Something is very wrong with my tank. Please help me

[bookeey517]

This is so sad. Can you pull a dead fish and see any sign of infection or parasite/worm

I pulled the fish out and it looks just fine, but dead .
no white spots, no cloudy eyes, no ripped fins

 

[Tamberav]

I would remove the surviving fish to a QT with matched temp/salinity and freshly made water. Basically I would get it out of that water in the tank ASAP and if it is disease, it needs to be in a QT anyways.

How deep is your sand bed?

 

[averagesteve]

There is definitely something off, with your set up and your time frames. You said you had the GSP for 3 months in this thread but posted on December 18th, less than a month ago, that you just got it. You also said in June your tank was two months old, which would make it about 8-9 months old now, but you said it's been up over a year. You also have other posts about struggling and losing fish not mentioned here, so I'm guessing they didn't make it. I'm not saying any of this is your fault, but accuracy is important when trying to troubleshoot issues.

There may be some sort of illness or parasite in your tank that has been there for awhile and is taking over or maybe there is something in your source water that is causing this. Are you using RODI? What are you testing the water with? Have you changed salt brands at all? Check for stray voltage? Do you have any sort of essential oil diffuser or air freshener in the house? There is a pattern here of losing fish, something has to be causing it.

 

[Cell]

Dwg looks skin and bones. Then left with no food for 3 days. Can we see a full tank picture and pics of the surviving fish?

 

[bookeey517]

There is definitely something off, with your set up and your time frames. You said you had the GSP for 3 months in this thread but posted on December 18th, less than a month ago, that you just got it. You also said in June your tank was two months old, which would make it about 8-9 months old now, but you said it's been up over a year. You also have other posts about struggling and losing fish not mentioned here, so I'm guessing they didn't make it. I'm not saying any of this is your fault, but accuracy is important when trying to troubleshoot issues.

There may be some sort of illness or parasite in your tank that has been there for awhile and is taking over or maybe there is something in your source water that is causing this. Are you using RODI? What are you testing the water with? Have you changed salt brands at all? Check for stray voltage? Do you have any sort of essential oil diffuser or air freshener in the house? There is a pattern here of losing fish, something has to be causing it.

My tank is eleven months old, which is close enough to a year, so I say a year. The one month difference is not catastrophic. The GSP is an honest mistake, as I am not a walking calendar. The first picture I have of it is from November 28th, making it almost two months old.

the only fish that have ever died in my saltwater tank (besides for the ones dead today) was one neon cleaner, one engineer goby, and humu due to ich. I would not say that I have a long term “struggle” at hand here.

I use only RODI and pre-made salt water from my LFS, which has always worked for me.

none of my fish have ever been this sick besides for when they had ich pretty badly.

I test my water with the API marine saltwater master test kit and the API marine reef master test kit.

 

[bookeey517]

Dwg looks skin and bones. Then left with no food for 3 days. Can we see a full tank picture and pics of the surviving fish?

Ok, I turned the lights off to reduce stress but here are some pictures

my fish are fed with brineshrimp and a saltwater mix pack twice a day, so I don’t think the cause is starvation

 

[bookeey517]

I would remove the surviving fish to a QT with matched temp/salinity and freshly made water. Basically I would get it out of that water in the tank ASAP and if it is disease, it needs to be in a QT anyways.

How deep is your sand bed?

I put them in a QT tank. My sand bed is 2.5inches deep

 

[averagesteve]

My tank is eleven months old, which is close enough to a year, so I say a year. The one month difference is not catastrophic. The GSP is an honest mistake, as I am not a walking calendar. The first picture I have of it is from November 28th, making it almost two months old.

the only fish that have ever died in my saltwater tank (besides for the ones dead today) was one neon cleaner, one engineer goby, and humu due to ich. I would not say that I have a long term “struggle” at hand here.

I use only RODI and pre-made salt water from my LFS, which has always worked for me.

none of my fish have ever been this sick besides for when they had ich pretty badly.

I test my water with the API marine saltwater master test kit and the API marine reef master test kit.

Ok so lets start with the ich, what did you do after the ich incident to remove it from the tank? I believe ich can live in rocks and stuff and if the tank isn't treated, it can come back. The one time I got ich from a non-quarantined tank, I went through a 16 week fallow period to get rid of it.

Back to the other questions, what about air fresheners, oil diffusers, cleaning products, anything else that can get into the tank from the air? Is it possible that you food you had spoiled?

 

[Wamland]

are they getting oxygen ?

 

[bookeey517]

are they getting oxygen ?

Yeah, I have my pump at full blast pointed at the surface

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ok, I turned the lights off to reduce stress but here are some pictures

my fish are fed with brineshrimp and a saltwater mix pack twice a day, so I don’t think the cause is starvation

While I dont see dino, I do see hair algae outbreak and very distressed fish.
What is Nitrate-ammonia-phosphate and ph readings as well as salinity ?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?
Is tank at or near a window?
What food are you offering the fish and have they been eating ?
What test kits are you using ?

 

[bookeey517]

Ok so lets start with the ich, what did you do after the ich incident to remove it from the tank? I believe ich can live in rocks and stuff and if the tank isn't treated, it can come back. The one time I got ich from a non-quarantined tank, I went through a 16 week fallow period to get rid of it.

Back to the other questions, what about air fresheners, oil diffusers, cleaning products, anything else that can get into the tank from the air? Is it possible that you food you had spoiled?

The ich came from a neon cleaner goby ordered online I believe. I used ich-x to treat them, but some of them died before the ich could be eradicated. I used Ich-X to the recommended dosage and time, and I never saw any signs of ich since it ended. (At that time I did not have a QT tank, big mistake)

I have no air fresheners or anything like that in my room. The only thing I can think of is a medication called afrin that I used a few days back, it is a liquid spray. I am very cautious about cleaning products around my fish, I only use water and vinegar in my room.

 

[bookeey517]

While I dont see dino, I do see hair algae outbreak and very distressed fish.
What is Nitrate-ammonia-phosphate and ph readings as well as salinity ?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?
Is tank at or near a window?
What food are you offering the fish and have they been eating ?
What test kits are you using ?

Nitrate: 5ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Phosphate: 0ppm
Ph: 8.3-8.4
Salinity: 1.024

(API marine reef and saltwater master test kit)

I feed my fish a variety of food. Here are some of the things I feed them:

brine shrimp
Mysis shrimp
Chopped squid
Blood worms (occasionally but they go nuts for them)
hikari marine mixture
San Francisco Bay brand mixture pack

They were all good eaters, but sometimes the yellow goby didn’t eat the hikari marine mixture.

i used to have bad hair algae until I got a skimmer and most of them died off besides for the ones on the purple rock. My main microbial adversary right now is detritus.

 

[bookeey517]

While I dont see dino, I do see hair algae outbreak and very distressed fish.
What is Nitrate-ammonia-phosphate and ph readings as well as salinity ?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?
Is tank at or near a window?
What food are you offering the fish and have they been eating ?
What test kits are you using ?

Also I use RODI and premixed saltwater from my LFS

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also I use RODI and premixed saltwater from my LFS

Have you tested the LFS water ? There are numerous accounts on here from persons who purchased water and had issues from High phosphate, water with elevated nitrate, salinity too low or too high. . . . Does not hurt to test yourself to assure you are getting GOOD water.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nitrate: 5ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Phosphate: 0ppm
Ph: 8.3-8.4
Salinity: 1.024

(API marine reef and saltwater master test kit)

I feed my fish a variety of food. Here are some of the things I feed them:

brine shrimp
Mysis shrimp
Chopped squid
Blood worms (occasionally but they go nuts for them)
hikari marine mixture
San Francisco Bay brand mixture pack

They were all good eaters, but sometimes the yellow goby didn’t eat the hikari marine mixture.

i used to have bad hair algae until I got a skimmer and most of them died off besides for the ones on the purple rock. My main microbial adversary right now is detritus.

With the issues you are having and the zero readings- Something is not adding up. Take a water sample to a trusted LFS other than the one you use that does NOT uuse API anything and have them test and see what readings they come up with. Aoi is notorious for false readings hence the low price for a Master kit and especially ammonia tends to always show zero.

 

[bookeey517]

Have you tested the LFS water ? There are numerous accounts on here from persons who purchased water and had issues from High phosphate, water with elevated nitrate, salinity too low or too high. . . . Does not hurt to test yourself to assure you are getting GOOD water.

Yeah I remember testing the water a few months ago, in my notes I have that the parameters were normal but the calcium was a little high at 480ppm

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah I remember testing the water a few months ago, in my notes I have that the parameters were normal but the calcium was a little high at 480ppm

Im ok with calcium reading if you have corals that utilize it. Its been a few months- May be time to recheck

 

[bookeey517]

With the issues you are having and the zero readings- Something is not adding up. Take a water sample to a trusted LFS other than the one you use that does NOT uuse API anything and have them test and see what readings they come up with. Aoi is notorious for false readings hence the low price for a Master kit and especially ammonia tends to always show zero.

Thanks for your help, but it seems as all of my fish have died. They were doing ok this morning, but they all seemed to die spontaneously in the last 30 minutes.


i loved having saltwater fish as it was very fun and rewarding, but I feel like a terrible person so I will probably not continue the hobby.

I will take your advice and get my water tested at another store as I want to see what killed all my fish.

Thank you

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for your help, but it seems as all of my fish have died. They were doing ok this morning, but they all seemed to die spontaneously in the last 30 minutes.


i loved having saltwater fish as it was very fun and rewarding, but I feel like a terrible person so I will probably not continue the hobby.

I will take your advice and get my water tested at another store as I want to see what killed all my fish.

Thank you

Sorry to hear. Once you see water results, you may develop another plan and if water is bad, I would consider a different store often worth the drive.