New fish die within hours

[Clemsy]

(sorry for the long post)

Hello guys,
I have a Coralife BioCube 32 gallon tank. I completed the cycle about a week ago (took me 4 weeks and a half). Dosed 2ppm ammonia and all levels go to zero in less than 24 hours (except nitrates). I have a RO/DI system which I used to do a few water changes to drop nitrate levels before adding fish. Last week I added one clownfish first (acclimated the fish). It started gasping for air and then stayed at the bottom until it died (died within hours). Checked parameters and everything zero. Thought maybe fish was sick. Next day went to another lfs and they advised me to get 2 clownfish claiming that they don't like being alone. Got home acclimated for about 2 hours, added fish and both died again. One looked OK for about 3 hours swimming normally but then started to swim on the sand like scratching himself and got lethargic and stayed on the sand until it died. The other one died first. That one was gasping for air at the top and started losing strength until it died. Tested parameters and everything zero (alkalinity 1.022). I waited one week, adding 2 ppm ammonia every 2 days to make sure that the bacteria had something to eat. Again, all parameters down to zero in less than 24 hours. I bought a chlorine test which arrived this week. Tested the water had zero chlorine, tested tds from rodi system and was zero, did a 50% water change one day and 25% next day to lower nitrates to about 5ppm. I decided to buy 2 more clownfish and both died within hours. The exhibit similar patterns before dying. At this point I don't know what to do. I was so excited but I'm losing hope. I don't like seeing these fish dying. It's way too sad. Every and any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

PH 8.0
Temp 79-80 degree
Alkalinity 1.022
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Chlorine 0
TDS 0
Protein skimmer
2 sponges for filtration
1 media bag
1 seachem purigen
About 20 pounds of rock and 2 inches of sand

 

[adittam]

(sorry for the long post)

Hello guys,
I have a Coralife BioCube 32 gallon tank. I completed the cycle about a week ago (took me 4 weeks and a half). Dosed 2ppm ammonia and all levels go to zero in less than 24 hours (except nitrates). I have a RO/DI system which I used to do a few water changes to drop nitrate levels before adding fish. Last week I added one clownfish first (acclimated the fish). It started gasping for air and then stayed at the bottom until it died (died within hours). Checked parameters and everything zero. Thought maybe fish was sick. Next day went to another lfs and they advised me to get 2 clownfish claiming that they don't like being alone. Got home acclimated for about 2 hours, added fish and both died again. One looked OK for about 3 hours swimming normally but then started to swim on the sand like scratching himself and got lethargic and stayed on the sand until it died. The other one died first. That one was gasping for air at the top and started losing strength until it died. Tested parameters and everything zero (alkalinity 1.022). I waited one week, adding 2 ppm ammonia every 2 days to make sure that the bacteria had something to eat. Again, all parameters down to zero in less than 24 hours. I bought a chlorine test which arrived this week. Tested the water had zero chlorine, tested tds from rodi system and was zero, did a 50% water change one day and 25% next day to lower nitrates to about 5ppm. I decided to buy 2 more clownfish and both died within hours. The exhibit similar patterns before dying. At this point I don't know what to do. I was so excited but I'm losing hope. I don't like seeing these fish dying. It's way too sad. Every and any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

PH 8.0
Temp 79-80 degree
Alkalinity 1.022
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Chlorine 0
TDS 0
Protein skimmer
2 sponges for filtration
1 media bag
1 seachem purigen
About 20 pounds of rock and 2 inches of sand

I assume you mean salinity instead of alkalinity? What salt are you using to make your saltwater? What are you using to test your salinity?

Fish dying that quickly seems like a salinity or oxygenation problem. Maybe an error in saltwater prep leading to drastically incorrect salinity and whatever you’re measuring it with isn’t calibrated correctly or is just not precise.

You also might need more flow for oxygenation, a powerhead aimed at the surface to agitate the water surface.

 

[mermaid_life]

Ask the LFS to test your water. You have a skimmer so it shouldn't be oxygenation I would think. So sad =(. Fish go in QT all the time with no rocks, sand so.... basics: water, temp, salinity, toxicity seems to be in question?

 

[Reeffraff]

The repeated, quick deaths points to some type of acute toxicity. What type of ammonia are you using? I've always just mashed up a bit of fish food to feed bacteria during a fishless cycle. Has worked perfectly for decades. My suggestion would be to stop using the ammonia product, change as much of the water as you can, run some carbon and then try another fish.

 

[Clemsy]

Yes, I meant salinity. I use a Refractometer to test. I tested the water in the bag where the fish came from and it was 1.023. My guess is that even if it's not well calibrated the water from both sources were 0.001 different. I use a Refractometer to test the water. I also, have a power head on the right side of the tank. I bought an air pump and stress coat to rule out oxygen, chlorine and chloramine. They all arrive today.

 

[Reeffraff]

I am 99.9% sure this is not an oxygen issue. Unless you are running the biocube in a manner that is vastly different than the 1000s of people before you, oxygen levels will be just fine to support a couple of clownfish. There is something actutely toxic in your water and with the limited info available, my guess is that it is related to the regular addition of an ammonia product.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

is there live rock in your tank? Are you sure of your test kits, fish die that fast normally in un-cycled tank.

 

[Clemsy]

I'm using drtim's ammonia bottle. The thing is that I didn't dose the tank those days and the test kits gave me zero ammonia and nitrite before adding the fish. I'm scare of adding more fish. Hate seeing die on me. I'm completely lost here.

 

[Clemsy]

No live rock, just dry. I was told that if my bacteria is able to process at least 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours the tank was cycled. Also, the times the fish die the test came back zero ammonia and nitrite.

 

[Cell]

Anything alive in the tank? Inverts?

 

[brandon429]

Rule out ammonia here

we once did battle for eight pages on a 1.5 month old cycled tank with instant fish kills only for the op to barely mention finally he re sealed his sump with non aquarium safe silicone


everyone always doubts the bacteria first go
if he hadn't stumbled upon the disclosure of a seemingly minor detail, to this day they'd still be doubting the cycle at 4 weeks and by extension, doubting every cycling chart ever made.


bottle bac sellers make sure we always doubt bacteria and choose redundancy as first go remediation

 

[Clemsy]

Anything alive in the tank? Inverts?

No, Im scared of killing more animals

 

[brandon429]

Cell that’s smart, go get some snails and non fish life, a few asterina stars etc


its ethical as your tank is cycled and you can use them to rule out the worst brook invasion in human history

if inverts die I’ll go all in on ? acute toxicity unrelated to cycling.

 

[Clemsy]

Cell that’s smart, go get some snails and non fish life, a few asterina stars etc


its ethical as your tank is cycled and you can use them to rule out the worst brook invasion in human history

if inverts die I’ll go all in on ? acute toxicity unrelated to cycling.

Thanks, will do

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Do you have children or someone else in your house who could be killing the fish? I would get your salinity up to 1.025. Get your LFS to check your refractometer and water (out of curiosity) but after losing that many fish, I would start from scratch with some live rock and sand. Clean out your tank. Are your test kits dated within their use time period? Petco can let products sit on their shelves past their use date. I have lost fish due to velvet in less than 24 hours.

 

[adittam]

You’ve got plenty of oxygenation and there is no way a salinity difference of 0.01 killed your fish. I think it has to be something toxic now.

 

[Clemsy]

Do you have children or someone else in your house who could be killing the fish? I would get your salinity up to 1.025. Get your LFS to check your refractometer and water (out of curiosity) but after losing that many fish, I would start from scratch with some live rock and sand. Clean out your tank. Are your test kits dated within their use time period? Petco can let products sit on their shelves past their use date. I have lost fish due to velvet in less than 24 hours.

No children. If nothing else works I will do just that. Start from zero.

 

[Clemsy]

You’ve got plenty of oxygenation and there is no way a salinity difference of 0.01 killed your fish. I think it has to be something toxic now.

Do you think maybe the media or the purigen? One day when I was doing a water change I forgot to turn off the pump and a bunch of white foam came out of it.

 

[Paul B]

Your fish died from ammonia no matter what it reads on your test kit. Your tank is very new so fish will be severly stressed no matter what you do.

I would wait a while, maybe a few weeks and keep feeding the bacteria as it is almost non existant. But not with ammonia. Cycling means your tank has just enough bacteria to process whatever you used to cycle the tank with and nothing else, especially a fish.

Good luck

 

[Clemsy]

Your fish died from ammonia no matter what it reads on your test kit. Your tank is very new so fish will be severly stressed no matter what you do.

I would wait a while, maybe a few weeks and keep feeding the bacteria as it is almost non existant. But not with ammonia. Cycling means your tank has just enough bacteria to process whatever you used to cycle the tank with and nothing else, especially a fish.

Good luck

I understand. What should I feed the bacteria during those week? Thanks in advance