What am I doing wrong

[quads4_lif]

Well the last two made it through the night and are doing fine.
My PH is at 8.3 and I have not had any change in ph since I set it up. I purchased them from my friend that runs a LFS called Fish Pros in Amarillo He also owns North Bay Aquatics in California.
I have gotten all of my FW fish from him and his tanks are always good quality

 

[fishy7]

I had my tank up and running for 2 months and added 7 chromis and one by one they all died except 1. Water tested perfect, no other issues. He turned out to be the bully and he would beat the others up at night. I still have him.

Just a thought...

 

[quads4_lif]

mabey because that is when they are dying is at night.
What are your ideas should I just let these last two live by themselves for a while longer or should I try adding one of the other fish that I want
2 percs
1 royal gramma
1 coral beauty
1 4wd gobie
1 yellow watchman
one other question is this fish list ok for a 55 and what order should I add them once I figure out my problem?

 

[quads4_lif]

well I tryed adding a clown DEAD in 24hours WTF

I could have already bought me a new set of exhause pipes for my F****** motorcycle for the money I keep flushing into this stupid hobby.
Could there be something else wrong with my water other than amonia nitrite and nitrate and salinity because they are all good even my LFS has said so hell I will ship someone my Freaking water if they can tell WTF is going on.
I drip acclimated this stupid fish for 3 hours in a bag floating in my sump what else can I do

THIS HOBBY SUCKS go back to something more worth wild

 

[bsktmom]

Did you add the 7 Chromis at one time?

 

[m_arce]

We i just want to start off by saying to have patience and not hate the hobby. I had the same problem with some of my chromis, i have a 55gal thats been up and running for about 3 years now perfectly fine, aside from a few fluctuations with my salinity no problems with water quality. About 3 months back i had a chromis die, all i could notice was a small mark on it like something tried to snatch at it and missed, it stayed stressed in the back of the tank for about a day and died the following night. I didnt think to much of it, just maybe he wandered to close to one of my emeralds.
I sometimes would have small pieces of corals (zoo clusters and single mushrooms) get knocked from places i had wedged them into, pretty hard too.
Then chromis #2 started acting weird, same issue, little mark, hiding in the back of the tank and died the following day.
Now i was getting upset, i had thought about the mantis shrimp but couldnt be sure because i have a pistol shrimp thats very active so i have plenty of clicks comimg from the tank. About 4 days back i was staring at the tank when i spotted him, damn little mantis, hiding in the back in the same area as my pistol, everything made sense, same time i bought a rock with some shrooms my chromis started dying, corals re-arranged and some missing emeralds as well. Hitchhiked his way into paradise and is now creating havoc, ive bought a trap but all i catch are hermits. Its a good possiblity you have a little hidden predator in your tank, just listen for clicks from the tank, which sometimes wont come if the mantis is happy and fed. But part of the hobby is understanding all the things that happen in your self contained ecosystem.

 

[quads4_lif]

Originally Posted by bsktmom
Did you add the 7 Chromis at one time?
no I added 3 the first time and then after 2 of them died I added 4 more about 8 days later
Well I will give it some more time and I am prob not going to put anything else I will prob take the carcus of the clown back to my LFS and either get credit or try another one this one looked like it had a sore on its right side but from what I dont know. The whole time the fish was in the tank he was breathing very rapid. How big does a mantis have to be to be big enough to cause probs becaus I have only had this rock for about 2 months and it is all pretty small pieces.
Thanks for everyones help

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by quads4_lif
I dont know what I am doing wrong I am loosing fish for some reason I DONT KNOW. I just got my refractometer yesterday and checked my salinity perfect 1.025 checked my amionia 0
nitrites 0
nitrate 5-10
Yesterday one of my chromis's that I have had for 4 days which ate fine swam all over the tank showed no signs of any problems was attached to the overflow DEAD today I looked in to my tank and one was stuck to my canister filter DEAD there are no other fish in the tank but 4 green chromis my tank is a 55 gal that has been set up since 01/20/06 with a 10 gal fuge and a 20 gal sump with a CA skimmer rated for a 200 gal tank I also have a Fluval attached to the tank with media removed simply for more water and the ocasional carbon. I dont have any clues to what is killing my fish. I did a water change on friday but the water matched mine in everything but mabey temp. I checked my temp on my tank after I poured it in and it droped 1 degree.
I am really starting to hate this hobby I am wanting to buy a couple of clowns but hell if I can keep a simple little ******chromis alive why do I want to keep flushing money down the darn toliet
you may be having these problems due to a couple different factors
#1 your tank is still new.I have found that chromis arent the hardiest of the damsel family.they are however the least agressive
#2 how long are these fish in your LFS before you purchased them ,the shorter the time at lfs the higher mortality rate for the hobbiest.
if the fish was rescently delivered to the lfs say less than 2 weeks before you purchased them they arent fully acclimated to the store tanks yet by removing them b4 2 weeks time is a double stress on the .this has its pros and cons .pro is that a new fish accclimated for 2 weeks in lfs means its most likely feeding.con to this is at times lfs arent feeding properly weakening imune systems instead of strenghtening them.
when you purchase a new fish asume its new unless you know it was a trade in from a long term resedency from another home(trade in)you want to redice the stress of this fis a much as possible whan adding new fish to my tanks i dose the tank for 3 days with melafix(remove carbons b4 treatment)this helps reduce stress and help eliminate bacterial infections in new fish.I found each fish i forgot to dose (mostly small fish)have died withing the fist week of purchase even in well established tanks.I make a strong habit of dosing them I have not lost a fish yet (knock on wood)in 4 1/2 yrs that I have dosed when acclimating.melafix is all natural and safe for corals and inverts. but do make it a habit of asking your lfs when the fish arrived.

 

[murph]

Did all your fish display the same rapid breathing prior to death?
Sounds to me like some type of contaminate is finding its way into your water. Where are you getting your top off water/change water. High levels of chlorine will kill all your fish in short order, low levels could kill them off slowly like what is happening in your tank
I would go to a swimming pool store and get a chlorine test kit. They are cheap. Test your tank water and top off/change water. Even if its RO water, if the membrane and carbon blocks have not been changed out over a long period of time God knows what kind of water its producing.
If for some reason you cant get your hands on a low range chlorine test kit to be on the safe side and eliminate chlorine/chlorimines as a possibility I would go ahead and remove any carbon from the filters and dose that tank with Amquel.

 

[quads4_lif]

Originally Posted by unleashed
you may be having these problems due to a couple different factors
#1 your tank is still new.I have found that chromis arent the hardiest of the damsel family.they are however the least agressive
#2 how long are these fish in your LFS before you purchased them ,the shorter the time at lfs the higher mortality rate for the hobbiest.
if the fish was rescently delivered to the lfs say less than 2 weeks before you purchased them they arent fully acclimated to the store tanks yet by removing them b4 2 weeks time is a double stress on the .this has its pros and cons .pro is that a new fish accclimated for 2 weeks in lfs means its most likely feeding.con to this is at times lfs arent feeding properly weakening imune systems instead of strenghtening them.
when you purchase a new fish asume its new unless you know it was a trade in from a long term resedency from another home(trade in)you want to redice the stress of this fis a much as possible whan adding new fish to my tanks i dose the tank for 3 days with melafix(remove carbons b4 treatment)this helps reduce stress and help eliminate bacterial infections in new fish.I found each fish i forgot to dose (mostly small fish)have died withing the fist week of purchase even in well established tanks.I make a strong habit of dosing them I have not lost a fish yet (knock on wood)in 4 1/2 yrs that I have dosed when acclimating.melafix is all natural and safe for corals and inverts. but do make it a habit of asking your lfs when the fish arrived.
Most of the time my LFS's fish have been in the store for less than 1 week due to the fact that they sell so many he cant keep his tanks stocked. He is looking for a new larger store because he bought a bunch of pet smarts old stock fish tanks, he just aint got the room.
I have not ever used melafix how do you dose it and what exactly is it (sorry for the dumb ?)

 

[quads4_lif]

Originally Posted by Murph
Did all your fish display the same rapid breathing prior to death?
Sounds to me like some type of contaminate is finding its way into your water. Where are you getting your top off water/change water. High levels of chlorine will kill all your fish in short order, low levels could kill them off slowly like what is happening in your tank
I would go to a swimming pool store and get a chlorine test kit. They are cheap. Test your tank water and top off/change water. Even if its RO water, if the membrane and carbon blocks have not been changed out over a long period of time God knows what kind of water its producing.
If for some reason you cant get your hands on a low range chlorine test kit to be on the safe side and eliminate chlorine/chlorimines as a possibility I would go ahead and remove any carbon from the filters and dose that tank with Amquel.

I am not sure on the cromis's because they all died at night
One guy I talked to also sugested that some type of toxin in my tank and sugested that I place purigen in it and do several water changes.
I dont have any amquel but I do have 2 bottles of prime should I put it in my RO water just to be safe. I dont know if I can buy amquel here in town unless they sell it at wal-mart. My LFS and closest pet chain is over an hour away.
I will get a clorine test kit (if I can find one) not to many pool place's around here. But all I use is RO
Thanks for the help and ideas guys I dont know I guess I dont have enough patients.
I think I am prob going to do several water changes and just leave my tank alone for a while I still have the 2 Chromis left I will just leave them alone and continue to watch the tank. In prob 1-2 weeks or a month I will try and add another clown.

 

[quads4_lif]

Originally Posted by Spanish Dancer
Have you used any silicone in your aquarium? if so, did you use the right kind?
I used the wrong kind once and had basically the same problem.

Yes I did use some silicone but it was DAP brand the small tube that said for aquariums. I let it dry for almost 4 days before I hooked it up to my system

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by quads4_lif
Most of the time my LFS's fish have been in the store for less than 1 week due to the fact that they sell so many he cant keep his tanks stocked. He is looking for a new larger store because he bought a bunch of pet smarts old stock fish tanks, he just aint got the room.
I have not ever used melafix how do you dose it and what exactly is it (sorry for the dumb ?)
only dumb question are the ones you dont ask. as for dosing melafix its 1 tsp for every 10 gal of tank water .i would def say its your stock its not acclimated fully to your lfs before you take it home.as for water changes if your levels are good dont go over board on them .too clean and fresh of water can be a bad thing too.oh remove carbons prior to dosing.dont try to stock to fast stick with the remaining fish for now get them full adjusted toyour new tank before going through the entire process over again .you can also ask your LFS to either special order your fish so you get them as they are delivered or ask lf them to hold the fish for a 2 week period with a small deposit to hold it for you.this is what i do. if the fish is not in good condition when you recieve a special order the LFS can then return it to supplier and get a replacement in good health.if you main tank is still cycling i suggest getting some bacter vital its a cycle booster(does not replace cycle but ads need bacteria to speed up the cycle time)also good for established tanks that lose important bacteria over a period of time.

 

[quads4_lif]

I will get some cycle booster, I have seachem stability should I get something better or will it be ok. and should I just stick to doing 15% once a week for now or should I mabey go twice a week?
My LFS will hold fish for my or at least he has always with my FW. He has even held a whole tank of mine. He will get a shipment in tomorrow I will ask him to hold me a couple of clowns and I will get them in prob 2 weeks

 

[unleashed]

good idea to hold it a bit .ps dont forget the melafix

 

[quads4_lif]

OK I will get some before I add any new fish and man thanks for all the info