Why do fish die?

moraism

New Member
I have a small tank with Marron clown fish…
Doing great ever since I got him about 2 months ago , he’s about 1 ½ inch long. All water conditions perfect. 5 days ago I did a 35 % water change. Doing fine after that. And now from one day to the next, he is dying. Swimming verticlly, laying down on the sand and now he ‘s on his last breathe just laying on the sand motionless except for gill movement. What is going on what am I doing wrong or is it just natural?
I have LR and a HOB filter and sand substrate? What is the secret?
I have 2 small Marrons, how do I save the other one? Starting to do the same thing!!!
 
Is it tank raised or is it wild. There are two things that come to my mind right now one is it may have been caught with cienide (spelling).Two it has an uncurable disease that has been showing up with clowns. Sorry but I cannot remember the name. If you have other fish take the clonw out it may be transmitable. Sorry about the fish. :(
Adam
 

moraism

New Member
I've noticed a pattern of this happening when i do a water change!!! Can it be my water.. I use tap water run through a ourifying filter and then add some water conditioner and then add salt, let stand for a day and then do a water change. Can this be it!??
DO i need a RO device? Where do I get one? IS a "water purifier" that I see at the LFS the same thing? Cause I'm really stumped cause all of the water parameters are perfect.. I've seen this type of behavior and death when the ph drop from 8.2 to 7.7,, but this time all of the parameters are where they should be..
 

jond

Member
First off, I would stop using tap water. You can get RO from a number of sources without buying your own unit. Just do some research with LFS's and even grocery stores. Alot of stores with water dispensing machines are RO.
What size is your tank? You say it is small, and that is a big water change. You should only do about 15-20% every other week.
Do you have good circulation? Any powerheads to move water around in your tank?
You could have "dead spots" which will trap ammonia pockets and can kill a fish quick.
Good luck
 

mr . salty

Active Member
This is not the first time that you have had fish dying off in your tank.Not even the second time.Maybe you will finally realise that keeping a 10 gallon marine tank is not as easy as we all told you.If all your readings were perfect,why were you doing a 35% water change???? This sounds fishey....
 
C

coralbeauty

Guest
One thought I had was about salinity and temperature. Are you matching them to the current conditons of your tank, as well as the pH??? If you drop either too much you can have fish loss.
Good luck,
Connie
 

moraism

New Member
Actaully Mr. Salty you are right on a few notes but this is my 30 G :confused:
I am also happy that you remembered me...
[ May 06, 2001: Message edited by: moraism ]
[ May 06, 2001: Message edited by: moraism ]
 

bayouguy

Member
I was using treated tapwater and after 3 months I had a big algae explosion. I've since come to the conclusion that any source of water you can't control is subject to change. I went out and purchased the Kent Marine Maxima HiS RO/DI unit and I love it! I did a water change and my algae problems are gone. I wouldn't trust any bottled water. DIY and test water from every source.
 

subliminalfish

New Member
Alot of people make the mistake of:
When you do your water changes, DO NOT wash your filter pads or sponges in the tap water or in your sink. Some people even spray them out with a water hose. This will kill your good bacteria that you have spent so much time to collect. You MUST squeeze and rinse these out in the water that you siphoned out from your tank. Though you can do this in dechlor'd new water, I still recommend using your old water for this.
[ May 07, 2001: Message edited by: subliminalfish ]
 

moraism

New Member
Mr. Salty,
I did a water change to replinsh the trace elements. Or did I not have to do that? I am under the impression that I need to do a partial water change at least every month.. or am I on the wrong track.?
 

bobber

Member
You are on the right track for replacing trace elements by routine water changes. But suprisingly, most trace elements are replaced with daily feedings. This is not to say that water changes should not done by any means. I think the problems lies with aeration(either the new water, or the entire tank). You never really answered the question of aerating the new water. Do you run a powerhead in the new salt mix for the day that it sits? What kind of water conditioner are you using? The Tap Water Purifier is a great product that works very well, but works very slow. For your 30gal however, this would work great! Remember to replace the cartridge for it when needed. HTH--Bob
 
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