RO/DI and sick fish

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saltymarine

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 15, 2004
Messages
21
Location
29 palms CA
This is my first post on this website and I am stuck on a subject I have not been able to find any answers on. I have had my 55 gallon fish/reef aquarium going for about 18 months now. I have currently living is one clown(resides in a bubble tip anemone) and one green damsel. The fish that have perished over the past 2 months are 2 damsels, one yellow tang, and one firefish. All fish were quarantined for 30 days prior to the introduction of the main tank but they have been slowly dying off for no reason and no visible signs of infection. That is except the yellow tang who showed signs of red spots and he was immediately removed. Unfortunately the yellow tang only lasted a week in quarantine and I couldn't save him. These fish started dying off a month after I started introducing RO/DI water into my tank to get my water quality to a premium. Do I need to add some sort of fish additive to the RO/DI water? Is the RO/DI water so clean that it takes some of the basic fish vitamins out. I do add some basic additives for my corrals. :?:
 
PH is 8.2
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 0
Ammonia is 0
temp is 80 degrees
salinity is 1.022
The tank is about 7 years old. I used it for freshwater when I first bought it and converted it to saltwater. I don't understand the fish problem because my inverts are doing great. I have a BTA, two different types of mushrooms, tube worms, turbosnails, little hermit crabs, and some green polyps. The RO/DI water I use is from a local water store that has a huge RO/DI unit.
 
Are you running a skimmer, and what is your water change regimen? Have you seen any aggression from the damsel? Red spots on yellow tangs could be the result of low ph, bacteria or possibly aggression. Damsels are known to pester damsels and others to injury or death. I would consider returning the last damsel if you want to keep a healthy community tank. Good luck...
 
Thanks for the advice. I know the tang had a bacteria infection and one damsel showed some signs that he might also have it. The surviving damsel minds his own business, but he is the most energetic fish in the tank. This guy may have to go, since he could be causing trouble when I am not around. I am running a protien skimmer and a fluval canister filtration system along with using live rock.
 
OK, with bacteria infections, just do several large water changes (25-40%) with aged (24hrs) and aerated sw. Then keep up on the water changes at least bi-weekly. This will reduce doc and bacteria let the fish naturally heal over the next few weeks.
 
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