Help!!!!

star005

star005

New Member
I'm pretty new to the saltwater fish tanks. I have a 55 gallon that had a tomato clown, lion fish, fox face, lunare wrasse, and a blue throut trigger. The fish were all very young, I was past the cycle stage. So I added a nigar trigger. The clown had ich so I treated the tank with the 100 % organic medication. In the process I added a UV light and took out the carbon filters and shut off the skimmer. Anyway the morning after I added the second trigger I woke up most of the fish were dead. The only ones alive were the lunare wrasse and a rose bubble amenome. And also some hermit crabs.
I night I got the niger trigger I did a 10% water change and added cycle. My husband thinks he added to much tap water conditioner. What did I do wrong?????? Amonia was .01, nintaites .01, ph 8.1, salinie .18, temp 78 degees.
 
jsgreer1

jsgreer1

Member
imo i would get my salinity up i keep mine at 1.025 (same as the ocean) and another problem could be the tap water. i use to use tap water and conditioner and lost fish as well and since switching to ro water everything is better. this is all IMO someone else's might differ.
 
hottie79

hottie79

Member
I am new to this myself, but I believe that once you are past the cycle state, your ammonia should be 0 as well as your trites. How long has the tank been set up? When did you start and how many fish did you add at a time?
 
star005

star005

New Member
The fish store told me to lower the salinity and higher the temp to help with the ich. I guess I should'nt have done that.
 
star005

star005

New Member
It's been set up for 2 and a half months, we started with 4 fish to cycle. Then added one at a time, 2 weeks apart.
 
jsgreer1

jsgreer1

Member
you cycled with fish? poor fish. also your best bet is anytime your lfs tells you something read some of the threads on that topic on this site before believing him.
 
hottie79

hottie79

Member
how much lr/ls do you have? This tank could very well still be cycling from what I understand, especially with adding a bioload like that to start with. I could be wrong, and please people feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but i think you are probably lucky that any fish survived the cycle at all.
 
sleasia

sleasia

Active Member
That low of a salinity might eventually kill your inverts. With inverts in the tank you need to keep salinity around 1.025.... If they were new fish, meaning introduced to the tank within a week, it may have been the result of the acclimation. Did you also test alkalinity?
 
jsgreer1

jsgreer1

Member
Originally Posted by Hottie79
how much lr/ls do you have? This tank could very well still be cycling from what I understand, especially with adding a bioload like that to start with. I could be wrong, and please people feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but i think you are probably lucky that any fish survived the cycle at all.
i agree and even though they did survive they suffered through it.
 
star005

star005

New Member
Ya, after reading some threads I feel very mislead from the fish store, I wish I would have fond this earlier!!
So now what should I do?
 
jsgreer1

jsgreer1

Member
IMO I would definately get that salinity up and stop using tap water. you can buy ro water at wal-mart. ive seen it for 50 cents a gallon. or you could buy an ro unit (pays for itself over time)
 
sleasia

sleasia

Active Member
Ok my comment went in before you mentioned you cycled with the fish. this is why the fish are all dying. because they have likely gone through both ammonia and nitrite spikes as the tank cycled. both of which are toxic to the fish and will certainly kill them....this is why it is better to cycle with a piece of grocery store shrimp, and let the tank take its course for the initial few weeks it takes to cycle and develop its biological filter. Don't add any more fish for now or they will only die. get a piece of shrimp and throw it in the tank. Turn off the uv sterilizer, because you should not use this until you are sure you have an adequate biological filter established, or the uv will kill off or at least greatly retard the establishment of the bio filter....In the mean time, this is a great website to learn. read all threads related to "cycling" your tank.
 
star005

star005

New Member
I still have a lunare wrasse and some hermit crabs alive in the tank. I did a 50% water change this morning and the wrasse is acting like himself again. I can't cycle the tank with shrimp if he lives to see tomarrow.
 
jsgreer1

jsgreer1

Member
im not an expert but i think with a water change that big even if your tank was done cycling it may start another cycle. if it does your fish will definately die. i would see about taking them back to the lfs and making sure your tank is cycled before adding fish.
 
sleasia

sleasia

Active Member
What they are saying about R/O (reverse osmosis) is absolutely true. You will have much greater success if you use R/O water instead of tapwater. R/O units run around 200$ but this is probably the most important piece of equipment you need. I would just throw some shrimp into the tank, let it cycle for 3weeks or so and begin reading everything you can on this website. All the info you need for a successful saltwater tank is here, and you will greatly benefit from other people's discussions of their mistakes.
 
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