Help! Fish keep dying.

[nickyz]

Hey all, I have had my FOWLR tank running for about 3 months now including cycle. It seems that for the life of me I cannot have any success with raising any fish. During the night i ended up losing two more fish and Im starting to figure Im not cut out for this hobby.

I have a 29 gallon tank, with an aquaamax skimmer and for flow I use an MP10 on reef mode. I religiously do weekly 20% water change every week. I use RO water with Instant Ocean sea salt mix. I checked my parameters yesterday and got

 

Ph 8.0

Ammonia 0 ppm

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 0 ppm

 

Yesterday morning I lost my six line wrasse, then during the night i lost my scooter blenny and my chalk bass. My scooter blenny I have had in my tank for more than a month now(i supplement copepods) and my sixline for about 3 week and the chalk bass for one.

 

Is there anything Im missing out on or that I am doing wrong? Anything tips to help keep my fish alive will really be helpful. Thanks all!

[Moulton712]

Couple things. When you do a water change does it disturb the sand bed? How much live rock is in there? What's your actual temp at?

[fishfreak0114]

Are the fish sick? Thin? Could be something like internal parasites...

Did you QT the fish?

[nickyz]

No my water changes are very gradual the sand bed is not disturbed. I have 30lbs of live rock and about 25 lbs of sand.

 

The fish are not thin, but it seems that I find my fish getting blown around the tank by my power head before i eventually fish them out and place them in a bucket and they end up dying in there.

 

No I have not been able to QT my fish I dont have another tank. I

 

thanks for the help guys!

[Marc.The.Shark]

Post a pic of your setup including sump if u have one. Could b a number of things. Parasite, in which case you need to leave the tank fallow for a number of weeks for it to run its course and die off. You don't have any brass or metal fittings on any plumbing do you?

[Najay343]

I accidently killed two of my clowns in recent months by doing a 40% water change without aerating my water before adding it or having an airstone on in the tank. Suffocation killed them both within 24 hours. And I had no idea what caused it for the longest time. Stupid mistake.

[opaquelace]

No my water changes are very gradual the sand bed is not disturbed. I have 30lbs of live rock and about 25 lbs of sand.

 

The fish are not thin, but it seems that I find my fish getting blown around the tank by my power head before i eventually fish them out and place them in a bucket and they end up dying in there.

 

No I have not been able to QT my fish I dont have another tank. I

 

thanks for the help guys!

An MP10 can provide ample flow for a tank up to 50 gallons. Do you have it on max power? In my 20 gallon my MP10 is set at about 25-30% max. I'm not sure what else could continuously be killing your fish unless there is something in the water that you can't detect.

[nickyz]

My mp10 power is rather high. I would say about 75% Im going to try turning that down to around 30% and I will see if that helps. Thanks for all of the suggestions and help guys!

 

No sump, no drilling, no metal fittings. My tank just has the HOB skimmer off the back of the DT and the mp10 on the side.

[ajmckay]

0 nitrates seems slightly strange...

 

How often are you feeding and how much?

 

What can you tell us about the events that led up to the fish dying? It sounds like they all 3 died within 24 hours of each other, right?

Are these the only fish you've had in the tank or are there others dead or still alive?

 

Before dying were they acting normally? Eating? What physical symptoms can you recall? A parasite is certainly possible - the chalk bass could have introduced a parasite to the other fish. A week seems like a long time, though not completely outside the realm of possibility for something like a fluke - which would also be difficult to physically spot. In the case of flukes you would certainly notice the fish acting skittish sometimes and "flashing" or scraping against the rocks and/or sand. Eventually they would stop eating or eat very little and then die. If it is a parasite the fish would have shown some type of symptom before dying. Also I would hesitate to assume that leaving the tank for a time without fish will kill off all parasites, as some can reproduce without a fish host.

 

So in conclusion barring any significant maintenance issue I think this is a likely cause. It's surprisingly common also - someone has a tank that's doing just fine, add a new fish and suddenly they all die. Establishing a simple QT procedure will virtually eliminate this from ever happening - and a QT setup would cost less than probably a single fish and saves you money and ultimately frustration.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/quarantining-marine-fish-made-simple

[nickyz]

All of the fish seem to be eating fine and acting completely normal up to the event. I feed pellets during the day and all of the feed seem to be eating even the scooter. I currently still have a starry blenny, a maroon clown and a fire goby living in the tank. As well as a cleaner shrimp

[CJJon]

Maybe too many fish too soon. How did you acclimate them? LFS or online? What are you testing with? Zero nitrate?

 

BTW, you have a bucket you have a QT.

[nickyz]

Okay awesome, I do a pretty extensive acclimation drip in a bucket. I am testing all 0

[fishfreak0114]

If they were being blown around, could they have hit the rocks and fatally injured themselves? Seems a little strange for all three to have done it though, just a thought.

[DocReef]

Seems like maybe too many fish, too soon as someone else mentioned. Your tank is only 3 months old. Your bacterial population might not be established completely yet. Try adding one fish at a time and waiting a few weeks between fish.

[Neebles]

Okay awesome, I do a pretty extensive acclimation drip in a bucket. I am testing all 0

What's "extensive", too long of an acclimation can be a problem as well....

[ajmckay]

I don't think the MP10 has anything to do with it... If flow were too high the fish would just stay out of it like hide behind a rock or something. Even then I have yet to see evidence of a tank with too much flow...

 

How long have the other 3 fish been in the tank? I will agree with others that you have (had) way too many fish in that size tank. If this didn't happen now it surely would have at some point good maintenance or not. In other words I would just stick to the fish you have.

 

If there were water quality issues such as toxins, ammonia, high/low temp, off salinity, or a maintenance issue it would have affected all the fish to some degree.

 

So that being said I really do think it's a parasite of some kind - plus you had one of the fish I like to call high risk for introducing flukes or other parasites. Almost every wrasse or angelfish I've had experience with had some sort of infestation. Certain flukes are really hard to see. They look like a flat translucent disc on the fish but they can also just be in the gills or under scales. Some varieties don't kill quickly, taking weeks to drain the life out of a fish, especially if it's established enough to continue with a strong feeding response. Try observing the fish very carefully - like for 10-20 minutes a few times per day. Notice their behaviors for anything strange, look for flashing, stringy poop, protruding or missing scales, too quick/slow gill movement, changes in coloration, etc... also use a bright flashlight and during the day use it to try to spot any irregularities - sometimes you can only see these guys when the fish is at a certain angle to the flashlight! If you notice anything strange - or even just because - you can treat the tank with praziquantel. Prazi is generally reef safe and I've used it before as well in my display tank. For even more effectiveness utilize Metronidazole powder along with seachem focus to create a medicated food that is very effective against internal parasites.

 

That's about all I can tell you at the moment... Keep feeding plenty, and make sure each fish is eating at each feeding.

[amphipod]

Parasite, or infection is one of my guesses with the given information, only good news with parasites is they eventually die without a host, after all if they could live host free they wouldn't be true parasites. Listen to Ajmckay, he's giving good information. You are a bit overstocked, and not quarantining fish, two issues also there are issues made from those issues, and potential issues made from those issues and those issues issues. To make it simple parasites can spread quicker with high host density, the high amounts of fish stresses the system and the fish, thus the fish are less healthy and their immune system is weakened. The parasites spread quicker yet with weakened fish. Then when fish die their waste can further stress fish. See what we mean. Problems start to come from your problem's problems.

My next guess if not parasite is oxygen starvation or a similar water parameter issue.

[nickyz]

Okay, thanks a lot guys. Ill try to stick to the fish I have and seek some long term health for them! thanks for all for the advice

[ajmckay]

I think that's a great idea. Keeping a reasonable # of fish successfully is IME much more rewarding than trying to overstock and "Push the limits" of a system knowing that if even if something small goes wrong you don't have much wiggle room before a tank crash is imminent. Also makes maintenance much easier - especially if you ever take vacations!

[nickyz]

I think my issue may be oxygen deprivation? Although I'm not exactly sure what is causing it.

[cuber14]

Did you notice any bullying going on like maybe your clown they. can get a little nasty. Just a thought lost a chromis to the constant torment of a long nosed hawkfish.

[amphipod]

I think my issue may be oxygen deprivation? Although I'm not exactly sure what is causing it.

just simply overstocking an aquarium or lacking sufficient space will promote anoxia. The oxygen can only diffuse in water so quickly without photosynthetic organisms, or lots of bubbles and agitation, still that has limits, when too many oxygen respirating organisms are in the given water space simply the fish breathing will potentially kill it and its comrades. If it is to be oxygen deprivation, the simple solution is to understock, and calculate water surface area to fish ratios. But keeping mind it could be something else, you have to do researching to see if any of our suggestions are your solution.

[ajmckay]

I think my issue may be oxygen deprivation? Although I'm not exactly sure what is causing it.

 

Are your fish still dying? what reason do you have to believe that oxygen deprivation might be an issue?

 

Normally running a skimmer gives you a bit of a cushion with regard to the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tank, however, you still need adequate surface area for gas exchange. Though again, an issue like that would affect all the fish equally and you would probably notice symptoms in all the fish such as dark gills sticking out, hanging around the surface, etc...

[Tamberav]

Sounds like you had 6 fish in a 29g tank that is 3 months old?

 

I would agree with others, too many, too fast. You could have had an ammonia spike that stress/killed them and it dissipated before you could test.

 

Research everything you do before you do it. Temperament, compatibility of fish, where they like to hang out in the tank, best order to add them concerning aggression, everything.

 

 

Go slow, bad things happen fast. If you see a fish you like, just know... it isn't the last fish on the planet and you can get it later when you and the tank are ready.