Tank of Death!!

[pudd'ntang]

Please help me!, every fish I put in my salt water tank lately dies within 2 weeks, yet I can keep mushroom corals, & inverts. I've tested all levels and Nitrates are 40/60, salt level 1.025, zero ammon.,zero nitrites. Ph 8.0. I've been adding calcium, iodine, for corals. I've noticed when I place a fish in the tank the cleaner shrimp immediately hops on them and goes to work. The last fish had sores on him after a couple of days. Could the inverts be attacking the fish? Help please!!

 

[playtime]

so, where to begin. first, do a water change and try to get your nitrate down, its too high and so is your salt. is should be no higher than 1.023 also, Are you QT your fish before you add them to your tank. I can tell you that this will save you both in livestock and of coarse heartache. by qt your fish, you can treat them with ich meds before adding them therefore insuring that your not bringing it into your display tank you should do this with all fish for at least 3 weeks. You don't have to buy a special tank, a clear rubbermaid tub will do as stated by one of the sharks on the board. I can speak from experience that not qt your fish does more damage than good. trust me. your fishy friends will thank your for their little time out. Good luck.
playtime/harlequin sweetlips LOL!!!

 

[pudd'ntang]

Salt level is what you stated, I just couldn't remember here at the computer. I did have bio-balls in my filtration system they are all gone, all I have is a filtration sleeve. LR & LS. I've been doing water changes and the nitrates have been coming down, What fish can I put in my reef tank that is tolerable, until I find out what the problem is, why they are dieing/ Except Damsels (hate them). All that is in the tank know is camel back shrimp, arrowhead, cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, couple of red legs, and 15 blue legs, and coral banded shrimp and snails. NO FISH.

 

[broomer5]

Personally I would not consider putting ANY fish in your tank until you resolve the problem. Not knowing what that problem is is the real problem.
Ideas;
How recent did you remove your bioballs ?
What size tank ? How long set up ?
Maybe overdosing iodine ? It can be pretty nasty if too much added at once.
Good gas exchange at surface ?
How many fish have you put in there that only lasted 2 weeks ?
Guess the more you can tell us the better answers you'll get.
Brian

 

[pudd'ntang]

The bioballs have been out of the tank for about 3 weeks. I have a 55 gal flat back hex tank. The tank has been set up since Feb. I have one power head that pumps 250 gals per min. I have a wet/dry system with skelter. Number of fish dying (8). I have noticed that my tube coral are not opening up. But the mushrooms I recently added (1 week ago) are growing. The previous mushrooms did shrink so I added 1/2 of iodine, calcium, (reef mixture) to help (I thought) I also started adding feeder food. 30ml every other day.

 

[pudd'ntang]

Hello,
Is everyone finished with the mandrin? I need some help please What can I do about my tank????

 

[broomer5]

Trying to get a clearer picture on your situation.
Please try and give some more details on exactly what has heppened since you removed the bioballs.
Have all 8 of the fish perished within the last 3 weeks, or has this been happening since you initially set up and cycled the tank ?
Really working to help you here pudd'ntang
Brian

 

[pudd'ntang]

I went out of town on business and someone else was feeding my fish for me. At that time I had the bio-balls in the tank and I had 6 fish, I was treating the tank for which I thought was Ick. The person who was watching the tank for me said the fish started gasping for air and they were slowly dieing. When I got back, within one week all were dead except for one. I then realized that the powerhead was not on, and the nitrates were high. I did a water change, turned on the powerhead and contacted this website about the nitrates. I was then told to remove the bio-balls slowly, I did that over a 4 week period. Since then my one remaining fish died. When it died it had white spots and it was gasping for air still. I then tried to add 1 fish at a time since then and they have been dieing within 2 weeks. I added inverts to clean the tank. So now you know my history. Still NO FISH but a tank full of inverts, 1 mushroom, 1 finger rock coral (small) 1 shrunk mushroom, no plants. Quite boring. What to do??

 

[pudd'ntang]

By the way Broomer5 your tanks are beautiful!!

 

[sgtdraven]

personally i'm not sure one powerhead that size is enough as far as the corals maybe light need more info though

 

[broomer5]

pudd'ntang
Has your tank water ever appeared excessively cloudy by any chance ?
The open sores and rapid breathing of fish many times may indicate a bacterial infection. I'm really not sure if removing the bio balls would have much affect, but possibly could have upset the balance and number of benificial bacteria in your tank, but more likely a new fish was introduced and had an infection. Changing the balance of your tank at that same time could have caused stress to your fish and aggravated the situation.
The possibility of having a bacterial infection, and I am just thinking out loud here, would explain the slow deaths of your fish over an extended period of time.
I am no expert on fish diseases, actually I'm really not an expert on too much, but I think some others here would be able to help you more.
Maybe someone here who has some experience with bacterial infections could jump in and try and help you.
I feel for you - this must be very frustrating indeed.
And thank you.
Brian

 

[pudd'ntang]

Trey,
You know I have inverts in my tank. Death Bateria live on with the inverts in the tank?I have an arrowhead, emerald, camelback, 2 redlegged hermits, 15 blue leg crabs, cleaner shrimp and several snails. Also 1 mushroom the finger anemone died.

 

[pudd'ntang]

Also have a sally lightfoot. Please help

 

[dhe420]

Hey pudd. Definetly need to wait a while to put fish in. Your "death bacteria" (ick) will die after about 21 days with no host... ie: fish. After this time you can SLOWLY add more fish to your tank. It is stressful to your tank when you add fish, that is why you should really add no more tan 1 or 2 every two to three weeks. THIS WILL ALLOW YOUR TANK TO NATURALY CLEAN ITSELF AND NOT CAUSE SHOCK TO IT. Also as a rule of thumb, have no more thanb 1 to 1 1/2 inches of fish for every ten gallons. So a 50 gallon tank should really have no more thanb 5 inches of fish in it. Obviuosly that seems like nothing but thats what they say. I think the only thing i have really learned about this hobby yet is patience has more of a payoff than anything else... GOOD LUCK
Dave

 

[jacrmill]

1 inch of fish for 10 gallons of water? thats not what i heard. what ive read said that you should have 1 inch of fish per 3-5 gallons of water. the 3-5 depends on the type of fish and your filtration. im not pretending to know what is wrong with your tank because i probably dont, but i have read alot of bad stuff about arrow crabs killing fish. i read you had an arrow crab and you said that your fish had sores. maybe thats a possibility.

 

[salisbury a d]

You mentioned you added 1/2 of the iodine calcium mixture and also 30 mLs of feeder food every other day. DId you add the 1/2 of mixture in one day. That and the 30 mLs is I would say over feeding. Read the labels they should give you feeding instructions. The shrinkage of the previos mushroom corals could be because of placement in the tank. They do not like rapid water movement and they should not be distured within 14 days of addition to the tank.
Adam

 

[pudd'ntang]

Thank you all for your help. I've been adding 1/2 iodine,calcium mixture every 4 days. and 30 ml of food every 4 days. the Mushroom I said was growing, parts of it is somehow moving around the tank that's weird. All the inverts are doing fine, and I will watch the arrow crab the next time I put a fish in, which at this point I want to trash the tank and start over at times. But I will be patient and wait at least 21 days to add another fish. Any suggestions on the type of fish to add the button corals are still not opening all of the way. Am I using too much food or not enough How much food (or what kind of food) do I had for the button coral? or is the calcium, mixture OK?? I guess I need a good book, any suggestions??
Tonya

 

[salisbury a d]

I agree get a few good books and read them all. What I add to my tank for suppliments is a calcium chemical by Seachem and Coral Vite and Phytoplex both by Kent. They seem to do good and have feeding instructions on them. They say to add a capfull once a week so I still stand with the overfeeding situation.
I say you should get a Percula clown. I have them and they seem to be hardy. that or Green Cromis'.BUT WAIT DO NOT RUSH THE SYSTEM.
Also what is a filter sleeve. I recamend getting a PROTIEN SKIMMER.
You mentioned you hate damsels
clowns and cromis' are in the damsel family and they are not bad at all. YA GOTTA LEARN NOT TO BE SO PICKY.
Adam

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Well guess what - I had the same problem and you are right - it's either Ich or velvet.
It takes 21 days to 6 months to really get rid of ich. Don't add any fish until you treat your tank for a while with invert safe chems.
As fas as the Nitrates go:
How many lbs of live rock do you have. The consensus two years ago was 1-1.5 lbs per gallon - guess what - without fish you have nothing for ther bacteria to do but generate nitrate. Also the answer for the Berlin method seems to be .5 to 1 lb per gallon while your tank stabilizes as you add fish. You'll know when to add more LR.

 

[i3luedragon]

Best bet is like everyone said - wait 21 days at least until adding new fish - then you need to quarantine all new fish for 21 days to be safe also. Even if after doing this you still have serious problems, I would suggest doing a mjor water change or new tank. Some diseases and parasites still live in the water for a very very long time. Invertebrates may not be hosts, but they are still carriers of these things. Too bad there are not more safe ways to quarantine them too.
If you are successful on your next batch of fish, feed them healthy varied diets with vitamins and/or garlic. A healthy fish is the best way to fight any disease I think.