Fish are dieing

[Jaster]

Hi I'm new to reef aquarium I've had my tank set up for about 8 weeks and in the last couple of weeks I've lost a coppernose then my hermit crab died and this morning my mandarin was dead. I do not have a test kit but take my water every week and get it tested when I go for saltwater. One of my fish had black spot on it so I carried out a freshwater dip which seemed to work and my box fish has white spot on it. Because I'm new at this I am now clueless at what to do next I do not want to loose any more fish

 

[Jimbo662]

My guess on the mandarin is that it may have starved to death unfortunately. It takes a while to get an established pod population for them to eat. What are all your water parameters?

 

[Jaster]

Hi mate my salinity is 1.024 the rest I dont know. I get it tested at the aquatic centre I feed them every day and don't know if this is too much I'm new to this I leav the lights on for 10 hours a day again I don't know if this is right

 

[Jimbo662]

Most mandarin only eat pods unless they've been trained to eat frozen / pellets. Do you know if yours was actually eating?

 

[Waters]

We would need a lot of information before we can help diagnose why fish are dieing. With the tank only being 8 weeks old, you appear to have a few "hard to keep" fish. As Jimbo stated, Mandarins require a large pod population which comes with a mature tank. How large is the tank? What type of filtration do you run? If you cannot test the water yourself (I strongly recommend getting your own water tests), then I would find out what levels the fish store is coming up with. Do you quarantine your fish before putting them in your tank? How are you acclimating the new fish to your tank? What SG and temp do you run? These are a few things that I can think of at the moment....I am sure others will chime in for things I forgot. I would start browsing these forums and reading everything you can to learn as much as you can. I read books and browse the forums daily and am still learning.

 

[Jaster]

I was buying copepods and putting it in every week my yellow tang looks a bit pale under the mouth

 

[Jaster]

Thanks mate it just seems a lot to take in when your new to this but the welfare of the fish is the most important to me

 

[Mike&Terry]

Firstly, I am sorry to hear about your fish losses...

What size tank do you have? Are you running a skimmer or some form of filtration to remove excess food and waste? And would you mind listing all the fish and any other animals you have in the tank?

 

[Jaster]

My tank is 3ft by 2 ft I have 2 clowns 2 damsels 1 yellow tang 2 angels 1box fish and a red shrimp I have a Aqua 750 filter a v2 300 skimmer 2 heaters and a air stone

 

[msderganc]

My tank is 3ft by 2 ft I have 2 clowns 2 damsels 1 yellow tang 2 angels 1box fish and a red shrimp I have a Aqua 750 filter a v2 300 skimmer 2 heaters and a air stone

Not to be the tang police, but that is way too small for so many large fish, and most are hard to keep.

The clowns (assuming they're just ocellaris, any other will require more space) will want to control ~20-30 gallons of your 90 (assuming 24" height) or so once they're adult. The yellow tang needs at least 5-6 feet in length to swim. Boxfish need at least 100 gallons (maybe more depending on the species) and if stressed could crash the tank (they release poison). They're also hard to keep fed, since they're picky eaters. What kind of angels? Other than the very smallest dwarf angels, you're borderline for tank size there too. As was previously mentioned, copper banded butterflyfish are hard to keep alive (pick eaters) and need at least 100-125 gallons. The mandarin would be ok in the tank, but shouldn't be added until at least 6-9months in. You need an established pod population before they will survive long term. They eat a TON of pods, so even supplementing weekly probably isn't enough to keep up.

From an aggression standpoint, you also have some pretty feisty fish. The damsels and tang are specifically aggressive as a general rule, and angels can be as well. If your clowns are maroon clowns, they can be bad too.

Overall, I don't see this being a good long term home for the fish as currently stocked. I would research a bit more (and don't just listen to your fish store, they're trying to sell you stuff) and try to re-home or return the tang and boxfish at a minimum. Depending on the type of angels and the temperament of your damsels, I would consider them as well. Set up an inexpensive temporary QT (10-20g), because one fish with ich (white spot disease) or many other diseases could easily crash the tank.

As an aside, if that's the TMC V2 Skim Protein Skimmer 300 you're using, it's also undersized for your tank. It's rated for 66 gallons, and most skimmer ratings are overstated. I'd look for a stronger skimmer, especially if you want a heavy fishload like you currently have.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you truly want to be in this hobby, there is a lot to learn and it's not inexpensive. The good news is that there are forums like this (and the other big ones) that have tons of information if you look/ask. Feel free to PM me or reply if you have any more specific questions.

 

[Lesley]

Hate to say this but a lot of LFS will tell you everything is sweet when its not just to make a sale. If your tank is only 8 weeks old I would strongly suspect that it is not fully cycled yet. First step as mentioned above get your own test kits particularly for Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
They have also sold you a lot of fish for an 8 week old tank, everytime you put a new fish in you need to wait a little while for the good bacteria to catch up with the new waste that is going to be produced by that fish.
Any lfs that sold you a mandarin as far as I am concerned is a LFS i would stay away from, if they knew how old your tank was it was never going to work. The copperband is the same, you are being lead astray by your local fish shop. Most fish shops only use cheap API test kits too, get yourself some Salifert test kits and go from there.

 

[miamiangler]

Too many fish In a short time !I would find another pet shop . You can learn a ton of stuff on U-Tube . BRS Has some good Vids

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Thanks mate it just seems a lot to take in when your new to this but the welfare of the fish is the most important to me

Absolutely... the amount of information initially thrown at you can be quite overwhelming. At this point I highly recommend going out and purchasing a good book on keeping marine aquariums. There's so many underlying things going on in your tank that you have to get a good base knowledge of how everything effects everything else. No one on a forum will be able to provide sufficient information based on your specific aquarium.

As mentioned above the mandarin and copperband butterfly are two notoriously difficult fishes to keep, even for seasoned veterans. If the welfare of the fishes is truly the most important thing to you by far your best bet is to arm yourself with knowledge and come to your own conclusions, with maybe a little help from people on the forums.