At a loss and need advice

[porpoiseaquatics]

Ok...some of you know about the crash that I had over a week ago whereas I lost all of my fish. Corals all survived. Through small water changes....I got all the params back in line.... 0 Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates, .1 Phosphates (working on that issue now), salinity 1.025, calcium 470, Magnesium 1150.

Here's the issue.....fish continue to die. Put a new fish in yesterday, dead within 24 hours. Still no coral deaths. What could be the issue? Do you think that a major water change is in order? I'm not adding any more fish until I get this sorted out.

 

[mr difficult]

I would start with a Large water change and clean Sand bed also mix tank well before doing water change.

 

[budsreef]

Jeff, I'd check for some of the off-the-wall stuff, like a poly filter to test for various toxins and check for voltage leaks.

If the fish came from a store then it might have just been the stress mortality that happens sometimes.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

It came from a good store....I think. Local to me and I've never heard of anybody having issues there. I'll keep at it. Working today on adding sump capacity, UV and 2 reactors with charcoal, LSM, and phosban. I'll do a water change later today...probably about 20g of the 95 (total with sumps)....wait a couple of days then retest.

Just or the curious....my test kits are API for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrates, PH, Salifert for Calcium, Seachem for Magnesium, phosphates and Alk.

 

[rbredding]

Sorry to hear it man..

 

[drnecropolis]

dawgdude;550547 wrote: With that many changes I would wait about 2 weeks for it to all stabilize. You are doing a lot of changes to your filtration.

Agree 100%..

Changing that many things are keeping the system juggled and not giving it a chance to settle and a complete recovery that's needed to stabilize itself..

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

DrNecropolis;550569 wrote: Agree 100%..

Changing that many things are keeping the system juggled and not giving it a chance to settle and a complete recovery that's needed to stabilize itself..

Thanks Doc and all.....I'm going to just let it run for a couple of weeks before adding anything fish wise to the tank. Just happy the corals are all still doing well.

 

[ralph atl]

it also could be the O2 levels of the tank..........How are you acclimating the fish?

 

[jennm]

What caused the initial crash?

Jenn

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Jenn...I wish I knew...crashed while I was on the road. By the time I got home 2 fish were dead, 2 more within 24 hours and the final 3 within 24 hrs of that.

I wouldnt' think it's O2 since I've got a lot of water tumbling down to a sump...going through a drip stage with live rock and then through several other things including a skimmer before returning to the tank.

Andy.....thought of that and it may be what I'll do when I get back from Birmingham on Thurs.

 

[jennm]

Toxin? Sometimes things can affect fish, that inverts aren't bothered by - or bothered to a lesser extent.

Polyfilter is a good idea, it might tell a story.

Jenn

 

[smallblock]

Sorry this happend to you buddy, wish i was closer i would try to help out. Keep your head up and come back bigger and better!!!!

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

JennM;550711 wrote: Toxin? Sometimes things can affect fish, that inverts aren't bothered by - or bothered to a lesser extent.

Polyfilter is a good idea, it might tell a story.

Jenn

Jenn....explain how a poly filter would tell me anything? I'm not sure what that means exactly. Interested in hearing about this. I could put a poly filter in my drip tray that feeds the sump from the tank.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Gotcha...did not know that. Well then a polyfilter shall be purchased tomorrow and added.

 

[jennm]

It may or may not tell the tale. Charlie is right, it changes to a "pastel" colour for certain properties - there's a list on the package.

It's normal for it to go from white to tan, to brown and eventually to black. If it turns a pastel colour, it sucked up a heavy metal or similar.

Even if it doesn't unravel the mystery, they pull a variety of nasties, so even if it doesn't "tell" you what it removed, it removed it.

Jenn

 

[dvara78]

Hi Jeff - I'm in a similar situation as you. I lost all my fish due to hi temps from a faulty temp guage. I let the dust settle and did weekly water changes as opposed to my bi-weekly schedule and went fishless for about 4 weeks.

I've since added 2 small fish from different stores and I came home last night from a weekend away to an empty tank. All corals are doing great and parms are in check and none of the fish showed any signs of stress prior to me going out of town. I'm not too sure what it could be..maybe it's a bad spell.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

AndyMan;550859 wrote: Jeff, you don't have any sea cucumbers in there do ya? (the dreaded cuke nuke scenario)

No sea cucumbers. A sea hare, yes but he's alive and eating away at some algae I had. When he's done here...off to my 50g QT he goes.

 

[acroholic]

If I remember correctly, I think I read somewhere that Polyfilters were originally developed and used in nuclear research, and later adapted to aquarium use.