Sick fish?

[AR15 guy]

I recently set up a 10 gallon FOWLR tank. It has 1-2 lbs of fiji rock and it had two yellow tail damsels. Both died. SG is 1.022, NO ammonia, NO nitrate/nitrite, ph is 8.2. Temp is 79-80.

Fish seemed fine for a few days then died. A day apart. It appears my water is fine. What else could have caused this?

 

[JPloman]

How long did you let your tank cycle? What type of filtration do you have? Were they eating?

I would also retest my water.

 

[AR15 guy]

I am using a mini bio-wheel without the bio-wheel. The tank isn't cycled yet. It has only been up for about a week. I was just feeding them tetra saltwater fish flakes. But I only fed them twice in the week I had them.

I used my test kits and my LFS's and all came up negative.

 

[Phyl]

If you cycle with fish it is a good idea to feed them very little so as not to add any extra load to the bio filter in process.

Did you add any water conditioner/prime to your water? You can frequently get false results on your tests with that type of additive in the water. If it wasn't the water parameters (I'm really surprised that you didn't see any ammo in that tank yet) then it may have had something to do with your acclimation process? Did you temp acclimate them as well as acclimate them to the water quality by moving water from your system into the bag? If not it could have been shock from the change in parameters. You should also check your Alk. There may be something in there to provide a clue. If your water isn't properly buffered you'll get larger swings in pH between night and day and that might end up being enough to push the fish over the edge.

Scant feedings if you're using fish is a good idea since that will help keep the bioload manageable. Now that your fishless you may consider throwing a small piece of shrimp into the tank to let it finish cycling before adding your next tank mate. It will provide all the fuel for the nitrification process without the fish.

 

[AR15 guy]

I am using stress coat as the decholrinator.

I let them float for about a half and hour to get the temp correct. Then I slowly let water in and waited and kept doing that for at least a 1/2 and hour. They did great for 3 days.

Me and a buddy did some fish swapping. I had two different damsels that did great for 3 days. Then I purchased the ones that died....not sure what happened there.

 

[midiman]

Oh my gosh ... you guys are starting the thread that I'm now in the middle of. Unexplained deaths after a couple of days. I've had LOTS of responses: virus, bacteria, etc.

This may sould like a dumb question, but are any of you spraying Windex on your tank to clean it?

That was the latest possibility I read over at RC.

I find it hard to believe, but SOMETHING killed them, and if I could figure it out, it would be GREAT news. $50 of dead fish is enough for me.

 

[AR15 guy]

I sprayed windex on a paper towel then wiped my tank down with it.

I don't know how many time I have done that though. Never had a problem. I think I found out what was wrong with my tank.

Come to find out my SG meter was off pretty bad. It was off by .0025-.003 off. I had it set at 1.021 so that could have made a huge difference.

Bought a new meter and a new master test kit. Also replaced the gravel with 20lbs of live sand. Hopefully I can add a couple fish soon.

 

[midiman]

FIsh can take low SG, though - in fact, hyposalinity 1.009 is used to treat ick for weeks.

ALthough, anything's possible.

FOr me, I still suspect the brine shrimp or some sort of bacteria or virus that came in on the LR. I'm going 6 weeks fishless. Inverts are fine, which is why I didn't really believe it could be a toxin.

Oh, well.. Good luck.

 

[AR15 guy]

I plan on getting a bunch of blue leg hermits. I may do that soon and see how they fair.

 

[JPloman]

This may sould like a dumb question, but are any of you spraying Windex on your tank to clean it?

ROFLMAO!!!


Okay now on to the serious issue here.

It sounds like they died because you tank has not fully cycled yet. I would give it some time to cycle before adding anymore fish. You said in the second post that the tank has not fully cycled and that the tank has only been up a week. I really think you might want to wait to add more fish until you have cycled it at least three full weeks.

 

[AR15 guy]

Whats wierd is the fact that my water tests pretty good. .25 ammonia and everything else is perfect. I added 20lbs of live sand today. I hadn't planned on that but a local store gave it to me for 15$ to get it off the shelf cause noone buys it.

I am going to get a piece of shrimp and put it in there. I don't think it should take to long to fully cycle with the rock and sand.

 

[Jonathan G.]

if it is arag-alive dont count on it cycling out your tank, basically cuase all they do is take their aragonite and add water from an established tank and the shelf life is not very long on it. plus you might want to try bringing your SG up to around 1.024 i use to keep mine at 1.023 untill i read up on my info.

 

[midiman]

midiman wrote:
This may sould like a dumb question, but are any of you spraying Windex on your tank to clean it?



ROFLMAO!!!


Okay now on to the serious issue here.

It sounds like they died because you tank has not fully cycled yet. I would give it some time to cycle before adding anymore fish. You said in the second post that the tank has not fully cycled and that the tank has only been up a week. I really think you might want to wait to add more fish until you have cycled it at least three full weeks.

I don't know who you are referring to. MY tank is fully cycled, and was at the time I added fish. I had a small (less than .25) ammonia after adding a piece of LR. The question about the windex was because I read (over on RC) that there is a fish dealer/expert who maintains that windex contains something that killed fish. I personally doubt this, but can never summarily dismiss anything by simply laughing it off. Hence the question, designed to elicit serious responses.

That, however, doesn't always work.