swdummie

bang guy

Moderator
Nitrates generally wont kill fish
Not 100% accurate. Although normal nitrite & nitrate levels are harmless to saltwater fish extreme levels can be dangerous. I do agree with you that generally nitrite and nitrate will not kill fish.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Yep, "generally" is the right wording. I just didn't want anyone thinking 200ppm isn't going to be a problem.
 

Bryce E

Active Member
How did you acclimate this time?
Yeah @swdummie this is going to get narrowed down through process of elimination. How you acclimated the fish will help either identify that as the cause or eliminate it. Also what symptoms are your fish having leading up to their death? Anything visible on them? Heavy breathing? How fast are they dying from the time you put them in the tank?
 

Bryce E

Active Member
Oh and reading back on this... you had said you had a presence of ammonia and you did a water change... When cycling a tank you don't want to do that. You want to allow the bacteria to build up and consume the ammonia. I understand you prob wanted to do this because you already had fish in the tank. but that's why it's better to do a "fishless cycle" and let everything become ready and stable before adding fish.

Here's a good short read on the process from snake

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/index.php?threads/snakes-guide-to-cycling.391533/

All of them dying though? jeeze. Something is really going on here.

Also are there any other supplements/products that you have added to your tank?
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
The store by me does, and the one in Lake Geneva where I used to live did as well. I have also seen stores use those little chambers...in one will be fish and the others inverts, but there were not separate...it was just a long tank with holes in dividers.

Personally, I usually buy online, I like the guarantee.
Just curious Flower, which store? Deerfield? Fox Lake?
 

swdummie

Member
Out of all of them i only noticed two breathing heavy. But they all look fine. They go n the nite one at a time
 

swdummie

Member
Out of all of them i only noticed two breathing heavy. But they all look fine. They go n the nite one at a time
 

swdummie

Member
When i do wc two times i used prime and three times i used api stress coat and stress zyme amd quick start. This week i added some, kent essential eleme
 

mauler

Active Member
When i do wc two times i used prime and three times i used api stress coat and stress zyme amd quick start. This week i added some, kent essential eleme
I think that might be a problem your dumping way to many chemicals and products into your tank I'm saying that's what killed your fish but it can't be good.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
When i do wc two times i used prime and three times i used api stress coat and stress zyme amd quick start. This week i added some, kent essential eleme
Hi,

  • Stress coat is to help injured fish...a water change should not injure your fish, adding this is just a waste of money and slimming up your tank for nothing..
  • Stress Zyme is for developing good bacteria...however, all tanks, once cycled, develops only enough good bacteria to balance with the waste, since it needs it to live. So no matter how much you add, you will never have more then you need to match the waste of the fish in the tank. So adding it to an established already cycled tank, is a complete waste of money and effort. Certainly NOT needed after a water change.
  • Quick start is exactly the same thing as the Stress Zyme...again a complete waste of money, and 100% useless for an established cycled tank.
  • The kent's essential elements... here is the problem with it, you must not dose for anything until you have tested to find out if certain elements are even needed. A water change actually has all the essentials in it. To add elements that you don't need such as iodine, could actually build up and become a poison. So TEST FIRST, and only add what elements you need, a blanket kind of replacement is foolish. I recommend you stop adding this ASAP

I don't think adding these did a thing to the tank, good or bad...with the exception of the Kent's essentials, and it would have to be used a long time before it really became an issue enough to kill all your fish. The other stuff is just a waste.
 

swdummie

Member
Someone told me using the protein skimmer was also taking out essentials. They said quit use ski,mer or start adding back in essentials. What do i do?
 

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Skimmers remove dissolved organic waste. If there is any removal of essential elements, it is so little that you'll never know it if you're changing your water regularly.
 

swdummie

Member
Yes i change it every two weeks. So what should i use for water treatment because i use city tap water. I just orderd a ro/di unit but it wouldnt come till late next week
 
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