HELP!!! fishes keep die in the tank...

[Hooi]

Dear all reefer,

I have 1 friend facing a problem with his tank.

It was very weird that...Don't know why, whatever put in new fish, all fishes will die, buy how much die how much..Hoever, the corals all still can survive, no any problem for the corals...

He have testes all the water, NO2, ammonia, PH, KH, NO3, magnesium, calcium all also no problem...

Again whole aquarium clean and re-set up, after 2 weeks, the new fishes put in also die...

Do you all have any advise for my fren? teach him how to handle it..?

I and him feel so helpless now...

[tian1974]

how long do they take to die? 2 days? 1 week? do they eat at all? any death symptom like white spots etc?

[onizukaa]

did he acclimise the fishes?

what fish did he put in?

[LaW]

give it more time for the tank to settle.

tearing down everything and wash again will do more harm than good in most cases.

doze bacteria now and give it more time to stable down in a sense die-off were digested and good guys bacteria propagates.

perhaps you can try to pinpoint the source of the problem more. like what kind of sand, rock and water source used.

there are many things that cant be measured by conventional means. so careful observation is needed.

if giving the rocks, sand, water were all good, then

for sure, the initial stage is the most things dying stage. so no need to worry too much.

just concentrate on ur patience itself and build up the good guys bacteria.

and still, how the fish die might gives some clues as well.

all the best.

[Hooi]

how long do they take to die? 2 days? 1 week? do they eat at all? any death symptom like white spots etc?

Thx Justin..

The fish take 1 day tie die already...morning put in, nite time die, got some still not yet die at nite, however, it is start to breath hardly d...

No any symptom of death also....T.T

No sick also, no chance to give them eat pallet also...haha

[Hooi]

did he acclimise the fishes?

what fish did he put in?

thx onizuka,

He put in more strong fishes , e.g . Damsel, tomato clown, african clown.....etc...

[Hooi]

give it more time for the tank to settle.

tearing down everything and wash again will do more harm than good in most cases.

doze bacteria now and give it more time to stable down in a sense die-off were digested and good guys bacteria propagates.

perhaps you can try to pinpoint the source of the problem more. like what kind of sand, rock and water source used.

there are many things that cant be measured by conventional means. so careful observation is needed.

if giving the rocks, sand, water were all good, then

for sure, the initial stage is the most things dying stage. so no need to worry too much.

just concentrate on ur patience itself and build up the good guys bacteria.

and still, how the fish die might gives some clues as well.

all the best.

Hi LaW, thx for ur comment..anyway, the tank i not new....it is about 1 year + tank, jz recent this few mths the tank having this problem...

when 1st time happen, we thought that water problem, we change water, also cannot make it..

2nd time, wash whole tank include rocks n sand, also same...

3rd time, rock , sand also change to NEW 1, also same...

If it is 1 by 1 slowly die it can be acceptable, but now it is die TOGETHER...T.T

very upset ....

[LaW]

what equipments ur friend using?

skimmer, wavemaker, returns?

if ur breath hardly means heavily, then these are my assumption

1) not enough oxygen

2) ammonia and nitrite burns on gills, double check on other brands of testkit

3) disease. fish can be already contacted with disease from the source. ick or white spot are very common in new tank.

[LaW]

Hi LaW, thx for ur comment..anyway, the tank i not new....it is about 1 year + tank, jz recent this few mths the tank having this problem...

when 1st time happen, we thought that water problem, we change water, also cannot make it..

2nd time, wash whole tank include rocks n sand, also same...

3rd time, rock , sand also change to NEW 1, also same...

If it is 1 by 1 slowly die it can be acceptable, but now it is die TOGETHER...T.T

very upset ....

ok. then doing a good wash with SW is good way.

did ur friend change water often?

[Hooi]

ok. then doing a good wash with SW is good way.

did ur friend change water often?

LaW, the water change 2 weeks once...

Justnow u said about not enough oxygen, i dun think so le...it is 4 inch tank with only 5 fishes...

Testkit he used Redsea, at first i also think is testkit problem..but after that we try salifert testkit, result also show no any problem...

[Hooi]

what equipments ur friend using?

skimmer, wavemaker, returns?

if ur breath hardly means heavily, then these are my assumption

1) not enough oxygen

2) ammonia and nitrite burns on gills, double check on other brands of testkit

3) disease. fish can be already contacted with disease from the source. ick or white spot are very common in new tank.

LaW, the equipment is 1 skimmer, 1 sum, coral rock, bio ball..

[LaW]

LaW, the equipment is 1 skimmer, 1 sum, coral rock, bio ball..

got flow making devices?

got deep sand bed?

got sense any electricity leakage? test ur water with a testpen. sometime we cannot feel it unless its tested.

it can be Old tank symptom. it can happen even for a 1year tank if water quality is not good.

but since u all already did some good water change and cleaning. all you can do now is wait for the tank to stable down more and see how it goes. add bac.

[Hooi]

got flow making devices?

got deep sand bed?

got change water often before the misfortune?

got sense any electricity leakage? test ur water with a testpen. sometime we cannot feel it unless its tested.

it can be Old tank symptom.

Have flow making devide

No deep sand bed

Before the case also 2 weeks once change water

Electricity leakage dono, so far hand put in no feel any, but i will ask him test and see

With ur experience, do u have any suggestion to settle this problem?

Thanks..

[LaW]

Have flow making devide

No deep sand bed

Before the case also 2 weeks once change water

Electricity leakage dono, so far hand put in no feel any, but i will ask him test and see

With ur experience, do u have any suggestion to settle this problem?

Thanks..

before i made any assumption how big is the tank? 4" like you mentioned earlier seem to small to believe.

[FuEl]

Leave your tank fishless for 1-2 months (the longer the better). Do 20-30% water change every week. Get a quarantine tank. Quarantine new fish for at least 2-3 weeks to clear them of any serious infections, 1 month is preferred. If you find a QT tank too troublesome, invest in a good UV sterilizer. Don't add more than 1 fish a week. Seawater is alkaline and ammonia is more toxic. You need to stock slowly to avoid ammonia spike.

[bakkah]

bacteria ?

lack of it ? or more dangerous 1 ?

[jyoon]

Hi Hooi

Guess its typo that the tank is 4ft.

In your first post, that the corals are surviving does not mean anything as coral might be dieing slowly. Fishes will be obvious as they stop breathing and goes into a RIP stage.

Here's my 2 cents:

1. Check for electricity leakage into the tank as suggest by LAW bro. This normally will kill fishes not corals. Corals tends to grow faster with certain amount of electricity as its proven in Indonesia reef which they use this method to salvage a dieing reef.

2. Let the tank settle for a couple weeks which FuEL bro had commented.

3. Check for predator in the tank like mantis shrimp. It may be hiding and killing small fishes like damsel, clowns.....etc.

The best way to have more accurate suggestion and comments from senior bros in this forum (exclude me as I am also learning), a picture tells a thousand words. Get your friend to post a picture of the tank and the equipment like sump, skimmer...etc.

Lots of us are willing to share only if we know the "full picture".

[LaW]

i agree to both what joe and fuel suggest.

all the best.

i will leave the tank bare for a while from now. 2 weeks is a rather short duration.

doze bac and water change for that period.

more or less the recent fish that being introduce after the major clean died from disease or ammonia. dun be suprise that after you clean some equipment, especially biomedia, how much damage can be done to the setup.

[TayHongSiang]

Let yr water stabilised first....

From the way i c...the tank probably is not cycled plus adding too many fishes at one time...

Check yr salinity level also....

Fishes breathing heavily usually means 2 things - lack of oxygen in the tank and high levels of ammonia / nitrite....

lack of oxygen cd be due to heavy bioload and lack of flow in the tank...

Ammonia spike can be due to absence of biological filteration...

Does the tank has a sump or is run by cannister?

[onizukaa]

a pic of it and the equips would help more

[Terryz_]

a pic of it and the equips would help more

I agree on this...

It is unusual for fish to die in less than 24hour unless ammonia poisoning/lack of oxygen... Leave your tank fishless and try to add polyfilter/carbon...