why do my fish die in a week

[invhairrep]

i have a 55 gal reef tank and the water test fine i run two penguin 330 bio filters and a protien skimmer i have two starfish and a few crabs there fine i also have a damsel he is fine and a green cromis but every time a get a angel or a tang they die in a week it looks like there mouths are kinda open before they die infact the yellow tang and red around his mouth .....what is wrong

 

[invhairrep]

my salt level is .019 and all the test are at the lowest except the ph is 7.8 the tank is 4 months old and i have prob...about 50 lbs of live rock

 

[bdhough]

im guessing due to the difference in your water and the fish stores water the fish are not acclimating very well, stressing and dying. i would raise your ph up to 8 at least and your salinity to .022. your average fish store will have theirs at this point if not higher, more like .023 and 8.2.
i have heard a tenth of a point in both is a magnatudes difference from your water and the fish stores water. if the fish are not acclimated properly then this could explain whats going on.
and as a side note its always good to ask the person what their water params are before you go so you know exactly what your are acclimating between.

 

[invhairrep]

what are good fish to use for now that i will be able to have later my clown fish will not last either i have been through 6 of them

 

[bdhough]

how many fish have died in this tank? are you acclimating the fish at all? I wouldn't buy any fish until you identify exactly why the fish are dying, its your waste of money, and a waste of life in general.....

 

[invhairrep]

i take your fish and float them for about 2 hrs adding a little water from the tank every 20 min then i put the fish in a net and let him into the tank is this wrong and what is the rite way if i am doing it wrong ,,?

 

[bdhough]

well, you're doing it right but i can only guess that since your water conditions are so much more different than the stores that the fish are not acclimating very well. raise your ph as well as your salinity. start with some water changes. i would recommend you use seachems 8.3 ph buffer. its a reddish orange container and has worked wonders for me. it will also keep your alkalinity stable so that your ph does not have alot of fluctuation from night and day which may also be going on in your tank to in general stress the fish and make it die. try these first which will take you a week or two to finish and then you can try another fish. you don't want to radically change the salinity and ph in an hour or you risk killing whats left. the ph buffer i mentioned will stabalize the water slowly. to raise your salinity mix a batch of salt water with the higher salinity and start adding it to your tank as top off water every day until you get up to the desired salinity which imo would be .023-.025...

 

[invhairrep]

ok now i have also made some calls to the pet stores near me they are saying that my filteration maynot be good they say thay my 2 penguin 330 bio filters may not offer enough bio for my system two differnt places said i should prob..invest in a wet dry?

 

[bdhough]

hahaha. thats laughable.
hmmm. do you have live rock at all? let me know and then i will explain how filtration works in salt tanks. im a little busy so ill get back to you.

 

[bdhough]

allrighy ill assume you have live rock. your mechanical filter, the dual pengiuns, can help to filter the water. the pads that are in the filter serve to filter large particles and the carbon will help absorb impurities. the pads in the filter are entirely optional and if you wish to remove them you can. i would recommend at least using the space in the filters to put carbon that you change on a regular basis. if you choose to run the filters padless or not, at least leave them on. from what i remeber the filters have a flow rate of about 330gph. you do need a high flow rate in salt tanks to keep them oxygenated properly. a good flow rate will also keep debris from building up in your tank and help to make sure it gets taken care of by the tank inhabitants. if you do not have them i would buy two power heads rated at 2-300 gph and place them in opposite corners of your tank blowing to the middle. that should be all the water flow you will need.
now, the filters do provide a space for good bacteria to build up on. the biowheels do as well but i have been told the biowheels build up nitrates and should be removed. for now i would not worry about it, but in the future you could do some reasearch on its effects. the filters do not DO NOT provide filtration for your fish, well very much at least . the live rock you have is all the filtration you need. there is an insane amount of bacteria built up on and inside your rock that can handle most anything within reason you throw at it. throw in a clean up crew in the tank and theres all the filtration you need. so thats how it works.
if you do not have live rock the filters still do not do that much filtration. alot of good bacteria will build up on whatever surface is in your tank. so the decorations and the sand. it just means there is less space for it to build up on and thus if you add a fish to the tank you need to wait longer before adding another so that the bioload can balance out.
so thats that in a nutshell. let me know if you have any questions. it still does not solve your fish problem but i think that can be cured by letting the tank mature more and raising your ph and salinity levels.

 

[invhairrep]

what does a uv steralizer and will that help fight ick?