Fish died...

[joeman1881]

Well, I'm new to the forum here, too bad I didn't discover it earlier. I just started a new tank up about 4 months ago. 75 gallon, and apparently I had a poor ph test kit because it fell to 7.9 when i thought it was at 8.3. So basically, I am just not sure what the proper steps to take would be to get things going in a couple weeks. The person I bought the tank from has owned an aquarium business for thirty years, so i believe him, but he said it happened because I let the ph fall, and more so because I added too much dead coral at one time? So should I take this coral out and just slowly add live rock only? Or should I just leave the rock in there? I just did a water change less than a week ago, and all my fish died in a matter of two days. Any ideas?

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by joeman1881
http:///forum/post/2826982
Well, I'm new to the forum here, too bad I didn't discover it earlier. I just started a new tank up about 4 months ago. 75 gallon, and apparently I had a poor ph test kit because it fell to 7.9 when i thought it was at 8.3. So basically, I am just not sure what the proper steps to take would be to get things going in a couple weeks. The person I bought the tank from has owned an aquarium business for thirty years, so i believe him, but he said it happened because I let the ph fall, and more so because I added too much dead coral at one time? So should I take this coral out and just slowly add live rock only? Or should I just leave the rock in there? I just did a water change less than a week ago, and all my fish died in a matter of two days. Any ideas?
I personally don't think that all your fish died in that amount of time just because of a pH drop. It would be good to find out why it dropped.
In my opinion though, there was another cause. Did you test your water parameters? Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate specifically. Could you also fill us in on what was in the tank?
Also, when you say "dead coral", do you mean base rock? What was done to the rock before you put it in the tank? How much did you put in? What was in there before you put it in?
More specific information will help us help you. And welcome to the boards!

 

[joeman1881]

Originally Posted by m0nk
http:///forum/post/2826986
I personally don't think that all your fish died in that amount of time just because of a pH drop. It would be good to find out why it dropped.
In my opinion though, there was another cause. Did you test your water parameters? Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate specifically. Could you also fill us in on what was in the tank?
Also, when you say "dead coral", do you mean base rock? What was done to the rock before you put it in the tank? How much did you put in? What was in there before you put it in?
More specific information will help us help you. And welcome to the boards!

I tested the water parameters, no ammonia nitrite or nitrate, but I didn't really add any ph buffers often because the water always tested fine. And yea, its just base rock that a friend had sitting in the garage. To prepare it for the tank I put it in thirty gallons of water and a gallon of bleach for a day, and then i let it dry in the sun for three days. The fish store had said if you let it sun dry for like a day, the bleach evaporates, but I went away for the weekend, so I left it out for longer. I hope thats not the reason, because it seemed kind of risky in my opinion, and now that I'm saying it, it just sounds dumb. I was replacing nothing with the rock, it was just live stand a plastic plant, and a 5" rock, the tank was bare (tight budget). I had a niger trigger to start, then two clown fish, and last some sort of spiney puffer a customer brought to the store because it was eating her reef stuff i was told. They died in the reverse order I listed them in.

 

[unleashed]

ok im sorry your fish had died..however whoever told you that bleach evaporates was highly mistaken. bleach i a highly toxic liquid . leaving a toxic residue after its dried .this is most likely the cause of death.. you can however clean this rock so it wont keep leaching chlorine back into your tank..you will have to soak it well in vinegar then rinse it clean with fresh water..if this process is not done you can not use it in you tank.
I used to work for a vets and they wont even use bleach to clean kennels due to the residue ..its toxic to cats
to clean anything in your tank please never use bleach always use white vinegar..

 

[joeman1881]

Originally Posted by unleashed
http:///forum/post/2827019
ok im sorry your fish had died..however whoever told you that bleach evaporates was highly mistaken. bleach i a highly toxic liquid . leaving a toxic residue after its dried .this is most likely the cause of death.. you can however clean this rock so it wont keep leaching chlorine back into your tank..you will have to soak it well in vinegar then rinse it clean with fresh water..if this process is not done you can not use it in you tank.
I used to work for a vets and they wont even use bleach to clean kennels due to the residue ..its toxic to cats
to clean anything in your tank please never use bleach always use white vinegar..
Ok, so if i pull all of that rock out, and dont want to use it, because I plan to use live rock from now on, what process should I take to get the water back to a healthy state? How long before I can get a fish to get things rolling again?

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by joeman1881
http:///forum/post/2827023
Ok, so if i pull all of that rock out, and dont want to use it, because I plan to use live rock from now on, what process should I take to get the water back to a healthy state? How long before I can get a fish to get things rolling again?
is there anything left alive in the tank? you may be able to add prime to get the chlorine out of the tank..I used that in city water in the past and it worked well..make sure its prime! I cannot attest to any other similar product.you may not have to remove the rock if you go this route( I didn't think of it sooner) i would recommend the highest dosage (which i believe is 5 x).also run carbons on the tank.to remove any other harmful chemicals left behind in the water(this wont effect the prime) also a few water changes in betwen my not be a bad idea adding prime each time
i would give it a couple weeks then try again slowly.
I know things like this can be devastating and somewhat heart breaking.but don't give up .I know this hobby can be very rewarding if dealt with patients.good luck

 

[joeman1881]

Ok, ill give it a shot, i think I am just going to remove the rock though, because I have the cash saved up for some live rock, and I think it will look nicer with a few big pieces. Unfortunately none of my fish made it

, but hopefully I will have it up and running soon, and I will definitely use this as a learning experience.

 

[joeman1881]

Here is a picture of the rock I have...Anyone got an opinion? The picture is kinda short width wise, because the tank is in a hallway

 

[joeman1881]

Anyone Have anything? I have the day off so I wanna get things rolling asap. Im just gonna pull it all...

 

[pete159]

saltwater tanks don't like to get rolling 'asap' they time time to get done right.
fish die in large amounts because a tanks bio filter is not ready for them. Take out what you don't want in the tank, then add all the live rock you want to have in it. test for ammonia. you need an ammonia spike to start the cycle. then you need to wait it out and test for ammonia, nitrites and then nitrates. When all thats left is nitrates you do a 30% water change and can add fish, but if you get no decent sized ammonia spike you will not have a strong bio filter and will have to add fish very slowly so the bio filter can keep up with the waste.
Another option is to take out what you don't want in the tank, then add pure ammonia to get the ammonia to about 7.0, which is very high, but will allow you to add more fish at once after the cycle finishes. After the cycle finishes you can add the live rock and see if the bio filter can handle the die off from it. Hopefully it can and only the nitrates will go up, if you get a small ammonia reading just wait it out, it won't take long to go down as you will already have a powerful bio filter.
Also buy a good saltwater keeping book and read it through so you understand everything.

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by joeman1881
http:///forum/post/2828222
Ok, ill give it a shot, i think I am just going to remove the rock though, because I have the cash saved up for some live rock, and I think it will look nicer with a few big pieces. Unfortunately none of my fish made it

, but hopefully I will have it up and running soon, and I will definitely use this as a learning experience.
just keep in mind if it was caused by the bleach its also in your LS..although getting some better LR wouldn't be a bad idea some of what you have looks like old lava rock also and i noticed some very flat peaces is that slate?
as pete159 stated salt water tanks don't work on ASAP
this hobby requires lots of TLC and plenty of patients
look at it this way you have waited your entire life to start in this hobby whats little more time.
in this hobby patients isn't a virtue its a matter of success

 

[joeman1881]

Yea, I understand that it takes time. I just wanted to get the cycle rolling as far as getting all my tank parameters met. I took out the rock, did a waterchange and got everything running again. I already had my ammonia spike a couple months ago when I just had my trigger in the tank. Thats when I started adding fish, once I had things back down to normal. Im gonna work on getting some live rock first from the lfs i think. Is this a bad idea?