Help

[watergal]

I have a 55 I started back in July & everything has been great until recently. Every fish I have bought in the past month has died within a week of purchase. My water levels are good & I have fish, shimp & crabs in the tank that have been there for at least 3 months. I dont have a qt. WHAT IS GOING ON?!

 

[evilss]

what kind of fish are you buying? and what are your readings?

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Watergal
I have a 55 I started back in July & everything has been great until recently. Every fish I have bought in the past month has died within a week of purchase. My water levels are good & I have fish, shimp & crabs in the tank that have been there for at least 3 months. I dont have a qt. WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Actually it is hard to tell but I had a similiar experience with my 55g about 4-5 months after I started it. First of all I else I added plant life. Second it just ran for a few more months. Third, I now have less bioload. And finally My tang was getting territorial.
At about the 4 month point I finally noticed that ph had fallen to 7.4 or less. At first I did buffer with baking soda but basically the additional plant life and extra running allowed the ph to return to 8.2-8.4.
My losses were three types types. One or two fish would die in the first day. (probably ph shock). Then the rest would die at the end of the week (probably a cycle problem). Finally, fish would be fine for a couple of weeks but were being bullied by the tang. They would then start breathing heavy, develop white spots, and die. that was probably tang harrasment.
As I said hard to tell. My my tank is stable with nice fish and corals. Maybe somewhere in all this you can find a solution.

 

[watergal]

The last 2 I bought were on Friday, a green chromis & a firefish goby- both now dead. I have never had problems with ammonia, nitrate or nitrite levels. I have on occasion had a low ph.

 

[watergal]

Originally posted by Kipass4130
what are your latest test readings for
temp
specific gravity
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate
#s please!

The temp is 78, specific gravity 1.022, ammonia is 0, nitrite .2, & nitrate 10, ph 8. I use fasTest test kit.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Watergal
The last 2 I bought were on Friday, a green chromis & a firefish goby- both now dead. I have never had problems with ammonia, nitrate or nitrite levels. I have on occasion had a low ph.
Low ph is the big hint. I think you will find that if you let the system run for a few weeks the ph will stabilize. That may be all that is necessary.

 

[watergal]

Originally posted by Kipass4130
i assume you are acclimating the fish.... when the fish are dying... any display of abnormal behavior... any signs of disease?
The fish act fine - they eat, swim around, no signs of stress. I acclimate them by floating the bag & slowly adding tank water. The process usually takes 1/2 hr to 45 mins.

 

[nacl-man]

From your first post it seems that you have fish that have been in the tank for three months doing fine? Is that correct?

 

[watergal]

Originally posted by NaCL-Man
From your first post it seems that you have fish that have been in the tank for three months doing fine? Is that correct?

Yes - I have a perc clown, damsel, strawberry basslet, lawnmower blennie, turbo snail, starfish, 2 anemones, 8 small hermit crabs, emerald crab & anemone crab. All these guys survived the hurricane - my tank didn't have power for 4 days.

 

[beaslbob]

wel you could have just had a bad bunch of fish. that does happen.
What I suspect happened is your existing fish adjusted to a lower ph which dropped over a period of months. And when adding the new fish you exceeded the bio capacity and/or ph buffering capacity of your system. The new fish in transfer shock and with the lower ph were much more stressed than the existing fish. Or possibly the existing fish bullied the new ones. Therefore the new fish were lost.
Best let everything run for a little while and let the system mature. Again plant life would be a big help.

 

[watergal]

I am not familiar with marine plants. What do you suggest & where do I get them?