What am I doing wrong????

[irescuedogs]

every single one of my fish is dying and I don’t know why?!? The tank was completely cycled all the water parameters were normal everything was completely fine and out of nowhere they’re all breathing super heavy and doubt they’ll make it through the night I don’t know what I did wrong but I feel so helpless and guilty even though I did everything right. It’s my first time having a saltwater tank but I know I did it all right. I made sure to do it right because I’ve failed everything I’ve ever done and I didn’t want to fail at this... but I did.

 

[Cell]

List all known parameters and a full tank pic can help as well.

Increase aeration in tank for starters.

 

[Topekoms]

Sounds like ammonia. How old is the tank? How long ago did you add them? What are they and how many? Corals in tank? Also as previously posted stats of tank, size, salinity, alk, cal, ammonia, nitrate, temp

 

[Paul B]

How many fish do you have and how large is the tank? Did any fish already die and if so what do they look like? If they die with their mouth agape, it was ammonia. If not
they are dying from parasites. The parasites like ich or velvet cover the gills so the fish can't get enough oxygen out of the water. It is very common in a brand new tank, almost guaranteed.

If it's ammonia, that is easy, you put in to many fish to early.

Many people quarantine fish before they put them in a new tank and many people do something else. You have a lot of reading to do because there are a few methods to follow.

The only thing you can do at this stage is put the fish in a fresh water dip. There is a lot of information about that on here if you search for it. But basically you put the fish in fresh water for about 3 or 4 minutes if they can take it. Just be sure the water is the same temperature.

Of course if you do that, you will also need a spare tank to put them in to treat with something like copper. There is also a lot of information on that here.

Now that all of your fish are at the stage of breathing heavy they may be able to treat them in your tank.

You should start reading how to set up a new tank and all you can on parasites, immunity, feeding etc as that will be a lot to learn but don't dispair . As I said, it is common in a new tank if you don't follow certain rules.

 

[Steph1]

What sort of surface agitaion do you have? (Lots is good}
Are you running a skimmer?
What size tank?
How many fish?
Tank temp?
Salinity?

 

[irescuedogs]

Sounds like ammonia. How old is the tank? How long ago did you add them? What are they and how many? Corals in tank? Also as previously posted stats of tank, size, salinity, alk, cal, ammonia, nitrate, temp

I have 2 ocellaris clowns a purple fire fish valentini puffer royal gramma 6 line wrasse and I did have a cow fish and mandarin goby they both died 2 days after I got them which was like 5 days ago. No corals I added the clowns first and waited a week between each addition. Oh started with a 29 gallon until 4 days ago when I switched to a 55 gallon. I did the swap textbook because I was so worried about losing my babies. Everything went fine they all settled in nicely. Every water test was exactly where it was supposed to be except the ph kept dropping but Easily got it back to normal 8.3 salinity 1.024 ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 5ppm alkalinity 8 and temp 78

 

[irescuedogs]

How many fish do you have and how large is the tank? Did any fish already die and if so what do they look like? If they die with their mouth agape, it was ammonia. If not
they are dying from parasites. The parasites like ich or velvet cover the gills so the fish can't get enough oxygen out of the water. It is very common in a brand new tank, almost guaranteed.

If it's ammonia, that is easy, you put in to many fish to early.

Many people quarantine fish before they put them in a new tank and many people do something else. You have a lot of reading to do because there are a few methods to follow.

The only thing you can do at this stage is put the fish in a fresh water dip. There is a lot of information about that on here if you search for it. But basically you put the fish in fresh water for about 3 or 4 minutes if they can take it. Just be sure the water is the same temperature.

Of course if you do that, you will also need a spare tank to put them in to treat with something like copper. There is also a lot of information on that here.

Now that all of your fish are at the stage of breathing heavy they may be able to treat them in your tank.

You should start reading how to set up a new tank and all you can on parasites, immunity, feeding etc as that will be a lot to learn but don't dispair . As I said, it is common in a new tank if you don't follow certain rules.

I did follow rules that’s the thing I didn’t want to fail so I made sure I did it all right I already did freshwater dip and it helped for a little bit but they were breathy heavy again about an hour later not ice or velvet it was really out of nowhere there are 6 fish in a 55 gallon there’s nothing I can physically see that’s wrong except for the heavy breathing and lethargy

 

[irescuedogs]

What sort of surface agitaion do you have? (Lots is good}
Are you running a skimmer?
What size tank?
How many fish?
Tank temp?
Salinity?

I had a couple air stones and two hob filters 55 gallon 6 fish 7& temp salinity 1.023 no skimmer

 

[fishguy242]

can you post video,pics? agree heavily airate water,add carbon,water change ,is all i can offer at this point

 

[Waters]

It sounds like you moved too quickly with too many fish. That is quite a lot of fish for a 29 gallon....even quite a bit for a 55 gallon when they are added this fast. On top of that, some species of cowfish are thought to release a toxin when stressed that can cause damage to other tank inhabitants. I don't know for sure if that is 100% true...seems to be a lot of conflicting info online regarding the dangers of keeping a cowfish.

 

[redeyejedi]

every single one of my fish is dying and I don’t know why?!? The tank was completely cycled all the water parameters were normal everything was completely fine and out of nowhere they’re all breathing super heavy and doubt they’ll make it through the night I don’t know what I did wrong but I feel so helpless and guilty even though I did everything right. It’s my first time having a saltwater tank but I know I did it all right. I made sure to do it right because I’ve failed everything I’ve ever done and I didn’t want to fail at this... but I did.

Did you acclimate the fish before putting them in the tank?

 

[WVNed]

Do you have any Seachem Prime? Put a dose in the tank.

 

[mijan]

Heavy breathing and lethargy are signs of a lack of oxygen. You didn't mention if you had any powerheads. If you don't have any get some and point them at the surface to get water agitation and gas exchange.

 

[Dom]

Do you quarantine?

 

[EMeyer]

I still havent seen an answer to the question: how old is the tank, and how did you cycle it?

Also, are you using RODI or tapwater?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sounds like too many fish too soon and cow fish nearly impossible to keep in captivity.
I would guess high bio load causing ammonia spike and dissolved oxygen reduction.
Please disclose:
Ammonia level
Nitrate
Ph
Temperature
Salinity
tank age

how did you acclimate/introduce fish?

 

[irescuedogs]

Did you acclimate the fish before putting them in the tank?

Yes

 

[irescuedogs]

I still havent seen an answer to the question: how old is the tank, and how did you cycle it?

Also, are you using RODI or tapwater?

all that info is in the above comments I had them I. A 29 gallon for 4 months and 5 days ago switched to. 55 but I did the swap textbook they were all settled In Nicely. I cycled with boosters and let it go for a month an a half before adding fish of course I used rodi water

 

[irescuedogs]

Do you quarantine?

Yes

 

[fishguy242]

how are fish currently?pics and params?