not sure whats wrong

[badfuture]

could someone plz tell me what im doing wrong ive had my tank set up for over four months now and everytime i get a fish it lives fine for about a month then it stops eating and looks like it has ick and ends up dying but i have a star fish two crabs and a snail with some live rock through out this whole time and it is all fine and about two months ago i got a feather duster and a royal gamma after not adding anything for awhile after my clown fish died. Same thing happened with my royal gamma, but everything else is fine even the feather duster so it seems its just the fish im having problems with keeping alive more than a month. PLEASE HELP IF U CAN
:help:

 

[guppy slayer]

What is your pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, salinity & temp? People usually start there before ansering questions
WELCOME

 

[jlem]

You very well could have ich and the fish fight it off for a month or so and then it infects enough to kill the fish. Do you Soak your food in Garlic and describe you setup and maint routine so we can give a more reseached awnser

 

[thomas712]

Greetings badfuture and welcome to the board

Step one: Read the sticky's in the Disease and Treatment forum regarding QT or Hospital tank. Also invest in a refractometer if hyposalinity is ever needed.
Step two: Quarentine all new arrivals for 30 days
Step three:Allow your main tank to go fishless, or in this case what we would call hostless, for 30 days as well in order to break the ick cycle if that is truly what is going on.
If your LFS has fish that are ick prone then it may be going through your LFS's whole system/systems, therefore you might not want to trust that particular source.
IF something else is the matter then we should look at your water paramiters so please post them, and somthing about your system like filtration, liverock, livesand....etc...
Thomas

 

[badfuture]

sorry was busy for a few days but i checked my levels and my ph is abit over 8.2 and my tempis about 80 but thats without my heater even plugged in and with our AC on for the summer and it is still over what i want but every thing else seems fine. what can i do to bring my ph down alittle and why is my heat at 80 without my heater (it should be at 76-78 right?)

 

[badfuture]

i have already gone about 30 days without buying other fish and everthing else like i said is liveing fine my feather duster, snail, star fish, and crabs so do i think maybe i should try a fish again or should i wait

 

[frozenice]

IMO i think that the temp is too high. What is probably happening is a flux of water temp. Since I had a centain problem arise like this is the past. The temp would drop lower at night, but be high during the day, even with the AC on. If you have a hood, try and keep it open, it will relieve some of the heat. If your using MH ur gonna need a chiller. I think that the temperature is the problem. There can be other reasons though. Wat type of filtration do you have?

 

[badfuture]

i think ur right about the temp i noticed some coloring starting to grow on the bottom and my temp was like at 80-82 i unplugged my heater and then in a few days it all started to fade away but i think i still need to bring my ph down alittle i have some ph decreaser the brand name is jungle but im not sure can i use it for salt water or is there a certain brand for salt water i should use:notsure:

 

[ohioreef]

Your pH is just fine for saltwater. Mine usually runs 8.2 - 8.4.

 

[jackman]

Originally posted by jlem
You very well could have ich and the fish fight it off for a month or so and then it infects enough to kill the fish. Do you Soak your food in Garlic and describe you setup and maint routine so we can give a more reseached awnser
I have seen a couple of posts on Garlic soaking but I was wondering if :
I feed my fish flake food and Brime shrimp do I soak that in garlic? and if so for how long?
Jackman

 

[jayboe]

If you don't have access to a chiller and you still think that the temp is the problem, I would try to put some type of fan to blow on the underside of the tank with the bottom of the stand doors open. In case of an emergency and you really need to bring the temp down you could use a ziplock with some ice in it and float it in the sump. Make sure the ice cubes are RODI so that you won't have any problem if any of the melted ice water gets in the tank. It won't hurt much but may bring on some unwanted algae. I'm no expert and only have about 6 months of experience but I have researched alot before and still now on reef tanks. I hope my suggestions help and if anyone knows of a prob with my info please tell me. I am always up for new and better advice.

 

[jlem]

Originally posted by Jackman
I
I feed my fish flake food and Brime shrimp do I soak that in garlic? and if so for how long?
Jackman
Brine shrimp is very unnutritious for fish. Get some Selcon and a jar of finely minced garlic. Mix it up with you flake food and brine shrimp. Let the food sit for a couple minutes and then feed your fish. if you get a stand up fan and angle it up and across to blow across the back of your tank it should bring the temp down as long as air is blowing into your canopy if you have one. If you have a canopy you could drill some holes evenly spread along the top edge of your canopy which will help heat escape up and away from your lights.

 

[boomper]

Brine Shrimp is unnutricious for fish?? Ive heard otherwise. Anyone care to clear this up?

 

[jackman]

Originally posted by Boomper
Brine Shrimp is unnutricious for fish?? Ive heard otherwise. Anyone care to clear this up?
I am confused cause that is all that my porc. puffer will eat....
please help..
Jackman:happyfish

 

[latino277]

80 degree's is not bad. You want to keep your tank between 78-84. this is the catch. the temp should not swing more then 2 degrees. that is were the most harm is done. for examp. during the day your tank is 80 and at night it drops to 76. this is back or if it goes from 80 to 86. this is bad. what you want to do is make sure your temp is Stable. I would plug your heater back in and set it so it turns on when the temp drops to 79 and turns off at 80. Your AC should keep you tank from raising past 81~82 (I hope). I think you may want to look at other things like ICK. Remember ick does not affect inverts. so coral/shrimp/crabs/fether dusters will not get ick. only fish. I would keep the tank fishless for 4 -6 weeks and QT a fish for the same time in Hypo. I hope this was of help

 

[jlem]

Originally posted by Boomper
Brine Shrimp is unnutricious for fish?? Ive heard otherwise. Anyone care to clear this up?
yay, someone who knows everything please clear this up. Next persons opinion will be taken as fact

 

[reverai]

Brine Shrimp can be nutritious depending how they were raised but most brine shrimp is raised cheaply so they're not something that you'd want to feed your fish for the main diet. They simply would waste away over a several months due to malnutrition. Just like you would you only ate Big Macs. One is supposed to vary the food one feeds saltwater fish in any case, just like they would do in the in the ocean if you want your fish to live long and heathly lives. A blue tang can live upwards of 20 years. A clown fish for 10 to 15 years. Even most of the snails you see in saltwater can live upwards of 10 years. I think one of the main reason why few salt water fish ect live that long in out tanks is we don't feed them right!
Steve

 

[neoreef]

In my opinion your temperature is fine, and the advice that it should be stable and not swing much was right on.
What is your alkalinity? pH should also not swing much through the day. your pH could be fine during the daytime, and get much too acid at night. Check at lights out and also do a pH test just before the lights come on in the morning.
If you have a big change, it could be your pH. Then you need to check your alkalinity. If it is too low, it will allow the big pH changes. If it is just right, it will keep your pH even day and night.

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by Boomper
Brine Shrimp is unnutricious for fish?? Ive heard otherwise. Anyone care to clear this up?
The protien according to Dr. Ron Shimek for a 5 gram sample of frozen brine is only 0.16. Compare that to Formula 2 at 0.34 or Formula 1 at 0.80 or even silversides at 4.2. Now what would you rather give your fish and corals? As you can see and from the lists that I saw brine is at the very bottom of the list as far as nutritinal value. In other words is sucks.
Thomas