Dead/Dying fish

[coloagro]

Well I can tell you that Ammonia was not in your replacement water, so unless your poured it in there, I truly believe that was a random thing and that your problem has been festering for a couple days. Something is raising your Ammonia...how long did that dead fish sit in the tank? A water change(s) will cure just about anything other than disease so I would highly recommend you do that...most on here will agree with me on that. They can NEVER hurt.

Clearly their is something in that water...prob high levels of Ammonia...that is killing your precious fish. Your two most delicate fish are dying or dead...damsels and clowns for the most part can survive anything so do that big water change. Run a 2x and 3x test for ammonia a check it to make sure its correct. Also check your Nitrite again?

Is the LR new? What all has died in the tank?

 

[deboy69]

Both fish died this morning. so it wasnt in there long before they were removed.
Just tested
Amm is closer to 0 on the color chart
Nitrite 0

 

[coloagro]

I wouldnt trust that test. Who's the maker? I use API tests and Hanna Checkers and they are pretty clear....take to Petsmart/Petco when you buy the Prime and have them test it just to be safe. All of these tests we use are very unreliable so I always consider the level to be an approx level. 2 fish dont usually die because of a fluke. Just run your water change and keep testing until your zeroed out on Ammonia. I think some others on here were being nice when they said " its a little high" - Ammonia is a No No at any level IMO. Also bump that Salinity to 1.024- 1.025. Another thing I'd look at it your water exchange. Do you have plenty of surface water agitation? If not add a powerhead or aim one towards the surface and get that water agitated. Mine is constantly moving ebb & flow...no dead areas at all on the surface ever. Probably one of the easiest things to do to help the overall health of the tank. Good Luck

 

[deboy69]

Thanks I use API. I think I have a miss diagnosed brown algae problem. I think the algae is A is using all the oxygen in the tank. Or b my phospates are really high and they are using it all thats why i am getting a 0 reading. Posted a write up on my other thread.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Hey bro, sorry to hear about the fish. Been there and it sucks. I nearly lost my flame to ich...it was all but out the door. I was sick about it...but it turned out good.

I would disagree with the salinity level. If you're at 1.022....thats great for your fish and oxygen saturation in the water...especially if there is any question about that level anyhow. Its not ideal for a reef, but for fish and FOWLR tanks, thats a perfect salinity, many do even lower in FOWLRs.

Watch your PH levels to see if its swinging. Swings in PH can cause the effects of ammonia to be amplified. So even a "low" amount of ammonia can be amplified by big PH swings if ammonia is present.

Did you check your levels before the water change? I'm curious what your ammonia level was prior. If your last change lowered it substantially then doing another one would be good. However, using Prime (which is cheap) will get your fish through any ammonia issues until things balance. I've QT'd many fish with low amounts of ammonia with no ill effects as long as you dont let it get out of hand, use Prime and get them into a stable environment within a reasonable time. Alot of that is my personal opinion from my experience and others.

I don't know what to think about the bad odor with the water?!? When did you put this liverock in?? Could have been a large die-off of organics depending on the rock and how it was handled before it went in.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

The only time I can think of having a bad odor from my tanks is if I had either stirred up the sand and released sulfides into the water or when I had live rock in a tank and the rock wasn't fully cured.

Both of which are bad for the living things in our tanks.

 

[Bajamike]

I'll pick some up. Also my water has a fowel odor to it too.

Something is wrong you should never be able to smell the water. IMO. Are sure you dont have some dead snails or crabs ?

 

[deboy69]

Haven't had much of a ph swing. And I'm sure I had some of my cuc die. But my snails are still alive some of the smaller ones may have died

 

[deboy69]

I'm at the point of killing off everything except the fish and starting over

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

I'm at the point of killing off everything except the fish and starting over

Don't give up... sometimes it gets frustrating but the rewards are worth it. It just takes time and patience...alot of both.
There are alot of people around that will help.
You're in Brighton correct?

 

[deboy69]

It's not giving up just pulling back the troops and coming up with a new game plan. I'm in se Aurora.

 

[deboy69]

So the game plan is this. Added carbon and gfo to see if that will help. Also blacked out the tank. Seems the algae likes light. So only time will tell. The algae seems to die down when the lights aren't on so we will see.

 

[Bajamike]

If you kill of the algae to fast you will put the toxins that it consumes back in the water. Try to pull big chunks out by hand and then cut the light by only a few hours. Or when you do a water change put the water in a bucket and pull a few rocks out and scrub them in the water then put them back in the tank. Stick with it you will be ok.

 

[deboy69]

Good point I had it blacked out too. So now its gfo phosphate that stuff is not a cheap at Petco. Also a bag of charbon and prime and Kent marine essentials. So we shall she

 

[ReeferMatt]

I may be completely off base here, and if so please take no offense. To me it sounds like you have a fair number of fish in a tank that has only been up and running for at most 3 months and seeing an ammonia spike. . This happens most often when someone stocks a tank too quickly, and the biological filtration does not have time to tackle the increase in bio load. I'm assuming 1 month to cycle leaving you 2 months of stocking, again assuming you started on May first and finished cyciling June 1st. lets say 2 clowns, 2 damsels, a powder blue tang and a flame angel, giving us an average stocking rate of 3 fish a month give or take. I wouldn't necessarily start over but would not buy any more fish for a period of time and focus in getting your tank perimeters to stabilize, and work on clearing up the algae issue. Then after that add fish slowly, remember the number one rule in this hobby: Good things happen slowly, bad things happen all at once, so take your time. Like I said I may be completely wrong.

 

[deboy69]

It's a possibility. Didn't think about the bio load.

 

[deboy69]

Just for future reference what's the typical time frame for adding fish and corals to a tank and a new tank rather too?

 

[Craigar]

The slower you add tge better you will be.
A thing to live by in the saltwater trait

"patience is key, the slower you go with the tank the better you will be in the long run!"

 

[ReeferMatt]

I don't think there is any hard fast rule on rate of stocking. There are a lot of factors involved including size of tank, age of tank, and size of fish that would come into play. I stock really slowly, at a rate of perhaps one fish a month, or perhaps 2 small fish like chromies. Really the only advice I can give you is slowly, just understand that every time you add a fish the bacteria in the tank needs to adapt to the new bio load. I like to wait as it gives me time to research my next fish and helps me avoid incompatibility due to impulse buying a really cool fish I just had to have The good news about coral is that you do not have to worry about stocking too much coral too fast, but remember that if you do not have stable water parameters (0's are best) you will be stressing and killing corals.

 

[deboy69]

So if I start my other tank it will take 8 months to add the fish I currently have to my 120 gall setup