Found all my fish dead this morning!

[JB Millican]

We have a 55 gal tank
Current Light Bar w/timer
Aquatop Filter
Small circulation Fan

It's a newer tank, about 3 months. We bought our rock, sand, salt and r/o water and set up and let it establish good levels for 4-5 weeks before we added any fish. We had two clown fish and a some kind of red damsel first and they have done great. Then a week later we bought a lawnmower blennie and a chirstmas wrasse. The wrasse spent days in the sand and only came out everyonce in a while but was eating great. We also have plenty of snails, large and small. About a week ago we added a yellow tang who was doing well, eating and keeping good color. We have been wanting to get an anemone and figured our tank might be ready. I've done research and had seen that buying the rock that the anemone is already on may help it adjust better to a new tank. So I bought a smaller long tentacle anemone on a large rock. We had room for more rock in our tank so I wasn't worried about the rock. We also had long red feather like trees growing from the rock. Our salt water specialist at the store suggested aptasia x. We used that yesterday, added calcium and alkalinity also recommended, but only enough for a 30 gal since we weren't exactly sure of the levels. This is where I think we went wrong. We didn't check for sure of our levels and blindly added. It shocked and stressed the fish and killed all of them. We have a sample to bring to the pet store today, the anomone looks good, no signs of bleaching yet, 5)3 other feather like anemone also looks good and the tree bulb like coral looks good too. What do you think has happened? What should I look for to keep the anemone and other life in the tank from dying?!!! As a new salt water hobbyist what's a good tester for calcium alkilnity etc.?

 

[2quills]

Sounds like it's a case of doing too much too fast.

That's a lot of fish to be adding to a 55g in such a short time. Not too mention the yellow tang which will outgrow the tank rather quickly. You may have ammonia.

Stay away from adding calcium and alkalinity products without testing. if you don't have stony coral than you realy don't need to use it. Adding alk, too fast can cause problems.

Then the aptaisia X, added more chemicals to the system.

Take it slow. I'd probably do a healthy water change asap.

I used Hanna checkers for calcium and alk, salifert for magnesium.

What kind of lighting do u have?

 

[JB Millican]

Its a Current USA Orbit Marine LED Aquarium Light. I was worried about the chemicals from the aptaisia x causing a problem but it does say that it is safe for aquarium life. How long should you wait when adding fish? Can you add more than one at a time?

 

[lmforbis]

It does sound more like a water issue than a disease. Definitely a good water change is in order.
A general rule is don't add anything (chemical) to the tank unless you have a test kit and measure first.
3 months is way too soon for an anemone, typically a good year is needed for a tank to stabilize. You also will likely need stronger lights for longterm success with a Nem. I haven't used that type so they may be fine but do some research outside of the fish store. I don't think a long tentical is the best choice for a beginner. Bubble tips are a bit more forgiving.

 

[deejeff0442]

I have 40 sps.corals and don't add calcium. sounds like another story about a crappy fish store. buy good salt do water changes and you will probably never need to add anything else out of a bottle.

 

[Shilpan]

You mentioned taking water to the store to test it.

Do you keep ammonia nitrite and nitrate test kits at home? Did you use these to assess the cycling of your tank?