fish keep dying, help!

[benj316]

I have a two-part question, because I have two saltwater tanks that are in trouble. One is a 40 gallon tank that's been set up for about 8 months. I slowly added fish and corals and it was looking great. I have a large whisper filter running this tank, as well as a powerhead on one side. I had a bunch of damsels, coral beauty, butterfly, and a yellow tang(which i know was a mistake), snails, crabs, and a few mushrooms. I test my water regularly and do a small water change every two weeks. Everything tested fine. I now have a qt tank, but I didnt at the time. One day, the yellow tang died, about 2-3weeks after I got him. I took him out, then 2-3 days later, all the other fish died. They werent eating, they werent swimming very much, no scratching against the rocks, no big change in discoloration, nothing growing on them, no spots or anything, just died. Everything died except the mushrooms, the snails, crabs, and a brittle star. Now, 3 weeks later, the mushrooms are blooming, snails and crabs are all over that tank, but when I try to add a couple damsels after putting them in a qt tank, they die within a day. I don't know whats in the water that allows inverts to thrive while fish cant last a day.

My other tank is a 54 Corner. And the same thing, I slowly added fish over 6-8 months, til I had some damsels, a clown, 4 green chromis, and a lemonpeel angel. I have a big canister filter running this tank and I use R.O. water when I do water changes. The lemonpeel angel lasted a couple weeks, and he had been in the LFS for almost a month before I got him. He was eating, swimming around, acting fine, then dead the next day. Now, almost a week later, all 4 chromis died, and the clown and the blue damsels arent swimming very much, but they're still eating, but the snails and crabs are doing fine. Does anyone know what I can do to save these fish? Is there some medication that I can put in the water that's like a "cure-all"? Or something? anything I can do or am doing wrong? I'd really like to save these fish. Please help

 

[revhtree]

?????????hmmmm??????????

Is somone using some kind of cleaning agent around the tanks??

 

[austinsdad]

Both tanks? Wow. I'd really think hard about any cleaning agents you may be using on both. Any household pesticide bombs or anything? But than again, you say the snails and crabs are doing fine.

New rocks added before the die-offs started? Anything new?

Hate to ask - - but, could any visitors be throwing stuff into the tanks? Adults? Kids?

Sounds you got a case for CSI. Not to make light of your situation though. Sounds really scary presuming your water testing found no problems.

 

[benj316]

i dont use any cleaning agents, but i use the same siphon to clean it.. and the 54 corner is in my office, another building.

 

[austinsdad]

Whoah! Even weirder now!

 

[steve r]

did you by and chance get one "container" of food and split it up for the office and home? maybe it is in the food. there has to be something in common if they both show the same symptoms

steve r

 

[benj316]

I feed them both a variety of frozen food from the same packages, could that be it?

 

[benj316]

What all should I be testing?

I test for pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and salinity. Do I need to get more test kits, like calcium? And should there be a difference in the tests between a fish only and a reef?

 

[steve r]

calcium would not be as important for a FO unless you are growing coraline algae. as far as i have learned calcium levels plus or minus would not kill a fish. i think you hve the tests covered for general health. your inverts would show some signs as well i think if it was water quality. i am really kind of new to this myself and i wish i could help more. did any of your fish have cloudy eyes?

steve r

 

[mikebranson]

I had a similar problem that i posted about in another location - Had a yellow tang go first and the rest of the tank followed minus my inverts...
I think my lava rock has some high iron content and may be the problem..
what kind of rock do you have?

 

[benj316]

no cloudy eyes, i have what was called reef bones, i guess just basic dead rock, had that from the beginning, never added any more rock.

 

[benj316]

the guy at the lfs told me to do a freshwater dip on the remaining fish, what do you think?

 

[srgetz]

I would skip FW dips. They can be very stressfull to the fish and only help when there is a visible parasite problem on the fish. What I would do is at least 3-4 large water changes over the next week or so, using aged (24hrs) and aerated sw. Put new carbon in the filter and replace it weekly. This will help absorb whatever may be in the water.

Other thoughts before changing water:

What is your water source? Was a water conditioner / declorinater was used? Could be contaminated water. What brand salt are you using and did you just buy this before problems started? I was also going to suggest a temp. problem but I don't see it would be common to 2 tanks.

 

[benj316]

I use R.O. water, Oceanic Salt, and Prime. I'm not using aged water, just mixing it, then putting it in, but I'll mix it up beforehand from now on.

 

[srgetz]

It it pretty well documented that during the first 12hrs or so freshly mixed SW has very low oxygen content and other chemical reactions ongoing that are bad for fish - don't know if this would kill but I guess it could. I do not know why salt companies don't print this on the instructions. Most of the SW community recommends 24hrs for the sw to mix and aerate (with powerhead or air pump) - to get oxygenated and chemically stable. Also don't forget a heater so your new batch is close to tank temp.

Hmm, you might want to see if RO water is available at a local grocery or lfs. If not, I have had good luck in the past with Prime, but you might want to get another bottle of that (or other) in case it is a "bad batch". Good luck and keep at it...it will get better

 

[jaiden]

I bet that's it. mix it for 24h with good aeration before adding