multiple fish DEAD

[slim_jim989]

So yesturday i was doing my normal cleaning/ water changes. Well ive been trying to lower my phosphate levels for a little while so i put in my phosphate control last night before i went to bed the same amout that ive been doing, and some amonia nitrate remover. So looked at all the fish and they all seemed happy in the evening. Then i get up this morning to feed all my fish and stuff, well i see one if upside down breathing heavy and i found my brown tang dead and my coral beauty dead there stiff as rocks . so i imediatly got the damsel that was on his back into a plastic bag to quarentine. and rmvd the two dead fish. And i brought out my test kit which is an api but its all i have at the time. and heres my numbers

amonia: about .10
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5.0
ph: 8.3
Phosphate: looks like 0 but could be between 0 and .25
salinity: 1.22

those are my paremeters so im lost in the sauce right now ive already grabbed alot of my frags and put them in a plastic bag and have it acclimating to my nano tank. I still have a blue damsel about 1 inch, a grey with blue fin damsel. a lawnmower blennie, horse shoe crab, maroon gold band clown, mandarin goby, and my beast the volitan lion fish .

 

[slim_jim989]

forgot to mention my temp its usually around 74 at night and goes up to 76 to 78 when the mh are on

 

[slim_jim989]

bumb need some help the fish are breathing heavy so i took one of my powerheads and moved it up some so it will break the surface of the water to get more o2 into the system cause im thinking thats why there breathing heavier

 

[roscoe]

You shouldn't have any tracable amonia for one in a cylced tank and I think your salinity is too low. I keep my salinity at 1.26. My guess it is those 2 factors that did your fish in but I'm no expert here. Just a hobbyist still learning .

 

[slim_jim989]

aw thats were i have kept my salinity for a while now. but ill look into it

 

[slim_jim989]

make that three total fish

 

[Ed Hahn]

slim Jim are you using RO/DI water for water changes. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and amonia it is highly toxic to fish. Anytime you have chlorine in combination with amonia you form chloramine.

Moving a powerhead to water surface is always good to create gas exchange. PH and temperture two most common killers of animals. You explained you had a temperature issue which would bump up amonia level due to stress.

Charcoal would be a good buffer, a lb for every 50 gallons. Do your best to keep temperature stable.

Do a proper water change. Match the temperature and salinity to your tank. allow your salt to mix externally with powerhead. Never mix your salt inside aquarium with animals.

There are several club members next to you. We all enjoy this hobby. Its even more fun sharing it. I hope someone chimes in next to you.

 

[Myteemouse]

Like I said dude!
Come over here and get some RO/DI water I got about 40 gallons at all times!!!

 

[slim_jim989]

yeah i didnt use ro/di for water changes but i test the water before i put it into the tank and i match the temp and ph in my mix before it goes into the tank. but that might have been the stressor. and i have to heaters one is down below in one of my cl system and the other i had to put into the tank to try and get a stable temp which its been better but not what i want. and i have charcoal in my emperor filter i run it all the time to try and help it out

 

[slim_jim989]

yeah i might be coming over to do a 20 gal water chang but i have to get ore salt ran out yesturday when i did my last change and i have another bag but i know its not enough unless i just do a 10% change. and one of my fish did loose some colors it was my domino damsel it just died and it lost some of its brown.

 

[NC2WA]

im assuming you salinity value is 1.022, not 1.22 ?

good suggestions thus far, use RO/DI water and carbon for a couple of days then remove from system.

 

[slim_jim989]

yeah im actually going to go get some water from myteemouse and im gonna do a small water change but it looks like everythings doing a little better i think there jsut stressed out

 

[tat2z_21]

Sorry to hear about all of this. Hope you figure out what it could have been. I seen that you mentioned you did your water change and cleaning the night before. Is it possible that you had any lotions on your hand or possibly any other chemicals that may have been introduced to your tank through water contacting your hands or arms. Just a thought. I read all of your numbers and all sound about right except the little bit of ammonia, and the mistake with the salinity numbers. I had an ex that got angry with me and decided to dump bleach into my tank. Talk about angry. Hope all works out and I think that a large water change done slowly would be a good idea.

 

[Scooterman]

Well ammonia & nitrate isn't the best for the fish in the first place, although alone this probably isn't the cause but perhaps part of it. Also consider testing several times a day until you get it figured out, you could be having huge spikes. Instead of doing Small WC's do about 30% or larger, the sooner the better. Your API test kits should be good enough to get this figured out, they are fairly good kits. Use RO/DI water or Distilled from the store If you have no other choice, stop using Tap you'll load your tank with heavy metals, chlorine & many other nasties not good for a marine tank. You need to get your temp. stable also, that isn't necessary good for fish and have other slightly unfavorable water conditions, the combination of things will cause these issues your having so do your best to stabilize your tank.
If your keeping corals & things other than fish then you should go through the slow process of raising your sg about .001 every week or so until you get it at 1.026sg or 35ppt.
These things alone once stabilize should help you greatly!

 

[slim_jim989]

thanks for the comments i have the tank stable right now been 9 hours and the fish look like there improving some and its not affecting the coral at all. and it might have been when i used some phosphate controler and amoniaquel last night and the chemicals (which i am stop using) mixed with tap water(which i am not using any more) i only have enough salt to do a 5 gal changeout tonight but tmr im gonna do another 5 gal. Thanks to Adam for the ro/di water . but i think the charcoal in my emperor and the fact my water i have flowing better is helping out alot. and i think the fish are jsut stressed out right now,

 

[alki]

Man sorry to hear that. I hope everything else turns out allright.

 

[Myteemouse]

No problem I got lots more ro water if you need to get your tank back to PAR!
I would hate to see those pretty fish doing the back stroke!

 

[slim_jim989]

yeah so far there all still alive and im about to do my water change. only 5 gal tonight and more tmr i think im just gonna get a couple buckets from aquarium paradise tmr on my way home from work.

 

[slim_jim989]

Well hey just to give yall an update well so far no other fish has died and i just got done doing a 5 gal WC and i did it a different way then the previous times i used my suction hose and i put that in the bucket then to the tank to make for a slow smooth transition of the new stuff thanks again for the water adam its so clear and clean haha. and on the lighter note my clown has gone back into her anenome and she looks alot happier cleaning herself in it haha. so i think all well be fine but tmr i will be doing another water change just in case .

 

[returnofsid]

Check out the package for the Amquel. I was under the impression it was only for use with freshwater.