my fish keep dying

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/180#post_3492255
Yes that's what I'm saying, I lost a fire goby, a clown and 2 damsels in a matter of 4 days no bodies!!! I know the banded shrimp died and I saw the carcass but the rest of them are just disappearing. What kind of Thing am I looking for and how big could it be?
As you remove and examine each rock...you will know when you find something capable of killing and eating a fish, bad crabs will have a black tip on the claw. By the way....if you have an anemone...it is the eater.
You can set up moonlights and watch the tank all night, then take note of the eater and what rock it's hiding in if you can catch it in the act.
or....
Get a tub of saltwater and remove each rock (wear non-powderd gloves) While holding the rock above a SW filled bucket, I used a pick from a nut cracker kit and dug into the crevices...then shook the rock under the water. I put good critters back if they dropped off. Then I put the now declared clean rock in a tub of saltwater and picked up the next rock to check...I checked every rock before I started replacing them back into the main tank. Otherwise whatever it is will just travel from rock to rock and stay hidden.
This is a very invasive and pain in the butt method...but if you are sure there is an eater, you have to get it out.

 

[mapakids]

Really the anemone??? How could it eat several fish within days?? without me seeing any of it? I can see the anemone plain as day and all of its tentacles and its been high up on a rock since I got it. The Anemone???

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/200#post_3492282
Really the anemone??? How could it eat several fish within days?? without me seeing any of it? I can see the anemone plain as day and all of its tentacles and its been high up on a rock since I got it. The Anemone???
...Seriously??? You didn't know the anemones are fish eaters! They eat anything dumb enough to get too close and if it's too large they sting it to death and spit it out. It only takes minutes to eat a damsel or a firefish. I had a large tube anemone that ate fish too. The older fish knew to stay away from it, but every new fish became a snack until I removed my beautiful fish eater from the system.

 

[mapakids]

Wow I really had no idea. They were in the tank with fish at the fish store you think they might have mentioned it...

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/200#post_3492301
Wow I really had no idea. They were in the tank with fish at the fish store you think they might have mentioned it...
I went into a fish store, and they had a seahorse in a tiny tank with a clown fish and a ton of aptasia, I told the lady about it explaining that aptasia stings seahorses and they don't belong with clown fish....she thanked me and said she didn't know. So just because you see it in the store doesn't mean they know what they are doing.

 

[mapakids]

Okay I did find the cause of at least one of the fish disappearing. I have a power head that has an "open" inlet, I cleaned it out yesterday and found a body of what I think was a damsel.I added a long hose with holes in it to disperse the suction so that don't happen again.
Also my son said he swears he and his brother saw the fire goby last evening. I thought he was gone forever from the moment I put him in the tank. So the real missing fish is the clown. I also lost a cardinal but I saw his body, his tail was kind of shredded any guesses on what could cause that?
I am planning on doing the rock "cleaning" on saturday.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mapakids http:///t/389057/my-fish-keep-dying/200#post_3492378
Okay I did find the cause of at least one of the fish disappearing. I have a power head that has an "open" inlet, I cleaned it out yesterday and found a body of what I think was a damsel.I added a long hose with holes in it to disperse the suction so that don't happen again.
Also my son said he swears he and his brother saw the fire goby last evening. I thought he was gone forever from the moment I put him in the tank. So the real missing fish is the clown. I also lost a cardinal but I saw his body, his tail was kind of shredded any guesses on what could cause that?
I am planning on doing the rock "cleaning" on saturday.
Hi,
A shredded tail means aggression. Damsels are evil little fish and they kill off other fish and each other. A healthy fish will not get sucked up into a power head. With damsels being so mean a firefish would indeed hide all the time. There is no need to rip apart your tank to look for an eater, you have an anemone and I'm 99% sure if anything is eating fish it's that. A clown fish by now will have been eaten by the eaters of the dead...AKA bristle worms, hermits or snails, tiny serpent seastars...other fish getting an easy meal....etc...etc, so no need to tear apart the tank to look for it's body.
So I think what is happening are your damsels got aggressive and between them and the anemone, your fish are dying or being eaten.

 

[achilles tang]

mapakids whats the news on your tank?

 

[RobertN]

Do you have any algae problems?
Did you already tell us all your testing results?
.. The swimming around like crazy part makes me think nitrites are high or oxygen deficient.. Were you ever able to notice a change in breathing patterns?

Hi--
I have a question that was motivated from reading the above response about fish swimming like crazy and a change in breathing patterns.
I have been cycling my first saltwater tank ever for the past 6 weeks. I bought a 28-gallon nano-cube tank. I started out by mixing my own salt water, adding dechlorinating drops, and adding bacteria once a day. After I got the salt water to 1.021, the store where I bought the tank gave me two damsel fish, 5 snails, and 6 hermit crabs. The two fish died right away and so did 4 of the snails. Since then, I was adding bacteria each day and feeding the crabs with pinch of flake food I was sold from the store. The temperature has been 80. I have done 3 water changes of 25% each in the past 6 weeks and each week I have taken a sample of water to the store for testing. I have always kept the filter running continuously rather than on some off and on sequence, per the store's recommendation.
About 2-3 weeks ago, I was told at the store that my ammonium was good, but the nitrites were still an issue. After the third water change recently, I took another sample to the store today and they said the nitrites were now good.
Since the water was good, the store salesperson said I could put in some fish now. I got 4 more snails for free as a replacement for the previous ones I lost so quickly. I also bought a small blue tang and a small clown fish. I left the bags sitting in the tank for about 30 minutes and then poured the fish and snails into the tank.
Here's where I wonder about oxygen and the breathing symptom. The clown fish seems ok, but 2-3 hours after they were all put in the tank, the blue tang started swimming straight up and constantly sucking at the top of the water, as if it was trying to get enough oxygen, but couldn't. I looked at it a little while later and it was dead......AGGGHHH!
Can anyone tell me if this sounds like a symptom they recognize and how I can change the conditions to stop this from happening again?
Thanks much!