My fish keep dying

[1891Bro]

51 minutes ago, Floundering_Around said:

Lost my first pair of clowns to ich and velvet. Didn't have anywhere to QT so that was on me. Had the tank fallow for nearly six months. My second pair of clowns is in the tank now after going through a month-long QT. As much as I hated waiting, I forced myself in order to guarantee the best chance for my babies.

While you wait, get more corals 😉 or some other inverts. Hope your tank gets sorted out

FYI,  any time you add anything you run the risk of reintroducing parasites. 

[JennyRS]

Would it be safe to add a skunk cleaner? Been wanting to get one for a while now. If not I will wait it out.

[Floundering_Around]

12 hours ago, JennyRS said:

Would it be safe to add a skunk cleaner? Been wanting to get one for a while now. If not I will wait it out.

If your current inverts are fine, I don't see why not. Just make sure to properly acclimate and you should be fine

 

[JennyRS]

so i've got an update. my turbo snail kicked the bucket on me and i didn't notice until it was too late (i swear i work too much). i did my best to save my corals, but unfortunately all that's left right now are my green mushrooms and my hermit. I'm convinced part of the problem in the tank is the lack of oxygen as there is no overflow so I am debating going back to my smaller 5g and then maybe building an overflow in the cube, or maybe just staying with the 5g until I can afford to get a tank with an overflow built in. does anyone know the best way to build a DIY in tank overflow? my 5g has one so that is why i am probably going to temporarily downgrade as i never had any issues with that tank and losing fish until i upgraded to the cube with no overflow. I'm open to all suggestions at this point.

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

I wouldn’t take the tank down, there are many people who have tanks with no overflows. If it was me I would leave up and fallow for 8 weeks. I knows it’s frustrating but on the bright side your tank in still maturing and hopefully working out any kinks we can’t seem to locate. After the 8 weeks get a hardy damsel and see how things go. 

 

 

[JennyRS]

2 hours ago, Nano Nano Boo Boo said:

I wouldn’t take the tank down, there are many people who have tanks with no overflows. If it was me I would leave up and fallow for 8 weeks. I knows it’s frustrating but on the bright side your tank in still maturing and hopefully working out any kinks we can’t seem to locate. After the 8 weeks get a hardy damsel and see how things go. 

 

 

This system is not young, it has been up and running since october 2015 starting at 5g and then i upgraded to the 11g the beginning of this year. i kept 2 clowns perfectly in that 5g until i switched over and within a month they died from one night to the next. ever since then i have not been able to keep fish alive and in all honesty i cannot afford to put any more money into this tank at this point. I would also much rather not be responsible for any more deaths.

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

I didn’t mean to insinuate it was young. At least with nothing in it you can be sure any pest, etc has been eradicated. Something is causing his to happen, you just either can’t find it or see it. From the thread you spent some solid time looking for it. Fallow may really remedy things. 

 

Just hate to see you give up. It can be maddening in this hobby but finding the solution will be so worth it. 

[JennyRS]

Yes agreed, it really does suck! And I am in no means giving up, but I just feel like downgrading is the safest option as I really cant deal with anymore death at this point. Its breaking my heart.

[Snow_Phoenix]

As someone who had just lost several fish recently, I understand your pain and frustration. Downgrading might seem like a safe option, but remember, just because it's a smaller tank, it doesn't mean it's any less easier to run as compared to a bigger system. Why don't you try simple/inexpensive fish first and see how it goes? Just get one small nano fish, QT it for about 2 to 3 weeks, then release it into your display. Watch him for a month, and if he survives, then get another etc. 

 

My personal frustration with this hobby has always been keeping marine fish alive for a prolonged period of time. Marine animals are extremely costly where I live and they always arrive sick/stressed. Their prices can be anywhere between 20x to 2000x more as compared to a small freshwater fish. So even one death puts a big dent on the wallet, not to mention it hurts because I love every single animal I keep - even my goofball hermits who do nothing but mooch around the tank all day and knock my corals facedown into the sandbed when they try out a new shell.

 

So I learnt to purchase inexpensive fish and let the richer customers get the fancy ones with the fancy markings first. Until my system stabilizes, that is what I'll be doing. You can try doing the same too. Very sorry about your losses. 

[Clown79]

3 hours ago, JennyRS said:

This system is not young, it has been up and running since october 2015 starting at 5g and then i upgraded to the 11g the beginning of this year. i kept 2 clowns perfectly in that 5g until i switched over and within a month they died from one night to the next. ever since then i have not been able to keep fish alive and in all honesty i cannot afford to put any more money into this tank at this point. I would also much rather not be responsible for any more deaths.

So you upgraded a few months ago.

 

Did you reuse the old sand that was in the 5g since 2015?

[BrentSA]

I don't know hey,  I'm stumped , to be safe I would medicate the entire tank before adding anything new with my favorite , PraziPro ... won't hurt seeing add though inhabitants is dying anyway . 

 

What else I'm thinking is maybe a toxin being released by one of the coral  , i see you mentioned some softies  , do you have any coal running in your tank controlling their biochemical warfare?

[Clown79]

59 minutes ago, BrentSA said:

I don't know hey,  I'm stumped , to be safe I would medicate the entire tank before adding anything new with my favorite , PraziPro ... won't hurt seeing add though inhabitants is dying anyway . 

 

What else I'm thinking is maybe a toxin being released by one of the coral  , i see you mentioned some softies  , do you have any coal running in your tank controlling their biochemical warfare?

The medication will be absorbed by the rocks and sand creating an issue of introducing any livestock later

[Snow_Phoenix]

Clown's right. It's best to medicate any livestock in a separate QT tank than the main DT. Some meds like copper actually leach into the LR and if I'm not mistaken, is almost impossible to get rid off.

[banasophia]

7 hours ago, JennyRS said:

This system is not young, it has been up and running since october 2015 starting at 5g and then i upgraded to the 11g the beginning of this year. i kept 2 clowns perfectly in that 5g until i switched over and within a month they died from one night to the next. ever since then i have not been able to keep fish alive and in all honesty i cannot afford to put any more money into this tank at this point. I would also much rather not be responsible for any more deaths.

 

7 hours ago, JennyRS said:

Yes agreed, it really does suck! And I am in no means giving up, but I just feel like downgrading is the safest option as I really cant deal with anymore death at this point. Its breaking my heart.

 

I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this. I agree with your idea to switch back to your old tank, or maybe just a different tank. It seems like everything was fine in your 5 g, and that your 11 g has been a tank of doom since the beginning. Clearly something strange is going on in that tank... You could leave it fallow as others have suggested. But it seems weird to me that your turbo and all your corals just died too, and plus as I recall the patterns of death in your fish didn’t seem like a parasite or infection. 

 

I am always shocked when people talk about taking their tank down, but I have to say, in this situation I would personally consider it since all you have left are your green mushrooms and your hermit... what a tough situation. 

[JennyRS]

11 hours ago, Clown79 said:

So you upgraded a few months ago.

 

Did you reuse the old sand that was in the 5g since 2015?

I upgraded around December because it was a gift from my sister for my birthday as she knew I wanted to get a slightly larger tank. I did not use the old sand as it was a deep sand bed full of things I did not want to put into the new tank. Then I set it up with new sand, let it cycle with water and some rock from the 5g for a few weeks and then slowly transferred everything over. I have not dosed anything except for coralup and a ph booster as I've been having issues keeping my ph at 8.4, it's always at 7.9. And I know keeping 5g tank is slightly harder but I was doing well with it before so that's why I've considered it because of the overflow and keeping the ph balanced. Ugh.