HELP, fish dropping like flies

[redbora]

for the past two, three nights, everytime i turn off my lights at night and turn them back on in the morning, i find a fish dead
the only thing i notice is every morning their breathing really fast/hard, but after the lights are on for a bite everything is back to normal
i tested yesturday and everything was fine, all the right numbers
i don't know what wrong please help!!:help:
55gal tank
62lb lr
40lb ls

 

[trainfever]

How long has the tank been up? What tests are you doing? What are the parameters? When you do the nitrate test, are you shaking bottle #2 very well? If not, you will get low readings.

 

[greatfullreefer]

How long has the tank been set up?
Did you complete the cycle and how long did it take?
How long have the fish been in there and how were they acclimated?
Please post test results.
Temp
SG
PH
Ammonia
Nitrites
Nitrates
Do the deceased fish show signs of foul play? (eg:-Cuts or scratches?
List the species of fish in the tank and which ones died.

 

[1journeyman]

Do you have a lot of plants in your tank?

 

[teresaq]

How many power heads, and are they breaking the surface of the water.???

 

[redbora]

tanks been up for two months almost three, three power heads and a can filter, think it's about 800gph
ph-8.0
amm-0
rite-<.1
rate-<2.5
pho-<0.1
no plants, powerheads dont' break surface
gone so far, koren angel (one night), satfin angel (one night), coral beauty angel (about two months), two cleaner shrimp (about months)
all I have left are two clowns, purple persudo, a huge flame scallop, a bunch of different type of snails, red n blue hermets, and a pepermint shrimp, four emeraid crabs
i use drip, usual for two hours
please :help:

 

[redbora]

i also have a star plyop, something that looks like brain coral and a xena frag, and they're all doing ok

 

[johnljjr]

omg im so sorry for your lost
and it making me scared, i just starting a tank
i hope you can save the little guys that are left

 

[redbora]

thanks, i hope so too

 

[redbora]

update, i left the lights on last night in fear of what i might find this morning if i had turned them off.....woke up and everything looks ok, fish dont' look stressed
anyone have any ideas?? please help, i don't want to have to leave my lights on forever

 

[pelena]

I think the powerhead question was intended to make sure you are getting eneough oxygen. there should be obvious ripples on the surface to help increse suface area and oxygen diffusion. You may want to turn the bubbles on one of them to disturb the surface even more.

 

[ophiura]

What is your pH first thing in the morning (before or just after lights on) versus later at night....
What is your alkalinity reading?
Circulation could also be an issue. I suggest at least getting good surface aggitation. No skimmer?
During lights on you at least get some oxygen production from algae...with lights off, only CO2 build up.
However, those are VERY delicate fish in a VERY immature tank and that can most certainly be a problem as well. Many were totally unsuitable (koran, sailfin) and others (coral beauty) need mature tanks. So far as I can tell, you were over maximum stocking level in basically a newly cycled tank. The fact that you have nitrites concerns me.
How did you cycle the tank?

 

[redbora]

i'll try out the powerhead suggestion
as for how i cycled, no lights for a month with one raw shrimp, rocks and sand.....as for fish, i've had the coral beauty as one of my first fish, i don't think it was that my tank wasn't mature enough, it actually looked better as time went by, as for the koran and sailfin, they were only added after the coral passed.....but they might have been rushed since i wanted to wait a little longer but i was over ruled, but i tested before i got them and the readings were 0 across the board with ph at 8.2
my sal is about 1.0255
i'm looking into a skimmer but still haven't been able to get one, soon though, any suggestions?? looking to spend about 200
thanks for the suggestions and help though

 

[1journeyman]

I'm still on the plant thing...
If you have a lot of algae and plants in your tank then they may be sucking up all the 02 once the lights go off.

 

[redbora]

i dont' have any plants but there are some small patchs of this velvettie kind of algee, do you mean that?? if so how would i get rid of it??

 

[1journeyman]

Hmm... ok, not plants then
Now I'm leaning towards the pH thing.

 

[redbora]

my ph is consitantly at 8.2, but how would i get rid of that kind of algee, nothing seems to want to eat it

 

[ophiura]

There are very few true plants in this hobby - IMO, algae on the rocks etc is equivalent. It photosynthesizes just as macro algae does, and uses CO2/produces oxygen during the day (as well as producing CO2). At night, it only produces CO2 along with all other animals in the tank...
CO2 + H20 = H2CO3 or carbonic acid.
If the tank has a low alkalinity, this carbonic acid can result in significant pH fluctuations day versus night. When we see an issue only at night, it can be a pH issue or the closely related oxygen/CO2 issue.
These are difficult to distinguish.
I would increase your circulation, especially in getting water aggitation at the surface.
You could do an experiment with adding a airstone to the tank over night and seeing if you have issues in the morning...but don't run one long term.

 

[1journeyman]

ophiura- I agree with ya on the algae=plant thing, but the poster said there was very little algae. Do you think this could still be the problem?

 

[ophiura]

It is in the ocean, where even single celled phytoplankton play a paramount role. Hard to imagine, but people have actually proposed "fertilizing" the ocean to get phytoplankton blooms to increase CO2 consumption and control green house gases! Most don't take into account that they also produce CO2 - but that is another argument. Anyway, it is not just macro algae, or even relatively "macro" nuissance algae that we can see - but also algae that we can't. I tell ya, don't give me a reason to spout off this stuff! LOL
But, pH is constant in this case, tho I would still like an alkalinity reading.
I imagine there might be a gas exchange issue - related to a pH issue and the algae CO2/O2 thing - just may be too little overall oxygen in there and that is showing up most clearly at night.