Help! Nothing is surviving.

[danenelsen]

About a two months ago I bought a 55 gallon tank used from someone. It came with 2 clownfish and a lawnmower blend. The tank was working well until about two weeks in. Then, one of the clownfish and the blenny died. After about a week of good water testing we decided to get a conch and a starfish. After 24 hours they also both died. Now, last week I got an orchid dottyback and it died after 3 days. I have had the water professionally tested and it tests perfect. However, the first clownfish is doing well. I can't figure out what's wrong. All the water tests good and I change it out every weekend. Help!

 

[sixty_reefer]

What does perfect translated into values? What’s the no3 and po4

 

[MoshJosh]

About a two months ago I bought a 55 gallon tank used from someone. It came with 2 clownfish and a lawnmower blend. The tank was working well until about two weeks in. Then, one of the clownfish and the blenny died. After about a week of good water testing we decided to get a conch and a starfish. After 24 hours they also both died. Now, last week I got an orchid dottyback and it died after 3 days. I have had the water professionally tested and it tests perfect. However, the first clownfish is doing well. I can't figure out what's wrong. All the water tests good and I change it out every weekend. Help!

How are the new creatures acclimated?

Also, what is the tank temperature, is the previous heater adequate for your space? Temperature fluctuations at night?

Are you topping off the tank?

 

[jabberwock]

How much water do you change a week?

 

[dedragon]

hard to say as you dont know what the original owner was doing with the tank before you got it. Did they ever treat the water with copper or medications? Did they use tap water or rodi water? What are you using to test levels, refractometer? What brand test kits?
We need a lot more info to help

 

[_Jake_Simek_]

what exactly are the levels?

 

[danenelsen]

What does perfect translated into values? What’s the no3 and po4

Ammonia is 0ppm
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 20ppm
pH is 8.3
Salinity is 36ppt

 

[vetteguy53081]

About a two months ago I bought a 55 gallon tank used from someone. It came with 2 clownfish and a lawnmower blend. The tank was working well until about two weeks in. Then, one of the clownfish and the blenny died. After about a week of good water testing we decided to get a conch and a starfish. After 24 hours they also both died. Now, last week I got an orchid dottyback and it died after 3 days. I have had the water professionally tested and it tests perfect. However, the first clownfish is doing well. I can't figure out what's wrong. All the water tests good and I change it out every weekend. Help!

When you say professionally tested. . . by who and what test method are they using ?
Are you acclimating these fish and how and for how long ?
is the original clown showing aggression towards other fish ?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?

before these fish perish, are they eating?
How is there breathing - normal or labored ?

CAN YOU POST PICS OF FISH AND THE TANK UNDER WHITE LIGHTING ?

 

[danenelsen]

How are the new creatures acclimated?

Also, what is the tank temperature, is the previous heater adequate for your space? Temperature fluctuations at night?

Are you topping off the tank?

I've been acclamation new creatures by floating the bag for 10 minutes, then adding some of my water, 10 more minutes, adding more water. 3 or 4 times and then scooping the creature out with a net and dumping the water that it came with down the drain.

Currently the tank temperature is 81.5 but it might shift a couple degrees everyday. But not much different. The temperature stays the same at night.

I also have an ATO and I am putting RODI water in bought from a local fish store.

 

[danenelsen]

How much water do you change a week?

I change about 5 gallons every week.

 

[danenelsen]

hard to say as you dont know what the original owner was doing with the tank before you got it. Did they ever treat the water with copper or medications? Did they use tap water or rodi water? What are you using to test levels, refractometer? What brand test kits?
We need a lot more info to help

I don't know if the original owner was doing any medications but they used RODI water.

For testing, I have a Milwaukee digital seawater refractometer and for the other things I have the API Saltwater Master Test Kit.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Ammonia is 0ppm
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 20ppm
pH is 8.3
Salinity is 36ppt

Most likely your salinity the issue here, most LFS keep their fish set ups at a lower salinity and if not properly acclimated that can cause the fish a shock

 

[danenelsen]

Most likely your salinity the issue here, most LFS keep their fish set ups at a lower salinity and if not properly acclimated that can cause the fish a shock

The clownfish is still doing great though. Is it just more durable than the other things? When the other things died the salinity was around 34 or 35 ppt. Is that still to high?

 

[dedragon]

I don't know if the original owner was doing any medications but they used RODI water.

For testing, I have a Milwaukee digital seawater refractometer and for the other things I have the API Saltwater Master Test Kit.

I would get better test kits than the api, they are notoriously bad

 

[dedragon]

The clownfish is still doing great though. Is it just more durable than the other things? When the other things died the salinity was around 34 or 35 ppt. Is that still to high?

Salinity should be 34-35 ppt but wouldnt have been a problem as the fish you had were already in the tank, so there is a different problem to address. It would have only been an issue for the fish that you acclimated too fast. Best thing is to keep salinity stable.

Clownfish and other damselfish are very easy fish that can handle a lot

 

[danenelsen]

When you say professionally tested. . . by who and what test method are they using ?
Are you acclimating these fish and how and for how long ?
is the original clown showing aggression towards other fish ?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?

before these fish perish, are they eating?
How is there breathing - normal or labored ?

CAN YOU POST PICS OF FISH AND THE TANK UNDER WHITE LIGHTING ?

I don't know what testing method they used but it was tested by a local saltwater fish store.

The original clownfish isn't showing any signs of aggression towards anything.

I'm using RODI water bought from a saltwtaer fish store in town.

I never saw the Orchid dottyback eat but I did see the clownfish that died and the blenny eat. Breathing is fine.

 

[danenelsen]

I would get better test kits than the api, they are notoriously bad

Well, if my water was bad why didn't the other clownfish die? Shouldn't all of them be dead?

 

[dedragon]

those rocks look pretty white for a used setup, it might not have been up very long and could have caused a mini cycle when moving and adding sand causing the ammonia to increase. A lot of LFS (local fish stores) cheap out and use api test kits as well so you should ask what they used to test your levels.

Well, if my water was bad why didn't the other clownfish die? Shouldn't all of them be dead?

No, some can be in better shape than others therefore better able to survive when things get bad.

 

[dedragon]

did you reuse sand/substrate from the original tank setup?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The clownfish is still doing great though. Is it just more durable than the other things? When the other things died the salinity was around 34 or 35 ppt. Is that still to high?

I think what sixty_reefer was getting at with this is osmotic shock - in other words, many places that sell fish keep their salinity pretty low, so if you move the fish (or starfish, snails, etc.) from low salinity to high salinity too quickly, it can cause issues and potentially kill them.

If the water that your new fish came with was significantly lower salinity than the water in your tank, then you may have unwittingly acclimated them too quickly (if the difference is really big, it could potentially take a few days to raise the salinity safely to your tank's levels).

Agreed with dedragon, though, the fish already in the tank likely weren't killed by osmotic shock. You almost certainly have a different issue (it may be disease, water quality, etc.).

Also, just for some info here, 35 ppt is considered standard ocean salinity, but salinity in our tanks can (to my knowledge) pretty safely be anything from ~33 to 38 ppt for most marine creatures (the Red Sea, for example - where many fish in the hobby come from/may be found - ranges from ~36-38 ppt salinity). As mentioned, the main thing is really just keeping your salinity stable and avoiding fluctuations with it.

Edit: forgot to add - welcome to Reef2Reef!