Help

[brees]

HI Everybody
I am very new to saltwater.Set up a 45 gal. in september started with 2 damsel,s and they lived,first part of october I bought powder blue,firefish,coarl beauty,lemonpeel not all at the same time,all died,tried again two weeks later and got a another lemonpeel.butterfly fish.in 4 days later all dead.now 3 days ago i got another butterfly fish and today it is dead.I have checked the water and it is well with in its parameters,the salinity is 1.023.They get small white spots on them and I start treating them for ich but they never survive very long.Could it be something else or am I doing something wrong.abot too give up.
Thanks much for any help
Steve

 

[sepulatian]

Hi Steve, welcome to SWF.com! How are you acclimating these fish and what all is in your display tank? Do you have live rock, live sand, and inverts? What have you been using to treat the ich? Please tell us all about your system. What kind of air flow do you have? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, and temp? What are you using to measure the SG?

 

[brees]

I use the test strips for testing the water,I have about #30 of live rock and 2 shrimp and they both have survived and even molted,the temp is kept at 75.5 degrees.to treat the ich I was told to use "ich-attack" so that is what I have been using.I have a penguin bio-wheel filter and a coralife skimmer.
There is somethings I forgot too say,that the fish also start losing their color(the black starts turning grey and the white starts turning black),they also lose the white spots and not long after that they just sink to the bottom.acclimate them in the bag I float the bag for 15 min. than I add a little water from the aquarium about every 10 min. until bag is about full than I empty out some of the water and fill the bag again after about 2-3 hours I empty the fish into the aquarium
Steve

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by brees
I use the test strips for testing the water,I have about #30 of live rock and 2 shrimp and they both have survived and even molted,the temp is kept at 75.5 degrees.to treat the ich I was told to use "ich-attack" so that is what I have been using.I have a penguin bio-wheel filter and a coralife skimmer.
There is somethings I forgot too say,that the fish also start losing their color(the black starts turning grey and the white starts turning black),they also lose the white spots and not long after that they just sink to the bottom.acclimate them in the bag I float the bag for 15 min. than I add a little water from the aquarium about every 10 min. until bag is about full than I empty out some of the water and fill the bag again after about 2-3 hours I empty the fish into the aquarium
Steve
Test strips are not that accurate at all. They give you a "general idea" but that is all. Pick up a liquid master test kit. API sells one for about $25. I notice that you do not have any powerheads in the tank for water movement. Salt water has very little oxygen in it by itself. We use powerheads to push the water, kind of like waves do. Your temp is a bit low but not so bad that it would kill your fish within a few days. Ich will kill your fish, but again, not in a few days time. I think that it is all of these little things combined that are doing it. Do you have any fish in there now? Have you set up a quarantine tank yet?

 

[brees]

I will get a better test kit.should I have one or more power heads in there.also should I have some kind of airstone?.I have 3 fish in there now a scooter blenny,firefish,royal gramma.seems like the less expensive fish survive and the likes of angel and butterfly fish do not.I have now set up a quarantine tank,but how long do I have too have it setup before I use it and should I have a skimmer in it or is the power filter ok.if tere is ich in the tank how long should I wait before I put more fish or is there a way of getting out of there.I also just use a hydrometer.I was told it could be ths quality of fish I buy but could my luck be that bad that all the fish I buy are bad.
Thanks much for your help
Steve

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by brees
I will get a better test kit.should I have one or more power heads in there.also should I have some kind of airstone?.I have 3 fish in there now a scooter blenny,firefish,royal gramma.seems like the less expensive fish survive and the likes of angel and butterfly fish do not.I have now set up a quarantine tank,but how long do I have too have it setup before I use it and should I have a skimmer in it or is the power filter ok.if tere is ich in the tank how long should I wait before I put more fish or is there a way of getting out of there.I also just use a hydrometer.I was told it could be ths quality of fish I buy but could my luck be that bad that all the fish I buy are bad.
Thanks much for your help
Steve
It could be the fish, but being some are still alive and the ones that died are more delicate I don't think so. You had ich in your system. That will pick your fish off. Pick up the master test kit. You will need a powerhead in the qt and you should have one or two in your display. Airstones are a bad idea in saltwater. They can cause pop eye and do not distribute the oxygen. You cannot perform hypo with a hydrometer. They are no where near accurate enough.