Bangaii Cardinal: only fish that survives!

mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
After pulling my hair out and being just about ready to give up due to losing so many fish in my tank, I have found that the Bangaii Cardinal is the only fish that can survive in my tank, along with the inverts. I've had at least a dozen fish die including oscellaras, marine betta, and damsels but the Bangaii Cardinal is thriving. I've had the BC in the tank since I started it as I was told it was a "damsel" by the lfs (don't know all my SW fish yet so what did I know). Now that the damsels, oscellaras, and betta have died all the same way: breathe heavy and then start doing flips and are dead within 3 days, the Bangaii Cardinal is doing fine for over a month while the others have all died.
My inverts (cleaner and peppermint shrimp and some hermit crabs) have all done fine from day one, but now that I've found ONE fish that can live in my aquarium, the question becomes: what is different about the Bangaii Cardinal? I feel if I could figure out why that one fish is able to live, I could figure out what the problem is in my aquarium as every commonly measured water parameter is perfect and there have been no spikes of anything.
Thanks for any ideas,
Mike
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
i had a bang cardinal and it was good for about a month maybe and he died not sure what happened no problems with water or any thing just died i was so sad so congradulations on keeping urs alive sorry to hear about ur loses im no expert by far but do you have enough oxygen in ur tank? since the breathing heavy and stuff like that i think that might be from lack of oxygen.
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Not to preech doom and gloom, but things can change quick, from day to night, try testing tank in middle of night and seeing if there are any irregular drops when you have the lights out for a few hours, or right before you turn ON light in the morning. Algae in the corners can add up to really being a force to rekon with for affecting levels while being unoticed since when testing during the day everything reads fine.
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Never mind. Woke up this morning and the BC was dead. Now I'm down to no fish in the tank again.

I guess I'll leave the tank fishless for a month or so and then maybe try one fish. I get the feeling there is some fish disease lurking in the tank because I've never lost an invert. Are there any diseases that can kill as quick as a few days with no visible signs, as I've never seen any spots or anything? All other variables have been ruled out. I've even tested and corrected for stray voltage, and there's a ridiculous amount of turnover (1000 GPH in a 46g tank) and a lot of surface agitation, so O2 can't be a problem. Second time this has happened to me and the same symptome both times: fish (damsels) do perfectly fine *during* the cycle, but once the tank has completely cycled with zero ammonia/nitrites, they start dying within a couple of weeks.
I'm at a loss. I've spent literally thousands of dollars replacing equipment and buying new equipment, test kits, fish, etc. and it's nothing but a depressing money pit at this point. I'll do the waiting period thing to hope things stabilize on their own and then try one hardy fish. If that doesn't work, I'm out of this "hobby" and I'll convert the tank to freshwater which I've been successfully doing for a decade.

Thanks for all the help from other threads, but at this point, I'm out of ideas and it seems everyone here is too.
Mike
 
myrtle beach

myrtle beach

Member
I wouldn't give up so easily, just use cheap fish first this time. There has got to be something that's killing them. Try fish from a different store. keep your head up.
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
Originally Posted by mikeyfishy
Never mind. Woke up this morning and the BC was dead. Now I'm down to no fish in the tank again.

I guess I'll leave the tank fishless for a month or so and then maybe try one fish. I get the feeling there is some fish disease lurking in the tank because I've never lost an invert. Are there any diseases that can kill as quick as a few days with no visible signs, as I've never seen any spots or anything? All other variables have been ruled out. I've even tested and corrected for stray voltage, and there's a ridiculous amount of turnover (1000 GPH in a 46g tank) and a lot of surface agitation, so O2 can't be a problem. Second time this has happened to me and the same symptome both times: fish (damsels) do perfectly fine *during* the cycle, but once the tank has completely cycled with zero ammonia/nitrites, they start dying within a couple of weeks.
I'm at a loss. I've spent literally thousands of dollars replacing equipment and buying new equipment, test kits, fish, etc. and it's nothing but a depressing money pit at this point. I'll do the waiting period thing to hope things stabilize on their own and then try one hardy fish. If that doesn't work, I'm out of this "hobby" and I'll convert the tank to freshwater which I've been successfully doing for a decade.

Thanks for all the help from other threads, but at this point, I'm out of ideas and it seems everyone here is too.
Mike
How are you adding fish to your tank?
Are you using a QT?
How long has it been running?
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by Nick76
How are you adding fish to your tank?
Are you using a QT?
How long has it been running?
I use the drip acclimation recommended here, but I've tried other methods: no difference. I don't use a QT because my lfs effectively does that for me. I go there all the time and they have certain tanks that hold fish that have been quarantined and have been at the store for a long time. New arrivals and "questionables" they keep in different tanks. Never had a problem with them and doing it this way, although you often don't get the best selection of fish doing that. I ended up restarting my system as this has happened twice, so the latest setup has been running for about two months and has been cycled for a month. I test daily for ammonia/nitrite spikes and there have been none. I obviously have plenty of bio filtration because my ammonia/nitrites have been zero for over a month. There's some invisible fish killer in this tank and I really think it may be some disease that only affects fish. But... I haven't seen any sign of ich so I don't know what it could be.
Mike
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by jktenpro
I am just curious which store you go to, I live in Baltimore.
There are two that I use: Aquarium Depot in Randallstown (used to be Aquarium Center) and Deep Blue Tropicals in Hampstead. Aquarium Depot are the ones who "quarantine" questionable fish and don't put them in the same tanks. They also keep their "old" specimens toward the end of the isle and the newer arrivals down toward the damsels. I actually like the owner and the quality of the stuff better at Deep Blue Tropicals but he usually has much less stock and he is much more expensive than Aquarium Depot. So I visit both from time to time for different stuff.
Mike
 
jktenpro

jktenpro

Member
I go to the Aquarium Center for the prices on dry goods but would not purchase a fish from them. The store in Hampstead I have not been to yet. I was just wondering which store quarantines their fish. Exotic Aquatics near Towson is where I get my fish and haven't lost one from there since I started almost 2 years ago. It sounds like you have more of an issue than just fish selection. You might just let the tank sit fishless for a few months like stated.
Sorry for the losses
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
dude , you started a whole new thread without all of the info from the last one? we already pegged it in your last thread, you had stray voltage from some sort of equipment failure or something. why dont you continue posting to that thread?
have you replaced your equipment or fixed the voltage problem?
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
dude , you started a whole new thread without all of the info from the last one? we already pegged it in your last thread, you had stray voltage from some sort of equipment failure or something. why dont you continue posting to that thread?
have you replaced your equipment or fixed the voltage problem?
The stray voltage had nothing to do with the fish losses. I kept losing fish just as fast once I corrected the stray voltage AND grounded the water with a titanium grounding rod. So far, the culprit is still a big unknown!
Mike
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by jktenpro
I go to the Aquarium Center for the prices on dry goods but would not purchase a fish from them. The store in Hampstead I have not been to yet. I was just wondering which store quarantines their fish. Exotic Aquatics near Towson is where I get my fish and haven't lost one from there since I started almost 2 years ago. It sounds like you have more of an issue than just fish selection. You might just let the tank sit fishless for a few months like stated.
Sorry for the losses
Towson is a bit more of a haul for me, but I'll check it out if I get up that way.
Thanks,
Mike
 
weberian

weberian

Member
I know this may sound simple and stupid, but anyway... Sometimes bad chemicals can get to the tank from the air or your skin. Have you tried running carbon full-time to maybe remove anything that may be getting in the tank?
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by Weberian
I know this may sound simple and stupid, but anyway... Sometimes bad chemicals can get to the tank from the air or your skin. Have you tried running carbon full-time to maybe remove anything that may be getting in the tank?
Thanks, and that's a good thought, but I do run carbon continuously. Knowing that things like cleaning products, air fresheners, and the like can get in there, I'm anal about locking my water bucket and other things up where nothing can get to them, not cleaning the glass with any glass cleaners, etc. The few times when I have to stick my arm in there, I make sure to run my arm under warm water and rub it/rinse it off thoroughly to be sure there are no soaps or anything else on my skin.
Just as an update, the UV sterilizer that I put in the system really seems to be working. It's certainly keeping the algae under control so I bought one little damsel for $6.99 and stuck him in the tank. So far, he's looking healthy and not showing any signs of distress. I'm really thinking the algae problems I had might have been depleting the water of O2 or causing some other harm. Time will tell. I'm going to leave my "test damsel" in there for a while and see. I would have just left it with no fish, but if the damsel lives, I'll know the UV sterilizer helped in some way and that knowledge may go a long way toward helping me (and others) with this problem in the future.
Mike
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
Originally Posted by mikeyfishy
The stray voltage had nothing to do with the fish losses. I kept losing fish just as fast once I corrected the stray voltage AND grounded the water with a titanium grounding rod. So far, the culprit is still a big unknown!
Mike
i thought all your fish were dead when we were discussing this last week, you have since bought more fish, totally corrected your strange electrical situation (which you did by doing what?) and these new fish died? all in a few days?
 
mikeyfishy

mikeyfishy

Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
i thought all your fish were dead when we were discussing this last week, you have since bought more fish, totally corrected your strange electrical situation (which you did by doing what?) and these new fish died? all in a few days?
No, when I first corrected the stray voltage, I still had one fish left. A few days after I corrected the stray voltage, that one died as well. I then got a UV sterilizer, ran it for a day, and put one damsel back in. So now I have one damsel and with the UV sterilizer in place, I have less algae buildup and the damsel, so far, is doing fine but it has only been a couple of days. I'm waiting to see what happens. Water still tests perfect... every day.
Mike
 
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