help

[dsay34]

im not really sure what is going on with my aquarium but ive had two fish die this week my flame angel and mandarin and now my yellow tang is sitting in the corner not eating just like the flame did before he did, i used my test kit today and everything is normal but my ph is 8.0 and my salt is good i need some suggestions before all of my fish end up dying

 

[wysiwyg]

well welcome to r2r. my first question would be how long has your tank been running for? what was your mandarine eating mandarines are pretty hard to take care off they need a large pod population.

 

[wysiwyg]

what is your salinity/specific gravity sitting at? what is your temp at

 

[dsay34]

its been running for 6 months and ive had the mandarin for 5 he was fine he wasnt acting weird at all but he never comes off the sand but i found him stuck on top of the powerhead and when i got him off of it he couldnt swim and died a couple hours later, i think my flame got scared because i put in another angel even though he wasnt being bullied he just went to the corner and i found him wrapped around the powerhead 2 days later and now my tang is in the same corner the flame was before he died

 

[dsay34]

my temp is usually 78 but its been hot in my room today so its up to 80 and my salinity is 1.024

 

[wysiwyg]

do you use a hydrometer or refractometer to check your salinity

 

[dsay34]

hydrometer

 

[BarbH]

How long ago was it that you introduced the other angel? Did you quarentine the new angel or do any preventitive treatments before adding the new fish in with the others. How have the fish been eating and what are you feeding them? How was the Mandarian looking, fat or skinny? Have you made any changes to the tank recently?

 

[dsay34]

i just put the new angel was just put in last week before that i havent made any changes in 2 months since i got a blue tang, all of the fish had been eating great up until this week im leaning toward maybe it being the angel that is the problem but he doesnt bully any of the fish he is actually smaller than all of them but my clowns, the manadarin was skinny i got him when he was really small he maybe added a quarter of a inch since i got him 5 months ago and when he died he was a inch long

 

[Steelerfan747]

What kind of test kits are you using? Some are harder to use and not as accurate

 

[dsay34]

its a saltwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals the place i bought it from said it was the best one they had

 

[wysiwyg]

pick up a refractometer hydrometers are a good start but can be very inaccurate my refractometer reads my water at 1.025 my hydrometer says its 1.019. so your hydrometer could be off and your salinity could be way higher than it should be

 

[dsay34]

It's all I could find none of the stores in my whole county sell refractometers

 

[BarbH]

You can find a refractometer online, there are ones that are sold on ebay for about $25.

 

[dsay34]

i went out and only found one for 60$ and it had the same reading my hydrometer did, i dont have a quarentine tank but i have a extra tank in my closet would it be a bad idea to take water from my tank and put it in the smaller one and quarentine the angel because my yellow tang didnt eat again today and he means a lot more to me than the angel, the angel isnt even mine

 

[caudill187]

Are there any visible abnormalities on the fish that died?

 

[dsay34]

the flame there wasnt he just stopped eating and wouldnt move and eventually got so weak he got sucked onto the powerhead the mandarin the same thing except he had been eating

 

[dsay34]

well i transferred him to a quarentine tank hopefully everything turns out good

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Here are some things to consider. Mandarins have a real specific diet that consists of pods. They feast and hunt pods all day long. Although you may have seen it eating, it probably was not getting enough nutrition. As for the flame, I have been seeing a lot of people struggle with keeping this fish alive. They seem to perish within a week to two from purchase. I believe this has to do with the fish collection practices.

 

[k2parkstar]

Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully things will pick up. No white spots on the fish anywhere? Tangs are well known ich magnets.