Need HELP / doing something wrong?

[jon in tx]

"I think I see from your picture you still have a Yellow Tang, and you say you have had 3 yellow tang's die. How many were ever in at one time. Your tank is too small for 3 or more of them and if you had only 2 they would probably stress each other out until one died."
I only had one tang at a time. When one died, I'd go get another after 2-3 weeks.

 

[1knight164]

Originally Posted by mandarin w
In my opionion, it seem you may have gone wrong trusting your LFS too much.
Fist off don't get anymore fish until you get your tank levels under control.
Next time you go to the LFS store to pick up your water, ask if they have a TDS meter. As them to test the water you are buying. Make sure the water you are getting has a TDS level of no greater than .05. When you buy or make your own RO water you are taking the junk out of the water. A TDS meter measures the the junk that is left in the water. LFS are notiorious for not changing their filters on a regular basis. And you are spending your money on nothing but tap water that has passed thru a filter and in some cases can come out worse than it went in. If they don't have a TDS meter, or the levels are high don't get your water from them anymore. But really you should look into buying your own RO filter system. They are only about 120 bucks on the major aution site.
Do your water changes every week or even twice a week right now. Your amonia and nitrate are high. the amonia should be zero, and nitrate should not be more than 20, but zero is better there too.
When you get your fish, only add one at a time. Keep it in quarintine for a few weeks before you put them in your tank. Before you buy your fish, check it out, look for spots, white or black dots, it will look like pepper. Look for torn fins, this could be signs of a desease or other fish picking on it, and your fish may be overly stress. Make sure the fish is curious, swimming around look at every thing in the tank, That it is interested in its surroundings. Ask the LFS it you can see the fish eat, and don't let them get away with feeding brine shrimp. If they say the fish has already eaten for the day, then come back and watch them eat on another day. If all looks good, ask the LFS if you can put a refundable deposit down on the fish, and see if the fish is ok in a week, if so then go ahead and purchase the fish. Bring it home and QT it for a few weeks.
Another issue may be the types of fish you had die, What type of fish were they. Some fish are just harder to keep, some need a very mature well established tank. If you still remember the fish you had that died that could help.
Great advice about the LFS. I trusted them too much. Buyer beware!

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Jon in Tx
For salinity, I test on hydrometer. I usually do three dips and take avg - sometimes one can be slightly different. For Ammonia, I have a test kit with test tube to put water in, add drops and compare color vs guide. I didn't realize there are different ways to test these - are these OK?
Hydrometer could be lying to you... I'm a big fan of refractometers.
I too suspect your pet store is not being as helpful as they should be. You definitely have something wrong and they seem to be content just selling you stuff instead of addressing problem. Take a sample of water to them and have them test for everything, write down results, then you test for everything, post here and let's look at them.