Fish kee dying

[Joseqb77]

Can u guys please help me, I'm new to the Saltwater world, My tank has been running a couple months and all my fish keep dying except fire goby n star fish, corals looking healthy, water keep testing perfect, i lost so many clown fish purple tang n numerous others, can someone give me some advice

 

[SlugSnorter]

tank age? pics? params? missing a lot of info.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Welcome to the forum - sorry it isn’t on the best circumstances.
Anything consistent behavior or appearance wise before death?
Were new fish quarantined?
Tank size?
My best initial guess is disease - it’s very common in marine fish and quarantining new fish is the best way to avoid it. Firefish are very disease hardy so it’s not surprising it outlasted all other fish - but it’s not immune.
What kind of starfish? Just curious as most do poorly in captivity, especially in newer tanks - so I’m honestly surprised it outlived the other fish (unless it’s an asterina or brittle).

 

[SlugSnorter]

Where do you get fish from?

 

[BanjoBandito]

We need size of system, age, recent parameters along with any changes you've noticed visually or test wise.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Common mistakes I made as a new hobbyist

- Getting fish from random LFS.
-Going to LFS and leaving with fish no matter what ( total rookie mistake that still happens)
- Not using a skimmer and UV (a cheap skimmer and cheap UV is better than not having one)
- Using Tap water
- Using a canister filter and rinsing biological media with Tap water.
-Thinking waterchanges where helpful when I should be focusing more on nutrient export.
- Overstocking
-Not feeding frozen food or balanced diet
- Not QT fish (which i know it wasn't possible but then you should source fish that are less prone to parasites or buy a few fish that have been QT - there are many options now).
- Not making a fish list, not learning about the fish before adding them, etc
- Not understanding biological filter, Its simple, fish produce ammonia, ammonia is toxic, our rock and sand covert that to Nitrate - which is nontoxic to fish. So make sure that is good.


Quote I now stand by "You can't save money on dead fish".You will be fine just take your time and learn from my mistakes. Aslong as your water is clean and there is no stress, you sourced from good spot and feed well but not overboard, your fish will thrive.

 

[melonheadorion]

fish dont die from nothing, so something is up, obviously. which is why youre here.

water testing perfect is the first thing that is assumed. since fish live in water, its the first thing that is subject to scrutiny. what your tests came up with for parameters, is useful. also, what is the salinity at? do you hve any surface tenstion which would limit the amount of gas exchange? whats your setup like?

being that "lost so many clownfish" indicates that there is something with your water. disease is possible, but for that to happen over and over, i would point a finger at water issues first. if we assume water is "pefect, what kind of water do you use? and more specifically do you have any kind of wavemaker or other fans that are breaking surface tension? are the fish staying near the top, or seem to be breathing heavy? do they eat?

 

[Sharkbait19]

fish dont die from nothing, so something is up, obviously. which is why youre here.

water testing perfect is the first thing that is assumed. since fish live in water, its the first thing that is subject to scrutiny. what your tests came up with for parameters, is useful. also, what is the salinity at? do you hve any surface tenstion which would limit the amount of gas exchange? whats your setup like?

being that "lost so many clownfish" indicates that there is something with your water. disease is possible, but for that to happen over and over, i would point a finger at water issues first. if we assume water is "pefect, what kind of water do you use? and more specifically do you have any kind of wavemaker or other fans that are breaking surface tension? are the fish staying near the top, or seem to be breathing heavy? do they eat?

Water is possible - but coral and a star (and even the firefish) would probably suffer before clowns, which are some of the hardiest fish you can get for saltwater.

 

[melonheadorion]

Water is possible - but coral and a star (and even the firefish) would probably suffer before clowns, which are some of the hardiest fish you can get for saltwater.

right. absolutely. with the explanation of "lost so many clown fish purple tang n numerous others", for a tank that is a couple months old, to just be eating through fish after fish, although disease is always possible, i feel disease would eventually catch up to all, and show signs more than water parameters would. can discount the tang death as being a delicate flower dying with the slightest gust of wind, but the clowns dying as easily as the OP makes it sound leads me to believe its something pretty strong killing them, since as we know, they are hardy fish. what that is, i dont know, but since its pretty continuous, or so it seems, my thought is parameters, but who knows at this point

 

[Sharkbait19]

right. absolutely. with the explanation of "lost so many clown fish purple tang n numerous others", for a tank that is a couple months old, to just be eating through fish after fish, although disease is always possible, i feel disease would eventually catch up to all, and show signs more than water parameters would. can discount the tang death as being a delicate flower dying with the slightest gust of wind, but the clowns dying as easily as the OP makes it sound leads me to believe its something pretty strong killing them, since as we know, they are hardy fish. what that is, i dont know, but since its pretty continuous, or so it seems, my thought is parameters, but who knows at this point

more information definitely would help. It could be anything at this point. My first losses were all to disease, so that’s where my mind always goes.

 

[Joseqb77]

I truly appreciate all of ur replies, i loved this hobby and will keep learning from all of u,, I was told today from my local aquarium that my pump was to small and my heater was to small I checked my water and it's was at 70 until I bought a stronger heater 2 days ago and now it's at 76, could the water temperature and wrong size pump caused deaths?

 

[Sharkbait19]

How big is your tank? Pics?
Clownfish are super hardy, that low temp would cause problems after a while, but you are going to see everything affected, likely the clownfish last.

 

[Tamberav]

70 wont kill fish.

Can we get a picture of a full tank shot?

My guess is some disease process if corals look good.

 

[Joseqb77]

70 wont kill fish.

Can we get a picture of a full tank shot?

My guess is some disease process if corals look good.

I have videos but don’t know how to post them

 

[Sharkbait19]

Try to link as a YouTube video

 

[Joseqb77]

I have videos but don’t know how to post them

I have videos but don’t know how to post them

Try to link as a YouTube video

Try to link as a YouTube video

Try to link as a YouTube video

 

[Sharkbait19]

Can you get closeups of the sick fish themselves? Corals all look fine, so I’m gonna say disease is likely at play

 

[Dave1993]

I'm the opposite I can keep fish but not corals

 

[Joseqb77]

Can you get closeups of the sick fish themselves? Corals all look fine, so I’m gonna say disease is likely at play

So I thought I fixed problem by getting a bigger pump. I bought 1 clownfish 1 royal grammat and 2 other fish, clownfish and royal grammat died within 4 days other 2 are still alive, I bought a yellow tang also b4 the clown died I want to save this fish will this stuff work and not kill my corals, I'm sure I have some kind of disease in my tank don't know what I appreciate ur help

 

[Sharkbait19]

A pump wouldn’t change anything unless it was an O2 issue. Knowing what the fish looked/acted like before they died and how they were acclimated would help a lot in diagnosing death.