OK Another fish died....

[zacdl]

OK Now I am 0/3 of fish that have lived. Thats something like $32-33 down the pot.

Im TIRED OF IT!


I am at this point even willing to completely re-do the cycle.

Should I drain it out and then fill up with city water (Not doing the RO) then use some dechlorinator?

Or give up on saltwater all together?

PS I figured out if I push the protien skimmer lower into the water the bubbles will go higher up (And its not collecting anything at all I dont think theres anything in there to collect anymore)

 

[electrikat]

I haven't seen any other posts if you've made them. What seems to be happening to them?

 

[zacdl]

The first one I used to cycle the tank (damsel), no wonder that one died.

The second one (chromis) died suddenly, and the third one did today as well.

I have NO CLUE whats going on, all I can think of is the heavy metal water.

Is it OK to re-start the cycle with dechlored city water and just use dechlored city water from now on?

 

[Phyl]

What kind of skimmer do you have? You'd have to have some really pristine water not to get skimmate. Sounds like a skimmer problem (I'm suffering with this right now too).

As for not going RO/DI... I'm sorry, but that's the only way you're going to eliminate the "WT? is in my water" issue. The good news is that at least that water is supposed to be drinkable so the worst you should end up with using that would be a cyano/hair algae outbreak.

With your next fish... Before you transfer the fish into your system, please make sure that your pH and SG match. If they don't match dump 1/2 of the water out and let it keep dripping (or keep moving shot glass at a time, one every 5 minutes depending on your method) until you get the parms matched.

I'd start over with the water but you should have enough bacteria established not to have to go through the cycle again.

Good luck. I hope this solves your problem once and for all. At least you're not using 40$ fish!

 

[zacdl]

Berlin Airlift 90.

Its well water that I have been using. I bet its pretty metally.

A cycle would give me a chance to collect some money as well, so its not that big of deal.

Ill do the city water thing, because the only place I could think would have that water would be the one LFS here in our area, which charges more than 100% of other places (More like 150%)

 

[ellisz]

You can get RO water from Walmart or most grocery stores.

I would test for the normal stuff and then try some hermits and/or snails. See what happens.

From your other thread ... don't buy a visijet skimmer. Skimmer helps but is not neccessary for fish to live. Save your money and get a decent one.

 

[zacdl]

Whats wrong with dechlored city water? Its tap water made for drinking. I do NOT want to go to the store every time I need more water and I dont want to spend $$ on a RO unit.

 

[AR15 guy]

I have had good luck with my setup. I filled mine up with tap water. Cycled with a damsel. Only have 5lbs of LR. Using filters....

Maybe I got lucky. I have 0 nitrates also. No algea at all. I must be magical.

 

[zacdl]

That what I was wanting to know.
Ill use tap water then and dechlor it each time.

Eventually replace with a better Protien Skimmer too.

 

[zacdl]

62 Kudos to you for all your help!

 

[AR15 guy]

Your city water could be worse than mine. You never know exactly what is in it. If your house is older you could get lead, copper ect from the pipes. Who knows what we are actually drinking.

I top off with distilled water from kroger. But I did my intially fill with tap.

 

[MT79]

ZACDL It would be in your best interest to get a RO or RO/DI unit if you plan to continue in the SW hobby. SW is much more demanding than FW. You could probably do a FW set up w/ little or no problems w/ the water your using

 

[mjvincent]

As small as your tank is buy a couple 5 gallon jugs. Fill them with RO water from the local town (wal mart which is where I go every week). Your tank will be much happier. If I were a betting person I would bet that your well water has something that the fish are sensitive to. Where are you going to get city tap water?

 

[zacdl]

From the faucet.

 

[JG]

Where are you in OK ? I ask because there are some old mining operations in OK which have leached out into the the soils.

I am having trouble with limestone bedrock contaminating your water unless there is some other cause. You have both well water and city. Is there a reason why the city put in a line ?

In one of the small towns that I lived in here in NH, our well was contaminated by a gas station, so the town put in lines to a town well.

 

[zacdl]

OK our house is IN the city, and the house is ON city water.

We have a water well not hooked up to the house that I use to fill up my pond, and water the yard.

Enid, OK, Northeast Oklahoma, I dont know of any old mines in this area.

 

[ellisz]

Don't use RO water if you don't want. No big deal. I used tap water for a long time with no issues. I thought that you could not get RO water.

If you get cyano later on, then you can deal with it.

 

[zacdl]

Well, I wouldnt mind so much filling the tank with RO water now, and then using city water to top it off.

But, Since they say I will have more algae, I may have to go with RO then, as I really dont know how to treat algea in a SW aquarium.

 

[seve1]

NM

 

[AR15 guy]

I filled with tap and top off with distilled. With no algea problems.

I would maybe try to get my fish from somewhere else and see how they do. You could possibly be buying sick fish. Also make sure you acclimate the fish right. I killed a couple damsels because I through them in to fast. Between the shock and stress they died.

BTW thanks for the kudos.