Fish dropping like flies

[lartho6]

i have 55 gallon, with a use to be a 14 fish no i have 3 i have tested my water numerious times every thing is perfect nitrates, amonia, nitrite etc. I have a jebo canister filter and protein skimmer, clean the filter atleast evrey 3 weeks, i have a jebo compact light 220 which i do leave on quite a bit to where i have algae grove of the rocks and glass pretty heavy. I had a scopas tang, naso tang, yellow tank, clown fish, puffer,dwarf lionfish, pixyhawkfish, 1 shrimp, 3 different damsels and a very quiet snowflake eel. The only fish i have now is the sergent damsel,domino damsel and the eel i have lost each of the other in a 1 month span but the yellow tang, puffer shrimp hawkfish and the shrimp has died in a matter of days on day the are swimming fine and the next there not the eel isn't bothering anybody and they all a have been in the tank since november, i also have snail crabs polyps and a few anemoies. what is going on with my fish???????

 

[jer4916]

sounds like your REALLY over stocked.
in my 55 i have a
V-lion
Niger Trigger
Hawk Fish (flame back)
koran angel
and my tank is over populated...mine are moving into a 125 soon.
i would look at removing some fish and seeing if that helps...
whats your filtration...etc

 

[nikolai]

Never have more than ONE tang except in a very large tank.... you have THREE that were in a freaking 55!!!! Nasos can get to 18" ANIMAL CRUELTY!

 

[scubadoo]

Unfortunately, your tank was a time bomb wating to explode. Overcrowding can lead to stress and/or poor water quality which will lead to disease. No hard fast rule but one inch fish per 5 gallons of water is a good guide to use. Also, you should pnly have fish that can live in a 55 comfortably.

 

[maddest]

Did you had a shrimp with a puffer? And In my suggestion it might be the algae, i have read that too much algae can kill your fish.

 

[coralcrazy]

Sounds like lots of fish! Any signs of ick on the fish?

 

[lion_crazz]

There's no way that your nitrates were perfect!! That tank is WAY OVERSTOCKED! You had 11 fish in a 55!? You would have had to do water changes three times per week to maintain nitrates under 40, and even then, I don't know where all the fish slept and swam.

 

[who dey]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
There's no way that your nitrates were perfect!! That tank is WAY OVERSTOCKED! You had 11 fish in a 55!? You would have had to do water changes three times per week to maintain nitrates under 40, and even then, I don't know where all the fish slept and swam because your ignorance allowed you to put that many fish in the same, small tank. Shame on you.
thats not very nice. geeez he was just asking for advice! we all make mistakes here

 

[coralcrazy]

I agree Lion Crazz, easy on the responses, a mistake was made and he looking for help! Let's not ream him now. Better to give adivce of how to move on and keep the tank going!

 

[exile415]

I agree. Take a chill pill lion crazz. help the man , Don't kick him when he's down.

 

[itchy]

Geeezzzz......slow down on the critisisim. We all make mistakes and learn from them. It does sound as though you were overstocked. Do small water changes as I would bet your nitrates are high. Take a sample to your LFS and asked them to test them for you. If it is not your water quality it is most likely from stress.
How long has this tank been up and running? How fast did you add the fish?
Please do some research on the size of fish and the tank requirements before adding anything else, but FIRST things FIRST. Let everyone on this board try to help you get this tank on the right path. Good Luck

 

[lion_crazz]

Okay, fine, I am sorry. I was a little harsh. I just get so angry by this because a majority of fish keepers overstock their tank(the majority that do not read and post on these or some other boards). And when everything dies, they will say that their levels are "perfect". A lot of people think that just because they are fish that they don't need space and care and have specific needs. If such cruelty was done to another type of animal, like small quarters for confinement (such as this case), there would be more of a response and outcry. It just angers me sometimes the basic comment, it's just a fish. Sometimes I just get a little angry and I did not mean to be offensive.

 

[ophiura]

OK everyone - lets calm down. No "tang police" or otherwise, which just is not dealing with the problems. Let's be productive and help.
lion_crazz, thank you for changing your comments
What we need is information. Slow and simple -
What are your EXACT water parameters, including ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity, specific gravity, temperature? These are really important, even if you think they are perfect. If they are, we'll give you a pat on the back but we might also spot something a little less obvious.
What sort of test kits are you using?
How many powerheads do you have in the tank?
How much live rock do you have?
How was the tank cycled?
How often, and how much did you feed?
How often, and how much water do you typically change regularly? Do you use tap water?
Have you had any recent cleansers, painting, floor cleaning, etc around the tank?