my fish tank of death please help!

joebob7

joebob7

Member
What i have now (minus cleanup crew)
20g tank
top fin 20 filter
heater
remora aqua c skimmer
powerhead
25lbs of LR
20lbs of LS
boring flourescent lights
so i started my fish tank on thanks giving with the LR and LS and waited a few weeks before i put in 3 hermits (stable water levels)
waited a week then put in 3 snails and 2 hermits (still stable water but low PH)
bought a pep shrimp and 2 clowns and drip acclimated them
they died a few days later

i added some PH buffer to raise PH
a week after i added some calcium stuff
another week after 2 hermits died and over a weeks time all the snails died
that was 2 weeks ago and this weekend i bought 3 new snails and 3 hermits
today i found 2 new hermits dead next to each other and all water conditions are stable or at least PH amm nitrites and nitrates are
all water conditions have been stable since the 4th week after it wa set up
i really appreciate it if you read this whole thread and could maybe tell me what going on in there.
 
ifirefight

ifirefight

Active Member
Originally Posted by richarl5
What was your salinity/specific gravity?
Yea,what he said........sometyhings "fishy"
 
joebob7

joebob7

Member
oh yaeh forgot that
the salt level was low because of a screwed up hydrometer and i think it was what killed the fish and peppermint shrimp but now its at a good 1.025-.026
 
richarl5

richarl5

Member
Originally Posted by joebob7
oh yaeh forgot that
the salt level was low because of a screwed up hydrometer and i think it was what killed the fish and peppermint shrimp but now its at a good 1.025-.026
That would definitely do it...I have a 20 gallon as well and when I first started out I "forgot" (i.e.-was not thinking AT ALL) and tended to not check the salinity regularly. I didn't kill anything, but nothing ever flourished until I started maintaining the tank more.
 
poniegirl

poniegirl

Active Member
It would help to hear exact water readings. The SG may have been an issue, but I wouldn't think it would be a cause for sudden death, except with the inverts.
Is there an ammonia reading?
Also, have you done any water changes?
Finally, in a brand new tank, don't try additives to fix problems. you shouldn't need them and, as you have found out, it will get you into a yo-yo cycle of adding something else to "fix" the result of another additive.
If you can tell us
Ammonia =
PH =
Nitrite =
Nitrate =
Specific gravity =
 
joebob7

joebob7

Member
my tanks is an old fresh water one that i bought.
the water i use is from some water purifying shop that im pretty sure uses RO water.
Ammonia =0
PH =8.1-8.2
Nitrite =0
Nitrate = 0
Specific gravity =1.025
i do water changes every other weekend and ususally change about 3-4 gallons
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
You definatly want to confirm weather or not its ro water, if its just filtered water you could be killing everything with chlorine/chloromines. not knowing is dangerous.
 
joebob7

joebob7

Member
i dont know if copper was used in it i wish i had known about that before
the water is RO but that might be all
 
pumper

pumper

Member
Sounds like an uncycled tank to me.... 3 weeks is not enough time to cycle nor for bacteria cultures to grow to a stable amount.
 
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