Helppppp!!!

[rainier29]

I have had my fish only tank set up for about 2 months now and have slowly started adding fish. Water prams were all good and cycling was apparently complete. Then fish started dying...I took everything out and put them into "foster care" except one blue damsel. Then I bought 2 more damsels just to help complete the cycling process (just in case it wasn't complete) and two days later they were all dead too. Checked prams again and everything was fine. No ammonia, no nitrates or nitrites. GH and KH were all ok. No copper no phosphates....

I'm totally at a loss. Took water samples to LFS to get a second oppinion and they concured with my results.

The only thing I can think of is that something electrical is leaking current into the tank but I don't feel anything and all of my equipment is pretty new. Is there a way to check for this?

The other question I have is micro bubbles. I've heard that they are bad but don't know why. I do have quite a few of them because of my closed loop system. Could this be causing it?

Any suggestions or input would be appreciated.

 

[Krish]

Tough call rainer29. I don't really think it is because of micro-bubbles. How did your fish look when you found them dead? That may help someone id the problem a little easier from maybe color, marks etc. If your water parameters are good then maybe it could be a parasite that has infected everything in your tank. Just a thought...I hope you get it sorted out as I know it can be frustrating. Did you add anything new lately? Maybe something could have been transported in your LR if you have any and you just haven't seen them in the day as they may be nocturnal...Just somemore thoughts. Best of luck!

 

[DonW]

How did you acclimate these fish? Have you double checked your temp with a second thermometer. It pretty hard to kill a damsel.

Don

 

[jamiehill]

Are you using RO water? If you are just using tap water, there could be any number of bad things in the water. What is your salinity at? Are you checking this with a hydrometer or refractometer? I know alot of hydrometers are not very accurate.

I am not sure how you would go about checking if you have some electrical current running through your tank, but someone will surely be able to help you out. If all of your water parameters are fine and you are , my guess would be it is either something parasitic, an electrical current, or possibly a hitchhiker.

Jamie

 

[rainier29]

Not using RO water but filtered water from my refridg. Salinity is at 32 and I've checked it with two different hydrometers. The fish were all acclimated slowly over a period of about an hour. I have three thermometers on an in the tank and they all read 76-78 degrees. One thing I don't have hooked up yet is my uv sterilizer and I'll be working on that this weekend. I don't have any live rock in the tank at this time. Just some large barnacles a seafan, and a big lava rock. I am using a Rena canister filter rated for a 100 gallon tank.

 

[wjake]

stick a digital multi meter in the tank (just the probe tips) and see if you are picking up any voltage, i doubt this is the problem.. i would be more inclined to say disease assuming that many people cked the water quality

 

[jamiehill]

Salinity looks good. I would try the multimeter like wjake suggested just to make sure that there is no voltage.

Where are you located at? If you are using tap water (filtered or not), you are potentially subjecting the animals in your tank to unwanted chemicals in the water. This will not show up on normal tests. Some areas have better water quality than others. You might want to run a google search for water test reports in your area to find out the approximate amount of TDS in your water and what other elements are in it.

Jamie

 

[wrightme43]

With no live rock, what are you using for biological filtration. Did the deaths conincide with a cleaning of the rena sponge filter and the change of media? Please dont take this the wrong way. It is very hard to know what another human being knows. If you say cleaned the sponges in tap water with chlorine and changed the carbon and micro filter pads the same day. The bio filter in the tank could be really comprimised, then a ammonia spike, then dead fish.
Also do you have someone that comes and sprays your house for bugs or use bug spray in the room? Maybe cleaning chemicals in the same room?

 

[rainier29]

For biological filtration I'm using the ceramic circles in the rena. There is no correlation with cleaning or maintenance with the deaths. It realistically COULD be the water from the fridge. I have no idea what it contains. I will see if I can find out tonight. Nobody comes in and sprays or uses any chemicals in the same room...

Could occasional light smoke from the fireplace be the cause?

 

[rainier29]

So assuming that we do have a disease problem...what do we do about it?

 

[Detri]

Ok I am new at this aswell. But I have only had one death so far. 4 month old tank and the fish got Ick. Anyway. i think you dealing with a tank that may have cycled, in its own right. But Do yourself a favor and buy a piece of Live rock. It will at the very least seed the tank. Giveing it the benifit of the real ocean. Give it another 6 weeks. If you want to add Damsels by all means. But think of what you are takeing from the it.

Are you letting the water from the fridge Aclimate before you add it tothe tank? I mean atleast let it come to room temp before you add it.

 

[Krish]

You'll have to treat it, but the tricky part will be identifying which disease you may have. If it were me (and I'm not like most people) I'd probably do a huge water change like 100% to be safe, just to make sure with good ro/di water if I thought it was from a disease that I wasn't sure how to treat...

 

[rainier29]

Ok assuming I do a 100% water change...what do I need to do for the sand? I would assume that whatever is in the water is also in the sandbed. No prob on the RO water. I bought an RO unit today. What about just dosing the whole system with an antibiotic to be on the safe side?

 

[rainier29]

Oh and yes I am actually heating the water up to tank temp (at least 76 degrees) before I do my water change.

 

[Maxx]

Rainier,
Lets think this through. Like Don said, its pretty tough to kill a damsel.
What are these fish looking like when you find them dead? What is their behaviour like prior to the deaths? What condition are the bodies in when you find them?(IE, chewed on by something, or look like they should be swimming normally.)
Is the LFS your getting your fish from reputable? Do they sell alot of fish that might be caught w/ cyanide? Do they know what their doing to the point that they can be trusted to do appropriate and valid water tests?

I'm not thinking water parameters are the issue, just based on what you've posted up.

Nick

 

[My2heartboys]

Oh and yes I am actually heating the water up to tank temp (at least 76 degrees) before I do my water change.

Until you can track down the culprit--if you still have anything in the tank--it might be a good idea to use a good garlic supplement to help boost organisms resistance to disease or help them cure themselves.

Anne