Water problems? Had some death(s) --- and water temp

[75galsalt]

Things have been going great, test water every 3 days, first went and bought 2 false clowns one died on the 5th day home and the other was gone on the 6th day still have not found him. they both were breathing heavy from the 2nd day in tank.

then a week later after I did a water change due to water test of

ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
NO3 80
NO2 0

I lost a long time resident damsil he disapeared in tank as well, saw heavy breathing also knew his time was coming to a close he is still gone

Water change test results were at

ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
NO3 20
NO2 0

Now a week later last two water test exact same

ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
NO3 80
NO2 0

I can not seem to get the ph high enough and NO3 has never gone below 20 now it is back to 80

Now my other clown was breathing heavy last couple of days, I took him out he is now in a smaller tank owned by my mother in hopes he wil stop breathing so hard and of course hoping he lives (he has been in tank over 6 weeks)

Still in tank is a lawnmower, a med. yellow tang about 3 inches , one inch false clown and one small damsil, cleaner shrimp, couple of hermits


could it be the fish that died in my rocks someplace? should I remove rocks and find them?

I have some growth on rocks and some small soft coral so...

I have a digi cam, will post pics this am

only other thing i am fighting is water temp it is around 82 degrees, i can not buy a cooler just too much $ now, I have been putting in once a day those frozen blue things you put in a cooler i have three of them an they thaw fast in the water, only time water gets below 80 is when I do a water change, but next day it is back up and my A/C is at 74 degrees and I have unplugged my heater! however my light is on about 12 hours a day

[melosu58]

Could maybe be an acclimation problem. Your PH is a little low but not out of kilter. I know lots of people that keep their water at 80-82 degrees. What type of filtration do you have? Keep doing those PWC. Twice a week for now.

[75galsalt]

only filter i use is a double bio wheel, with AC - have two MJ 1200 powerheads each end of tank and 85lbs of live rock

[melosu58]

The bio wheels are a source of nitrates. I would think about getting a good skimmer. That would be a big help.

[lando]

I agree, the biowheel could be a contributing to the NO3 problem. More commonly, excess feeding and over-stocking are bigger players. A ph of 7.8 is not too bad. Fish can tolerate a wide range in Ph but do not handle drastic swings in Ph well at all. It is normal for Ph to vary in a tank with the light cycle. To get the best estimate if Ph is stable, test twice a day at the same time every day. Once in the morning when you get up and once in the evenig right before the lights go out.

Tachypnea is a sure sign of stress in your fish. Can be caused by external sources or water parameters. Are any of the other fish in the tank showing signs? While an NO3 of 80 is very elevated, I would not rule out fish aggrssion as a cause of death. Even three cowns in a 75gal can be trouble. They are territorial fish. I once tried to add a skunk clown to to my 72gal with a pair of percs and things did not go well.

So...Keep up on the water changes, look into getting a skimmer and bump up the LR by 40-50lbs.

[75galsalt]

so as fa as the bio wheels, should i remove the round things that turn? and just let the water fall out? with out turning the wheels?

more rock? wow my tank looks so full now.. going to walmart now to buy a battery for the digi cam wil post pics in a bit

agression? no one is agressive all seem to like each other... no one chases the other

[melosu58]

I would probably wait till I got some more rock like Lando said and look into the skimmer and then I would remove the whole bio wheel filter.

[roka64]

You never answered the question on acclimating. What is your procedure?

You can also replace the Biowheels with LR rubble. Does your canister have the sponges or anything else in it?

Do you have any kind of clean up crew.

As for the temp. Get a fan or two.
Ph can be helped with more gas exchange, "surface ripple". But as long as it is stabe, your pH looks ok.

[75galsalt]

sorry on the pics, the darn digi cam is not working, time for a new one, spent hours on it yesterday...

acclimating - i let them sit in the tank in the bag for temp. then put in half a cup of my water till bag is almost full every 30 mins. then let loose with out putting the water from the bag in my tank

the hob biowheel housing has fiber (that blue fabric) around plastic housing with a very small amount of charcoal - i have bought more larger pcs of charcoal and set inside a womans stocking and spread out inside the other two housing units that came with the biowheel


Update****************** 8.15am Sunday

OK let me tell you how yesterday went some of you may cringe

I was so upset over the loses (and rest his soul the clown did not make it the night in my Moms well established tank)

I made some changes yesterday - I took out all of my rocks and placed them in my qt tank (with the main tank water i placed in tank first ) then took main tank water and put in another qt tank with my livestock - i added 40 more lbs of good sand from lfs (u know i did not find any of the fish that had died - my hermits must be eating better than i thought!)

i removed 50% of my water and replaced it with new - I bought another power head that swivals back and forth so now i have three total of 835gph now (one on each end of tank facing each other and the mj1200 in the back of tank in the middle with the hydor 360degee rotating head facing front of tank)

waited for the water to clear from sand and replaced the rocks then the live stock -

I am so happy I did this major adjustment now we will see if it stays my new water test are as follows (darn ph)

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
NO3 0 =================FIRST TIME EVER YEAH!!
NO2 0

I am going to buckle down and buy a skimmer I am still so conused on all of them everyone I look at I find bad reviews somewhere on it ... hardest thing I have to decide this is a purchase I do not want to mess up on the first time -

[angelscrx]

Take some water to the LFS store and have them test it. You've had some deaths and no ammonia spikes, that's a little strange. I would take do that just to be sure my test kits were all good. IMO

[seaham358]

What type of water are you using? Tap? have you tested your water for nitrates? Like the others said toss any filter pads or at least clean or replace weekly.
You should try and find dead fish, when the break down they will just add to the nitrates. Unless you have a large clean up crew to eat them..

[75galsalt]

I use tap, then use the chemical to fix it and let it sit with a maxijet 1200 to "AGE" it

again after changes water is

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
NO3 0
NO2 0

Just purchased the Remora AquaC Skimmer - being shipped now... wish us luck

[roka64]

NO3 0 =================FIRST TIME EVER YEAH!!

how old is your tank?

[75galsalt]

12 weeks old