Fish Dead (Again!)

[john & sherri]

I don't own a test kit I take it to my lfs----but now plan to purchase one four sure! I had also added some crabs and snails to my 47 tank two weeks ok two to hopefuly help clean things up a bit since that carpet left such a mess behind. On Friday may reading were amn.25 nitrate 20 nitrite 1.0 and ph 8.3
My lfs said I was also feeding my fish too much. But I have alot of crabs and snails so I thought they would take care of things. I was feed Flakes in morning Brine shrimp in evening and every other day seaweed (which my rabbit fish Loves) and sometime Krill ( but they don't since to like anymore) Gave them raw table shrimp and they loved it but was told not to do that anymore (that was long time ago) but I have read that most fish can eat table raw shrimp. I'm confused. LFS said its too bloody and over time not good for fish or water quailty. So much to learn about this but I love watching my fish. I have three tanks the other two tanks are doing great. The one that had the carpet die in is the one cursed right now.
Thanks for your help

 

[jeanheckle]

Ifeed once a day. I make my own food. It's very simple and inexpensive. There are plenty of recipes on the forum. You probably need to daily water changes. Go out today and buy a test kit so you know the parameters before you do any changes.

 

[john & sherri]

What is your advise on test kits I have heard some are better than other's we do own a hydometer but that is all. someone suggested a api test kits and where I live most lfs are closed on sunday and monday. But can go online to purchase very ready to purchase my own test kits.

 

[john & sherri]

I have another question about lr-how much should you have in your tank and will dead rock and live rock in same tank do good? Somewhere I read that mixing the two will bring the dead rock back? Have you every try that? I currently have live rock in all my tanks will one piece of dead rock.

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by John & Sherri
http:///forum/post/2772346
What is your advise on test kits I have heard some are better than other's we do own a hydometer but that is all. someone suggested a api test kits and where I live most lfs are closed on sunday and monday. But can go online to purchase very ready to purchase my own test kits.
API is a great kit to start with. Once you get more exotic things in your tank you may want to switch to Salifert. I used API for the first 6 months with my tank, it's convenient because you can get an all in one kit.

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by John & Sherri
http:///forum/post/2772350
I have another question about lr-how much should you have in your tank and will dead rock and live rock in same tank do good? Somewhere I read that mixing the two will bring the dead rock back? Have you every try that? I currently have live rock in all my tanks will one piece of dead rock.
I"m not sure about the dead rock in with the live rock because I would think the rock would start to cycle your tank which may be why you are having problems. For good filtration you should have a 1.5 to 2 ratio, so if your tank is 70 gallons you should have about 100 pounds if live rock.

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by John & Sherri
http:///forum/post/2772346
= we do own a hydometer.
You also want to purchase a refractometer, hydrometers are not very accurate.

 

[netimreefer]

+1 buy a refractometer

 

[sueandherzoo]

Originally Posted by jeanheckle
http:///forum/post/2772544
You also want to purchase a refractometer, hydrometers are not very accurate.
. . . and some calibrating fluid to go with it. I have a refractometer and heard I could use RO water to calibrate it but I now find that's not accurate enough. Going online to get some calibrating fluid.
Sue

 

[john & sherri]

Thanks for the info, There goes another paycheck lol

 

[grue]

Just my 2 cents. Do you use a protien skimmer? From reading several of your threads one q I ask is why RO water? RO water can still have phospates in it helping alge blooms and problems. Do you have a sump? Perhaps a Referium? At 2 months your tank was still cycling. at 4 months it is probling still cycling. Yes you can use Base Rock (Dead) with Live rock. But it will lengthen your cycle. I would not put anything else in the tank till it is stable for 30 days. Lights are on too long at this point. 4 to 6 hours a day is plenty. If you wish to have them on longer (For viewing) either change the start stop times and/or just turn on atinics for a bit of extra time. (In my tank atinics come on at 10am and off at 10pm. The MH come on at 1pm and off at 9pm.) To sum it all up
1) Use RODI water. If you must use RO water test it to ensure there is no Phospates in it.
2) Ensure you have enoulf Sand. Either in your sump/Display tank/Referium.
3) Ensure you have enoulf Live rock/base rock (Lava rock doesnt count) For me personally I have about 130 pounds of live rock in an 80 gallon.
4)Feed Lightly. With water outta wack any extra food will help keep water wacky.
5) NO more live stock till water stable for a month. When water stableizes Move the new fish that has been in QT for 3weeks into the main tank only 2 times a month. (Yup 1 fish 2 weeks to restabilize.)
6)Water changes of 20% every 2 weeks till it stableizes.
7) Clean your canister and replace the carbon at every water change till tank stableises. Then change it every 3 weeks, After it is stable. Do you have extra pads for the filter? If so when you replace the carbon swap out the pads. Once swaped clean old ones in distiled hite vineagar. rinse well allow to dry. Rinse with Removed water change water before reinstalling.
Again just my 2 cents
Grue

 

[john & sherri]

Thanks just did water change/filter change and maintenance chemicals today I'm going to cut back on my feeding to once a day instead of twice. Plan to add more live rock this week also. I don't use ro water I use tap water cause lfs said that was all I needed to use. I do have spring water available though. 49gal tank was doing great till the anemone died in it one week ago. Water was perfect for one or two months straight .

 

[jerryatrick]

If you can't add RODI water then add distilled water. Better than RO water. Have you had your tap water tested? Any LFS that tells you that tap water is fine is out of their mind. Unless of course your LFS has tested your tap water.
"Grue" asked about a skimmer, do you have one?

 

[paxrom]

woah that's lots of fish added in a very short time
every of your reading is fine except ammonia. Though if u have ammonia you should also have nitrate reading but w/e.
My guess is everything except the damsels will die unless you do something drastic (like big water change, etc)

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by T-townTank
http:///forum/post/2771239
What's considered a "new tank"? When can I keep the lights on longer?
The first time around 2 clowns were added with inverts. Fast forward a few months to this week. The 2 clowns, 1 blenny, 1 tang, and lots of inverts were all added in less than 1 week.
Please repost once you're back on so we can start helping you again. There are alot of good people with alot of good advice.
Sorry we got alittle off track on your thread.

 

[dse]

Originally Posted by T-townTank
http:///forum/post/2770896
I started my 75 gal. tank 4mths ago. Here's what died about 2 mths ago - 2 clownfish, 1 yellow tang, and all my inverts. I have also battled (and defeated) brown algae and red slime. After clearing the algae problems, I added 2 damsels.
Everything had gone well for several weeks, so I thought it was time to try again with more fish. I added 2 clowns last Saturday (9/20). The damsels were fighting the clowns so the damsels were removed. I added 1 lawnmower blenny Sunday (9/21). All of these fish were from LFS. On Thursday (9/25) 1 yellow tang and a 55-100gal. reef package were added from SWF.
Yesterday (Friday) 1 clown and the yellow tang died. I still have 1 clown and 1 blenny. Both look fine (but so did the clown and tang). None of the fish have eaten well (if at all) in several days. I'm feeding flake, shrimp, and seaweed. But, the surviving clown was pooping yesterday so I guess it must be eating something.
What am I doing wrong? This tank was something my husband and I have wanted for years.
Readings this morning (after yellow tang was found dead):
specific gravity = 1.023(measured with hydrometer)
high range pH = 8.0-8.2 (really hard to tell between colors on chart)
nitrate = 0
nitrite = 0
amnonia = 0.50
phosphate = 0
Equipment:
Eheim Classic Canister 2215
Marineland Penguin Powerheads - 2 powerheads (each 300gph)
Seaclone Protein Skimmer 150thats his/hers skimmer
Sundial T5HO Light (runs 6am-9pm)
Using RO water - last water change 9/20
Imo you added too much in too little time with too little experiance... you should of had about 2 fish max for at least 4 months to get experiance with saltwater hobby. have a few hermits aand snails and gradually add these.
also i think you should buy a cheap tank from anywhere and make it a sump these are very effeciant.
So if i was you just restart all over again just have 2 hardy fish after tank has cycled. have these for at least 4 months. i know this sounds boringbut it stops you from killing other fish and you gain good experiance as time goes on buy 1 fish after 4 months and upwards if you would like too. possibly a watchman gobie or any thing thats not hard to care for. leave that for about 2 months so you should be into about 6 months or even higher you sshould have some good knowlege by now and can then buy another fish. just don't choose hard to care for fish.
also i recomend that you do a lot of reaserch on the type of fish you buy and make sure they feed.(ask your lfs to feed them in front of you) i do this and yes they get all shirty with me but i like to make sure.
after a year or so i would recomend buying if you want to make a reef maybe a coral. i.e hammer coral (great for begginers and are very lovly imo) (i do love them

)
leave that for about 6 months then buy another one any coral of your choice (as long as your hammer coral is doing ok and you have learnd from it and how to raise it)
this is what i advise all my friends and family todo this might take for ever but at leastr your gaining knowledge and experiance (also a lot of people quit this hobby with in the first year because they can't undestand what they did wrong) most are like in your case so this will also be a money saver if you quit.
this is my 2 pennys on this.
also to those that missed it i quoted in red his skimmer

 

[t-towntank]

Thanks for all the help! I lost the other clown last night. I still have 1 blenny and lots of inverts. I am certainly guilty of a lack of patience on adding fish. They're so little it's hard to believe they make such a difference in the water quality. I'm a believer now!
Water changes will continue until the readings look better. Ammonia is still 0.50. My lights are on for 6hrs now but I think I'll cut them down to 4 to give the inverts a chance to conquer the algae.
I'll check tonight but I have a sick feeling that the water filter my husband installed is just an RO filter. He got it from Lowes. I guess we haven't made the water quality any better if it's not an RO/DI filter. Anyone know if I can add a DI filter to the existing set-up?
Once the ammonia reads 0, how long should I wait to add 1 fish? 30 days?
What needs to be in a quarintine tank? Rock, sand, etc?

 

[hlcroghan]

Usually people quarantine fish to make sure they are not carrying any diseases or parasites into the display tank. In your DT, you don't want to have to deal with treating for ich or anything like that because if you have inverts you can't use copper. I would add all the live rock that you are going to need before you start adding livestock. That way if you get any nasties you know about it first and you can safely remove them without stressing your fish. I believe that you should keep any fish in qt for approx a month and if you notice no health problems and it is eating well then I would say it is safe to add to the tank.

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by T-townTank
http:///forum/post/2773780
Thanks for all the help! I lost the other clown last night. I still have 1 blenny and lots of inverts. I am certainly guilty of a lack of patience on adding fish. They're so little it's hard to believe they make such a difference in the water quality. I'm a believer now!
Water changes will continue until the readings look better. Ammonia is still 0.50. My lights are on for 6hrs now but I think I'll cut them down to 4 to give the inverts a chance to conquer the algae.
I'll check tonight but I have a sick feeling that the water filter my husband installed is just an RO filter. He got it from Lowes. I guess we haven't made the water quality any better if it's not an RO/DI filter. Anyone know if I can add a DI filter to the existing set-up?
Once the ammonia reads 0, how long should I wait to add 1 fish? 30 days?
What needs to be in a quarintine tank? Rock, sand, etc?
what usually happens in the cycle process is ammonia spikes and is followed by nitrites which then change to nitrates. Once you see only nitrates present you do your water change. You want to get you nitrates as close to 0ppm as possible. Fish can tolerate nitrates at low levels however.
6 hours of light is fine, I don't think you need to cut it back. How does your water color look, it is not uncommon to have an algae bloom which can make your water look green, it's not harmful but looks scary.
We'll take it one step at a time and get you up and running with a healthy happy tank.

 

[jeanheckle]

Originally Posted by T-townTank
http:///forum/post/2773780
What needs to be in a quarintine tank? Rock, sand, etc?
No sand or rock in the QT tank. Go to the FAQ section on the diseased fish thread and Beth has a lot of helpful info on setting up a QT tank.