Help with new tank please.

[harvey floyd]

Well this is my first venture into the saltwater setup, or any real aquarium for that matter. What I have is a 30 gallon truvu tank, with q living tide filter w/built in heater. There is about 10 pounds of live rock on crushed arogonite (sp?) The tank has been up and running for 3 days now. The water was dechlorinated, stress coat was added. And some liquid stuff to start the cycle was added. The temperature is a comfy 78-79 degrees, Salinity is perfect on the tester. Now comes the problem. We put 4 damsels in yesterday. Woke up this morning one was dead. We were kind of expecting that so no big deal. Came home at lunch the other 3 had died. Ok weird. We scooped and flushed, grabbed a sample of our water and went to the fish store. They tested our water and everything was perfect. Sold us 2 more damsels. Got em back home floated them. Dumped them in, one was instantly sideways. The other sunk to the bottom. They were dead within 5 minutes???? Now Im bothered. Anyone have any clues? I have a little background with these but not much. Any help would so greatly be appreciated. Thank you. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[marty]

Welcome to this wonderful new hobby. I am pretty new myself, but here is my thoughts:
1) get yourself a good test kit and test the water parameters yourself. Do that and then post the results here. Test for at least ammonia, ph, alkalinity, nitrites, nitrates and post the results. Include the salinity.
2) Be patient. Buy some books, read these pages just to see what others are asking and ask some more questions.
Others will chime in, I'm sure, probably with more details on what to do.
Good luck.

 

[cyn]

Do you have one of those electric socket testers or a christmas light bulb tester? It is a reach, but for the fish to die that quick, something is pretty bad. I was wondering if mabey you have an electric current running thru the tank?
Like I said, it is a reach.
Did the LFS give you the water paremeters or just say that it was ok? For the folks here to help the most, we all need to know the numbers.
Also, is this a brand new tank? Prior to setting it up was it cleaned with anything other than fresh water?
Post back and I will continue to try to help.
cyn

 

[demodan]

Did the LFS test for salinity, too? What kind of hydrometer do you have? I had the floating kind, and it read good, but when I lost some fish, I bought a good one. The floater read 1.025, the good one read over 1.040.

 

[jester]

You need to get a good test kit.
test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
these 4 are a good start. post results here.

 

[reeferx]

I think the problem here may be the way you are acclimating your fish. Do not just set the bag in for 5 minutes then dump. They have to acclimate to the water as well as the temperature. So you should open the bag after the temps match, then add some of the water (a cup or two) into the bag and let that mix for a while. then do it again once or twice, prior to release.
Sincerely,
Matt Rogers
<a href="http://www.threestepstoareefaquarium.com" target="_blank">http://www.threestepstoareefaquarium.com</a>

 

[harvey floyd]

I did just that Matt. I stuck my finger in the water and didnt get shocked. <img src="graemlins//confused2.gif" border="0" alt="[confused2]" /> I sent my girlfriend after a test kit so I can check the water myself. I'll post back when I have some numbers. The hydrometer we have is the kind that you dip in the water. I believe its called the deep six or so.

 

[carbo]

I always let my new tanks run for about a week before I think about adding fish. It sounds like something is really out of wack for the fish to go belly up so fast. Did you use any kind of soap or chemical to clean the tank beore you set it up?
I would also check the voltage in the tank - just because you do not get shocked does mean the fish are not getting zapped. When checking the voltage rememeber to check it when the heater is off and when it comes on.

 

[fish boy]

what did the test say

 

[harvey floyd]

The water tested fine...but fish keep on dying. <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" /> <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" /> <img src="graemlins//mischievous.gif" border="0" alt="[Mischievous]" /> <img src="graemlins//evilwhorn.gif" border="0" alt="[Evil Horn]" />

 

[fshhub]

give us the actual readings, not OK's, please
and please answer, was it a new tank??
did you or someone else clean it(if used, maybe the old owner had b4 yougot it)
jsut because you can't feel it, it does not mean that there isn't any electrical current at all, so look at this possibility closer(even if nothing else surfaces)
do you have a thermometer, or are you going by the dial on the heater(i have not seen one that was ever accurate(100%)
what about the pumps, are they new or used, if used, were they ever rebuilt(look at the screws and such for evidense of being taken apart) not thee impellers and such, but the insides with oil
i doubt it was any disease from the damsels, since it only took the 2d few minutes to pass