Fish Keep Dying!!

[luisruiz326]

I have finally cycled my tank as my previous posts has indicated and with confirmation from various tests. However, I have added livestock and all my fishes have died within 3-5 days of having them all of which refuse to eat and hide 75% of the time. What is going on?! I acclimated all of them for hours, didn’t have the lights on for 24+ hrs, the water in my tank has spiked to only .25 ammonia in which I did a 25% water change to lower it down w/ the help of stability and prime. I don’t want to completely start over but I just need some guidance :/ would love to have someone help me directly to ensure this can be sustainable.
Thank you all in advance.

 

[725196]

First I am sorry you have had to go through this. I know it sucks to lose something you work hard to make sure you can care for. It will get better, learn from the mistakes and become a better hobbyist for it.

I have a few questions:
How long did you cycle the tank?
What did you use to cycle the tank?
How big is the tank?
You said you added fish, however you didn’t say how many?
What are your parameters? Ie. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrite, phosphates, pH, salinity etc?
You said you acclaimed the fish for hrs. How many hrs, exactly and how did you go about acclimating them?

 

[Tamberav]

How did you acclimate? Acclimating for HOURS sounds stressful. If salinity matches, it should maybe take 30 min.

what types of fish did you add? How many at a time?

My understanding is your tank is 15g.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How many fish did you try to add and what size is your tank?

It should be one fish at a time, perhaps 2 if your getting a pair. If you are overloading the biofilter, then acclimating for hours wont do anything. Honestly acclimation shouldnt take more than 15-25 minutes

Really need more info to help you

 

[OfficeReefer]

@luisruiz326 you should have zero ammonia unless something is dying. Are you sure you've cycled your tank?

I would recommend you slowly introduce a fish or two of the same, like fish (clowns, chromis, etc.). Could you provide us with a few images of your tank, please?

Also, would it be possible to provide us with some recent water test results?

 

[luisruiz326]

First I am sorry you have had to go through this. I know it sucks to lose something you work hard to make sure you can care for. It will get better, learn from the mistakes and become a better hobbyist for it.

I have a few questions:
How long did you cycle the tank?
What did you use to cycle the tank?
How big is the tank?
You said you added fish, however you didn’t say how many?
What are your parameters? Ie. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrite, phosphates, pH, salinity etc?
You said you acclaimed the fish for hrs. How many hrs, exactly and how did you go about acclimating them?

I cycled my tank for approximately 6 weeks using Seachem stability. See parameters below prior to adding fish. I acclimated my fish for about 2-3 hours using drip method and was ready once the bag reached double volume.

 

[luisruiz326]

How did you acclimate? Acclimating for HOURS sounds stressful. If salinity matches, it should maybe take 30 min.

what types of fish did you add? How many at a time?

My understanding is your tank is 15g.

I added a fire fish and a clownfish. Along with a typical CUC which consisted of a couple hermits and a snail. And yes my tank is approximately 15 gallons.

 

[luisruiz326]

@luisruiz326 you should have zero ammonia unless something is dying. Are you sure you've cycled your tank?

I would recommend you slowly introduce a fish or two of the same, like fish (clowns, chromis, etc.). Could you provide us with a few images of your tank, please?

Also, would it be possible to provide us with some recent water test results?

I was told my cycle should be cycled due to the results I was getting. See attached picture below.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I cycled my tank for approximately 6 weeks using Seachem stability. See parameters below prior to adding fish. I acclimated my fish for about 2-3 hours using drip method and was ready once the bag reached double volume.

that's a neat testing device. what is it?

 

[luisruiz326]

that's a neat testing device. what is it?

Aqua Spin at my LFS

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Did you add any amonia or get ammonia spike using seachem during cycle? (I'm a little confused as I have used seachem stability in my water changes since day 1, did not know you could use it for cycling)

 

[luisruiz326]

Seachem stability is a stabilizing system chemicals, did you add any bacteria, like Dr timms or API quick start

Yes in the beginning I used Dr Tim’s quick start but was unable to get my ammonia down to 0. So moved to Stability instead

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Aqua Spin at my LFS

thanks. found an article about the device. API Lamotte makes it. wonder how accurate that device really is. is it saying your Mag is 1701? what salt are you using? what salinity? RODI water?

API AquaSpin - More Details About The Automated Testing Machine | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The API AquaSpin is a new device to the reef aquarium hobby-industry that we first wrote about a couple weeks ago. Since then we’ve learned a whole lot more about the device, its origins…

reefbuilders.com

 

[luisruiz326]

Did you add any amonia or get ammonia spike using seachem during cycle? (I'm a little confused as I have used seachem stability in my water changes since day 1, did not know you could use it for cycling)

Yes I would use it in conjunction with ghost feeding to ensure it was working

 

[luisruiz326]

thanks. found an article about the device. API Lamotte makes it. wonder how accurate that device really is. is it saying your Mag is 1701? what salt are you using? what salinity? RODI water?

API AquaSpin - More Details About The Automated Testing Machine | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The API AquaSpin is a new device to the reef aquarium hobby-industry that we first wrote about a couple weeks ago. Since then we’ve learned a whole lot more about the device, its origins…

reefbuilders.com

I get my saltwater from LFS. Salinity 1.025 with 0 TDS

 

[Nate Chalk]

Weird if you did everything by the book. Then i dont see why there would be issues.

 

[luisruiz326]

I don’t know if it’s my canister filter? My sand/rocks? Water? Oxygen levels?

 

[Lavey29]

I don’t know if it’s my canister filter? My sand/rocks? Water? Oxygen levels?

I was wondering about 02 levels. What do you use for flow and water agitation at the surface just the filter dropping water back in?

 

[Nate Chalk]

Hard to say without testing for that.

icp tests etc

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Your cycle may of stalled when you had small ammonia spike, you say you did 25%water change,
Do you have any chemical ammonia to test to see if aquarium is fully cycled, just second guessing