Help! New Fish Dying

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by baron1282

Another observation! Lack of Oxygen? I see that the lid is a plastic one that leaves only the back open. Get some Egg Crate from Home Depot or something and do something like this.

Thought about it too. Most people say skimmer provides enough oxygen. But I will take one half of the lid to see if it works.

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by baron1282

Another observation! Lack of Oxygen? I see that the lid is a plastic one that leaves only the back open. Get some Egg Crate from Home Depot or something and do something like this.

New look. Only half lid on.

[baron1282]

Be careful with the Goby, they like to Jump!

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by baron1282

Be careful with the Goby, they like to Jump!

Thanks. I am aware of that.

[MarinaClown]

I'm beginning to figure it out. Things started to go downhill when I got rid of Purigen that I was running in my aquaclear. Removing Purigen probably changed the water params not only due to change in filtration but also removal of bacteria that was attached to the little bag Purigen came in. It's all starting to click now. What a big mistake. I thought that my live rock and other stuff had enough bacteria and would be sufficient filtration.
Either gonna get another bag to run in my aquaclear or buy a media reactor. Dang it!

[baron1282]

Hope that was the case. Generally that stuff is not suppose to be removed unless you seeded a new one. I saw some pictures of your filter, can you put the bio-Rings in there? I would go with more Bio-Rings than Purigen. Also, if you could fit this in

Amazon.com: Polybio Poly Filter Pad 4 X 8" 3/pack: Pet Supplies

They are an awesome filter, and help keep my tank running smooth! It removes a lot of bad stuff. If you could fit this in the filter, maybe use this for a while.

Amazon.com: Fluval C4 Ammonia Remover - 3-Pack: Pet Supplies

[donniea1800]

Removing the Purigen should not have affected anything. All your bacteria should be in your live rock and sand. The purigen would not be housing much bacteria. Purigen should be removed and replaced. Did you by happen to try to re-activate your purigen recently? Has anyone sprayed anything near your tank recently? (cleaners or insecticides?)

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by donniea1800

Removing the Purigen should not have affected anything. All your bacteria should be in your live rock and sand. The purigen would not be housing much bacteria. Purigen should be removed and replaced. Did you by happen to try to re-activate your purigen recently? Has anyone sprayed anything near your tank recently? (cleaners or insecticides?)

No I got rid of Purigen all together. Only thing I can think of is spraying Windex on paper towel near the tank to clean the outside of the aquarium.
If there was any chemical infestation why are my corals doing ok? Wouldn't they be "unhappy" and stay closed?
Thanks.

[donniea1800]

Hmm. Ok so its not the purigen. I doubt the windex had anything to do with it either. Yeah I would think your corals would be unhappy if there was a pollutant of some kind in the water. Its a tough one to figure out. Hey how about your food? What do you feed? If its frozen food is there a possbility it sat out too long? Could a pollutant have made it in the food? That would cause the death of the fish, but there may not be enough in the water to harm the corals. Has anyone other than you fed your fish recently? Do you handle any chemicals possibly shortly before preparing their food. I am thinking food poisoning may be the answer. It could also be you got a bad batch. Do you buy new food shortly before it happened?

[donniea1800]

Sorry I meant DID you handle any chemicals or DID you buy new food? Sorry typing too fast.

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by donniea1800

Sorry I meant DID you handle any chemicals or DID you buy new food? Sorry typing too fast.

It's interesting you mention this. I was researching last night and came across an article that mentioned spoiled food as one of the reasons fish can die. They recommended to keep food for 60 days or less. Mine had been kept in the freezer for over 90. So food poisoning is definitely a possibility. I'm going to LFS today to get new mysis and brine shrimp. Thanks for your help.

[donniea1800]

You ate welcome. That is the best guess I have to explain the sudden death of the fish and corals being fine. Sorry this happened.

[Gregcoyote]

Originally Posted by MarinaClown

It's interesting you mention this. I was researching last night and came across an article that mentioned spoiled food as one of the reasons fish can die. They recommended to keep food for 60 days or less. Mine had been kept in the freezer for over 90. So food poisoning is definitely a possibility. I'm going to LFS today to get new mysis and brine shrimp. Thanks for your help.

I wish I could agree with this. Frozen fish food lasts a lot longer than 90 days. I would place food poisoning low on the list. There still are many different reasons why the fishes died. Do you put on any lotions on your hands, even a trace of soap can nuke a tank. But I think I remember you use gloves, but always? I looked at your pictures again and the fishes slime coat looked pretty ragged. Of course, there are many causes for this, but one is shock. Temp swing or big ph swing could cause. Also too rapid acclimation when introduced. And you could even have bought fish that weren't treated well during capture or shipping.

Try a different LFS, have them double check your water and buy a really easy test fish. Acclimate over at least an hour or two, see what happens.

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

I wish I could agree with this. Frozen fish food lasts a lot longer than 90 days. I would place food poisoning low on the list. There still are many different reasons why the fishes died. Do you put on any lotions on your hands, even a trace of soap can nuke a tank. But I think I remember you use gloves, but always? I looked at your pictures again and the fishes slime coat looked pretty ragged. Of course, there are many causes for this, but one is shock. Temp swing or big ph swing could cause. Also too rapid acclimation when introduced. And you could even have bought fish that weren't treated well during capture or shipping.

Try a different LFS, have them double check your water and buy a really easy test fish. Acclimate over at least an hour or two, see what happens.

I do use lotion my hands almost everyday due to dry skin so that's also a possibility. Even wearing gloves probably doesn't guarantee that water inside the gloves will not carry some of the traces back into the tank when my hands are down there.
It's been five days since my clowns died and I haven't put anything in there yet. I took half of the glass lid covering the aquarium and put additional filter pad to remove any chemicals.
I will do another water change tomorrow and see what water params are. I did test on Sunday and here is what they were:
Phosphate: .25 (higher than normal)
Calcium: 380
dKH:10
PH: 8.1
AM:0
Trates:15
Trites:0

[Gregcoyote]

It's easy to forget and dip a hand in that might have lotion on it. Depending on the lotions ingredients, this could be meaningless or could be the culprit.

[Damarferg]

Originally Posted by MarinaClown

Hi, folks

I've been having problems lately with my aquarium. I lost several fish already. They seem to die within 3-4 days of being added to the tank. It's been happening a lot lately.
I thought it was Ich but they do not show Ich symptoms and I have been told by couple LFS owners that Ich takes longer to kill fish and symptoms are more visible. I traded in my more expensive stock for store credit in fear of losing it.
Right now I have two skunk clowns and a blue spotted watchman goby. The goby is ok but one of the skunks looks like he is about to die.
About tank:
40 gallon breeder.
Reef octopus BH100 skimmer
About 1000 gallons per hour between powerhead and aquaclear 50.
41 lbs of live rock
40 lbs of live sand
Ammonia-0
Nitrate: 10
Nitrite:0
PH: 8.2
KH: 10
Below is the picture of the sick clown. He was added 4 days ago.
They were eating fine yesterday. Haven't fed them today yet.

Do you have plenty of water flow and patience by adding fish. if you don't do this do it by doing the drip method and floating the bag before you add your fish in the tank. Take your time so you do t shock the fish

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by Damarferg

Do you have plenty of water flow and patience by adding fish. if you don't do this do it by doing the drip method and floating the bag before you add your fish in the tank. Take your time so you do t shock the fish

I will try longer acclimation this time around. Thanks

[Damarferg]

Originally Posted by MarinaClown

I will try longer acclimation this time around. Thanks

No problem

[MarinaClown]

I'm beginning to think what I have in my tank is Marine Velvet. My tank has been running fishless for three days. Goby went to LFS. Not sure what to do.
I might add a green Chromis to see what happens. No other way to find out. This is not fun at all.

[MarinaClown]

If the new fish dies too, I'm gonna run the aquarium without fish for 8-10 weeks.