Help tank is contaminated, fish dying

BRS
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So it's just a cheap uv light attached to the filter, but I only today added a 24v bigger green machine uv light
 
Also in that filter with a uv light is a chemi-clean media bag I added a month ago in order to eliminate any possible toxins I wasn't seeing
 
Water changes have been being done every 10 days 50% change using aquaforest reef Crystal's an RODI water. The live rock was in the air outside of the tank for possibly 5min at the longest during the tank swap 2 months ago which is when this started. Also 15 lbs. Florida crushed coral was added.
 
Does anyone think the Florida crushed coral could have been contaminated with something biological that is doing this.
 
Just look at you equipment make sure no corrosion . I had a uv that the reflector was corroded and was bad got a replacement from manufacturer and second one did same thing . So make sure look at it all magnets impeller the area where the impeller go make sure not wore though also check heater for water getting in . Also could be stray voltage in the tank !
 
If it was a contaminant, the eel and blenny I’d imagine would be dead too. In such tight quarters, is it possible that the eel is attacking the other fish added at night? Did you observe any bite marks or injuries on the dead fish?
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Do you by chance keep a log book for your aquariums for parameters and everything that goes in or out chemical etc?
 
Ya I write it all down on a calendar what was dosed an whencwaterchanges were done. It's all abbreviated though I dont know that others could interpret. Lol [emoji16]
 
Look through it and see when then fluctuations occurred then look at what’s was done prior to this fluctuation. It’s good you keep a record now it’s just connecting the dots. I’m not trying to tell you what to do or how but a very detailed log book helps the more info the better
 
Ya it was the tank change with the addition of the Florida crushed coral is the turning point. I just dont know how to Nuke whatever bacteria that came in with it completely
 
IMO it’s a lack of good bacteria. Even if you would have taken everything out of the previous tank and put it into the larger one it would still struggle to keep up with the extra water substrate and the multiple water changes. Though it is odd to have 10-20 nitrate and 0 ammonia and nitrite. You did say you are also running chem clean media, I am not familiar with that media. And the uv sterilization will kill algae and free floating bacteria which I believe to be the bad ones as the beneficial stays in live rock and substrate.
 
Could try researching beneficial bacteria use in established systems and add that. I brefly looked into microbacter7 but have never used anything like it or know how it would affect a system with fish in it.
 
AS
nritter69 said:
Sorry I'm just frustrated and bio load doesn't kill a fish in 24hrs . I keep trying to explain that all these fish were not In this tank at the same time. They were transferred to the tank from my other well established tanks. Now over a period of 2 months the fish who have been added to this tank have died. I agree that it is strange the eel and blenny along with the culls that have been moved in then out of this tank have not been effected.
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Bioload can certainly kill fish in 24 hours - especially when one dies - begins to produce ammonia - and that affects the others. That (or another contaminant) does not seem to explain why some of the fish did fine while others did not (unless - and it seems plausible) that the fish that lived were less sensitive to whatever was causing the problem. Low oxygen can also effect different fish differently.

Having said that - Did you keep your filters running and good flow on your live rock during the changeover?. If not you may have lost some of your biofilter resulting in ammonia production due to a relatively high fish load - or toxins that were produced from something that died on your live rock. Since you said you 'immediately' lost the sea horses when you put them in the tank - My guess is that this could be the problem. Curious - how long did you run the 'new tank' before re-adding the fish. You said above the Ammonia is '0' but was it always 0.

Another possibility is that there was a parasite present in the tank to which the fish had partial immunity - the stress of moving, etc caused an outbreak (i.e. velvet). The fish that remained could be immune.
 
nritter69 said:
Sorry I'm just frustrated and bio load doesn't kill a fish in 24hrs . I keep trying to explain that all these fish were not In this tank at the same time. They were transferred to the tank from my other well established tanks. Now over a period of 2 months the fish who have been added to this tank have died. I agree that it is strange the eel and blenny along with the culls that have been moved in then out of this tank have not been effected.
Click to expand...

Having read all of this again - I think its 2(or more) different things and you are trying to ascribe all of the deaths to one cause. My guess is that that 'immediate deaths' related to ammonia. The others are related to illness/stress.
 
nritter69 said:
Ya I write it all down on a calendar what was dosed an whencwaterchanges were done. It's all abbreviated though I dont know that others could interpret. Lol [emoji16]
Click to expand...

Here is a suggestion - because I have to say reading through this is really confusing as to what was done when - and why. The suggestion is that when you post asking a question that you clearly state the order and time from over which things are done. Ie and a little background - Just to clarify - is this the chain of events:

1. You had a long established 20 gallon tank with (some fish) I'm not sure exactly which ones were 'always there'.
2. You wanted to change to a 39 gallon tank - (Did you keep your filters running and Dry rock wet with flow throughout this process)
3. You added some Florida crushed coral to the new tank (what was the source of this - was it 'live' was it in a bag, etc)
4. You put your filter and live rock in the tank
5. You added seahorses that 'died immediately' (did you measure ammonia, ph, temp, etc before you added them)?
6. Then you lost the puffer, the angel and something else (Were the parameters measured throughout this time - how many weeks)
7. All during this time there were some clowns, an eel, and a blenny and they have been. fine (When were they added relative to the sea horses?)
8. You added an Anglerfish that died.
9. You have another large reef system some of the fish have been coming from there.
10. You're doing a lot of water changes (why?) and have chemiclean a UV system (big enough for this tank)?

The reason for the questions is that without knowing exactly what you did its impossible to help solve the problem without 'guessing'. Another suggestion - small water changes are less stressful than 50% weekly water changes (IMHO)
 
To be honest, there's a few things I just can't get my head around,

nritter69 said:
OMG not really helping but to answer your question Anglers are reef safe and they are fine in a reef tank he was moved from the reef tank to this tank he was in the reef tank for years the dog face puffer was in a reef tank for a few years but did not like all the other fish and did not like to swim around just like to hang out under the rocks so he was moved to a small tank where he could hang out and be by himself for the most part with a eel and a couple seahorses when moved to this tank the seahorses died immediately the puffer then died two weeks later an angler that was moved in the tank died a week after being moved into the tank a dwarf lion that was also moved into the tank to try and populate the nearly empty tank that only had an eel and a blenny in it at that point died as well in a matter of weeks try imagining a reefer with multiple tanks in home who switches his column tank 2 a bigger bow front tank and then everything he adds to the bow front tank from his other tanks dies
Click to expand...

So you're experiencing significant loss of life in one of your multiple tanks, and decide to move in new life, to repopulate? o_O
Why didn't you let them be in their then 'home', and try to figure out what was wrong? Was there some kind of rush involved, is there something wrong with the other tank, did you just not want the tank to almost be void of life?

Since it's a FOWLER couldn't you just have removed all the rocks, bleached them, let them dry, wash them & let them dry again, washing the whole tank, cleaning equipment, while having the current fish that were in the tank in QT?
Then to start it up ASAP again (Preferable not ASAP, but taking your time 4-8 weeks of start-up), put in water from one of your existent tanks & seed the then clean & dried LR with one of your other tanks?

I've also seen someone mention the loss of life could be attributed to the swapping to a new tank, but this tank was an existing reef system right? It should've been fine if the old volume was atleast 3-4months old, & atleast 60% of water & rock volume.
So how old was the tank before you moved?
 
To the Past comments I'm aware my post is not organized properly I am not the best at the online Forum comments and there is just so much information to be packed in as far as timeline and parameters but I do appreciate all the help the previous comment mentioning the timeline and history is very close except the sea horses were established in the column once moved to the bow front they died likely of stress wasn't till 2 weeks later one after another losing fish I agree it is strange the eel and blenny have survived I don't know if it's cuz they're bottom-feeders they can handle more diverse bacterium
 
Tidal Gardens
The column was in operation for two years with everybody fairly happy but cramped with two seahorses the dog face and the snowflake eel thus the reason to upsize to a bow front this is just a secondary tank in my kitchen for my wife to look at wow doing cooking and such it is anything but a primary however it is frustrating to constantly lose these fish I imagine the seahorses and the newly purchased Angler died from stress or shipping but the other established fish coming from The Reef and being put in dying immediately or within a few days is a mystery they were all floated for a few hours with lights off lights remained off for the rest of the day then they come on the next day is regularly scheduled
 
At this point I am scared to put anything in and I'm tempted to just take the whole tank down tank skimmer filter UV light heater Circ pumps everything I'm just can't deal with anymore animals dying until I figure out what the heck is causing this
 
BRS

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