My fish keep dying!

rondo

rondo

Member
Hi everyone,
I am getting very frustrated so I am hoping someone here can shed some light on whats going on. In 4 months I have had 5 fish and 4 of them have died. I started my first SW tank about four months ago. Its a 55 reg with 70lbs of LR and LS. After the initial cycle I added a CUC and a CBS, and Sally Lightfoot Crab. A few weeks later I added an Ocellaris Clown. He was doing great for a few weeks then I added a Coral Beauty, about three days later both were dead one morning when I woke up. I switched from tap water to RO/DI after that, waited a few weeks and got another clown. Waited another few weeks and added an Orchid dotty back. All seemed to be going well for 2-3 weeks then one morning the dottyback was just gone. No sign of it in the tank whatsoever. Last week I added another Coral Beauty and again three days later it just died. The only survivor so far has been the last clown I got and he seems to be doing very well. I have also had no problem with any of my inverts.
I check my params regularly and have always been fine, I change about 5 gallons every two weeks and now use only RO/DI water. I am ver y confused and frustrated at this point. The strangest thing is that all of the fish that have died seemed fine and the deaths seem to come very quickly. The only thin I noticed on the last CBA was that before it died its breathing was irregular and heavy. I run a sump and protein skimmer so I don't think it is an O2 problem. Any suggestions would be great. I really enjoy the hobby but am starting to be afraid to add new fish.
Thanks everyone.
 
rondo

rondo

Member
Sorry, Ammonia and Nitrites are zero. Nitrates are around 10. PH is stable around 8.2, temp at 78. Sg is 1.023.
 
mkroher

mkroher

Member
where are you buying your fish from? what is the SG of the water the fish come shipped in? Are you buying the fish from the same source?
My LFS keeps their SG at 1.018. I keep my tank at 1.023. That right there is a 5-6 day acclimation period.
more details please. what color are your socks?
 
rondo

rondo

Member
Most of my fish have come from the same LFS. Not sure what the SG of their tanks are but I will find out. The first CBA came from SWF.com. Not sure what other details I can provide. I usually temp acclimate first then drip acclimate over a few hours. The deaths always seem to be occuring at night which led me to think maybe a mantis shrimp or other predator but I don't see any signs of damage on the fish afterwards. The only strange behavior I noticed was the last CBA. We found it laying in the sand still breathing, heavy and irregular. I moved him to the refugium but a few hours later it was dead. I have noticed no discolorations or parasites. I have a cleaner shrimp that seems to clean the fish regularly, when they let him.
and currently my socks are black.
 
mkroher

mkroher

Member
I would start by asking what the SG is at the LFS. If they are a short drive away, test it yourself.
The owner of my LFS told me she keeps the SG at 1.018 because it helps with ick. (which is B.S.)
Maybe there's a residual pesticide in your tap water
Did you dechlorinate your tap water? (don't mean to be insulting)
 
rondo

rondo

Member
No problem, yes i treated the tap i used before switching. I will check with the LFS on their SG. Thanks.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by mkroher
http:///forum/post/3131021
where are you buying your fish from? what is the SG of the water the fish come shipped in? Are you buying the fish from the same source?
My LFS keeps their SG at 1.018. I keep my tank at 1.023. That right there is a 5-6 day acclimation period.
more details please. what color are your socks?
I have gotten coral and fish from SWF.com...Sg was 1.010 my tank is always 1.024/1.025...5-6 days?????
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Rondo
http:///forum/post/3130952
Hi everyone,
I am getting very frustrated so I am hoping someone here can shed some light on whats going on. In 4 months I have had 5 fish and 4 of them have died. I started my first SW tank about four months ago. Its a 55 reg with 70lbs of LR and LS. After the initial cycle I added a CUC and a CBS, and Sally Lightfoot Crab. A few weeks later I added an Ocellaris Clown. He was doing great for a few weeks then I added a Coral Beauty, about three days later both were dead one morning when I woke up. I switched from tap water to RO/DI after that, waited a few weeks and got another clown. Waited another few weeks and added an Orchid dotty back. All seemed to be going well for 2-3 weeks then one morning the dottyback was just gone. No sign of it in the tank whatsoever. Last week I added another Coral Beauty and again three days later it just died. The only survivor so far has been the last clown I got and he seems to be doing very well. I have also had no problem with any of my inverts.
I check my params regularly and have always been fine, I change about 5 gallons every two weeks and now use only RO/DI water. I am ver y confused and frustrated at this point. The strangest thing is that all of the fish that have died seemed fine and the deaths seem to come very quickly. The only thin I noticed on the last CBA was that before it died its breathing was irregular and heavy. I run a sump and protein skimmer so I don't think it is an O2 problem. Any suggestions would be great. I really enjoy the hobby but am starting to be afraid to add new fish.
Thanks everyone.

Clowns a very hardy...once acclimated they should last for many years. They are very territorial and will fight with new additions, so you may have had a small war going on… Angel fish however can be very hard to keep. I have lost 3 flame angels, 1 at a time…and gave up on them. Others say they have no problems with angels at all..

I have had no trouble keeping any other fish. I did put in 4 Anthias once and only 1 made it after 3 weeks time. A year later and it is still around. Maybe you can try another type of fish…not a damsel they will fight everything including each other.
I figure if the clown is fine..it isn’t your tank, do you have moonlights? Sometimes night lights help new fish stay away from fin nippers that sneak up on them in the dark. You may just have a really mean clown.
 
rondo

rondo

Member
I'm a little confused. I understand the concept of osmotic shock but how would you acclimate a fish over 5 days?
 
mkroher

mkroher

Member
Originally Posted by Rondo
http:///forum/post/3131618
I'm a little confused. I understand the concept of osmotic shock but how would you acclimate a fish over 5 days?
By having a QT setup that matches the SG the fish came in. Then increase the SG in the QT by .001 each day.
 
matth2181

matth2181

Member
i had trouble with a coral beauty as well, it died in 1.5 weeks, and i before that a 6 line died on me in 2 days... and all the while ive had a clown in the tank since it started, and hes done excellently. you said you started with tap water and dechlorinated it... so did i, but i had a long talk with a very specialized salt water fish store (its the only thing they sell and they do custom tank jobs all over the county, they just happen to close by, www.fishworldric.com) and really suggested i use RO/DI water... luckily i work in a lab and we have faucet for DI water so i jsut take it from there... but over 3 days is did 3 20% water changes to get the RI water into the tank and the tap water out. the deaths your explaining sound like mine, and since ive added the DI water along with a clean up crew like hermits and a sand sifting star fish, the tank is in much better condition, and ive since added a fiji blue devil that is smaller than the clown so they get along fine, and everything apears as now that the tank conditions are getting better. so i would suggest getting as much of that tap water out and DI water in, i also use Tropic Marine salt, which is a slightly expensive but higher quality salt, but whatever about the salt, fish will live in salt, just higher quality will decrease stress. but as far as coral beauties n such, they are delicate fish to start a tank with, should prolly go with smaller hardier fish to get the tank rolling then think about adding more delicate fish, biggest problem people have is trying to add the prettiest fish first, not always the best idea.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
do you run a sump?
what powerheads do you have in the tank?
are the fish eating right untill you find them?
are they at the top of the tank or swimming around?
does the clown go after the new fish?
who wears black socks anymore?
 
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