Why do I keep losing fish?

[sammo2001]

Hi everyone,
I'm after some advice as to why my new fish keep dying.
A couple of months ago I bought a small clown fish, acclimatised him and added him to my cycled main aquarium. He ended up getting ich and dying within 3 days. The water parameters in the main tank were Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0, pH - 8.2 salinity - 1.023SG and temperature - 30 to 31C.
I then went out and bought a 21L QT and added some filter material from my main tank to the QT filter. I then went out and bought a brackish water sail fin molly. I acclimatised him to the salt water over several hours and added him to the QT. once he was happy enough and eating well I added Melafix and Methylene Blue. After a few days in the QT I added him to the main tank and he has been doing fine for about 3 weeks now.
Last weekend I went out and bought a blue and gold damsel and added him to the cleaned QT. He spent most of his time hiding in one of the ornaments in the tank but would come out to eat. I used Melafix and Methylene Blue again but he live for another 3 days. The water parameters of the QT are the same as the main tank except a bit cooler at only 29C.
Has anybody got any ideas as to why these fish keep dying? I'm starting to think its to do with the temperature so I'm considering buying a chiller but I want to be sure it's that before I go out and spend $400 on one.

[Beengirl]

Did you get them all at the same store? Have you tried a different lfs to buy fish from? Maybe it's something in the tanks at the lfs. Damsels are pretty hardy, some people do the entire cycle with them and they live through it sometimes. A temp of 81*F is a little high, but shouldn't be killing the fish. Sorry if you posted this already, I'm on my phone and can't see the original post right this second, but what's your pH and salinity at?

[Beengirl]

What did u cycle your tank with?

[sammo2001]

Ph is 8.2 and SG is at 1.023. I did get them all from the same place but I live in a small city in the north of Australia so it's very very hot and only the one fish shop. I can get them from a guy who gets them straight from the reef but you pay more for it.

[sammo2001]

Cycled with live rock. And it did definitely cycle over 3 weeks

[Beengirl]

How high of an ammonia spike did you get during your cycle? Live rock might give you a light cycle on its own, but might not have been a strong enough cycle to build up enough BB to support an actual fish. I used live rock and a raw shrimp to cycle.

[obscurereef]

I think I know why your fish are dying! Like BeenGirl pretty much stated, 30 to 31 C is around 87!!! That is waaaay too high for a reef tank. It should be 25C (77-82F). Some fish require 22-25 C(72-78) F. I've had my tank at 28.9C (84F) max when it got really hot in the summer, but it's still bad for the fish/inverts to have it so hot and fluctuations of the temp will no doubt kill them. If it's getting too hot I'd recommend getting a chiller, or using A LOT of RO/DI ice (but that would fluctuate the salinity) or take out your heater if you have it on.

[spoonman]

You might also try a clip-on fan blowing across the surface of the water to bring the temp down.

[Beengirl]

I was miscalculating!! I was thinking it was like 82*F!! I'm not great at converting to F. Temp is definitely too high at 87. Still not sure that you had a strong enough cycle, though, since only LR was used. might be a combination of both.

[obscurereef]

The bacteria (if the cycle was completed) might have died off from the extreme heat , and it might be

[sammo2001]

When my ammonia spiked it was above 8ppm (my test kit only goes up to 8). I live in the tropics of Australia with daily temps at the moment getting to about 36-38C so I don't need a heater but I think a chiller might be a requirement.

[sammo2001]

Also the local sea temp here is 27-29C so I might just need to drop the tank temp to the lower temps of this range? I'm guessing that the high temps are just reducing the amount of oxygen in the water and that's why they are dying?

[obscurereef]

Tropical saltwater is usually in the 26-28 range. Keeping a consistent temp is very important. I believe you may need a chiller as 30 C is not going to keep many things alive, it's just too hot! You might be able to find a cheap used chiller on Craigslist or ebay.

[obscurereef]

And I don't think there is a reduction of O2 from the increase of heat. Maybe at a certain point the internal temp gets too out of whack and can't handle it. Just like how a human would have a hard time living in 60C weather (over-dramatic example, but anyway..). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

[sammo2001]

I do have a new chiller eyed up for $360 but want to make sure that is the problem before I invest all that money in the chiller. I might have to see if I can borrow one from somebody around here.

[Beengirl]

Try a couple of the clip on fans across the surface in the meantime, then you can look online for a used chiller maybe. I live in Michigan, so Ive never used a chiller, but have seen they can be very expensive. Have also read about people filling a couple of clean plastic soda bottles with water, freezing it and floating it in the tank to bring temp down. Then when it thaws, just refreeze it and use again. If you have a couple, you can rotate them. It could be temporary fix to keep your fish safe until you can figure something else out.

[sammo2001]

Yeah I might try that but during the day while I'm at work the temp will rise again and probably stress the fish. If everybody here thinks its a temperature problem I will just suck it up and buy the chiller and try a new fish.

[54seaweed]

Originally Posted by sammo2001

Hi everyone,
I'm after some advice as to why my new fish keep dying.
A couple of months ago I bought a small clown fish, acclimatised him and added him to my cycled main aquarium. He ended up getting ich and dying within 3 days. The water parameters in the main tank were Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0, pH - 8.2 salinity - 1.023SG and temperature - 30 to 31C.

sounds more like you cooked him poor guy
you need to drop your temp a bit
sorry you lost the little guy
temp in sw tanks need to be monitored constantly so they dont get to hot or cold

[sammo2001]

Well I guess it's a unanimous decision. I will order the chiller when I get home.

[Shaker]

Also something to add. I had the same problem fish kept going to fish heaven. I was using my old specific gravity tester" the plastic ones" we'll they go bad after a couple months due to saltwater or something" and give the same reading over and over. Well I bought a new one and low and behold my s/g was above 1.031 .. However my old one showed 1.024


Just something to think about