Help with some fish issues

[SaltyMarine07]

So I have had the tank going now for around 2 months or more. I started with a single clown all is going well with him. A couple weeks latter I added a bangai cardinal. Him and the clown are friends and are always hanging out. two weeks latter added a pseudochromis at that time I got two hermits and 2 turbo snails and a couple nessaris. I did not need to add a large clean up crew but what I thought would be enough to clean up any leftovers that make it to the sand bed. well three days later fish died. It just sat in a cave it made istself under the rock work and wouldnt come out. I then took fish back checked water paramaters for two days. The only thing i saw was salenity got down to 1.23. In range for the fish so I thought maybe just stress. So I went and returned the fish and got a royal gramma. Needless to say that fish followed the same pattern. So after getting the fish I do a drip acclimation with fish abble to see inside the tank and the other fish as well. I watched closely after I entroduced the fish to make sure the other two where not picking on him and they didnt. The clown really wanted the other fish to come out. I do not know if its an issue with the type of fish they are and that is the issue or if its just stress. I usually drip for around 2 hours maybe more if I am distracted with kidos. No issues with the other fish. No spots or anything on the gramma or the pseudochromis or on my other two fish. New to the hobby so I figured I would ask on here and see what people think. I do not want to just add more fish if this is going to be a problem. Ill attach a pic of tank so you can see what I am working with. I feed frozen mysis right now and I am going to be picking up some different food types this weekend so I can vary the diet and keep everyone fat and happy. Sory pic is slighty cloudy I had to fix some sand kidos grabbed my magnet for powerhead and down the powerhead went to throw some sand.

 

[Pbh-reef]

I’m sorry this is happening to you it’s not fun to lose fish. A number of culprits are possible. Just to understand - are any of your fish still alive? Is it just the new fish that died? How new is the tank? What size tank is it?

With the fish dying that fast I don’t think it’s disease unless it is velvet. That said without QTing the fish it’s impossible to rule disease out.

My guess is that the deaths have something to do with your acclimation process. Do you know what salinity your LFS keeps fish at? If it is close to your tanks then I don’t thing 2 hours of acclimation is needed or good. With such long acclimayions the temp
Can drop in the acclimation bucket or ammonia can build up to toxic levels. I am
Lucky that my LFS keeps fish at 1.25 so I float to temp acclimate for 15 minutes and then the fish goes right into my QT.

Did you notice any redness around the gills? That could be a sign of ammonia poisoning.

Another possibility is that the biofiliter
In your tank is not mature enough to
Handle new fish and the Ammonia poisoning is happening inside the tank. I’d suggest getting a seachem ammonia badge and testing your tank for ammonia with an
API or Red Sea test kit when you add new fish. How did you cycle the tank? Perhaps adding some bacteria in a bottle now could
Help. I realize you said the LFS said
Your parameters were good but I think it may be possible that ammonia spiked in the tank but was converted to nitrate by the time You tested the water. That is really a shot in the dark though and people
With more experience might have a better idea.

Finally, have you considered quaranting fish? If not maybe you should. If you have and decided against it then I’d be happy to talk More about the obstacles to quaranting for you. I really didn’t want a qt yank
But after losing 3 fish to ich I’ve set one
up.

 

[4FordFamily]

I’m guessing the drip acclimation was a big piece. I never drip more than 15 minutes, as soon as you open the bag the air turns the filth in the back to ammonia very quickly and starts to kill.

If I had to guess, that’s my guess. The other possibilities above are still quite valid and perhaps possible as well.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

The tank was cycled with dr tims one and only and ammonia. I did that until all paramaters had gotten to 0 then repeated to where the ammonia was going away in around 24 hours. I have two fish in the tank I dripped them for around 30 minutes and they are doing great.

My salinity when fish went into tank was 1.025 lfs runs the same salinity.

I test ammonia daily to keep ontop of it and its always right at 0 on my api and then weekly take it to the reef store to have them test with there kit and it shows the same.

I think I could get a little 10 gallon and try that system. I already have a heater would just need a small powerhead which would be easy. I just have not done it yet because everyone seems to be doing good.

I am not sure on bio filter or how I would test it other than with the test kit I and the fish store have. I have not seen any spikes or any signs of issues on my testing but I will not say its not possible and I missed the window in which it was an issue.I do not know where I got the idea for the long acclimation but I will try a new way with alot less time and see if that works better.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

I did a new ammonia test just a minute ago and notice ammonia is now at .25. I changed some filter stuff and making sure I have some salt water ready incase numbers do not go down by latter this evening I will do a good water change. Im guessing this is somewhat due to the fish dying. Also I did increase the ammount of food I was feeding and I think I will dial it back as well.

 

[seaplane]

First, I'm sorry you lost a fish, it always hurts. I'm not sure if the problem was with acclimation , stress, or disease, but one thing I think will help for future success is for you to slow down a bit. The tank is new and it takes time for the bacteria to establish enough to take care of added bioload as evidenced by the ammonia increase after adding a fish. Love your aquascape.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Hmmm what test kit are you using? I’ve head api can give false positives at very low levels (isn’t this hobby fun!). I also wonder if any of your CuC has recently died causing ammonia to build up. But also how big your tank is and how long it has been set up matter for how well the bacteria can process ammoni.

To me the long acclimation seems like the most likely cause and the simplest one to fix. Once the water in the bag is exposed to air the ammonia becomes toxic. If the sainities match then Try temp acclimating by floating the bag for 15-20 min and then open the bag, pour the water and fish out over a plastic strainer or net, and plop the fish in. You can turn down the lights and feed the other fish to help the new one find a place to hide and rest for a few days.

As for quarantine I’d suggest reading some of the stickies in the disease forum about how and why to do it and think about the risks of not QTing versus whatever restrictions or obstacles to QTing you have. That may include it just feeling intimidating (that was a big part of it for me). Happy to talk more about it if you want to.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

I am using the api kit. I have heard the false reading before as well which is why I am not in panic lets change everything mode. My other two fish do not seemed bothered. I am going to see if the tank can fix the issue over the next 24 hours. Ill test it a few times within that period. Thankfully I got that rodi and do have almost 40 gallons of fresh water on hand that I am warming up to tank temp. No clean up crew is just a few days old and other than maybe a nessarius snail which I believe I have seen all three the rest of them are trucking along. its a 40 gallon. I did the one and only with ammonia cycle and I let that cycle for about a month and a half. It was good at 1 month but I let it go a little longer. Then I added 1 fish. Tested water for two weeks all parameters where still good so I added one more. Tested still seemed good so one week latter I added a small crew to clean up crew which was three nassarus 2 red leg hermits and 2 turbo snails. kept testing water and all was still good. I will give the tank a few week break and let it re settle before adding any more fish. I was doing a recommended feeding ammount I however think it might have also been to much as I was seeing food floating around well after 10 minutes and I know that can cause an issue beeing I do not have a protein skimmer. It is a nuvo 40 gallon. Thanks for the input greatly appreciated.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

I guess I could put that one filter side is the intank floss holder and on the opposite I have the im cady like the intank with the filter pack they send from them which is 4 cloth filter balls 2 bags of carbon and 2 bags of gfo. I am reserching trying to find a possible better filter setup as well. I will get skimmer after tax return. most likely the tunzee 9004 i believe is what all the people like for these tanks

 

[SaltyMarine07]

today I checked the water the ammonia was at .25 still all other paramaters seem good. I put a pack of puragen in. I did notice my ph was at 7.8. I tested my rodi and its ph is 7.0 so I gotta get my ph up a tad.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Ok - my advice is to go slow on adding stuff
To the tank. A skimmer can help with waste removal and pH issues. but for now you can reduce feeding (your fish will be ok without food for a couple days) until the ammoni
Goes down. I would also consider getting a more reliable test kit to be sure their is ammonia.

How often do you change filter floss? Consider changing it out every 2 days to help remove organics before they decompose.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

Yea the floss that was in had been in for about a week. I went ahead and changed it out and added a pack of purigen. Nothing new going in.

 

[Todvod]

You can also dose Prime to bring ammonia down immediately.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

Yea I almost grabbed some but I was reading with my ph where it is and the ammonia its not toxic right now so I figured I would see if the purigen and some new floss will bring it down. If not I will look into that prime thanks for the info.

 

[Captain Quint]

Not much I can add. The info you have gotten is great and it looks like you are doing a good job staying on top of things. Slow and steady wins here.

Welcome aboard and thank you for serving our country, good sir.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

Well I think I got the tank a little more stable then wouldn't you know one of my kidos wakes up and gets some milk. Then leaves it on the table and one of the little ones runs through and grabs a drink then throws it into my ato which tops of my tank and throws milk into the system. Now the water is still cloudy after I did about a 50% water change. Went and bought more salt and topping of rodi water in case I need to re water change again.