my fish keep dying
- Thread starter achilles tang
- Start date
travelerjp98
Active Member
M
menaceandme
Guest
mapakids
New Member
Ok Guys so you were so helpful to Tang can you help me with the same problem? Only real difference is I have been using RO water I get from the kiosk outside my local supermarket for water changes and mix my salt in there. But I cant keep a fish alive to save my life. Please help my husband is ready to give up on the hobby but I just dont want to quit that easily.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492098
Ok Guys so you were so helpful to Tang can you help me with the same problem? Only real difference is I have been using RO water I get from the kiosk outside my local supermarket for water changes and mix my salt in there. But I cant keep a fish alive to save my life. Please help my husband is ready to give up on the hobby but I just dont want to quit that easily.
Hi,
Welcome to the site.
What we need you to list for us is:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492098
Ok Guys so you were so helpful to Tang can you help me with the same problem? Only real difference is I have been using RO water I get from the kiosk outside my local supermarket for water changes and mix my salt in there. But I cant keep a fish alive to save my life. Please help my husband is ready to give up on the hobby but I just dont want to quit that easily.
Hi,
Welcome to the site.
What we need you to list for us is:
Your tank size and all of your equipment.
What kind of test kits you are using and what the numbers of the results are.
How long has the tank been set up, and what fish have you tried to keep, when they were added, and how they died.
mapakids
New Member
Ok Ill restest the water tonight but I can tell you the rest now.
55g tank with at least 60-70 lbs live rock. I have a refugium that has a charchol filter, protein skimmer a large area in the center with a sand bed red algae the microalgae for copepods, I turn the light on that at night. I also have 3 power heads in the main tank and a large light fixture.
I use some liquid test kit and test the PH, Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia all seem to be in the levels recomended buy the paperwork that came with the test kit, but I will retest tonight and give you specifics.
We started our tank at least 5 months ago, used conditioned tap water to start, let it cycle doing many water changes added all the live rock. didnt add any fish for the first 6 weeks. Then got a CUC things were going great. Then ordered a fish online, got a manderin he was doing well, added copepods to refugium waited a week got a tomato clown. I noticed white spots on clown and figured it was proabably ICH. I removed the charchol and treated with super ICH treatment. All the shrimp died and the manderin and clown died. Then all I had was snails and crabs for a few weeks, continued testing and doing water changes.I also noticed the reddish orange worms...
This past week got a shrimp and 2 clowns, 2 damels, a sand goby, 2 cardinal fish a fire goby and 2 anemones. I never saw the fire goby after putting it in the tank, the shrimp died that night. Everyone else seemed ok but this morning a clown and a damsel are dead. Im afraid to see what everyone else will look like when i get home from work.
1 big question I have is I use RO water from my local supermarket for water changes. Anyone know more about that kind of water and is it a problem??
55g tank with at least 60-70 lbs live rock. I have a refugium that has a charchol filter, protein skimmer a large area in the center with a sand bed red algae the microalgae for copepods, I turn the light on that at night. I also have 3 power heads in the main tank and a large light fixture.
I use some liquid test kit and test the PH, Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia all seem to be in the levels recomended buy the paperwork that came with the test kit, but I will retest tonight and give you specifics.
We started our tank at least 5 months ago, used conditioned tap water to start, let it cycle doing many water changes added all the live rock. didnt add any fish for the first 6 weeks. Then got a CUC things were going great. Then ordered a fish online, got a manderin he was doing well, added copepods to refugium waited a week got a tomato clown. I noticed white spots on clown and figured it was proabably ICH. I removed the charchol and treated with super ICH treatment. All the shrimp died and the manderin and clown died. Then all I had was snails and crabs for a few weeks, continued testing and doing water changes.I also noticed the reddish orange worms...
This past week got a shrimp and 2 clowns, 2 damels, a sand goby, 2 cardinal fish a fire goby and 2 anemones. I never saw the fire goby after putting it in the tank, the shrimp died that night. Everyone else seemed ok but this morning a clown and a damsel are dead. Im afraid to see what everyone else will look like when i get home from work.
1 big question I have is I use RO water from my local supermarket for water changes. Anyone know more about that kind of water and is it a problem??
wild man
Member
Well, from reading about the medication it says it can kill invertebrates. So I'm guessing that is what killed the shrimp. Did you put the activated carbon back in your filter to remove the medication before adding the new fish? Have you done any water changes after you lost the other fish and before adding the new ones? How long between the first fish getting ick until you bought the new ones?
achilles tang
Member
hi I'm wondering if maybe u change more water if that would help in any way.. I was doing 10 gallon water change every week on my 55 so maybe its worth a shot but again I'm still not an expert lol
i wish you the best and dont give up its not worth it you came this far to stop now..
i wish you the best and dont give up its not worth it you came this far to stop now..
achilles tang
Member
salinity is high it should be at 1.022
pH, ammonia and nitrite are good. and with a water change you could lower the nitrate..
i honestly could not tell you, if i was you i would go and purchase water from your LFS and test it before you put it in you tank.. look up TDS meters there great i have one my self..it helps you test the total dissolved solids..
pH, ammonia and nitrite are good. and with a water change you could lower the nitrate..
i honestly could not tell you, if i was you i would go and purchase water from your LFS and test it before you put it in you tank.. look up TDS meters there great i have one my self..it helps you test the total dissolved solids..
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Achilles Tang http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492152
salinity is high it should be at 1.022
pH, ammonia and nitrite are good. and with a water change you could lower the nitrate..
i honestly could not tell you, if i was you i would go and purchase water from your LFS and test it before you put it in you tank.. look up TDS meters there great i have one my self..it helps you test the total dissolved solids..
1.026 SG is the perfect ocean number. So it is not high ... However when the water evaporates the SG rises, and unless you have an ATO the SG does climb higher than it should, but it will not kill the fish because the rise is very slow and they adapt. Without an ATO you should drop the SG to 1.024 so you have some wiggle room.
I kept tanks for years and years without ever using a TDS meter. The RO water from the Walmart near me has the TDS reading right on a card by the water fill up station.
Originally Posted by Achilles Tang http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492152
salinity is high it should be at 1.022
pH, ammonia and nitrite are good. and with a water change you could lower the nitrate..
i honestly could not tell you, if i was you i would go and purchase water from your LFS and test it before you put it in you tank.. look up TDS meters there great i have one my self..it helps you test the total dissolved solids..
1.026 SG is the perfect ocean number. So it is not high ... However when the water evaporates the SG rises, and unless you have an ATO the SG does climb higher than it should, but it will not kill the fish because the rise is very slow and they adapt. Without an ATO you should drop the SG to 1.024 so you have some wiggle room.
I kept tanks for years and years without ever using a TDS meter. The RO water from the Walmart near me has the TDS reading right on a card by the water fill up station.
achilles tang
Member
well from my undersanding i have always kept my tank at 1.022.. i thought that was the magic number, so hearing this is kinda like a wow to me. so i started a new tank should i like for 1.024 or what? i feel extremly confused. as for the TDS meter everyone is diffrent i prefer to test my water befor it goes in my tank, this may be because of the really bad experence i very first had wit this hobby..
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Achilles Tang http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492178
well from my undersanding i have always kept my tank at 1.022.. i thought that was the magic number, so hearing this is kinda like a wow to me. so i started a new tank should i like for 1.024 or what? i feel extremly confused. as for the TDS meter everyone is diffrent i prefer to test my water befor it goes in my tank, this may be because of the really bad experence i very first had wit this hobby..
Hi...1.022 is fine, it's right in the middle. If you have coral you would want to up it a bit. I posted what I did because you said it was too high and actually it wasn't. There is nothing at all wrong with a TDS meter. It's just another gizmo, and a new beginner who isn't into keeping expensive corals will do just fine with RO water and not have to go crazy and worry because they didn't test the TDS. Around my house the public sellers do post the TDS readings by the water stations.
However, if you have your own unit...you would want to be able to check the TDS to be sure the filter is doing it's job. If the TDS is high you would need to change the filters.
Originally Posted by Achilles Tang http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492178
well from my undersanding i have always kept my tank at 1.022.. i thought that was the magic number, so hearing this is kinda like a wow to me. so i started a new tank should i like for 1.024 or what? i feel extremly confused. as for the TDS meter everyone is diffrent i prefer to test my water befor it goes in my tank, this may be because of the really bad experence i very first had wit this hobby..
Hi...1.022 is fine, it's right in the middle. If you have coral you would want to up it a bit. I posted what I did because you said it was too high and actually it wasn't. There is nothing at all wrong with a TDS meter. It's just another gizmo, and a new beginner who isn't into keeping expensive corals will do just fine with RO water and not have to go crazy and worry because they didn't test the TDS. Around my house the public sellers do post the TDS readings by the water stations.
However, if you have your own unit...you would want to be able to check the TDS to be sure the filter is doing it's job. If the TDS is high you would need to change the filters.
bang guy
Moderator
ATO - Automatic Topoff. This keeps salinity very consistent since water is added at the same rate it evaporates.
TDS - Total Dissolved Solids. This indicates the purity of the fresh water being used. Ideal TDS is zero but some amount higher is acceptable. I typically shoot for below 20.
TDS - Total Dissolved Solids. This indicates the purity of the fresh water being used. Ideal TDS is zero but some amount higher is acceptable. I typically shoot for below 20.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492213
OK what is ATO and TDS? I also checked the PH early this morning and it was the same as it was yesterday afternoon. 1 more damsel has disappeared overnight!
Bang Guy answered your questions....You have a damsel missing overnight that wasn't sick, and there is no body on the floor from a jump??? You might have an eater. Our rocks are loaded with tiny critters that grow into eaters, such as the Eunice (Bobbit) worm that feeds on corals or the bad crabs that may be small when they hitchhike but grow up and go fishing at night.
I had an eater of coral once....I made up a tub of saltwater and removed each rock and used a pick to dig into the crevices looking for it until I found it and continued to look after to be sure all was clear. I found two of the Eunice worms. It was a pain in the butt, however it was better than losing coral all the time. Overnight a 5 headed frog spawn would be a skeleton with one live head left. If you have a fish hunter you have to find it and remove it...wear gloves.
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492213
OK what is ATO and TDS? I also checked the PH early this morning and it was the same as it was yesterday afternoon. 1 more damsel has disappeared overnight!
Bang Guy answered your questions....You have a damsel missing overnight that wasn't sick, and there is no body on the floor from a jump??? You might have an eater. Our rocks are loaded with tiny critters that grow into eaters, such as the Eunice (Bobbit) worm that feeds on corals or the bad crabs that may be small when they hitchhike but grow up and go fishing at night.
I had an eater of coral once....I made up a tub of saltwater and removed each rock and used a pick to dig into the crevices looking for it until I found it and continued to look after to be sure all was clear. I found two of the Eunice worms. It was a pain in the butt, however it was better than losing coral all the time. Overnight a 5 headed frog spawn would be a skeleton with one live head left. If you have a fish hunter you have to find it and remove it...wear gloves.
achilles tang
Member
Ok now I understand thank you for clearing everything up..