My fish keep dying & I do not know why

[griffindad]

I have a 9 month old 40 gal. FOWLR tank. So far I have only been able to keep 2 fish (1 Marroon Clown & 1 Firefish) Everything else dies a few days after I put in my main tank. My last fatality was a Royal Gramma. On the first day he was fine. Swimming around & eating. Second day he was hiding. Third day dead. I was having an Ick problem, but that seems to have gone away since adding the UV. My filter is a Flugal 304. I also added a Maxi Jet 1200 right after I got the Royal Gramma. My readings are:
Salinity - 1.022
Temp. - 85
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 0
PH - 8.2
These readings seem OK to me, but my fish keep dying. I have tried using QT tank and am careful to acclimate the new fish. I have tried everything I can think of, but my fish still die.

 

[exile415]

Maybe the fish you buy are unhealthy. Try another store. I once bought my fish at one store and it was a buck cheaper and it was closer so i went that way and the fish died. So I said ill go try the other store , So I did and fish seem to do well. Do you have a Skimmer ? You might want to get one. Lower your nitrate with a few water changes and lower your tempature to around 78-80. IMO 85 is just too high .. How often do you change your filter media .. you might wanna change that also..
Hope this helps
Good Luck
-Eric
Oh and if your nitrate had a spike maybe you feed to much or stir up your subtrate. Or never chagne your filter media

 

[beth]

Ich usually doesn't just go away. Have you notice aggression going on?

 

[griffindad]

I have bought fish from 3 different stores. It has made no difference. The Gramma seemed healthy when I first put him in.
The heater is turned way down already. The tank is not near any windows. It is just picking up heat during the day from being in a hot house. During the winter, the temp was less, but it made no difference. How can you cool a tank down without spending a couple of hundred dollars on a cooler?
I have not notice any agressive behavior by the Clown or Firefish.

 

[neoreef]

I was able to cool my 55 gallon by putting a fan so it blew over the top of the tank. Evaporative cooling! Room is 83, tank is 80!

 

[beth]

You have to realize that stable temperature is a nessicity. If the temp in your house is that high then you will either need to adjust your themostate, or buy a chiller for your tank. These animals can tolerate huge variations in temp, or too high, or too low.

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Beth
You have to realize that stable temperature is a nessicity. If the temp in your house is that high then you will either need to adjust your themostate, or buy a chiller for your tank. These animals can tolerate huge variations in temp, or too high, or too low.
I would add your temp should not fluctuate constantly by more than two degress. This will cause disease if it is present in your system. THe other fish may be hardier then the new inhabitants and have adjusted to the fluctuations. IMO..temp should be about 80 and stay within two degress...constantly.
IMO...85 is too high...83 is about as high as you want to go on a marine system...84 borderline.
I beleive Beth meant cannnot instead of can regarding the temp fluctuations.
JMO