I need the Sharks help!

[lu]

My tank has been fine up until about 2 weeks ago when I added 50#'s lr. ( I kept the rock in a garbage can with ph's and checked until I was sure no ammonia before added it to my tank but all my fish are dying. And no, I haven't sprayed anything in the air, I wash my hands very well with water before entering the tank, so on and so on. I have no kids to add any suprises to the tank. I have a 125 with 4" dsb, 125# lr, protein skimmer, 2 emperor 400 filters (that I change filter media regularly). All of my sensitive inverts seem to be doing ok?? so far except my snails (which have been on the rock). Is there any way that that rock could have been subjected to cyanide poisoning somewhere before it came to me?? My fish look great the night before and by morning I have a couple more floating! What's wrong??? They have all been with me for months....5 to be exact. All my corals are doing awesome....best I've ever seen. I've gone through the fish diseases a hundred times and can't come up with ONE thing that they MIGHT have.......
I'm stumped, so I'm grasping for straws on the cynaide thing. Any ideas???
BTW...all my water parameters are great

 

[mr . salty]

That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking as I read your post...SO,WHAT ARE THOSE TANK READINGS????

 

[lu]

Well, I don't know what to tell you then. I tested the water for ammo, nitrite, nitrate before I put the rock in the tank and all are at 0, except for trates, and they were at 10. I also tested for ph and it was at 8.2 (after the rock was in the tank)......I tested my water again this morning and along with the obvious, I tested for alkalinity, phosphates, salinity and iodine and all those were fine too. So, you're telling me you don't know???
You're making it sound like I'm an absolute idiot to this hobby. I am sorry I asked. I should have known better..............
Many of you seem very quick to answer but soooo short tempered and it sure is a turn off to this board.

 

[lu]

Let's get technical, shall we?
Ammo....0
nitrite....0
nitrate.....10
phosphate......05
alkalinity....10
ph....8.2
salinity....1.023

 

[jagnmeg99]

No one as far I can see was short tempered towards you, they were just giving advice to the best of their knowledge as you had asked them to do. And as for "quick to answer" isn't that what you wanted...they only speak on their experiences and again that is what you asked for.

 

[broomer5]

Hey Lu,
I've read this post several times today, and have been giving it some thought.
It may be possible that you got some contamination of some sort on this new batch of live rock.
Although I've never heard of anyone having this problem, there's always a first time.
I've read of many unsolved mysteries here by several members - maybe there was something toxic in or on this live rock that killed your fish.
Newsprint ink I don't believe is toxic, but who knows - a lot of shippers use newspaper to wrap rock in transit.
Was the trashcan you cured this rock in clean and plastic material ?
Anything unusual about the saltmix or freshwater you used in this curing tank ?
Was this saltwater changed over the curing process or not ?
What kind of live rock was it ?
Did you get it from the same source as your first purchase ?
Was there anything you can think of that was unusual about this second 50 lbs ?
Not being able to test for "everything" we place in our tanks, even though we take precautions, could cause problems and the reason would go unnoticed.
Only thing we would notice was the result - in this case - fish dieing.
The odd thing I kept thinking about was that your corals seem to be doing very well.
The loss of snails was strange though, and that had me wondering too.
Test kits tell the story - but only on the parameter you're measuring.
The unknown things are the ones that jump up and get ya now and then.
This may be one of those cases.
I know I've asked a lot of questions, just trying to help solve the puzzle.
Sorry to hear of your troubles.

 

[fshhub]

newsprint ink, is supppposed to be made of soy, for many years now, so i doubt that is it, the old oil based stuff has been illeegal for some time(but then again, who knows, not everyone is envirofrindly or law obiding)

 

[lu]

Broomer, it's nice to have someone as pleasant as you here. I did get the rock from the same place as I had gotten rock before but it did have some fruit flies ? in it when I opened the box. The water was really dirty that the rock had been "curing in" so when I was ready to move it to my tank I rinsed it off in another rubbermaid container with clean salt water. Maybe I didn't get all the dirt or junk off of it but it didn't smell bad and it rinsed clean. The container is only for my saltwater mix and was clean (rubbermaid garbage can, plastic). I didn't notice anything different in the salt mix and it was the same as I've always used. I also have a ro/di for my water.
The rock is fiji, the same as I have gotten before.
You're telling me this is odd? I'm so afraid to look at the tank in the morning when the lights go on. I cry every time I lose one more fish.....
Ya know, I have a purple lobster, assorted type crabs, starfish, shrimp, assorted type snails and blue leg hermits. The only losses on the invert side have been 3 turbos (maybe that is just bad timing and has nothing to do with my fish loss, I don't know). My starfish even ate one of the fish that died the other morning. I went to go get the net to get him out, came back and the fish was gone. Went looking for it and I noticed the star had a funny shape to him. One other thing I noticed a couple of days before everything started going wrong....I found what looks to be a crab shell of some type and a set of claws but I never had a crab that looked like that that I know of. I can't imagine that's what caused everything, especially since I had no spikes in ammonia, trites or trates. I'm just plain confused, stumped and scared.....
As far as my corals doing well, that's the weird part too although I don't have any hard to keep corals, mostly mushrooms and star polyps and finger leather. Maybe I'll never figure this one out but at least someone else knows that not all things that happen in tanks are because of mismanagement.
Again Broomer, I appreciate the sympathetic ear, thanks!
Oh...one more thing in case you're wondering. My temps have been fine through this whole thing too, stays at 80 during the day and 79 at night.

 

[heavenly damsel]

Have you considered hitchhikers on the new LR? Could be that crab you mentioned or even a mantis shrimp. So sorry to hear you are losing fish....it is hard to deal with especially when you can't find an obvious cause.

 

[lu]

HD< I don't think it's a mantis. I've never heard clicking noises in the tank and the fish had no signs of injury, they all looked healthy the day before they died. And they all ate well too, no obvious signs of stress. This is the creepiest thing I've ever gone through and I just lost my other true percula this morning. The only fish that are left now are my damsels. I'm in the process of doing chemical checks again but so far, they all look good. Thanks for the sympathy...

 

[lu]

Baron, no one has been over to do anything to the tank. The lfs is over 55 miles away. I work all day and by the time I get out of work, feed my horses, the store is closed anyway. I have considered my test kit may be old or bad so I'll go purchase new ones this weekend.
I agree that if the water parameters were good this wouldn't be happening but it IS happening.
When I wrote this post I was at my wits end and my heart was broken over my losses. Maybe I was a little on the edgy side but so many times when I have seen people reach out for help here, they have been bashed for stupidity. I do not take this lightly. As silly as it sounds, thses are my babies, just as all the other other animals I have are.
Here's another one for you. I did a 25% water change last night. Before I did it, I rechecked my water and everything was fine but trates were at 10 (not bad). I checked all the parameters on the water I was going to use to do the water change with and all the tests read 0 (ro/di). About 2 hours after I was finished and everything had settled, I tested the water again. Again, everything ok except trates. NOW THEY ARE AT 40!!! I can't believe this is happening!! I went over every piece of equipment in the tank, everything functioning properly. It's late at night, I'm not sleeping, having nightmares when I do sleep...what the hell is going on?
Now I'm thinking maybe my trate test has been off this whole time ( have to blame it on something)
I'll have water checked, buy new tests and report back when I know something.
BTW...lost my sally lightfoot and looks like my 3 stripe is on his way out, but corals still look well.