Thats it! I am giving up on trying to keep fish!

mrtgman

mrtgman

Member
Every fish I add to this tank dies within 2 weeks. One day they are fine and the next..POW! They are dead. Yet all of my corals are doing fantastic! They grow and mulitply and thrive in this tank. Today I lost 3 clowns that were eating fine just a day or two ago. One was breathing a little heavy last night but the other two were eating and all seemed well with them. I lost my Lyretail Anthias that I had for 3 weeks. The only thing that seems to survive are the 3 green chromis that I started with.
The tank is a 36 gal bowfront with a via aqua multi skimmer, power head (maxi jet 1200). Ph is 8.2, nitrites are 0, ammonia is 0, nitrates are a little high at 20 but not what I would consider deadly. There are 3 chromis, 1 CBS (the fish were dying before I got him so he is off the hook), 5 turbo snails, 1 decorator crab and 2 emerald crabs. I can not figure out what is killing all of my fish. My corals are a bunch of zoos, a hanner, hairy green musroon and a BTA.
Anyone have any ideas on what might be going on in there? Salinity levels and temp are perfect as well!
 
mrtgman

mrtgman

Member
No. I do not have a qt tank. What differance would that make if there is a problem with the main tank and not the qt tank?
 
stacyt

stacyt

Active Member
How are you acclimating your fish? Have you tested the water params of the source that you are obtaining your fish from? Especially check the salinty. Lots of stores keep the SG level on the low side, and if you rush the acclimation you can have problems.
Whenever I plan to add fish I setup a q-tank. I make sure that the water params are as close as possible to the source that I obtain the fish from. Then as they are in quaranteen I slowly adjust the parameters to match my tanks over about a 3 week period.
 
mrtgman

mrtgman

Member
I have only 3 green chromis left from when I first set up the tank. I but the fish from all differant lfs and saltwaterfish.com
I follow thier drip method as well. If you set up a qt tank do you have to let it cycle and continue running at all time?
 
oyam1

oyam1

Member
unless you fear the loss of the chromes, why QT.
if you have established fish, then QT so you dont kill them.
something is killing them, and it desnt seem to be poor water quality.
bad food?
toxin from your corals?
cant be stress, or overstocking.
do they always die quick? 24hrs from health to dead?
you may be better off sticking to the 3 you got.
try going to the LFS and getting some cheeep damselfish.
if you kill them, the i agree; give up.....:eek:
good luck:happyfish
 
mrtgman

mrtgman

Member
Toxin from the corals? I never thought of that! What type of corals are toxic to fish? And could the chromis be resistant to the corals toxin?:thinking:
 
nkurth

nkurth

New Member
I may be way off but I was killing fish left and right until I stumbled across my problem. My tank was severely underlit. I believe a good rule of thumb is 3-5 watts per gallon and I was at about 1/2 watt per gallon. I didn't know any better as I was a newbie and I was using the lights that came with the tank. The fish would be fine for weeks and some up to a month or so but then would get sick and die. I would also get cases of severe red algae growth that would lead to their demise as well. This may not be any help in your situation, but maybe another newbie will stumble across this post and we'll have saved a few fish!
 
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