty

ol'salty

Member
Basically, the reason the readings were all good is the cycle hadn't started yet. And as said before, if the lfs you got these fish from new that your tank was this new, then don't go back. They are just getting your money. Once you start your tank, you need to feed the tank a small amount of fish food to start the cycle. More than likely your fishes deaths have started it. It builds the bacteria that are needed to sustain life in a salt water aquarium. The cycle starts with an ammonia spike (ammonia is a by product of death and decomposing food), the bacteria converts the ammonia to nitrites. Then the bacteria converts the nitrites to nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are dealdly to fish. Nitrates are not as bad and you keep those down in the long run with water changes every couple of weeks. Just keep monitoring your water and watch for the ammonia to spike. Once it does then it will drop and the nitrites will go up, then when all of your levels are down to 0, you are ready to add 1 fish. The bacteria will grow enough to sustain that 1 fish. If you add to many fish at once, it can overwhelm the bacteria and start the cycle all over so go slow and be patient. If you have any other questions on how all of this stuff works, there are a lot of people on here to help you. Also, what you did is pretty common. We all have done it. Getting in a hurry is the #1 way to lose stuff in this hobby. Good luck....
 
ol'salty

ol'salty

Member
Originally Posted by b0bby1
JASON SUICIDE MIGHT BE AN OPTION...jk...but u are boarderline retarded for putting in all of these fish. a tank the size of urs should only have about 3 fish that get the maximum size of 2 to 3 inches. u have way to many fish in that small of a tank that require bigger tanks. plus uve only had the tank for 2 days goin i would recommend adding a fish per month. ive thought it out and suicide is an option now that i think of it.
Dude, let up a little. First of all, he is asking for help. If his lfs told him to do it and he didn't know any different, then it isn't his fault. Second of all, there is a couple of things in your post that are very out of line. I don't see how calling another user a retard or offering suicide as a option is either helpful or funny. No offense, but all of that is out of place here.
By the way, live sand can help make the cycle a little quicker, but doesn't take it away.
 
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