I have no clue whats wrong and im scared!

[erg59541]

ok here goes..... I thought that a fish tank would be the perfect hobby for me. I bought a 29 gal tank and kit. I killed a ton of fish when I first started by being a dummy. Now I am on my second set of fish and everything was going fine for a while but now they are dying again. I have noticed a few things going on in my tank. 1. Fish Dying I have lost about 4 fish so far. 2. White things stuck to the side of my tank that look like little tiny swirly shells. 3. One of my fish that has died had little brown spots on him that looked like bruises almost then had some white spots for a bit, then died. 4. fish are scratching on things in the tank. 5. Some fish were trying to kill another one by biting the heck out of him so I seperated him but he has a stub for a tail and wasent eating...he is now starting to lightly eat food. 6. My starfish who usually hides all day long is now out in the sunshine for whatever reason and my yellow tank is trying to nibble on him. Well I can't think of anything else that I have noticed and I have no clue what is going on. All I can think to do is water changes and that doesn't seem to be helping too much. I am VERY VERY new at this so any and all advice would be VERY appreciated. I am freaking out over it so if anyone knows anything please let me know, thanks so much

 

[karajay]

Have you tested your water? Can you post the results? Also include more info about your tank (LR? type of substrate? how many and exactly what kind of fish, inverts etc.?)

 

[beth]

I went ahead and moved your thread here because I think you have overall "new marine hobbyist" problems, then just fish diseases.
Give us some very specific info about how you set up your tank, how you cycled, what type of tank you have, age of tank, type of substrate, filters, water readings, etc., etc. etc. Also, have you read any good hobby books?

 

[lovethesea]

welcome. Let us know who is in the tank too. (even the ones that died)

 

[dburr]

Yes, what kind of fish?
It sounds to me the scrating and white spots is ick.
Stress from over stocking. A yellow tang belongs in a minium 90 gallon tank. You need to do hypo on the fish. A search will give you alot of info.
White swirly things are normal, prolly cluster dusters.
Can you give us more info?
Dan

 

[skirrby]

the white spots that were on this fish could by ich right? im to new to help you.. i havent even fully set up my tank yet.. but ive done about a 100 hours of research on as much as i can.. if not more

 

[humuhumu]

ERG, sounds like you might have put your fish to the stress test and they failed, being that 29 gallons isn't very much space compared to the fishes natural enviorment. I'll assume that you had at least 5 being that 4 are dead and that your tang is still alive. Most saltwater fish are still collected from the wild and are not accustomed to cramped quarters. The chasing is a good indicator of this. The scratching could also be an indicator of some kind of parasite, but usually it all boils down to one thing...stress. Check your water conditions, etc and don't give up.
Give us more details about what you have in your tank including water conditions and equipment. I'm sure you'll get a ton of feed back that will be helpful.

 

[cnlight]

Another thing too, what kind of filtration do you have, and how long was your tank up and running with water for before you put fish in it, and how many at that time.

 

[erg59541]

Ok thanks so much everyone for all the info so far. I went back and tested all my chemicals right before this post so ...
Substrate: Natural Coral Sand
Had tank for: 3-4 months
Type of tank :eclipse tank kit, everything is eclipse including filters
Alive Fish: 1 Yellow tang, 4 yellow tail blue damsels, 1 blue damsel, 1 tomato clown, 1 bubble tip anaenome, 1 red(i think could be green)brittle star, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 camelback shrimp, random snails and slugs not sure how many cause a lot hide during daytime.
Dead fish: 1 yellow head jawfish, 1 skunkfish(dottieback), 1 purple firefish, 1 tomato clown (part of mated pair)
(All these fish were not together at the same time, some died before i bought others, and i had others that died way before i had any of these fish)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: less then 10 almost 0
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
So those are all the stats that I could think of to post...well all the stats that I was asked about anyway ummmm how many fish would you guys put in a 29 gal tank? I am saving up for a 65 gal and plan to transfer some fish to there also i am waiting for the fish in my sisters fresh tank to die so i can change it to a salt tank...also the little white specks on the tank that look like flat swirls(almost like white snail shells smashed on the side) are not clumped together so could they still be cluster dusters? they were my main concern when I noticed problems..... You guys are great thank you so much for helping me out cause if you think my fish are stressed right now you should see me lol anyway if anyone knows anything please let me know Thank you thank you thank you!!!

 

[cnlight]

Ummm, well thats a lot of fish for a 29 gallon tank . I think part of your fish dying is because they are cramped and stressed due to lack of space. One thing, the yellow tang should be in a tank no less than 75 gallons.
Size rule for fish in a tank is an inch of fish per five gallons. That is for the first six to eight months and then it goes to an inch per two gallons of water. As it stands, you have about thirteen inches of fish in your tank, and thats not even when they are full grown. With even an established tank your tank should be a minimum of 40 gallons, and then full grown fish should have at least a 55, and then the tang should be more.
I don't mean to upset you but that would be one of the main reasons why your fish aren't doing well. I would recomend that you downsize a little, and then get fish appropriate for when you have a bigger tank. Also the aneneme probably needs more lighting than you have, with just an eclipse lighting system, it just isn't enough in the long run. I hope this helps, take things slowly and ask many questions, we will try to help you.

 

[007]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yot, but the best piece of equipment that a new hobbiest needs is a good book. Natural reek aquariums by tullock is a great one as well as the concientios marine aquariust. These two books will give you a significant amount of knowledge about starting, maintaining and running a saltwater aquarium.
Welcome to the board!!!

 

[stillfrodo]

IMO you had a awful lot of livestock for such a small tank. How fast did you stock the tank? Did you add all the fish at once or was it done over a period of time? It happens we see a bunch of fish we want and stock them all at once. Perhaps work with what you have now. Bring the fish you have back to a healthy status and then work from there. I personally would hold off on replacing any fish right now and not add any till you have a larger tank. Good luck......

 

[beaslbob]

I vote for you added too many fish too fast. Did any else notice a yellow tang in a 29 g. Way too big of fish for that tank.
How is your plant life doing? I notice you ph is slightly low so I suspect your tank could do better with more plants to reduce the carbon dioxide. With reduced carbon dioxide the desolved oxygen would also increase. So both the ph would rise and there would be more oxygen for the fish.

 

[007]

I have always been under the impression that CO2 lowers pH, isn't this the basis behind a calc reactor?

 

[tiencvu]

Looking at the Alive Fish, in my opinion, I think it is overcrowded for a 29 gal. In mine case, I have 55 gal FO. I have 9 fish at the same time, one of them got ick and died because of overcrowded.
I ended up returning a few to the LFS to save others.
Overcrowded cause too much stress to the fish, no room to swim or hide then stress begins, too many bad things happening.
You might want to move the fish to a bigger tank or
reduce the population. When I started this hobby, I was so excited and want to put as many fish in the tank as possible. I learned from failing... Overcrowded coul kill your fish one by one. Good luck and don't be discourage because they are worth it.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by 007
I have always been under the impression that CO2 lowers pH, isn't this the basis behind a calc reactor?
that is my impression also. hence adding plants would reduce CO2 and raise ph. I was taking a clue from the ph being 8.0. That could be an indication CO2 is high and contribute to the fish loss.

 

[jedininja]

Plant life is not the answer to everything! It is much easier to get more oxygen through adding more powerheads than it is through plant life. But whether or not there is more oxygen, the tank is overstocked. And PH isnt the problem either. It may be a little bit low, bo nowhere near lethal. Even if filtration and water parameters are perfect, all those fishes in there would be too cramped. The tang would die eventually even if left in there by itself. The damsels are extremely teritorial and all the fighting would stress them out.
Unless you want to do a damsels only tank, I would suggest selling back all your fish back to the LFS. Buying a good book and reading it for a month while all of the parasites in your tank die off. Then start buying fishes that are non-aggressive (important since its a small tank) and do it slowly. In a 29 gallon, I would recommend that you put in no more than 4 small fish. After the tank is very established you could get away with adding a little more but not with the filtration that you have. The eclipse filters aren't the best thing for saltwater. They are good for mechanical filtration, but not much else. I would recommend having a skimmer on that tank if you want to add anymore. A CPR pak works well on small tanks that size. But that would mean you would have to get rid of your eclipse hood or modify it to fit.

 

[tiencvu]

Posted by Jedininja:
I would recommend having a skimmer on that tank if you want to add anymore
I agree with jedininja there, a protein skimmer is a must. With that many fish, you would be surprised to see how much undissolved organic in the water.
A vote for a good protein skimmer.

 

[humuhumu]

As I said before, STRESS! Number one killer of saltwater fish and men over 40. I agree 100% with adding a protine skimmer. I also use a CPR on my 20gal reef. Ive been using it for about 5 years now and have never had a problem with it. I also agree with cnlight, if you want to keep anemones you need more light.

 

[karajay]

Originally posted by cnlight
Size rule for fish in a tank is an inch of fish per five gallons. That is for the first six to eight months and then it goes to an inch per two gallons of water.
IMO, 1" per 2 gallons is pushing it. In some cases I believe 1" per 5 gallons is pushing it. This rule of thumb is a good place to start, but everything you put in your tank should be thoroughly researched first. Please don't just take the advice of your LFS on this one. Many sw fish require ample swimming space and will not thrive in a small aquarium.