[ssky]

Hi all,
I need some expert advice to understand where I'm making a mistake since I don't understand why I am loosing any fish I put in my tank.

First, let me give you stats about my setup

Tank size: All glass 46 gallon with 50 lbs of mature live roxks, live sand bottom
Inhabitants: 1 chromis, 2 clownfish, 1 peppermint shrimp, 3 hermit crabs and a few snails.
Skimmer : No
Lighting : Orbit Marine leds
Filtration : Canister filter
Power heads.: 2 powerheads hydor nano 450

Water specs:
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
pH : 8.2
Nitrate: < 5
Phospahtes : 0.03
Salinity : 1.024

Others: Always used RO water. Later on got my own RO/DI system.
Do water changes every two weeks.
My tank is around 4-5 months old.

I have got my water checked several times at Fish Doctors in Canton and every time I was told that the water quality is great.

So, now my problem is I have tried to add several fishes in the past and every single time,the fish was dead in a couple of days.

Tried Royal gramma being told it is a hardy fish.. dead in two days
Tried yellow headed goby, dead in a week.
Tried royal gramma again, died in 2 days.
Tried a conch, died in 3 days.

Please remember that I tried all these fishes slowly and gave few weeks break whenever I lost one. Also always did a big water change after every death.

I have the three fish and they seem to be happy. I don't get it why I am loosing any fish that I have tried adding.

Also why I am getting a lot of hair algae in my tank when I always ised RO/DI water.

Please any advice as to what should I do? Leave the tank as is for a few months? Is my tank too new to take on any additional bio load.?

Thank you for reading such a long note.

Khan

 

[lifeoffaith]

I would say we need a little more information like specific water quality numbers. The presence of hair algae with regular water changes would indicate that you are overfeeding, or at least there is ammonia in the water. This would cause fish death. Your clown and hermit crabs are very hardy and may just be scraping by to avoid it. That would be my guess anyway. They have certainly been the most hardy of livestock for me.

 

[oranggila]

I would say we need a little more information like specific water quality numbers. The presence of hair algae with regular water changes would indicate that you are overfeeding, or at least there is ammonia in the water. This would cause fish death. Your clown and hermit crabs are very hardy and may just be scraping by to avoid it. That would be my guess anyway. They have certainly been the most hardy of livestock for me.

I'm newbie
Thanks for advice,

 

[ssky]

I would say we need a little more information like specific water quality numbers. The presence of hair algae with regular water changes would indicate that you are overfeeding, or at least there is ammonia in the water. This would cause fish death. Your clown and hermit crabs are very hardy and may just be scraping by to avoid it. That would be my guess anyway. They have certainly been the most hardy of livestock for me.

I have already listed my water parameters in my original post. No I do not overfeed the fish as is evident of 0 ammonia.

Thanks

 

[weimers75]

Something is putting the nitrate in your system. The fact that you have hair algae is because of your phosphates and nitrates...without the hair algae they would actually be even higher. That means that there is either excess food or not large enough water changes to remove the phosphates and nitrates before the algae is feeding on it. Do you test your own water? Also, how big are your water changes that you're doing every 2 weeks? When is the last time you cleaned your canister filter?

 

[jpa0741]

Those nitrate and phos numbers may contribute to your algae problem but I dont see them causing your fish to die within days. What is your procedure for acclimating new additions?

 

[lifeoffaith]

I have already listed my water parameters in my original post. No I do not overfeed the fish as is evident of 0 ammonia.

Thanks

So you did, sorry. The algae is getting food though somewhere.

 

[ssky]

Something is putting the nitrate in your system. The fact that you have hair algae is because of your phosphates and nitrates...without the hair algae they would actually be even higher. That means that there is either excess food or not large enough water changes to remove the phosphates and nitrates before the algae is feeding on it. Do you test your own water? Also, how big are your water changes that you're doing every 2 weeks? When is the last time you cleaned your canister filter?

Thank you for your input. I do 5 gallon water change every 2 weeks. Also clean my filter every two weeks. I feed very little so really don't know how i can have nitrate. The only thing I have not tried is to do gravel vacuum

 

[ssky]

Those nitrate and phos numbers may contribute to your algae problem but I dont see them causing your fish to die within days. What is your procedure for acclimating new additions?

Drip acclimation

 

[on the spot]

Where in the house is the tank? Basement maybe?

Are you certain that your heater is working?

If you look across the surface @ a sharp angle do you see an "oily like blob" circulating around the center of the tank? How much surface area does it cover?

Strictly based on your posted parameters the fish shouldn't have died, so my guess is either the salinity isn't accurate, but has drifted enough over time that the current inhabitants are acclimated (think hypo) while additions die,

or it's temperature or oxygen related. These are trickier because your same base animals don't seem to be affected. Without a surface skimming overflow that floating mass of proteins and waste could theoretically inhibit gas exchange, coupled with the algae consumption and normal respiration the O2 levels could fall enough to be fatal.

I concede it's a reach. I've seen dumber theories.

I've written dumber theories.

Maybe that helps some anyway.

 

[jpa0741]

Drip acclimation

For how long? Also as far nitrates you will probably always register some if you run skimmerless and use a canister filter.

Where the fish that died all purchased from the same place?

 

[weimers75]

Bump up your water changes for a while too to get rid of your nitrates and phosphates, shoot for a minimum of 20% weekly, until they're zero, then try 10% weekly. I agrre though, that's the algae problem...not sure about the fish.

 

[Mazzy]

I agree that the water changes should be bigger. Shoot for 10 gallons, which is 20%, especially if you are going to continue to do bi-monthly changes instead of weekly - if you are going to switch to weekly water changes, the 5 gallons is fine. Either way that change in your WC routine should help with your nitrates/phosphates and algae issue.

This dying fish is another matter. The nitrates aren't currently high enough (if being read correctly) to kill the fish. You should read your phosphates too while you have this algae problem but the poor ocean is filled with phosphates these days and the fish in there aren't dead so... again, not the problem with your dying fish, IMO.

I would say #1 - try getting a fish from a different source if you got all the ones that died from the same source. #2 - ATTEMPT to get a tank-bred/raised fish if possible. I know that's a stretch, but fish plucked out of the ocean and plopped into a glass cage is never going to be good for them in those first few weeks. Even hardy fish are going to undergo a seriously stressful acclimation to captive life, whether we notice it or not. So since you are having unknown problems, I'd try a fish that is already used to captive living and see if you can keep that one alive first, before you go back to the more expensive wild-caughts. And #3 - acclimate slowly. SOMEthing is stressing them out to the point of dying. If your water params are correct then no amount of water changes is going to change whatever the current factor is that is causing the source of stress and death (even once that algae problem clears up) so it has to be something else. The last thing I can think of is your acclimation routine. Don't just float and release; float to bring to temp, (this is a bit of a pain but...) open the bag and add a little tank water and continue to float, repeat, until you have a good mix of your water with the LFS water they came in. Also, dump that bag water, don't put it in your tank.

It could be possible that you are getting these fish the day of or after they've just arrived at the LFS. They are already crazy-stressed, and then you are moving them again to yet another environment with another set of params to deal with. Maybe ask the LFS how long a particular fish has been there before you buy.

 

[ssky]

I have bought fish from different sources. Some I bought it from fish doctrs, other times I bought them from trpocorium. I do drip acclimation for atleast 3 hours before putting the fish in tank.

In shortguys I have done everything you guys have suggested. Thst is whyI am so stumped why I am not able to add any more fish. The only thing I can think of right now is to wait few more months to allow my tank to mature further and then try again to add fish. I am also planningto add a hobrefugium and grow calurpa in it to further control the nutrients.

Any further suggestions?

 

[LargeAngels]

What type of clownfish and how long have you had them? I would set up a quarantine tank. I personally don't add any fish to a tank without QT. No matter who or where it is from. It's not only for disease but to let them recoup and start to eat stress free from other fish.

 

[weimers75]

Three hours is way too long for drip acclimation for fish. How frequent are the drips? Are you sure the temps match? By then the temp in the container is probably lower than the tank.

 

[jpa0741]

3 hour drip is too long IMO. Do you control the temp when acclimating?

Whoops guess I should have looked at page 2 before I posted. You read my mind exactly.

 

[ssky]

I has a pair of tank raised ocillaris clowns and 1 blue green chromis. I had them for well over 2 months. Well I don't have a QT setup so you may be right about QT.

 

[jpa0741]

I has a pair of tank raised ocillaris clowns and 1 blue green chromis. I had them for well over 2 months. Well I don't have a QT setup so you may be right about QT.

Not sure what this means?

Also for what its worth if I'm going to do a longer drip I float them in my sump and drip. That way the temp stays the same

 

[jay13]

So as I read I see many valid points. But the thing I see missing here is the possibility of disease/parasite and the lack of quarantine. Even if all your fish are from the same vendor and they actually do keep copper at therapeutic levels in their systems to start the quarantine process the livestock just isn't there long enough to consider it ready for placement in your DT. It seems at this point with such losses one should sit back and reevaluate how they add livestock. It took one potters angel added only after a week of quarantine to kill off a grand in fish in my system. Nothing goes in without a month of coppersafe and whatever other treatment may be needed. And thats after over a 100 days fishless in the reef tank to do my best to get rid of the parasite that was still alive after the fish were gone.