All my fish are dying

[ladyengineer]

Hi everyone. This is my first tank, I set up a 29 gal BC with 30 lbs live rock and live sand using cycled water provided by the lfs. After two weeks all my measrements Nitrates, ammoniat and nitrites were reading 0. I added a damsel fish, hermit crabs, a closed brain coral frag and a zoa frag. One week later I added a clown and a firefish and a small emerald crab. My nitrates, nitrites and ammonia still read at zero. I had the lfs store couble check these. I have a ph of 8.1. 24 hours after adding the clown he was dead. My other fish were fine. 9 days later the damsel died and within 24 hours after that the firefish died. They were all eating fine and not showing any signs of being sick. I see no white marks or signs of ich. Checked my chamicals after the damsel died and everything was 0 with a ph of 8.1. After fire fish died, I checked again and the nitrate and nitrite still at zero. The ammonia went up a little .25 ppm. ph of 8.2. Crabs and coral look fine (though my crabs keep knockin over the zoa).
Help Anyone?

 

[yerboy]

sounds like your cycle is just starting up. i would give your tank more time to stabilize before adding anything else.

 

[ladyengineer]

Tank has been running for 5 weeks.

 

[sargennikita]

did the fish look like their color was faded when you found them dead?
also the ammonia probably only went up since the decaying bodies were in the water...

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ladyengineer http:///forum/thread/387002/all-my-fish-are-dying#post_3401950
Hi everyone. This is my first tank, I set up a 29 gal BC with 30 lbs live rock and live sand using cycled water provided by the lfs. After two weeks all my measrements Nitrates, ammoniat and nitrites were reading 0. I added a damsel fish, hermit crabs, a closed brain coral frag and a zoa frag. One week later I added a clown and a firefish and a small emerald crab. My nitrates, nitrites and ammonia still read at zero. I had the lfs store couble check these. I have a ph of 8.1. 24 hours after adding the clown he was dead. My other fish were fine. 9 days later the damsel died and within 24 hours after that the firefish died. They were all eating fine and not showing any signs of being sick. I see no white marks or signs of ich. Checked my chamicals after the damsel died and everything was 0 with a ph of 8.1. After fire fish died, I checked again and the nitrate and nitrite still at zero. The ammonia went up a little .25 ppm. ph of 8.2. Crabs and coral look fine (though my crabs keep knockin over the zoa).
Help Anyone?
Welcome to the site. Sorry about all your losses.
First, the needed good bacteria lives more on the sand and rock, so cycled water from the LFS means very little. I think what you got from the LFS was already mixed saltwater not cycled water unless they were giving you their dirty water after they did a water change....and I don't think they did, even if they did, it was not an established cycled tank
Second you went way too fast. Within a single week you added...A Firefish, emerald crab, damsel, hermit crabs, zoa, brain coral and then a clownfish. When you should be adding only one fish every three to four weeks.
Crazy glue GEL will hold the corals in place on the rocks so critters won't knock them over. Let your tank sit for the next month and don't add anything......then do some More tests (not strips) I like the Seachem or instant ocean test kits.
IF and only if there are no traces of ammonia, or nitrite...do a water change. Mix the saltwater 24 hours with a power head before you use it, and make sure you match the SG in the tank. Test again the next day after the water change and if all is good get one fish...JUST 1 and wait for about three weeks before you add anything else. If you have a quarantine tank for your new fish it would be much better. If your new fish gets sick or has ich a QT is the best way to deal with it. After you find a sick fish it will be too late after you put it in the main tank, befcause by then you have contaminated the entire tank...

 

[saltwaterdud3]

What's your specific gravity reading?

 

[ladyengineer]

1.025 consistantly. I've been checking the water gravity and ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and ph levels daily for 4 weeks and they have been consistant at 1.025, zeros, and ph of 7,9 to 8.2. I've been using a kit they API to test those.

 

[yerboy]

if you never seen you ammonia, nitrates for the first 4 weeks then your tank did not cycle. The ammonia you see now is the start of your cycle. start testing your water about every 3 days, soon you will see your ammonia start to fall and your nitrates rise, when the nitrates fall back to 0 your start up cycle is complete.
The reason your cycle has only now started is because there was nothing in the water to create ammonia. 4 weeks or 4 years until you introduce ammonia the cycle will not start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ladyengineer http:///forum/thread/387002/all-my-fish-are-dying#post_3402128
1.025 consistantly. I've been checking the water gravity and ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and ph levels daily for 4 weeks and they have been consistant at 1.025, zeros, and ph of 7,9 to 8.2. I've been using a kit they API to test those.

 

[ladyengineer]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I set up my quarantine tank last week and will try adding a fish in a couple weeks. I've been testing every three days and the nitrate/nitrite/ammonia levels still all at 0 with a ph of 8.1 average tempurature of 74 to 78 and sg of 1.022. Still not sure why the fish died, I finally diecided it must have been something che clown had that he shared with the rest of the tank.

 

[ffishter]

It could be many different things which are leading to your struggles. I will say that in my experience, the bigger tank that you have...the more room that you have for error. You have a small tank which can be nice, but its just more difficult. Most people in the hobby end up upgrading the size of their tank(s) eventually. Try looking for a bigger tank at your local fish store or on various places on the web. Many local forums are a good place to snag a deal.