Dying Fish!! Please help!!!

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dinotrex

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Messages
82
Location
San Francisco
I've had my tank for about 7 months now, I've had problems with Nitrates before and when I've tested with my tetra test kits at one point it was at 50 mg/l. I have an Fluval 404 internal filter, a dual protein skimmer and about 55 lbs of LR in a 55 Gal tank. So I decided to bring my water in to a LFS to get it tested RIGHT. So they tested with a Redsea test kit and my nitrates were at 0. I'm thinking COOL!! I've had 2 clowns and a yellow tang in there for a while now and they're just fine... well, the two clowns just hang around the internal filter... why? I don't know, input on this would be nice. but thats not why i'm writing.... I've bought a watchman goby......2 days, dead, I see my hermit crab eating his body.... then i bought a Koran AngelFish, 2 days, dead, I see the hermit crab eating his body again..... AND THEN I bought a Kaudern's Cardinal Fish, 2 days later, dead, guess who's eating his body.......yep, mr. same hermit crab!!! I know it can't be the hermit crab killing them as they can't swim like they do. The Cardinal and Goby are supposed to be easy care level fish, why did they die?? I can understand the Koran as they are moderate fish. Can someone please help?? I spend about half hour acclimating them. These 3 fish have cost me about a toal of $74 all down the drain........not to mention the snails that also get eaten by the hermit crabs.
 
I would not trust that LFS test.. get yourself a Salifert test for nitrates just to double check on the Tetra test result. My guess is that your nitrate reading is pretty accurate and what's happened is that your clowns and tang simply acclimated to the moderately high levels over time. However any new additions would not be able to cope with the sudden rise from what they're used to.

Get the Salifert test and if it confirms the high levels then go from there.
 
I would also consider possibly cyanide poisoning. Were they all purchased at the same lfs? Any symptoms before their death? were they eating?
You may want to go to that lfs and check out their stock, real good. Especially if they have any of the fish in stock that you purchased. This could tell you a lot. It may not be your system.
You may also want to consider qt for your new arrivals. This way if they have anything, you current fish will not catch it.
qt has saved my bacon several times recently.
 
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