One of my clown fish died

[shannonranee]

I got up this morning to find that my little orage clown fish has died.

He is lying in the sand under a rock partly covered in sand - he was alive when I turned the ligth off last night.
With all the algea, my coral tree dying, my star fish having bacteria, and now my clown - this has been a terrible tank week. I think my tank is crashing.

 

[earlybird]

What are your paramaters and live stock? How old is the tank?

 

[shannonranee]

I just had my water tested two days ago - everything was fine except the nitrates were high and the phosphates were high. we did a water change and have been using phosphate remover. The only thing now in the tank is my other clown fish, a serpent star, some live rock that came with some other stars, a cleaner shrimp, a frog spawn, and a flowery coral. It is a 29 gallon set up since christmas day. I am going to go to the LFS and have them test the water again today.

 

[essop3]

Get exact numbers. That will help us help you better. Are you using R/O water?

 

[sly]

It sounds like you are having a bacterial bloom in your tank. Have you cleaned out your filter system and rinsed the prefilter pads? What is your SG and your temp? Do you use a refractometer or a hydrometer? What kind of water do you use (ro/di, tap, well)?

 

[shannonranee]

R/O water is used. Yes, all filters have been cleaned. temp is 80 degrees. SG is 1.028 according to hydrometer. I do not have kits for phospahates or nitrites so I need to go lfs to get exacat numbers.

 

[renogaw]

on your trip to the lfs, grab some of your own test kits. and your salinity is a little high, which may be affecting your inverts, which may cause ammonia which may kill off your fish. you want to keep your salinity around 1.026

 

[shannonranee]

today is the first day that my salinity has been high - usually it is low. I have most of the test kits just not phosphates and nitrates. I always have the lfs do the test though because they seem to always get different readings then I do.
Here are the reading my my home tests:
SG - 1.028
KH - 7
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
I'll post the lfs readings whe I get home.

 

[earlybird]

What about live stock? How long has your tank been cycled? How often do you do water changes?

 

[trigger11]

Your dKH is a bit low at 7
Have you ever checked the calcium level? Calcium and alkalinity sort of go hand in hand. Since you have corals the calcium level should be checked at least once every couple of weeks. Other than that your other levels sound good to me.

 

[shannonranee]

Just got back from my LFS - here are my numbers:
PH - 8.11
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nirate - 20
KH - 7
Calcium - 350
Salinity - 1.025
Phosphate - .1
ALso, since my fish died within days of us putting the phospahte remover in the tank and they cannot figure out what is going on they gave us a voucher for 50% our next fish - to use once our tank is ok again.
They also told me use use garlic (bought from them) with our fishes food incase there is a bacteria in the tank - this is suppoed to help the fish. Told us to do water changes and now to add purigen to remove organic waste.

 

[earlybird]

I've read a lot of info on garlic as a medicine for fish. It certainly makes food very appealing to fish. IMO the jury is still out on garlic. Decent deal from lfs giving you 50% off next fish. I would have tried for a free fish. No clue about purigen, but I believe it removes organics much like a skimmer would but a skimmer is better as you physically dump the skimate out and don't run the risk of it coming out of the purigen. Still, if you amm and nitrite have always been 0 then it won't do much for you fish or to solve your problem.
Did you say you qt your fish first?

 

[renogaw]

your readings are right on, although your alk and calcium could use a boost. Best thing i've found is b-ionic for raising both equally, but it still isn't as good as kalk and an alk increaser such as the one made by seachem. don't go buffering these unless you have a way to test for alk and calcium yourself though.
i guess the next step is to list off all of your equipment. we know the tank is 7 mo's old, but what do you have for live rock, sand, filtration, amount and brand/model of powerheads.
something is not right, so lets try to figure it out

 

[shannonranee]

I don't know all of the models I have but I have a power head, a bio-wheel filter and a protein skimmer.
I have 30 lbs live rock, and I have 20 lbs live sand.
I have not has to empty much out of my protein skimmer.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by shannonranee
I don't know all of the models I have but I have a power head, a bio-wheel filter and a protein skimmer.
I have 30 lbs live rock, and I have 20 lbs live sand.
I have not has to empty much out of my protein skimmer.
How much would you say you empty? Don't think it effects the fish as many have success without skimmers. But if your's is working properly you'd be emptying it at least once a week. What kind of skimmer is it?

 

[renogaw]

ok, i'll bet the biowheel has a gph of no more than 200 (my biowheel has 100gph), and one pump is max of 300 gph (assuming maxi jet 1200, which it probably isnt, more likely a aquaclear 20 or 30), so that's a MAX of 500gph (your skimmer doesnt count). so that's really not the greatest for a coral tank. You are probably growing algae on your corals because you don't have enough flow.
30lbs of live rock is really 1/2 of what you should have in your tank (1.5-2lbs per gallon) and assuming you have a 30x18x12 tank, that's only about 1" of sand. without a better filter, you really have nothing to breakdown the nitrates so you're going to have to keep up with water changes on a weekly basis. Without more live rock, your ammonia won't be broken down as fast as possible either, so you need to keep an eye on it as well.
(EB how far off am i

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by renogaw
ok, i'll bet the biowheel has a gph of no more than 200 (my biowheel has 100gph), and one pump is max of 300 gph (assuming maxi jet 1200, which it probably isnt, more likely a aquaclear 20 or 30), so that's a MAX of 500gph (your skimmer doesnt count). so that's really not the greatest for a coral tank. You are probably growing algae on your corals because you don't have enough flow.
30lbs of live rock is really 1/2 of what you should have in your tank (1.5-2lbs per gallon) and assuming you have a 30x18x12 tank, that's only about 1" of sand. without a better filter, you really have nothing to breakdown the nitrates so you're going to have to keep up with water changes on a weekly basis. Without more live rock, your ammonia won't be broken down as fast as possible either, so you need to keep an eye on it as well.
(EB how far off am i
I agree with reno

 

[shannonranee]

Well my tank is a octagon (6 sides) so the measurements are 24 1/4 high with a diamater of 21. Depending on how the fish decide to stir up the sand it ranges from 1 inch deep to 1 1/2 inches deep. The Bio wheel is a marineland brand. the protein skimmer is a bakpack? I changed out 10 gallons of water on Wednesday (late night) and another 10 gallons on sunday morning. My protein skimmer I was only emptying like once a month. and then I have emptied it twice since last wednesday.

 

[jennythebugg]

awww man i'm sorry 'bout your fishie

 

[renogaw]

ok, your height is going to cause you an issue with just one pump. You need to get more water movement up through the water column. so i'd put a pump down near your sand and one in the middle both pointing upwards. octagonal tanks are tough for water movement so you may need to get a third one and have it blowing vertically. I wouldn't go with mj1200's, but maybe a few 600's.
With only 1" sand, you have nothing to break down your nitrates, so you will have an issue with corals until you do.