Please Help!!!

C

cmeezy

Guest
I have been doing the saltwater fish only setup for about 2 or 3 years now, but most of these threads on here still confuse the heck out of me, so consider me a novice... Here's the history, I had a tomato clown by himself that was original to my setup from a friend, with a lion fish, but the lion died about 8 months ago. Then I got a yellow tang, it lived about 2 months. I recently got a 3 stripe damsel, and a domino damsel, which the domino died over night. Now I have the tomato and the 3 stripe. About a week ago, I made a beginners sump down below that only houses the protien skimmer, with the water siphoning off the top of the display tank, and being pumped back up with the canister filter pump. Now my tomato is having problems, looks like his skin is shedding, or like he has spider webs on him. Every time I test the water it shows that my nitrates, nitrites, and amonia levels are right at zero, and my ph was slightly high at 8.4, but I'm not sure if thats a big deal or not. The temp is about 75 to 78, and the SG is about 1.018. My tank is 90 gal, and the sump is 10 gal. I'm getting pretty bummed out about losing all these fish, emergency help would be appreciated, PLEASE HELP!!!
 
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rcreations

Guest
SG needs to be between 1.021 and 1.026. Yours is a little low. Also what do you use to test the SG? The swing arms testers are pretty useless, you have to use a refractometer.
Also, have you taken a water sample to your LFS to be tested, just to compare their results to yours?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I don't think the problem is in the water. Go to the disease section and look at the pictures of the sick fish...there is one with the symptoms you describe on your clown.
A contagious disease will keep killing your fish until you get it under control. What you need is a diagnoses. Beth is our expert.
 
naclfish

naclfish

Member
what did u make the sump outta any chance it was not clean. did u use any kinda of glue that might not have been fully cured or might have been broken down by the salt water?
 
C

cmeezy

Guest
Well, thank all of you for responding. My clown died overnight. The problem with the clown only lasted about 3 or 4 days before he was done in by it. I went to the local fish store, and the guy was amazed at how clean the water and even asked "Are you sure you even have anything living in this tank?" I thought that was somewhat reasuring when he told me my water was great, even though he didn't know what a refractometer was... hmmmm... He used a swing arm tester also, and said that the SG was fine, and he did get a higher reading than me. So I'm guessing it must have been a disease, and hopefully its gone. I just picked up two more small damsels.
About the sump, I used aquarium grade silicone, and let it sit for about a week before I used it, so I don't think that would be a prob, unless I didn't rinse it out enough before I used it. Well anyways, thanks for getting back to me, any other tips or suggestions are always welcome...
 
windlasher

windlasher

Member
Originally Posted by cmeezy
http:///forum/post/3026979
Well, thank all of you for responding. My clown died overnight. The problem with the clown only lasted about 3 or 4 days before he was done in by it. I went to the local fish store, and the guy was amazed at how clean the water and even asked "Are you sure you even have anything living in this tank?" I thought that was somewhat reasuring when he told me my water was great, even though he didn't know what a refractometer was... hmmmm... He used a swing arm tester also, and said that the SG was fine, and he did get a higher reading than me. So I'm guessing it must have been a disease, and hopefully its gone. I just picked up two more small damsels.
About the sump, I used aquarium grade silicone, and let it sit for about a week before I used it, so I don't think that would be a prob, unless I didn't rinse it out enough before I used it. Well anyways, thanks for getting back to me, any other tips or suggestions are always welcome...
JUST MY 2 cents... but my thought is that you should not keep adding fish, until you find out what's in your tank. A LFS that does not know what a refractometer is in my opinion not a place I would shop. Its a standard tool in this trade.
on the advice to look at the disease section and figure out if any of those are in your tank. If you have ick... IT IS NOT GONE, and you need to let your tank sit empty for 4 to 6 weeks to let it die off... Please go to the disease section so you do not keep killing fish.
 
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rcreations

Guest
lol, that's what I was thinking. If a LFS told me they don't know what a refractometer was, I'd walk out and never go back in there. It's one of the basic tools. Do they know what a fish net is? A swing arm meter is practically useless, I can't believe a LFS would use it.
 
naclfish

naclfish

Member
hate to say it but pray them damsels die if not they will be the bane of your tank...i hate em..just mho
 
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