Little help?

[SouthernSon]

So Friday I get home from work and all my fish are dead(I have had them for about 5 months). I tested my water Saturday and everything came up normal, so I figured it was alright to replace what I lost a little at a time. I added a lawn mower blenny Saturday to just test the waters first hand and see how he'd do since I was still a little reluctant to put anything else in since I had just lost everything. Well I wake up this morning and the blenny is dead. I saw him last night and his gills were moving very fast like he was breathing really hard and he came up and hit the surface a few times. This leads me to believe there's a lack of oxygen in the tank but I don't see how that's possible as I have water moving in my sump which no doubt would aerate my tank. So my question is just what do you guys think is the matter? I really havn't been able to come up with anything since I tested my water and everything came up negative. I have some micro-algae growing next to my spray bar and it seems to be turning dark green and stiff looking(it was light green and very wavy before) the closer you get to the spray bar almost like something coming out of the spray bar is hurting it. I don't know if that has anything to do with my big problem but just another piece of evidence. I also have somewhat of a green hair algae problem growing on my walls and live rock could that be suffocating fish? How much is needed before the hair algae starts killing things? Because I don't think I have nearly enough to suffocate my fish. Well any help is greatly appreciated on what yall think is wrong, and I will listen to anything haha this is driving me nuts.

 

[nottooslow]

what kind of fish were in the tank? i would almost think one of them got spooked and released a toxin or something that wont show up on a regular test.

 

[nottooslow]

also did you do a water change before you added the blenny?

 

[SouthernSon]

I had a fox face rabbit fish, niger trigger, blue spiney lobster, and spotted grouper in there. I added the blenny after all those were gone and out of the water. I have not done a water change since it all started happening though I should probably do that.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I would start water changes until 100% of the tank was changed out, say over a week. Test again, let things settle down and try the cheapest and hardiest (like a damsel) fish or coral frag you can find.

 

[Sarcothelia]

Have you checked your nitrates and ammonia? Sorry to say but it's a terrible idea to add a fish almost immediately after a whole tank of fish dies; there is certainly going to be a high amount of ammonia. Unless you did a water change I blame the blenny's death on ammonia. Has anything leaked into the tank or gone haywire? High levels of copper can kill fish.

Definitely change out the water as said above.

 

[kylekody]

this is definitely a long shot, but my local pet store had a tank that triggers, puffers, and lions kept dying in, there were 20 tanks on one side all with one huge sump, so it wasn't the water killing them, or all the other tanks woulda been destroyed also. i dont remember exactly what it was, but some sorta worm, or critter, something living IN the sand and a couple curled up in the live rock kept destroying the fish. but if water keeps comin back clean, and if no fish released any chemical, it might just be something livin in the sand or on some rock that kills everything.

 

[SouthernSon]

Yea tested again nitrates and amonias are fine. How do I even know when it's safe to add fish again?

 

[David S]

can you actually tell us the test results rather then saying normal!

 

[Unicorn]

Check ur electrical devices in the tank eg heater, pump etc! Something could be broken and leaking acid, metal or what-not into the tank
That's my best guess
What decorations do you have in the tank? What kind of water are you using, what kid of salt? What is your pH? I would investigate and turn EVERY stone and Chem level there is

 

[SouthernSon]

I don't think there are any worms in there how would I know though? Howd the pet store find them?

 

[SouthernSon]

The tests were no ammonia or nitrates and a little color for nitrites. I am using tap water so I assume my phosphates and the like are quite high but thats nothing my fish weren't used to. My ph also checks out coming in around 8. I don't think it could be something like acid because I still have two hermits in there that are alive. My parents sent me a sponge bob and patrick decoration as a gag gift but I don't think that would be killing my fish....but who knows all this did start happening after I put them in, is it possible paint or something could be coming off of that and is toxic to fish?

Oh and I am using instant ocean salt.

 

[kylekody]

the pet store tore the tank apart and went through alll the sand and broke apart all the rock. not the best way to go about it, but it had to be done.
probably a last resort type of thing i spose

 

[SouthernSon]

Yea I have already actually planned on doing that if my two hermits die. I really hope it doesn't come to that haha

 

[nottooslow]

well, your nitrItes should be zero, not nitrAtes. also i would get the sponge bob decoration out and do at least three or four 60% water changes before adding anything else. even then, i wouldnt add more than a fish or two for a while.

 

[SouthernSon]

Yea my bad I got them mixed up. Yea I am going to let my tank just chill for about a week or so while doing a few water changes then maybe add a cheap fish in there to see if things are still going haywire.