Fish suddenly dying help!!

[Mrreef]

So the past couple of days my fishes are dropping dead all of a sudden. First day my 3" lawnmower blennie was found dead. Second my 3" maroon clown is gone. Everything was looking perfectly fine. All other live stock seems fine the maroon was hosting anemone just fine. I have a 6" black lion, 6" porcupine puffer, 3" valitini puffer and two 2" clowns. All the parameter looks fine. Ammonia nitrite is 0 nitrate is barely noticeable. I'm running a 90g fowlr right with 2 250w mh. I'm stuck, please any advice?

 

[arch85]

can you describe any symptoms they might be showing? or maybe a description of what they looked like when you found them? most probably some disease or parasite ... hopefully someone here can help you identify it.

 

[Ba19Ma88]

any new livestock or corals

 

[new2saltyfish]

if all your levels test out fine it's most likely ich (forgive me if this sounds stupid but "little white spots" on the fish...just not sure if you know it or not). Usually when people post about fish death it's ich...look for the white spots and if so, take all your fish out and put them in a seperate holding tank/bin/whatever you have that will give the fish the most swimming room. Add some copper meds (not to the tank just to the temp tank you're going to put the fish in) per directions, and lower the salinity to 1.018 to start and slowly bring it down to 1.010...leave it that way for a few weeks and if fish look good bring it back up to normal slowly... fish need to be out of the display for 7-8 weeks. (not saying this is it but usually is when fish die all of a sudden with no physical marks of being eaten and water levels are fine....also check for stray voltage.

 

[don in mass]

do you use carbon and if so when did you change it last and what kind .don

 

[delta]

If there are no signs of disease parasites and no new additions it could be a faulty electrical device, or contamination.

I would check to make sure all your pumps, heater, etc are functioning properly. As well anything external is not covered with saltcreep.
I would also double check all your parameters.

If that all checks out assume contamination and start water changes and frequent carbon changes. With Die off like that you should be on water changes/carbon anyway

 

[Mrreef]

I've examined the clown and saw that his lower jaw was sorta pushed in kinder And a marks between his front fins and head on both side. but these marks were there for a week or so and he was swimming kind off weird. Swimming with his head upward like he's swimming up the surface. The blennie was the most recent addition. Didn't really notice anything with him because the crab was eating him out pretty good. There's no sign of white spots on both of them. Im running carbon in my fluval canister haven't replace it yet. My tank has been up for about 2 months so far. Got all my water from skipton. Hope this info can help to determine what is going on.

 

[arch85]

if all your levels test out fine it's most likely ich (forgive me if this sounds stupid but "little white spots" on the fish...just not sure if you know it or not). Usually when people post about fish death it's ich...look for the white spots and if so, take all your fish out and put them in a seperate holding tank/bin/whatever you have that will give the fish the most swimming room. Add some copper meds (not to the tank just to the temp tank you're going to put the fish in) per directions, and lower the salinity to 1.018 to start and slowly bring it down to 1.010...leave it that way for a few weeks and if fish look good bring it back up to normal slowly... fish need to be out of the display for 7-8 weeks. (not saying this is it but usually is when fish die all of a sudden with no physical marks of being eaten and water levels are fine....also check for stray voltage.

Please, DO NOT add copper and lower the salinity at the same time!!! that will most def. kill the fish! You're supposed to do either or -- or do them at separate times. google "saltwater copper treatment" and "saltwater hyposalinity treatment".

 

[delta]

"My tank has been up for about 2 months so far"

Here is your problem right here. slow down you cannot add that much livestock/fish in such a short time to a green tank. heck I wouldn't add that much in a mature tank

 

[SteveDola]

water changes and carbon and then let the tank acclimate. you added way too many fish right after your cycle. Give us the run down of how the tank cycled and what fish were added and when.

No offense intended here but is this your first tank?
Also, equipment and set up would be helpful to help identify any other problems/reasons.

 

[stingythingy45]

+1
To what Greg and Steve mentioned.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's ammonia now.
The bio-filter is not large enough to keep the water ammonia free with that many fish.

 

[Mrreef]

No offense intended here but is this your first tank?
Also, equipment and set up would be helpful to help identify any other problems/reasons.

yes just picked up the hobby recently. i've just did my testing this wat i got
ammonia is .25ppm
nitrite is 0
nitrate is 5ppm
hp is 8.2
i've used base rock and live sand with few pieces of live rock to seed. also used 3 damsel to cycle. after week 3 i added the 500 mh and couple of days after my sand bed turned brown/reddish color then started to faded out after a week. now i have green algae growing on rocks and glass. heres what i got....

cpr sump and skimmer...

 

[delta]

Yes your tank is still cycling

You might try and find some safe homes for your current livestock

 

[Mrreef]

is it because i added to many fish in a short time frame thats why i'm getting this mini cycle? but my 3 clowns is in there for about 3 weeks now and the other 2 are doing just fine.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Please, DO NOT add copper and lower the salinity at the same time!!! that will most def. kill the fish! You're supposed to do either or -- or do them at separate times. google "saltwater copper treatment" and "saltwater hyposalinity treatment".

should have clarified...i'd do hypo for two weeks THEN copper...BUT i've done both at the same time personally never with any issues

 

[delta]

is it because i added to many fish in a short time frame thats why i'm getting this mini cycle? but my 3 clowns is in there for about 3 weeks now and the other 2 are doing just fine.

At two months the tank might be through the initial cycle. unlike freshwater saltwater tanks take along time to mature. the more you bounce the system the longer it takes 1.5-2yrs for a mature tank. at 6mo it is pretty stable before that it is unstable.

In the beginning go slow add something wait a few weeks then add something else.

My guess is your initial cycle wasn't actually over then you dropped in 8 or so fish.

 

[stingythingy45]

If you can get some good quality live rock to add to the dead base rock it might get the bacteria colonies growing quicker.
Same with a cup of sand from an established(pest free)tank.

 

[SteveDola]

There isnt alot of biological filtration in that tank especially for the amount of fish you dumped in. I would add some LR slowly. Also, never cycle a tank with live fish...unethical and can be harmful to the fish.

 

[MikeG]

If you can't get the fish out, water changes will help dilute the ammonia level. They also won't hurt your cycle as 99.9% of the bacteria is on some type of substrate and will stay in the tank. If you can not keep ammonia levels down you can use products like amquel as a last resort that will bind ammonia making it noit harmful to the fish until you can get them out or your tank stabilizes a little.

 

[Mrreef]

Will try the water change and throw few pieces of LR and see how it go. Any chance that my lion fish is involve in this massacre? Thanks this is good info.