About to give up...

[only120xs]

My fish keep dying, and I don't know why, and I'm about to just give up.

We've had a SW tank for about 1+ years, and everything did fine until recently. For some reason, the tank crashed and everything died. We've given it a while for the tank to cycle, but the fish are still dying.

A few weeks ago, I got two snails which are still alive. Two weeks ago, we measured (with a brand new test) the ammonia at 0, the nitrate at 0, and nitrite just over 0.3. As everything looked pretty good, I got a goby and a red hermit crab and put them in in the evening. By morning the goby was dead. (The crab is still alive). Thinking the nitrites were still too high, we gave it a couple weeks. Yesterday everything tested at zero, so I got a clown. He survived the night, but was hovering at the top of the tank this morning, and now my wife says he's dying.

The tank is 46g with a bunch of rock, gravel bottom, a skimmer, and one powerhead (I think 150gpm). We use RO water. None of this has changed in a long time.

I don't know what the problem is... any ideas? Otherwise I'm going to quit trying...

 

[Justin1989]

Have you tested the salinity? Its the only thing I havent seen listed here. If you have, have you tried a different hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[only120xs]

last I tested (couple weeks ago, but nothing has changed) my hydrometer said it was 1.022. That's at about 76-77 degrees.

 

[Justin1989]

You said you testet using a new kit. Are you using test trips? second on the hydrometer, I would try a new one. I do believe after some time they can go bad? Whats your PH levels?

 

[only120xs]

No strips. It's a tetratest set.

Wife just tested the PH, says it's 7.7

I have the floating kind of hydrometer... how could it go bad? I'm not disputing you, just wondering.

 

[only120xs]

I guess there's an insert in the hydrometer... I suppose it may have moved...

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Swing arm hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate. It's not that they "go bad"... it's just that they can be bad from the start. Best investment in this hobby is a refractometer.

 

[melosu58]

How are you acclimating them to the tank?

 

[only120xs]

Good thing I don't have a swing arm one then!

 

[only120xs]

I add a little bit of tank water to the bag every 15 minutes for about three hours.

 

[colematthewmalaka]

Don't give up, maybe you should try a freshwater tank.

 

[juice28]

maybe something in the tank has a short. a buddy of mine had his poerhead short out and it was basically electocuting his livestock slowly.. it took him almost 6 months to figure that out. I nowhere near as experienced as these guys but its just a thought

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Good thing I don't have a swing arm one then!

Ahhh... I misunderstood what "floating kind" meant.

I add a little bit of tank water to the bag every 15 minutes for about three hours.

Three hours for acclimation is way too long. I'd say you wouldn't want to stretch it out longer than an hour. It really depends on how far off the salinity is between the bag water and your tank.

 

[only120xs]

I came up with a crazy theory that results in low oxygen levels... but I can't test, cuz I don't have a test. But I have a powerhead with a venturi option (which I wasn't using), so I hooked it up. This will increase the oxygen, right?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

From my understanding, that won't really help the oxygen levels - it's no different than a bubble stone. Surface ripple will give you the most bang for your buck as far as increasing oxygen levels.

Salifert does make a dissolved O2 test kit, if you wanted to test your theory.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

You didnt see a nitrAte raise?

 

[Saltwater newbie]

Im still new to the hobby but isn't your PH low? , i keep mine about 8.2 on my tank.