help! fish mysteriously dying

[bapski]

ive lost 3 in less than a week now! 2 in the last two days. my water parameters are ok. save for nitrite .25 and nitrate at .20 . been religious in doing pwc every 2 weeks. every week the last two weeks.

crazy thing is i dont see signs of behavior changes. i see the fish swimming well and then next day i see my crabs feasting on the dead carcass. any ideas guys? im turning on my lights for 24 hours and see if i find something.

its not any of the crabs right? like perhaps preying on a sleeping fish at night and just pounce on them till the fish cant do anything? my conspiracy theory.

temp is at 82. i have a UV light (36 watts0, 130 gallong tank)

 

[Brenden]

Water parameter are not "OK" with a .25 NO2 reading. How long have you had NO2 in the tank? Other than that crabs could be killing them also. Have you seen anything in the tank?

 

[bapski]

guess spoke to soon.. .. double checked and my nitrite was at .25 and nitrate was at 80! so guess found the culprit right? will a 20% pwc do it? do plan to monitor water parameters daily again and do pwc as appropriate.

costly and cruel mistake that could have been averted with death of fish #1. should have checked water parameters by then.

 

[Brenden]

With one 25% WC NO2 would be 60ppm, second 25% WC NO2 would be 45ppm. third 34PPM etc. How many fish are left? You could a multiple step WC.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/nitratecontrol/l/aa091901.htm

 

[bapski]

thanks for the link.

nitrite is 0, nitrate is at 20 right now.. will check parameters again as soon as i come back from work.

left lights on and no casualties found. hopefully problem has been identified and corrected. am not discounting the CRAB theory though. i have two sally light crabs. one died and i cant find the other one. in the lfs, i saw a HUGE sally light crab and afraid mine has grown HUGE too and causing the deaths. again my conspiracy theory.

 

[tecwzrd]

Moving to the sick fish forum:

As Brenden said the no2 higher then 0 is going to cause stress/death in fish and I’m glad you got that resolved along with bringing your no3 more in line.

The Sally Light Foot Crab shouldn’t bother any healthy fish. You may have another type of crab that hitchhiked on your lr though.

Tank is only about a month or two old and I think you are rushing things a bit even with it being 130 gal. Just how many fish/inverts do you currently have?

Filling out your button by going to your Profile Information screen will help provide the necessary equipment list and amount of fish/inverts so people can better answer any questions you might have.

 

[bapski]

thanks tec.. was hoping to ask a mod to transfer my thread as i was just a bit panicky when i posted.

i know im pretty much guilty as to stocking way too fast... blame it on the mrs. who wanted results with the expenses i was incurring. lol

will rest for a minute and check on water parameters.

now im worried. what crab could have hitchhiked on my lr and is beating to death my livestock. i have my lights on 24 hrs. hope this will not bring any other problem.

also, i do have a fuge and i though this would help with my n03! i did notice my caulerpa spreading now so i guess it is consuming my nitrates in a way.

 

[tecwzrd]

i know im pretty much guilty as to stocking way too fast... blame it on the mrs. who wanted results with the expenses i was incurring. lol

Stocking to quickly along with the deaths is probably why you had the no2 spike. Even large tanks need time to develop bacteria and stocking 1-2 fish every 3-5 weeks is usually enough time depending on the size/type of fish. Also using a qt tank before adding to the main will force you to wait 3+ weeks and will help keep fish/inverts from infecting the main tank. Overfeeding could have caused it as well.

now im worried. what crab could have hitchhiked on my lr and is beating to death my livestock. .

Most hitchhikers do not survive the curing process if you let the nh3 rise beyond 4 ppm. If you regularly did pwc to keep the nh3 below 1 ppm to save any life on the lr then it’s possible. Most hitchhikers are fairly harmless and are beneficial to the tank. There are a few crabs and of course the mantis shrimp which could be the cause and often are hard to find.

I have my lights on 24 hrs. hope this will not bring any other problem. .

It’s best to cycle your lights 8-12 hours so your remaining fish can sleep (stressful if not allowed to sleep) and to keep your tank from getting an algae bloom. I cycle mine on a timer from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm so I can enjoy the tank when I get home from work.

also, i do have a fuge and i though this would help with my n03! i did notice my caulerpa spreading now so i guess it is consuming my nitrates in a way.

A fuge will help keep no3 down but you have to trim and remove the spreading growth every couple of weeks to help export the no3.

 

[bapski]

before the deaths ive put my lights on a timer.. with the deaths i figured the fish were being murdered in their sleep so for them to see their attackers, id figured id leave the lights on. lol..

but you are perfectly right though.. it stresses the fish as my blue surgeon would just sleep in-between rocks not minding me displacing some rocks just to get an anthias out. (yup.. apparently showing signs of stress and think will not last long.. )

sigh.. guess id have to wait out and suffer losses, till my water parameters do good again.. will do pwc again tomorrow as i ran out of salt and i just got a 32 gallon trash bin (commercial type) that i can mix salt water in... i plan to get another one tomorrow and then just dump old water in one and replace it with mixed water from the other container..

do have a qt. have an asfur angel (took him out from main tank as he was showing signs of illness too) and a yellow eyed tang. guess theyll be there for awhile and seems they are doing good for now..

this is beginning to be depressing...

 

[Brenden]

Depressing....yes but you learned a lot through this ordeal. It will get better.

 

[bapski]

seemed like the 2 day 20% pwc did not mark any dent on my nitrates. had to do a 50% pwc last night and am thankful nitrates went down from 80 to 20 right now. am preparing saltwater again and plan another 50% pwc tomorrow. this will be just fine right? hopefully i can lower nitrates some more if not just plainly clean substrate of gunk!

 

[Brenden]

WC will def lower the NO3. I question the accuracy of your test. A 50% WC should have lowered the NO3 from 80 to 40 then a 20% change should drop it to 32. Cleaning the substrate and doing PWC's can only help.

 

[bapski]

nitrate was at 80 before pwc. i did two 20% pwc in two consecutive days. apparently did nothing to lower nitrates. did emergency 50% pwc and my nitrates is now at 40 (looked like it was at 20 earlier) hopefully when i do another 50% tomorrow my nitrates will go down some more.

 

[finest]

well before I lost 10 fish in 1 week, now I lost 1 fish a week...

 

[Brenden]

How many fish are left in the tank? What is the NO3 level now?

 

[bapski]

well before I lost 10 fish in 1 week, now I lost 1 fish a week...

by golly! i think you're in worse of a situation than i am. 10 in a week and you are still losing 1 a week? what are your water parameters and what steps have you taken to solve your tank problem?

as for mine. just got back home. will put my youngest son to bed, take water readings, feed fish and then start 50% pwc.

 

[bapski]

just to update you guys. i was able to move the yellow eyed tang to the main tank. what it has done though is just hide into the rocks. and i do think it is also not eating well. hopefully things will turn around for the better.

my asfur angel was not as lucky though. it got caught on the intake of my ph!

 

[bapski]

hmm , , cant seem to find my yellow eyed tang anywhere! im thinking he perished already but have not seen it floating or being munched on by my crabs!

 

[bapski]

finally found the tang and as what i have feared, it was dead. really do not understand how it became ill as it was in the qt for more than 2 weeks, acclimitized before putting on the main tank. well, guess no more new fish for me for now..

 

[FishFrik]

Something in ur tank is attacking ur fish mayb? Some kind of crab?