Possible causes of deaths?

[bentrue]

i am in desparate need of some help.
the last three fish i have bought have died within one month of introducing them to the tank. all three of the fish ate well and appeared healthy. i have a 29g tank. the fish that have died are as follows:
flame hawk
lawnmower blenny
small volitan (that i planned on moving to a larger tank when it is done)
over the last three months my levels have remained constant:
ammonia - 0.0
nitrate - 0.0
nitrite - 0.0
Ph - 8.4
Salinity - 1.21
all of my corals have remained healthy and have improved during the three months. my false perc has remained healthy and is still alive to this day. he was the first fish i added in october of 2001.
i am stumped on this one. any suggestions or ideas to what might be causing the deaths?

 

[bentrue]

anyone?

 

[leigh]

oops, sorry, misread that...thought those were the fish you have not the fish you tried. what fish do you have in there aside from the perc?

 

[phoenixrising]

Your salinity is 1.21??
That is probably the cause of the problems. The salinity is better kept at around 34 or so with a specific gravity of around 1.025 or thereabouts.

 

[leigh]

I'm guessing he meant 1.021 which should be fine for fish--inverts will have a hard time with that low a specific gravity, but it wouldn't kill fish. I'm suspecting other inhabitants...

 

[phoenixrising]

Yep, I know. Couldn't resist though.
I'm thinking possibly disease of some sort. Maybe better to post this in the disease and treatment forum where Beth and TerryB might be able to pinpoint some type of problem and help get it corrected.

 

[bentrue]

yes, 1.021...misprint lol
the perc is the only thing i have in there now aside from the snails and corals.

 

[bonermeister]

It could be coincidence. If you bought the last three from the same LFS, try buying from a different place. Buy one off of SWF.com and see how it works out. Good luck!

 

[discusking]

Maybe the fish couldnt adjust to the salinity b/c percs seem, at least for me, to do better at a lower salinity, and ur corals prob adapted to it. However, ur LFS might have a much higher salinity causing problems with acclimation. Try the drip method of acclimation, in which u drip tank water into the bad from ur tank for like 45 min. I think that this is the most crusial part of keeping fihs, usually if ur fish can make it through the two wekk acclimation time spand and eat well you should have no problem kepping them for a long time.

 

[leigh]

Yes acclimation is definitely critical. However fish are relatively insensitive to salinity--1.021 is not at all low--for disease prevention many fish stores will keep fish only systems as low as 1.019. It is inverts that are most sensitive to salinity and 1.021 long term is a bit low for them. I would consider raising yours to 1.023 at least. I doubt thought that this is what has killed all three fish. What's your tank's temperature? Have you tried getting a fish and doing a 3 week hypo process on it to kill off parasites before adding it to the tank?
-leigh

 

[clarkiiboi]

I am curious as to how and how long you acclimated the new fish. That way we can rule or rule out that. How did you do it and how long? Also uping the salinity abit would be an added bonus and easy to do.

 

[bentrue]

i acclimate all my fish the same way...
i float the bag for 15 minutes, then i add one cup of tank water to the bag every 5 minutes for the next twenty. i then scoop the fish out and place it in the tank. i have done it this way for all of my fish.
thanks for the input guys, maybe we will get to the bottom of this.