mysterious deaths

[ChrisB]

well about 4 months ago i got a small yellow tang... he did fine for those 4 months. about 3 weeks ago, he was acting very strange and didnt eat and by the end of the night was dead... he was doing excellent the day before. i didnt see him in his final hours because of my excellent cleaning crew so i wouldnt know if he looked thin or anything
now my coral beauty just died wit no signs of death, his stomach is full, he has lost no coloring, the only thing wrong was that he was laying on the floor gasping. ive had him since november
now these two past mysterious deaths have been very frustrating especailly since i just fixed up the quarantine for a fish i have on hold at the pet store... an extremely small hippo tang that ive have had on hold for the past week
all the other fish are doing fine... but then again i have said that about the coral beauty. ive got a blue damsel, a 3 striped damsel, clownfish, and purple firefish currently alive in my tank, no signs of stress eating well. my levels are all 0s (give or take one or two on the nitrates) and my ph is around 8. there are no signs of stress or death on any fish. my two shrimp are doing fine, my unidentified crab is doing fine, my snails and hermits are too. my reverse osmosis however is letting more ppm out then usual but i still age the water for a good time. any idea on how they died would be a big help and if i have excluded any info you all need just ask me about it, cause i probably have.

 

[ChrisB]

btw i always quarentine fish, i feed every other day, and i cants say im doing anything different from when the tank was in good health

 

[Hara]

What are your tank readings exactly, (not give or take). Also, temperature and salt readings. How often do you do water changes.

 

[ChrisB]

well the slainity is 1.025, when i say give or take on the nitrates i say that because it is hard to tell on my test kit to exact but i seriously doubt the nitrates are the problem. ammonia, nitirites, are easy to see the 0. i do water changes weekly about 5 to 7 gallons. the temperature has always been a little high (82-84) because i have yet to purchase a cooler but since it has always been like that for the coral beauty's life time in my tank i doubt thats the problem either.

 

[ChrisB]

well i just discovered after doing a 15 gallon water change my ph is only 7.6. My test kit shows 8 but the pet store's shows a low 7.6. This could be becqause of my 15 water change so i will take a test later for reasurance. what should i do just in case my ph is a little off. I noticed that my lights werent running that long so i am now running my lights for 6 hours a day. the reason they werent on that much is temperature.

 

[Hara]

The low ph is a good candidate for being the contributing factor. One of the things you might try is running your lights mostly at night. This helps me somewhat as the ambient temperature of the house is cooler at night.
It is a good idea to test the water you are adding before adding it. Aerate it well before adding.

 

[steve-s]

well i just discovered after doing a 15 gallon water change my ph is only 7.6. My test kit shows 8 but the pet store's shows a low 7.6.

Never rely on the pH test done by your LFS. Once the sample has been removed from the tank it will be affected by how it's transported regardless of time. If covered, the pH will lower on it's own and if uncovered the sample will be artificially aerated and raise the pH reading.

If your unsure of your readings, take your test kit to them and compare reading on their water doing a side by side test. That will be much more accurate in determining the validity of your results.

I think you and Hara are on the right track for the heat issue though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ChrisB]

thanks for your help because that at least verifies what ive been thinking. im running the lights a lot longer now so that should raise the ph. the coral beauty was very aggresive to the other fish which cause the other fish to show themselves seldomly. I hate that he died but im glad that the other fish are now out and about and able to get food without it being a competition. so i guess his death wasnt completely bad.

 

[steve r]

a small fan will help with the heat untill you get the set up you want. i bought a clip fan ( about 4" ) for $5.00 from walmart and blow it across my sump. it lowered the temp 2 degrees.

good luck
steve r

 

[ChrisB]

thanks

im hoping to get a chiller some time in the next couple weeks... or months. hopefully if i can get the temperature at a steady level so i will be able to keep the lights on as long as i want.