Completely frustrated!

chella81

chella81

Member
Hey everyone...still having trouble with my tank and keeping fish...i did 50% water change last saturday..cause I thought maybe it was something in my tap..so i changed out half out and replaced the water with R/O water..last night I tested my water..and everything seem to look ok..salinity was at 1.021..so today I try adding a fish..he lived for about 2 hrs in my tank and then died...so i'm lost on what do..
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Tap water eh? Hmm.. what else is in the tank that's able to survive?
You should really never use tap water when doing a saltwater tank.. R/O from start to finish.. seems like you're aware of that now..
You could try to run carbon through the system for a while to suck up anything that may be causing problems..
Does the fish look like they're getting hurt or are you watching and they just start dying? Are they breathing heavy? How are you measuring your salinity?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
can you go over how you acclimate again?
and when you say water seemed to be ok....just what does that mean.....can you give specific water test readings
I started my 225G with tap...and did not get an ro/di until 6 months later.....I had NO fish deaths in that time
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3263682
can you go over how you acclimate again?
and when you say water seemed to be ok....just what does that mean.....can you give specific water test readings
I started my 225G with tap...and did not get an ro/di until 6 months later.....I had NO fish deaths in that time
You're lucky.. my brother wasn't that lucky.
Good idea on the acclimation though.
 
chella81

chella81

Member
All i have in there is live rock now...I've had the tank set up 2 1/2 months but just switched it over last saturday with the 50% water change..Today when i put my only fish in it was swimming just fine..then i took a nap..after i woke up i went and looked for the fish to see how he was doing..and he was laying on the bottom..:( I measuring my salinity with a hydrometer..i know they dont give the best readings..but when i've took my water to LFS before i did my water change..it was reading close to what i measured. I have my filter running with carbon filter in it.
 
chella81

chella81

Member
I just floated the bag for 15 mins closed..then open it up and put some of my water in..after that i took some water out of the bag and added some more of my water and let it set for another 10 mins. then I dumped most of the water out of the bag and then put fish in my tank. (hope that makes sense) I have no nitrites, no ammonia, my nitrates are reading about 20 which reads to be ok..my salinity is 1.021..hope that helps..
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
HMMMM....So you temp acclimated for 15 minutes.....then another 10???? NOWAY near long enough acclimation....
I also float the bag about 20 minutes
then take some water out, and add some tank water....sit 20 minutes....repeat 3-5 more times....so 2 hours of acclimation time at least
I then dump all water out and add only the fish to the tank
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Chella81
http:///forum/post/3263700
i have a deluxe hood on top, i have one power head running at the moment. yes oxygen gets into my tank
Just trying to think of things......There has to be something that is being missed
 
dann

dann

New Member
I do temp acclimation for 15 to 20 minutes and i just poke 1 hole in the bag with a knife every like 15 minutes and let that set for for 30 minutes after 3 or 4 holes then just let the fishy go. I do this only for fish.
For your fish problem.... How old is your test kit and what brand?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Dann
http:///forum/post/3263710
I do temp acclimation for 15 to 20 minutes and i just poke 1 hole in the bag with a knife every like 15 minutes and let that set for for 30 minutes after 3 or 4 holes then just let the fishy go. I do this only for fish.
For your fish problem.... How old is your test kit and what brand?
I would never put the water from the bag into my tank.....it's yucky
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I know 1.021 isnt terribly low but do you think if the fish came from a tank that was at 1.025 or so that it could have shocked it?
 
speg

speg

Active Member
I can't believe that everybody hasn't learned to drip acclimate... it's so simple and offers your best chances at keeping fish.
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3263686
I guess my tap isn't toxic....LOL....
It just depends on where the tap is coming from.. You're in the middle of nowhere so your water is probably decent ;)
Where I used to live there was a ton of lime in the water.
My older brother has a ton of iron in his water.
Now where I live I have the water company coming out every few weeks to repair pipes and test the water because people are getting sick from this stuff.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I started over 20 tanks in the past few years. I start with tap. 2 states... 3 different municipalities. Now I have Los Angeles water which has a TDS of a kazillion. I wouldn't attribute fish deaths to tap if the water is conditioned.
How would one know their fish was killed by tap water? That's generally speculation, not a fact.
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3263758
I can't believe that everybody hasn't learned to drip acclimate... it's so simple and offers your best chances at keeping fish.
I don't drip fish that has been in a shipping back over night.
 
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