my tank= deathtrap?

ca161406

ca161406

Member
well if anyone has been following my thread yeal will know anything i had dies. here's the record.
2 GSPs- dong wonderfull
1st addition- was a LMB. he looked great and was eating nori and algae in the tank. puffers left him alone and was always out. one day he disappeared and the next day i found him dead under a rock
2nd addition- 4 stripe damsel. qtd him and put him in the tank. within 5days my puffer bit his tail and i was like w/e it'll heal because it was just a lil nip. but the next day it started acting funny so i moved him back to the QT and within 3 more days it died. ugh
3rd addition- 1spot foxface. qtd him and put him in. was lookin strong and eating tons. healthy and very active. then during feeding my puffers stole his food and he started tripping out and slamming into rocks and the glass and then died.
4th addition- azure damsel. qtd and put him in 2 weeks later he got a scrape looking thing on the side then died within 5 hours of noticing it.
now i have my humu in qt for ich and hes doing great. im just nervous when it comes time to move him to the DT. i dont want to loose another fish.
anyone know why everything i add dies? my params are always perfect and water is crystal clear. i did add 10 hermits in the begining and i still have like 4 of them that haven't been eaten. so im just stumped
 
prime311

prime311

Active Member
Whats the salinity of your tank? GSP's are brackish and can survive in lower salinity levels then other fish.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Define "perfect"... How are you acclimating them? How much does your temperature swing over night? How about your pH swing?
Check the voltage of your tank. Use a voltmeter and set it to the AC scale. Put one probe in your tank and put the other probe in the ground prong of an outlet (the D shaped hole in the middle of the plug) What's your voltage?
What do you use to oxygenate your water? Skimmer? Power heads? Are they suffocating?
How are you feeding everything? How much?
Your tank seems very stressed. The slightest problem and things panic and die... Are you leaving your tank alone or are you stressing things out by messing with it all the time? Is there anything like a cat or kids which can be stressing your tank. If fish can't find a good place to hide when they are stressed, they will die.
How much live rock do you have? They need hiding spots...
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
ph: 8.2 never changes
salinity: 35ppt
amn: 0
trates: 0
trites: 0
temp: 79-80 throughout the day and night
nothing ever changes except salinity by 1 or 2 but i top it off with RO nightly
my GSPs are adults so they thrive in full marine water
its a 125 with 45gal sump with about 60lbs of sand and 150ish lbs of LR
i have mag 9.5 for the return, 2 K4 powerheads, octo NW-150.
nothing would stress them because its in my room and im the only one that goes in there. cat and dog dont even look at the tank.
i havent checked the voltage but i will look into that. i would think it would effect the puffers too. but ill see if any of my nieghbors have that device.
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Did that "scrape looking thing" look like a cut or internal bleeding?
If so, it was a bacterial infection.
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
Originally Posted by pbnj
http:///forum/post/2872385
Did that "scrape looking thing" look like a cut or internal bleeding?
If so, it was a bacterial infection.
it looked like it smashed against a rock and pealed scales off. it was just white.
 
pete159

pete159

Member
nitrates 0?..i doubt that...
anyone can have clear water... ammonia can be 10.0 and the water will be clear...
i think its its one of two things... or one of ten:)
the water quality at your LFS is bad and adding it to your great perfect water is stressing them and killing them..or your water is not as perfect as you think...
get good test kits and test Ph nitrates ammonia nitrites and temp./... if they really are perfect then you should be able to add fish with no problems.
i've added fish from one store here in ontario and they all died. but from another fish store they all lived...
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
it says 0-5 on the card. ive used 2 different brand test kits and both give the same reasons.
all of my fish have came from the same LFS in moreno valley except the puffers which i rescued from wal*mart. and the trigger which i got from a store in san barnardino (how ever its spelled)
i have been told the store i got all the fish from in the past that have all died were caught by phillipine fishers which use cyanide. so could that have been a reason?
i thought at first it was the puffers but after observing them they really didnt do much more then follow around the fish. and only nipped at then 1 time that i noticed. so im sure that couldnt of been the reason.
idk im just stumped, i use the drip system from store to QT. then again from QT to DT when its time to move them.
im feeding a mix of marine cuisine, frozen brine, scallops, clams on the half shell, freeze died shrimp and misis. 2x a day in small portions, just enough so each fish can get a good amount. when i had the foxface and blenny i put a piece nori on a clip once in the morning
 
kube

kube

Member
man i dont dought you or anything but never heard of Walmart selling saltwaterfish, learn something new everyday
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
Originally Posted by Kube
http:///forum/post/2872917
man i dont dought you or anything but never heard of Walmart selling saltwaterfish, learn something new everyday

actually theyre green spotted puffers. theyre born in FW and as they grow older they make it out to high end brackish/full marine. thats why they always die within a week at wal*mart
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Something is going on in your display. From what you wrote, they do well in QT but die in the display. Most definitely check out the voltage. You describe fish looking scraped, freaking out and slamming into the glass, etc. For a quick test, put your finger in the tank. See if you feel a current. Fish act differently to electric current. It depends on how healthy they are. It can make them flip out though, which is what you are describing. The other issue that I see is the puffers. You will know if they are attacking fish because there will be chunks missing from their fins. Are you seeing anything like that?
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
i have, and felt no shock or anything. im going to look into getting something to test it or someone i know who has one though.
it was my first thought that the puffers were attacking the fish or stressing them but the only time i seen the puffer ever nip at any of them was when the azure damsel tried chasing one of them and got it in return. but it was only a lil peck at the end of the tail and didnt leave more then a lil nip. any other time they just mind their own business and just kinda "sniff" the other fish when its added.
the biggest shocker was the foxface though. it was doing perfect for like 2 weeks. then during feeding a puffer took its food with out even harming the FF. then it just went nuts!
 
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