Fish keep dying

[Friction]

So, after I bought my first clown fish and it died a few days later I decided that I should try another fish. I went and got me a nice looking fire goby, brought him home, did the usual stuff to get him in his new home, i.e. floating the bag in my tank for over an hour, I tested bag water for PH and salinity, was 8.3 and 1.026. Then I added 5ml of my water to bag every 20mins after the first half hour he was there. I let him out and he was swimming happily around the tank. I woke up this morning to a dead goby what am I doing wrong here! I'm really bummed about all this. My tank parameters are fine, Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5. PH 8.2 salinity 1.025 temp 23c to 24c. Is there anything else I can test for, check or change? That's two fish dead out of the two fish I bought from different lfs

 

[tangs27]

How long has the tank been setup? Are you using ro/di water?

 

[Friction]

Tank has been up and running since January. I got two sexy shrimp, a fire shrimp, star polyps and a bubble tip anemone all doing fine.

 

[tangs27]

That's very odd. The inverts would most likely go first if something was in the water so I doubt it is anything like that. Were there any marks on the fish?

 

[Friction]

Nothing, I have another post of my clown, there is a picture there. Is there anything else I can test?

 

[Friction]

Can KH kill fish? Should I test that?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Kind of sounds like acclimation shock. An hour in the bag floating is kind of a lot. I float for 10-15 mins and then start my drip, drip until my params match (usually 1-2 hours depending on how fast I drip) and then float in a breeder box for 20-25 mins after to re-temp acclimate. I suggest you get a cheap 2 gal bucket, and a cheap air pump/stone makes acclimating fish pretty easy
Edit: and no dkh will not kill your fish

 

[Friction]

I did exactly what you are saying you do. An hour or so in total.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

floating the bag in my tank for over an hour, I tested bag water for PH and salinity, was 8.3 and 1.026. Then I added 5ml of my water to bag every 20mins after the first half hour he was there.

Is this how you did it, or did you drip like I described? Also those params don't match what you posted your tanks at later in the post.

 

[Friction]

An hour total. I opened bag right away, let it float in tank for 20 or so minutes then i add 5ml of tank water every 15 to 20 minutes for an hour or so. Not sure what you mean by drip or where I have conflicting parameters

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/saltwaterfishdiseases/a/aaacclimatingdr.htm
That's the easiest/most effective way to acclimate. Adding a shot glass of tank water 3-4 times isn't enough

 

[Friction]

Thanks for that, but do you think this is the reason im killing my fish? Should I try again..... *sigh*

 

[Andy Sager]

Improper acclimation kills more fish than you think. Sounds like this was your situation. First, when trying to temp acclimate, you don't open the bag, just float it. Assuming that these fish were purchased from a local store, a 15 minute float will be long enough to temp adjust. THEN, open the bag to add water.
A better way to acclimate is a drip system. That is basically a bucket, a piece of airline tubing that will reach from your tank down to the bucket on the floor ( best place to put a bucket so it doesn;t spill ), an airstone and an adjustable valve. If your water temp in the bag is close to the temp of your tank, you can skip the float as the water as it drips into the bucket will adjust the water temp to what's in the tank. The next key is to drip water to a speed of approximately 1 drip per second. Use the valve to adjust the speed. The airstone is next. You want to aerate the water in the bucket but not too much as heavy aeration will alter the PH and possibly too rapidly for the fish. In colder water, you don;t need a lot of air. In warmer water you need more air. Observation will tell you if don;t have enough air going. If the fish is hyperventilating after being in the bucket for a few minutes, you will need to up the airflow just a bit. ( This is a case where more and a lot more is not always better ) If you are buying your fish and they are traveling a distance and are asleep and in cold water when you get them, you need to start everything slow and increase drip and airflow as the water warms and the fish wake up. What you are trying to ultimately achieve is to have the water in the bucket be 99% new water from your tank and 1% water from what the fish came in. The time frame for this changes based on the amount of water you start with. Again, 1 drop per second is a good flow rate to use.

Hope this helps. PM me if you have more questions

 

[Friction]

Great! Thank you Andy. I will try again when my lfs has a new consignment of fish and try the drip method. Fingers crossed i don't kill another fish.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Improper acclimation kills more fish than you think. Sounds like this was your situation. First, when trying to temp acclimate, you don't open the bag, just float it. Assuming that these fish were purchased from a local store, a 15 minute float will be long enough to temp adjust. THEN, open the bag to add water.
A better way to acclimate is a drip system. That is basically a bucket, a piece of airline tubing that will reach from your tank down to the bucket on the floor ( best place to put a bucket so it doesn;t spill ), an airstone and an adjustable valve. If your water temp in the bag is close to the temp of your tank, you can skip the float as the water as it drips into the bucket will adjust the water temp to what's in the tank. The next key is to drip water to a speed of approximately 1 drip per second. Use the valve to adjust the speed. The airstone is next. You want to aerate the water in the bucket but not too much as heavy aeration will alter the PH and possibly too rapidly for the fish. In colder water, you don;t need a lot of air. In warmer water you need more air. Observation will tell you if don;t have enough air going. If the fish is hyperventilating after being in the bucket for a few minutes, you will need to up the airflow just a bit. ( This is a case where more and a lot more is not always better ) If you are buying your fish and they are traveling a distance and are asleep and in cold water when you get them, you need to start everything slow and increase drip and airflow as the water warms and the fish wake up. What you are trying to ultimately achieve is to have the water in the bucket be 99% new water from your tank and 1% water from what the fish came in. The time frame for this changes based on the amount of water you start with. Again, 1 drop per second is a good flow rate to use.

Hope this helps. PM me if you have more questions

That's a great write up. Only thing I would add is if you can't find/don't want to buy an air valve the same thing can be accomplished by tying a knot in the air line

 

[Andy Sager]

That's a great write up. Only thing I would add is if you can't find/don't want to buy an air valve the same thing can be accomplished by tying a knot in the air line.

That's how we all started but found that the valve is a more reliable control. Knots tended to stop and start and get kinks in them so the flow was unreliable. I just use the valves from the airline connection kit ($4.99) from petsmart & petco ( I make my own gang valves too ) or my LFS sells the valves individually for about $1.00-$1.25 each. A good investment if it saves a fish don't you think?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Yes I agree completely. I use an air valve from an old skimmer that I had laying around