please help only 2 fish left!

[greggsvt]

This week I lost 4 blue damsels (2 with the yellow tails) and my bi-color pseudochromis! Oh yeah I also lost 3 or 4 turbo snails. I have'nt added any new fish in a year and all this seemed to happen after my last water change! I don't see any signs of disease. My last damsel was acting fine on Wednesday and I found him dead this morning! I don't have any live rock so any predator such as Mantis shrimp is out of the question. My water parameters are all good.The only thing that is a little high is my ammonia which is reading 0.25 but it has always read this way. The fish have lived with the ammonia level since I added them in over a year ago. Could my tap water have had high concentrations of something poisionous to fish? Do you guys think a RO/DI filter would help prevent this? PLease any advice would be greatly appreciated! I still have my Yellow Tang and my Coral Beauty left so if there is any advice please give it! I do use dechlorinator for my water changes too!

 

[indy]

Any detectable ammonia is not good water parameters. Especially a year after setting up the tank, ammonia should have ceased to be a problem a long long time ago. Best guess would be either something happend to your water supply, which is not at all uncommon, or something went wrong during the water change. What kind of filtration are you using, what size tank, etc. More info would be helpful.

 

[austinsdad]

Any lotions, meds, or other stuff on your hands/arms the day you did the water change? Just shootin' in the dark here trying to help ya brainstorm on what was different about the water change that day.

 

[Sam]

If this happened at your last water change, then something was different then. However please post your chemistry testing results:

SG, pH, water temp., NH3, NO2, NO3. Something obviously went wrong with the water to trigger this reaction

 

[nodoubt471]

sorry for your loss there

do you have well water or city water? if you have city water, check and see if they have changed anything in their additives... you may need to look into getting a RO/DI unit regardless.

 

[seaham358]

What size tank???? And Nodoubt asks what kind of water? Any chance of chlorine in the water? Spray any glass cleaner near the tank? You may want to get some LR also to help with the filtration of the tank.
How long did you mix the water for and was it up to temp?
Amm in a year old tank is no good????? This is why I ask what size tank..

 

[jaiden]

how long are you mixing your water? matching temp and ph?

 

[greggsvt]

My tank size is 75 gallons. I use city water. When I mix my salt water I mix it in a 5 gallon bucket that is only used for aquarium water. I have a Aqua C Remora hang on tank protein skimmer an Aqua Clear 300 power filter 2 powerhead 402's for circulation. Nitrate is 0ppm Nitrite0ppm Ammonia 0.25ppm PH 8.3 Specific Gravity 1024.5 Temp 79.0. Instant Ocean salt mix.no corals or live rock. 2 10,000k 48inch flourescent bulbs. I add my salt water as soon as I dilute it with the tap water after adding dechlorinator, is this maybe the culprit? I know some people let their water sit over night. I bought one of those Aquarium Pharmaceuticals tap water filters today and it is supposed to remove all of the bad stuff out of tap water, does anybody have any experience with this product? If I use the tap water filter and let the filtered water sit over night after mixing the salt in should this be an acceptable substitute over a RO/DI unit?

 

[seaham358]

No substitute for ro/di
Water should be mixed for 24 hrs before used and brought up to temp very important. I run a PH and have a heater in my water before I use it.
AMM??? how old is the tank.. you should have 0 amm.. Did you find all the dead fish? If not this could be the cause of amm.
Adding SW right after mixing IMO could be the cause, a shift in the PH and temp can kill the fish.
Letting it sit over night will also help with the chlorine.

 

[jaiden]

I paid $120 or so for my rodi off ebay. it came with a pressure tank and faucet. Others have paid less even.

 

[Sam]

Greggsvt, I would follow the advice above on mixing and letting the water sit for a while before use. This allows for oxygenation and good mixing of the water and also for temperature to stabilize etc. You mentioned that you have always had ammonia, however, in a marine tank that really should be at 0. So that may be one factor. One possibility is that your tank for whatever reason is not properly cycled/cycling due maybe to the water parameters. Especially since you have no coral or live rock, water para. become more critical.As a result any change in the trace elements of your city water could trigger an event. All just guesses based on what you describe. Would definitely consider getting the RO/DI unit. Also make sure that pH and temp is equalized before adding to the tank. HTH and again, sorry for your losses

 

[PiscesLou]

I made the mistake of useing tap water and a dechrorinator about 30 min after mixing, about a day later my yellow tang died. ever since then Ive used RO/DI water. sorry for your loss.

 

[greggsvt]

Well first off I want to thank everybody for their help! From now on I'm going to use my tap water filter and let the salt/water mix sit in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and an air stone for at least 24 hours!! I'm going to hold off on the RO/DI unit until I see how well the tap water filter works. This unit is supposed to remove: Dissolved minerals, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, carbonate, fluoride. All heavy metals, copper, zinc, lead, iron, cadmium , aluminum.- Phosphate, nitrate, ammonia, silicate, nitrite and all sorts of other organic pollutants! If anybody has any experience with the tap water filter please let me know how you think it works!

 

[Sam]

I don't have any direct experience with it, but from what Ihave heard, it works pretty well. It will be better that the tap water though. I am sure with the steps you plan to take moving forward, everything will work out fine. Good luck.

 

[quarryshark]

Also may want to get a declorinizer as well.
Of course a RO unit would fix this problem all together. A great investment.
You can also get RO water from your LFS.
Who do you use?

 

[greggsvt]

RMS-Aquarium Adventures.

 

[quarryshark]

I pretty sure Aquarium Adventures stocks R/O water. RMS honestly I would stay away from. Lots of problems with their stock.
Until you can get a RO unit, you could get quality water from them. Either that or check out Aquatic Tech in Columbia station...thats a fabulous LFS, they sell R/O water too.

 

[greggsvt]

I like the fish at Aquatic Tech but it is almost impossible to get help there! I will stand there waiting for 20 minutes for help. You'll get these people in there asking 50 questions with only 1 or 2 people working the floor! I was just there on Saturday and left after 30 minutes of waiting! Can you tell I'm bitter? Thanks for the suggestions though!

 

[quarryshark]

LOL, Gregs an interesting guy. Once they know you, attitudes change.
Aquarium Adventure has nice stock too.

 

[greggsvt]

I did't mean to come out sounding rude or unthankful for your advice! I just never had any luck with that particular store! Maybe it's my fault for going on Saturday! I should go during the week before work. I do appreciate your advice!