Why do my fish keep dying?

chardo

chardo

Member
For starters, my 125 fowlr is over 4 years old, so it's a mature tank and I'm pretty experienced with keeping it. I lost another fish today and I'm depressed.
Over the years, I have lost many fish for a variety of reasons. I assume that if a fish dies within a few days of purchase, it was either unhealthy to start, wasn't acclimated properly, or wasn't compatible with the other fish. What bothers me more is when a fish thrives for a month or two, then gets shy, stops eating, and dies. This happened to three of my fish in the past month. Water tests are good, and the remaining fish are all healthy, long-term, peaceful occupants. That leads me to believe these deaths are not due to poor water or abuse, and the fact that some of the fish have been here over a year tells me I must be doing something right.
Why do most of my fish die so soon?
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
can u list ur fish stock? water parameters? its also possible u hv stray voltage from bad equipments.
 
chardo

chardo

Member
Current remaining fish include percula clown, royal gramma, sixline wrasse, and ladder glider goby. The goby has been here about 6 months, the others over a year. SG 1.021, ammonia and nitrite zero, nitrate under 10.
The stray voltage is interesting. One of my powerheads recently died. It was making loud noises, so I unplugged it. Plugged it back in, and it was dead. It has remained unplugged (so there's no voltage at all). Come to think of it, wouldn't stray voltage have more of an instant effect, and wouldn't it harm all the fish?
Another thought, could the reduced circulation from one less powerhead be a fatal problem for the fish?
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
The reduced circulation could be a problem. Can you list the fish that died and how long you had each? Did you notice any abnormal behaviors or markings on the fish that died?
 
chardo

chardo

Member
Fortunately I keep a detailed log. Recent fish losses:
Sailfin tang died after 4 weeks
Percula clown died after 20 days
Auriga butterfly died after 19 days
Juv French angel died after 14 days
Eibli angel disappeared after 2 months
Yellow tang died after 5 months
Juv French angel (another) died after 7 weeks
Though this has been happening for years, these are just the losses in the past 6 months, not counting some others that only lived a few days or less. None of these fish showed any signs of trouble until their final day or so, when they would stop eating and become less active. None had any markings or obvious injuries at death.
FYI, it's a 125 fowlr with 130lbs LR, 1-2" aragonite base, AquaC EV120 skimmer, Mag Drive 12 pump from sump, 2 Maxi-Jet 1200 powerheads in the tank (though 1 is now dead). I use Oceanic salt, changing 10 gals plus 7 gal topoff every two weeks (add 17, remove 10), using tap water mixed and aerated for 2 days.
Any thoughts?
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
1) I would test your tap water. Do you use well or do you use city water?
It could be something there is getting into your tank and maybe the other fish you had are used to it, but the new ones get stressed.
It is a stretch, but everything else you say is normal.
I've lost fish for a varity of reasons. However, I make sure that the fish I buy are healthy now and not jump the gun because they look nice. Mostly your tank is survival of the fittest (or meanest) just like the ocean. I just lost a firefish goby that I had for as long as I had my tank. He was fine, darting around and eating, then one day his tail was in tatters and he was stuck to the internal overflow veins. Later, my yellow tang was picking at his bones. The ocean is rough and so is my bicolor dottyback and my female ocellaris clown, which I figure got ahold of the poor goby. I have a diamondback goby that can't spend 2 seconds out of his hole as the bicolor will chase him like a rabid pit bull!. I would watch your tank for aggression. Sometimes it only happens in a blink of an eye.
Find a good store that knows about handling fish. I only buy fish from one that keeps them minimum 14 days before selling (in the back of his store) or at least that is what he tells me.
2) why have you not made the switch to RODI? Sounds like you could have afforded one if you total up your cost of fish.
 
chardo

chardo

Member
Actually I don't understand RODI very well. I mean I know what it is, I'm just not sure of the logistics. Right now, my tank is about 20 feet from the sink. I set up a trash can next to the tank, fill a 5 gal bucket at the sink, walk it over and pour it into the trash can. Repeat until full. How would I do this with RODI?
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Chardo
http:///forum/post/2574946
Actually I don't understand RODI very well. I mean I know what it is, I'm just not sure of the logistics. Right now, my tank is about 20 feet from the sink. I set up a trash can next to the tank, fill a 5 gal bucket at the sink, walk it over and pour it into the trash can. Repeat until full. How would I do this with RODI?
Holy moley! Do you even treat your tap water with anything or just use it as is and mix salt to it?
RODI filters your water from all harmful components. You would let the RODI run into a larger container, either a 5 gallon bucket or a larger storage container (we have 55g container for RODI and now also a 35g container where the RODI can be pumped into to mix salt water).
 
chardo

chardo

Member
So where do you put the RO unit? I assume it needs to be at a sink (obviously), where there is also room for a large receptacle. That would probably rule out the kitchen sink, which is the only one near my tank. If I installed the unit at the basement sink (where there's room for a receptacle), I would be carrying multiple buckets upstairs for every water change.
Those of you who have RO units, how is yours set up?
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
FWIW, I am not saying this is your scenario but more like somthing to think about. Assuming you have a healthy fish just by the way it looks and acts even for the first month or 2 is misleading. A sick fish may not show symptoms if it was aquired in the begining stages of its health issues. Not that this is true for every case, but when all other possible reasons have been exhausted I feel its possible that the idea the fish wasnt healthy to begin with might be more of a factor to what happened than anything else. Acclimation shock is just the first of many hurdles the fish has to jump before its in the clear. Once a fish is captured, the balance swings in favor of any illness, disese, parasite etc that it is suseptable too. Once captured, all built in survival strategies are routed to escaping. Your fish shuts down all non-essential processes like digestion and the immune system for added energy for the purpose of escape. They are stressed, usually starved, and have been held captive in many different water conditions of which none come near the pristine quality of their natural surroundings. So, no matter how good the fish looks, it really isn’t happy, IMO. Another major reason why I believe quarantine is a necessity.
You seem to have quite a list of casualties and some maybe associated with other issues, or may not have anything to do with what I typed. But I just wanted to offer it as a possibilty maybe to you it might make sense when thinking about specific fish that you lost. And maybe is will help you understand one or 2 unknown deaths. Good Luck.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
I don't have a picture of it, but we have a desk under the window and the RO/DI unit where we have the 55g water storage setup with a heater/powerhead inside it. Under the desk we have newly setup 35g saltwater storage with a little giant pump to pump the water out to the sump and a heater/powerhead inside the storage container. Powerheads in both containers are on timer to have them rotate a few times a day for 2 hours at a time.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
That basement sink sounds like an ideal place. You can just buy a roll of that refridgerator clear plastic water line and run it thru the floor, or anywhere in the house you like.
 
chardo

chardo

Member
I still wonder. No question that RO is best, and my use of tap water is not optimal for my fish. However, if the water was the cause, why would a fish thrive in the tank for months, then suddenly die?
 
lesleybird

lesleybird

Active Member
Do you only do the top off of 7 gallons once every two weeks? One should be doing top offs daily or every other day. Every two weeks would let the specific gravity swing too much suddenly. Do you put something in to get rid of the chlorine? What is your ph? Nitrates? Are your fish overstocked? Does your tank have ich that may kill your fish when overstocked? Lesley
 
chardo

chardo

Member
Originally Posted by Lesleybird
http:///forum/post/2575173
Do you only do the top off of 7 gallons once every two weeks? One should be doing top offs daily or every other day. Every two weeks would let the specific gravity swing too much suddenly. Do you put something in to get rid of the chlorine? What is your ph? Nitrates? Are your fish overstocked? Does your tank have ich that may kill your fish when overstocked? Lesley
I do the topoffs with the water change. The water is added to the saltwater as it mixes, creating replacement water with slightly lower SG than the tank. Overall SG changes minimally over the time--7 gallons evaporation/replacement of about 140 gallons (including sump) is not sudden. I do nothing to get rid of chlorine other than aerating the new water for a few days. pH is 8.2, nitrates under 10. Right now I have only 4 tiny fish (about 1 inch each) in a 125 tank. Nowhere near overstocked. Even at its most crowded, I never had more than about 12 inches of fish. Tank has never had ich or any other disease.
 
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