losing fish

[FishFreak1961]

Well, I woke to find my yellow tang I've had for 2 mos, a new y-head jawfish and my royal gramma of 2 mos. dead. I cannot imagine why unless I over
done chemical Saturday a.m. Used ammo lock to work on trace of ammonia and marine buffer to bring up PH from 7.9. What in the world!! My shrimp, crabs, and starfish are still living and a blue damsel. The Royal Gramma has acted strange swimming vertically some in the last wk or so. Do I need to
do a water change?

 

[melosu58]

It sure does sound like you did over do it. Just adding any will overdo it. Yes do a 33% PWC. Dont add any of those chemicals anymore. What size tank? How long has it been up and running? Have you cycled your tank?

 

[FishFreak1961]

I have a 36 gallon tank running since mid Oct. Is it normal that hardly
anything is in the skimmer? (Instant Ocean Skimmer)
So you recommend never using ANY chemical?
My ph was at 7.9 and the nitrates 5 and I guess I should have left it alone.
How do you get ph to rise and what kind of water do you use? All I have
is well water. I need water today to do the change - is well or a
neighbors city tap water ok or should I wait for to go buy RO water tomorrow?
I'm afraid to wait. I just lost my shrimp too LIVE AND LEARN.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Low pH: Causes and Cures by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[melosu58]

As far as Tap water read this.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm

A few more observations. The yellow tang cant be in a tank that small. The size of the tank will stunt the immune system for the fish causing disease and parasites quicker access to the fish. I`ve seen it happen many times. It`s best not to use chems as much as possible. If you did your cycle which it almost sounds like you didnt, the nitrogen cycle would be doing it`s job. You would not need no chem for ammonia. It also sounds like you added too many fish at a time. Just some observations I noticed.

 

[FishFreak1961]

Any advice on the water change I had mentioned previously.
well water vs tap water, purified water. It shows on IO salt container
that you can use purified water (which I have) to mix it. My aquarium
honestly ran for one month with no one in it. Then I only added 2 damsels
after that. After it ran 2 mos. I added the YT. Must be overfeeding.
I only feed two times a day flake in the am and mysis in the evening
as much as they can it in a couple of minutes. I have several crabs and
snails and shrimp that I thought helped with that clean up.

 

[FishFreak1961]

My apologies, I didn't notice the water link above your comments. Sorry.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you originally cycled your tank, and then let it sit for a month with nothing in it, and nothing to create ammonia, then most likely your bacteria died off. When you put the 2 damsels in, it probably kicked off another cycle. Then it sounds like after 2 months you put in the tang, and the gramma? Probably kicked off another cycle. As mentioned earlier, if you were using an ammonia neutralizer, then your bacteria wasn't doing it's job which usually means too much stock, too quick.

 

[Krypt]

For your feedings you may want to go to an every other day feeding plan. The damsels and inverts will do fine with that schedule and it'll help reduce some of the levels your seeing.

 

[eatsomepopcorn]

Think carefully about all the variables and exactly what you did. These things happen generally because of some change or action we take.