OMG 16 gal tank, all fish dying

[Christy W]

We've had our 16gal tank for a year now. We purchased it off the showroom floor with lots of corals and 2 clown fish (one had already hosted some kind of tree looking wavy thing). We LOVE our tank and a month later we added a cherub angel. All has been good for a year until last weekend the family got excited and wanted to add new fish (3 in fact). We went to a local store and bought a pseudo..., Coral Angel and a fire fish. I said, "we should probably quarantine". The family said, "Add them now!" So, the fire fish and the coral angel went into a tank my husband uses to filter our water through a live rock (mistake #1, had never checked the levels and it was high salinity) and the fire fish died by the next morning. So, we snatched the Coral Angel out of there and put him in our large tank. He immediately hid behind a rock and barely ate. Two days later he was dead. The pseudo went to the regular tank right away and was also dead within a day - we caught a glimpse of him once in a rock and he appeared to have white scratch marks on his side and we've never seen him again. Now the kids are crying and the adults are freaked out. Guess what? Yesterday our existing cherub angel started acting strange (just like the Coral Angel), doing a very jerking swim and breathing hard. She's hid behind a rock since feeding last night and barely ate a couple bites that floated to her (not normal, she always comes out to eat and is social). We see absolutely nothing on our fish. We've read about every horrible disease there is and have no idea what's going on, but now not only are the kids crying - I'm crying. I fear we are about to lose our entire tank and see nothing on our fish. I'm desperate for help!

 

[flower]

We've had our 16gal tank for a year now. We purchased it off the showroom floor with lots of corals and 2 clown fish (one had already hosted some kind of tree looking wavy thing). We LOVE our tank and a month later we added a cherub angel. All has been good for a year until last weekend the family got excited and wanted to add new fish (3 in fact). We went to a local store and bought a pseudo..., Coral Angel and a fire fish. I said, "we should probably quarantine". The family said, "Add them now!" So, the fire fish and the coral angel went into a tank my husband uses to filter our water through a live rock (mistake #1, had never checked the levels and it was high salinity) and the fire fish died by the next morning. So, we snatched the Coral Angel out of there and put him in our large tank. He immediately hid behind a rock and barely ate. Two days later he was dead. The pseudo went to the regular tank right away and was also dead within a day - we caught a glimpse of him once in a rock and he appeared to have white scratch marks on his side and we've never seen him again. Now the kids are crying and the adults are freaked out. Guess what? Yesterday our existing cherub angel started acting strange (just like the Coral Angel), doing a very jerking swim and breathing hard. She's hid behind a rock since feeding last night and barely ate a couple bites that floated to her (not normal, she always comes out to eat and is social). We see absolutely nothing on our fish. We've read about every horrible disease there is and have no idea what's going on, but now not only are the kids crying - I'm crying. I fear we are about to lose our entire tank and see nothing on our fish. I'm desperate for help!

Hi,

A 16g tank is super tiny for a saltwater tank. It was maxed out with the two clownfish, who needs a 30g tank. You got away with the angelfish, it actually needs a 30g tank to survive as well, but the live rock allowed it to exist. Then you added more than 1 fish at one time. The pseudo also needs a 29g or larger tank.

A fish tank is balanced... the amount of good bacteria, matches the amount of fish poop (ammonia). The good bacteria allows the fish to eat, swim and poop in the same water. One extra fish, or too much food, and the ammonia becomes too great for the good bacteria to handle, the result is dead fish poisoned in their own environment. We add only one fish at a time to allow the good bacteria to catch up... However you could never keep that many fish in a 16g tank, that all require 30g just to survive. Also, can not put more than one pigmy angelfish in the same tank, they will fight to the death.

You have to have a cycled tank to move the other angelfish into... you didn't mention when you moved the one fish to a larger tank if it was a long standing tank set up or not.

 

[lmforbis]

Yep too many fish at one time and in total and if you put them into a too high saline environment they can go into osmotic shock. 16 gallon tank, as Flower said, is way too small for anything other than the clowns. Not sure I'd put a clown in one that small. Definitely too small for any angel fish even the cherub. Gobies work good in small tanks. as to some of the small blennies.

 

[jay0705]

Agreed. Too many fish. Too small of a tank. Too many fish too fast. For the fish you listed a 75 is in order. Also never mix dwarf angels

 

[bang guy]

Hi, see if the store will accept the fish you have left.

Do a 100% water change.

Start over with another pair of clownfish (same species, smaller the better)

Be happy with just the pair of clownfish, never add more fish. That really is all your 16 gallon can handle.

 

[Christy W]

Thank you all for taking the time to write me back! Oh the things the local fish stores don't tell you - sigh. We purchased the tank with all the corals and two clown fish and added the cherub a month later (straight into the tank, didn't know any better at the time) and they told us the tank could hold up to 5 fish - guess not. We obviously didn't know how to acclimate the new ones from this past weekend - lesson learned. And in the process lost one of our original three, the cherub

We've been wanting to move to a bigger tank and I guess the time is right to start that process. We definitely want to keep the two existing clown fish as the female has hosted one of our corals and that's a super cool thing to watch. I was also able to get ahold of a local salt water tank expert this morning where we live and he's suggested we turn the lights off for 2-3 days and do a 30% water change and keep our eyes on all the levels. We even tested for stray voltage and are good there. Surprisingly our ammonia levels are okay but are nitrates are way too high (we actually figured that out yesterday and put in a bag to help with that). Hopefully, we can lower the stress on the tank the next few days and save what's left. From there we'll start planning for a bigger tank.

 

[Christy W]

Hi,

A 16g tank is super tiny for a saltwater tank. It was maxed out with the two clownfish, who needs a 30g tank. You got away with the angelfish, it actually needs a 30g tank to survive as well, but the live rock allowed it to exist. Then you added more than 1 fish at one time. The pseudo also needs a 29g or larger tank.

A fish tank is balanced... the amount of good bacteria, matches the amount of fish poop (ammonia). The good bacteria allows the fish to eat, swim and poop in the same water. One extra fish, or too much food, and the ammonia becomes too great for the good bacteria to handle, the result is dead fish poisoned in their own environment. We add only one fish at a time to allow the good bacteria to catch up... However you could never keep that many fish in a 16g tank, that all require 30g just to survive. Also, can not put more than one pigmy angelfish in the same tank, they will fight to the death.

You have to have a cycled tank to move the other angelfish into... you didn't mention when you moved the one fish to a larger tank if it was a long standing tank set up or not.

Flower - Our cherub was dead this morning unfortunately. We had an extra tank we were cycling water over a live rock in order to "clean" the water instead of buying new each time (not sure all about this as my husband set it all up per a recommendation from the so called "expert" at the fish store). We put a fire fish and the Coral angel in there last weekend thinking we could quarantine them for a time. Basically, we didn't know what we were doing. We hadn't ever even checked the salinity in that tank much less any other levels. And after a day the fire fish was dead and I freaked out and removed the Coral angel and put it in the regular tank which now I know was a stupid thing to do. Like I said below, lessons learned! We will definitely do much more homework this next time around! The stores make you feel like there's nothing to it - not so. We've really enjoyed having the tank in our living room though and even the kids talk to the fish and they are very interactive. It's amazing how you can even get attached to fish!

 

[jay0705]

Research, research, research lol

 

[flower]

Flower - Our cherub was dead this morning unfortunately. We had an extra tank we were cycling water over a live rock in order to "clean" the water instead of buying new each time (not sure all about this as my husband set it all up per a recommendation from the so called "expert" at the fish store). We put a fire fish and the Coral angel in there last weekend thinking we could quarantine them for a time. Basically, we didn't know what we were doing. We hadn't ever even checked the salinity in that tank much less any other levels. And after a day the fire fish was dead and I freaked out and removed the Coral angel and put it in the regular tank which now I know was a stupid thing to do. Like I said below, lessons learned! We will definitely do much more homework this next time around! The stores make you feel like there's nothing to it - not so. We've really enjoyed having the tank in our living room though and even the kids talk to the fish and they are very interactive. It's amazing how you can even get attached to fish!

What a shame, I'm so sorry for the loss. 1st thing to do is get yourself a good beginners book...Robert Fenner has a great book, Saltwater aquariums for dummies is good as well. I have both books myself.

It is easy to keep SW fish tanks, without knowing much of anything you managed to keep a 16g tank going for a year before it crashed. I suggest you not rely on the stores to teach you, get a good book and stay around here, there are lots of very knowledgeable folks here to help. If you weren't checking the SG (salinity), I doubt you were doing water tests either, and yet your tank survived for a year... It would probably still be going along fine, but you added too many fish to the tiny tank, and way too many at once for any size tank.

That's saying more than you realize, the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain. With SW tanks, the larger it is, the easier it is to keep going. So with a good beginners book, I bet you will be very successful.

 

[jay0705]

I agree w flower. Sw is easy w the rt amount of basic knowledge. A good read, and you'll be fine. Plus u can always ask on the forum too.

 

[Christy W]

What a shame, I'm so sorry for the loss. 1st thing to do is get yourself a good beginners book...Robert Fenner has a great book, Saltwater aquariums for dummies is good as well. I have both books myself.

It is easy to keep SW fish tanks, without knowing much of anything you managed to keep a 16g tank going for a year before it crashed. I suggest you not rely on the stores to teach you, get a good book and stay around here, there are lots of very knowledgeable folks here to help. If you weren't checking the SG (salinity), I doubt you were doing water tests either, and yet your tank survived for a year... It would probably still be going along fine, but you added too many fish to the tiny tank, and way too many at once for any size tank.

That's saying more than you realize, the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain. With SW tanks, the larger it is, the easier it is to keep going. So with a good beginners book, I bet you will be very successful.

Great advice - thank you. We actually did spend a good deal on refractometer when we purchased the tank, but you're right, we had never checked other levels. So, all things considered we didn't do too bad - until recently HA! We're looking forward to a bigger tank!

 

[Christy W]

We're researching to move to a potential 55 gallon tank and we're interested in the BakPak skimmers - any thoughts or other recommendations?

 

[lmforbis]

I have one and don't like it at all. It is poorly built, didn't skim very well, it is under powered and I had constant issues with micro bubbles all over the tank. I use it on my 20 gallon quarantine some times to increase aeration when I'm medicating fish.
I would recommend the reef octopus classic 100 hang on the back (HOB) skimmer. I replaced the bakPak with it for my 50 gallon total volume system. It costs a little more (about $150 vs $125 for the bakpak) but it is many times better. It skims better, it is better built, and no microbubbles. Rated to 75 gallons. Only issue I had was they have a small sponge block in the skimmer body that gets clogged fast. I just removed it and all is good.

 

[jay0705]

Agreed reef octo makes a good skimmer. I maybe a 75 snob lol but I would take a 75 over a 55 any day. Same length but more room in the width and height

 

[lmforbis]

I'd agree with Jay. I ran a 55 for years but it wasn't the easiest set up.. I never had a 75 but I do have 2 tanks that are 18" front to back versus the 12" on a 55. So much easier to deal with. Easier to clean, easier to aquascape, easier to stabilize the water parameters. Very difficult to get a sump that will fit in a 55 stand.

 

[bang guy]

I also agree. For saltwater the extra front to back inches (depth) makes a really big difference.

 

[flower]

We're researching to move to a potential 55 gallon tank and we're interested in the BakPak skimmers - any thoughts or other recommendations?

Hi,

As everyone already stated.....A 55g is a very small tank for SW, I think you would be happier with at least a 75g. It's the same length as the 55g but it's wider, the 90g is also the same length but way bigger for depth and height. I have had all these sizes and I liked the 90g best of them all. Octopus and Tunze skimmers are pretty good, I didn't like the Bak-Pak I had either, it never skimmed much at all. Whatever you do, stay away from Coralife...they are just garbage.

 

[Christy W]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Another question for you. The tank that started this discussion is still running but all the corals look like death at this point (the local guy we called in the emergency had us keep the lights off for 3 days and the corals don't look like they're coming back). Our two clown fish and a long nose hog fish (which I forgot was in there) has managed to survive although the nitrates are still sky high (30 every day). We've tried dosing daily with Aquel per some other threads on this site and nothing is working. I think we have a lot of dead matter in our 16g tank. I even noticed this morning some dead baby serpent stars (we deposed of their mom a while back when she ate a new fish - she probably did us a favor really). I am a bit concerned about our existing fish and think we should probably move them to another tank ASAP. We have a 20g setup with live rock (nothing on the bottom) that's been running for a few months to circulate our salt water for water changes. We've checked the levels and all is same as other tank with the exception that the nitrates are much lower (between 2-5). I fear if the fish remain in our original tank any longer they'll be dead along with all the coral. Any recommendations on how to transfer them in the safest manner possible OR another solution all together? I think we need to drain that original tank and start over (sad because we had a lot of corals in that tank).

 

[jay0705]

Move the fish yes. Acclimate them just like u would new fish. The corals w high nitrate and no light are not in good shape. You could move them aswell but there tougher to save.
Once done dig a large hole place the 16 gal in said hole. Then cover w dirt.
Step 2, go get a 75 set up lol hog fish are NOT a small tank fish either.

 

[Christy W]

Move the fish yes. Acclimate them just like u would new fish. The corals w high nitrate and no light are not in good shape. You could move them aswell but there tougher to save.
Once done dig a large hole place the 16 gal in said hole. Then cover w dirt.
Step 2, go get a 75 set up lol hog fish are NOT a small tank fish either.

LOL