I need help, my new fish keep dying
- Thread starter guitarfish
- Start date
benter
Member
It removes stray voltage from your tank...ask at the lfs, they are only about 12.00 or so..They also protect you as well!! When I had the same prob as you, I figured what the He__, it's only 12 bucks...Can't say that was the fixall for sure ..but like I say, haven't lost a fish in quite a while after installing it..
promisetbg
Active Member
I would ditch the substrate in the QT...wherein it may look "more interesting" to you...it is'nt a good idea.It should be barebottomed and have a few pieces of PVC..the LR is ok,as long as you don't use copper or any other medication.Water changes need to be done regularly...siphoning out manually..the detritus and uneaten food.Move the pvc and rock,to be sure you are getting anything caught under them.Make sure PH is stable...ammon,trite,trate undetectable.Have you changed the filter/carbon regularly on the HOB?Has any medication ever been used?
ricks280
Member
hi guitarfish, it is very sad loosing fish, not to mention the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ down the drain .as i was reading the above it came to my mind the fact of your temperature.
could it be that your thermometer is out? (just a thought)
the other issue is regarding puffer 32 was only trying to help you ! we are not always the solution to every problem out there, but we do try to provide and share our experience to all fellow hobbiests . the proof in the pooding was the fact that you wanted to put an angel
back in there(coral ang.) anyway guitarfish keep your chin up and hopefully we all can help you with this nightmare your living! (theres always the guitar)lol
(rick) :happy:
could it be that your thermometer is out? (just a thought)
the other issue is regarding puffer 32 was only trying to help you ! we are not always the solution to every problem out there, but we do try to provide and share our experience to all fellow hobbiests . the proof in the pooding was the fact that you wanted to put an angel
back in there(coral ang.) anyway guitarfish keep your chin up and hopefully we all can help you with this nightmare your living! (theres always the guitar)lol
darth tang
Active Member
To everyone that keeps saying salinity is to low, STOP!!!!! This is not the issue. Many people here run their salinity at 1.018. My dad has ran his at 1.015 for the last two years. No problems. Salinity is needed to be higher for inverts only. People on this site have had fish running in salinity of 1.009 for 6-8 weeks and have had no fish losses. I no people that run their tank almost that low on a permanent basis. So everyone saying it is to low....you are flat out wrong.
I am currenttly at a loss. Your set up should be fine the way you had it. So let me ask a couple questions. Do you also add The LFS water into your tank when adding the fish? How far away is the LFS from home and how long have the fish been in the bag? I noticed you added 2 fish at once to your QT. Have you tried just one fish at a time and nothing else? If you discussed these already I apologize.
I am currenttly at a loss. Your set up should be fine the way you had it. So let me ask a couple questions. Do you also add The LFS water into your tank when adding the fish? How far away is the LFS from home and how long have the fish been in the bag? I noticed you added 2 fish at once to your QT. Have you tried just one fish at a time and nothing else? If you discussed these already I apologize.
ophiura
Active Member
Originally Posted by Benter
I'm just curious about the salinity thing...is there a reason to run salinity so low then...do you guys not keep a cleanup crew at all in your QT or MT..I just don't see the reasoning behind it being so low..no biggie just got my curiosity up..
No, you do not keep a clean up crew in a QT. A QT is for treatment with various medications etc that are generally toxic to inverts. Your clean up crew is generally a siphon and water changes...inverts, if kept in QT, are generally kept in a different tank.
The salinity, IMO, did not kill these fish. And it is not outrageously low. If it was so fatal, then freshwater dips would not be used as a common treatment. It would kill a fish instantly.
I have never been a fan of the low FO specific gravity because I think it is totally unnatural, a not actually all that useful at keeping many parasites (ick, for example) under control. It is a "textbook" older salinity range and the theory was that it was an anti-parasite thing. And it is pervasive so it is still common. But it is not fatal for most of these fish.
When the fish were dying instantly, I was thinking it was some sort of toxin in there....painting, soap, some sort of organic toxin. That is what tends to wipe out fish rapidly along with chlorine. But this is somewhat more mysterious unless we can correlate it to some cleaning or event.
Might be worth checking for the stray voltage idea.
Can you describe any symptoms of the fish???
What is a further mystery is why the one's from the tank survived fine, and the new fish all die. I'll have to ponder this one. :thinking:
I'm just curious about the salinity thing...is there a reason to run salinity so low then...do you guys not keep a cleanup crew at all in your QT or MT..I just don't see the reasoning behind it being so low..no biggie just got my curiosity up..
No, you do not keep a clean up crew in a QT. A QT is for treatment with various medications etc that are generally toxic to inverts. Your clean up crew is generally a siphon and water changes...inverts, if kept in QT, are generally kept in a different tank.
The salinity, IMO, did not kill these fish. And it is not outrageously low. If it was so fatal, then freshwater dips would not be used as a common treatment. It would kill a fish instantly.
I have never been a fan of the low FO specific gravity because I think it is totally unnatural, a not actually all that useful at keeping many parasites (ick, for example) under control. It is a "textbook" older salinity range and the theory was that it was an anti-parasite thing. And it is pervasive so it is still common. But it is not fatal for most of these fish.
When the fish were dying instantly, I was thinking it was some sort of toxin in there....painting, soap, some sort of organic toxin. That is what tends to wipe out fish rapidly along with chlorine. But this is somewhat more mysterious unless we can correlate it to some cleaning or event.
Might be worth checking for the stray voltage idea.
Can you describe any symptoms of the fish???
What is a further mystery is why the one's from the tank survived fine, and the new fish all die. I'll have to ponder this one. :thinking:
benter
Member
Thanks Ophiura..I wasn't thinking about medicating in the Qt..I actually haven't used mine for that..YET..thank goodness...I was just thinking it seems weird to me that we go through so much trouble and effort to duplicate the ocean environment for all our little babies...and then to stick them in a tank with a low salinity like that...Kinda defeats the purpose...I thought the salinity of the ocean was a little higher than 1.018, even though I'm sure it has to vary a small amount... I haven't read too much of old school though, Only been in this about 3 years now...
ophiura
Active Member
and so you have hit the whole potential irony of the QT argument. It is totally unnatural - often with just PVC, etc - tends to in some cases have the potential to stress fish out more, and thus, potentially increase their odds of becoming ill. So, you will find people who are quite opposed to the QT idea as well as people who are solidly for it. :yes:
pohtr
Member
I have a QT that I'm afraid to use. It just is harder to keep stable. As a newb, the main tank is hard enough, then there's this other littler tank to keep track of. I had a thermometer problem in there for a while and one day the temp went up to 94!!!! Still don't trust the thing.
By the way, I only had LR in there at the time which I assumed became very dead rock, but a few little feather dusters actually survived. Amazing.
So, when I dare top get more fish I doubt I'll use my QT.
By the way, I only had LR in there at the time which I assumed became very dead rock, but a few little feather dusters actually survived. Amazing.
So, when I dare top get more fish I doubt I'll use my QT.
S
sinner's girl
Guest
This may be a dumb question, but why do you keep trying to add fish if they are all dying?
Stray voltage will kill? I asked about that here a few years ago and I was told it was fine...I stuck my hand in the tank and got shocked, ran to swf.com and asked, I was told it wouldn't harm the fish or inverts...
Anyway, I'm clueless, if it was one fish, I could come up with a few ideas...
Btw, have you had the lfs test your water? Test kits can be wrong....have your lfs test your water, test the lfs water too.
And his sg isn't too low. The lfs keeps it the same has him and the fish do fine there...so it can't be the sg...
Have you ever used cooper in your QT? Is someone else pouring something into your tank? (I know, I just remembered the story about the kid who shared his snack with the fish, they don't like apple juice). Do you add anything to your tank?
Your ph was a little too high
That wouldn't kill everyone right away though...how many fish are you putting in the 20gl QT? are you testing the water after you add the fish?
Just trying to help...
Stray voltage will kill? I asked about that here a few years ago and I was told it was fine...I stuck my hand in the tank and got shocked, ran to swf.com and asked, I was told it wouldn't harm the fish or inverts...
Anyway, I'm clueless, if it was one fish, I could come up with a few ideas...
Btw, have you had the lfs test your water? Test kits can be wrong....have your lfs test your water, test the lfs water too.
And his sg isn't too low. The lfs keeps it the same has him and the fish do fine there...so it can't be the sg...
Have you ever used cooper in your QT? Is someone else pouring something into your tank? (I know, I just remembered the story about the kid who shared his snack with the fish, they don't like apple juice). Do you add anything to your tank?
Your ph was a little too high
That wouldn't kill everyone right away though...how many fish are you putting in the 20gl QT? are you testing the water after you add the fish?
Just trying to help...
seastarr
New Member
:thinking: First let me say I'm so sorry, I know your frustrated. I would start over in the quarantine tank. throw out the CC, rinse and rerinse your tank, place all new material in your filter. If your main tank is healthy, pull substrate out of that tank and put the water from your next water change of your main tank into your twenty, along with a few lbs of the live rock. and buy a damsel or two to cycle it. Sometimes "things" can get into your tank, that does not register on most tests, Some chemical from your hands, or a fly fell in and died in your tank after he got covered with a pesticide, Because your tank was fine and now its not, makes me think pollution of some kind. Good Luck
guitarfish
Member
WOW, this old thread was resurrected. I've had success adding new fish since the original post. Presently I have a coral beauty in there for about a month, eating and thriving. I don't know what the problem was, but everything is going great now.
Thanks.
Thanks.
oceanbreez
Member
Originally Posted by Darth Tang
To everyone that keeps saying salinity is to low, STOP!!!!! This is not the issue. Many people here run their salinity at 1.018. My dad has ran his at 1.015 for the last two years. No problems. Salinity is needed to be higher for inverts only. People on this site have had fish running in salinity of 1.009 for 6-8 weeks and have had no fish losses. I no people that run their tank almost that low on a permanent basis. So everyone saying it is to low....you are flat out wrong.
I am currenttly at a loss. Your set up should be fine the way you had it. So let me ask a couple questions. Do you also add The LFS water into your tank when adding the fish? How far away is the LFS from home and how long have the fish been in the bag? I noticed you added 2 fish at once to your QT. Have you tried just one fish at a time and nothing else? If you discussed these already I apologize.
I heard not to add the water from the store and so I never do. My fish
are fine as I use the drip method with the bucket.
To everyone that keeps saying salinity is to low, STOP!!!!! This is not the issue. Many people here run their salinity at 1.018. My dad has ran his at 1.015 for the last two years. No problems. Salinity is needed to be higher for inverts only. People on this site have had fish running in salinity of 1.009 for 6-8 weeks and have had no fish losses. I no people that run their tank almost that low on a permanent basis. So everyone saying it is to low....you are flat out wrong.
I am currenttly at a loss. Your set up should be fine the way you had it. So let me ask a couple questions. Do you also add The LFS water into your tank when adding the fish? How far away is the LFS from home and how long have the fish been in the bag? I noticed you added 2 fish at once to your QT. Have you tried just one fish at a time and nothing else? If you discussed these already I apologize.
I heard not to add the water from the store and so I never do. My fish
are fine as I use the drip method with the bucket.