Teach Me! I want to learn

[newreef1]

Hello,
I’m going to be honest with this post. When I first started this “hobby” it wasn’t a hobby. I just wanted a nice looking tank with colorful fish swimming around. Slowly I started enjoying my small WC/routine as I felt I was keeping the fish healthy. Keep aside the learning curves with diseases, I’m tired of seeing my fish die. Last night came home to a dead angelfish which was eating fine the morning before. Today my bird wrasse and another fish died. No injury, no disease, my ammonia etc are all normal within range. (Normal for my tank when my fish were doing fine for months).

I’m tired of seeing my fish die with no valid explanation. I’m going to learn everything I can now, seriously. This post is to ask people if you recommend any books. I’m a great learner, great student. Any books you guys recommend for fish keeping, tank keeping etc. And if anyone wants a virtual intern, ‍ I’m going to take all experience and recommendations I can get. I’m not going to let any of my fish die anymore, definitely not randomly.

 

[Lps_lover12]

In my opinion your best bet is the forums and YouTube.
What are your parameters? The actual numbers for ammonia nitrite and nitrates

 

[newreef1]

In my opinion your best bet is the forums and YouTube.
What are your parameters? The actual numbers for ammonia nitrite and nitrates

I’m tired of watching YouTube videos because I’ve already seen most of the tank keeping ones. I keep up with my WC, use all the filtration methods mechanical, chemical, biological. 0-0.25 ammonia (color yellow), nitrite 0 (light blue), ph 8.3 (light purple), nitrate 80 (red) I’ve always had high nitrates, always. Tell me something to lower them and I’ve 99% sure I’ve done it, despite it my fish have done fine for months in the past that’s why I said normal for my tank. I use API test kit, that why the colors I put. I know it’s not accurate but it’s still been used for a while to keep the fish at least healthy.

 

[VintageReefer]

What size tank and how long has it been running?
What products are you adding (if any) routinely ?
Do you keep coral?
Explain your filtration setup please

 

[zheka757]

im just like many here have lots of quastions about the tank! tank size? tank setum age? was fish in quarantine prior to the introduction, is there ich in system....

 

[Spare time]

Are you oxygenating the water?

 

[Spare time]

Overnight deaths are usually oxygen related issues ime but disease is probably the most common cause of death if it's not a chemical or equipment issue.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

I’ve always had high nitrates, always. Tell me something to lower them and I’ve 99% sure I’ve done it,

Sulfur denitrator?

Looking at your past threads, it looks like you've been adding adult fish (younger ones often do better; there's a sweet spot in size for many), medicating in the DT, choosing some less-than-novice-level species, and doing this all in a pretty sterile tank with species that would prefer something much more natural (more grazing opportunities).

I agree that posting all the details and a timeline would help repliers give useful feedback.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Hello,
I’m going to be honest with this post. When I first started this “hobby” it wasn’t a hobby. I just wanted a nice looking tank with colorful fish swimming around. Slowly I started enjoying my small WC/routine as I felt I was keeping the fish healthy. Keep aside the learning curves with diseases, I’m tired of seeing my fish die. Last night came home to a dead angelfish which was eating fine the morning before. Today my bird wrasse and another fish died. No injury, no disease, my ammonia etc are all normal within range. (Normal for my tank when my fish were doing fine for months).

I’m tired of seeing my fish die with no valid explanation. I’m going to learn everything I can now, seriously. This post is to ask people if you recommend any books. I’m a great learner, great student. Any books you guys recommend for fish keeping, tank keeping etc. And if anyone wants a virtual intern, ‍ I’m going to take all experience and recommendations I can get. I’m not going to let any of my fish die anymore, definitely not randomly.

I watched BRS’ 52 weeks of reefing when I started. Set aside the marketing ploy, it’s a good quick basic watch.

 

[SPS247]

Search Humble Fish guide to quarantine and medication forums/videos. Great info to help with all sorts of fish related issues.

Sourcing good healthy fish from a trusted shop/vendor is also half the battle.

 

[newreef1]

What size tank and how long has it been running?
What products are you adding (if any) routinely ?
Do you keep coral?
Explain your filtration setup please

What size tank and how long has it been running?
What products are you adding (if any) routinely ?
Do you keep coral?
Explain your filtration setup please

No corals, FOWLR, tanks a couple years old. My live rock and all biological substrate is pretty old. I have more biological media than needed. The only thing I recently added, Sunday is live sand because I got the bird wrasse. The water runs as follows through the sump, filter socks, filter basket that typically has chemipure blue (currently has total 4 chemipure elite) top is 3 layers of different sponge with top being the white one, then goes into first chamber which has 2 brightwell bricks both nitrate and the pink one, polplabs bricks 6, marine pure spheres in a bag, flows into back chamber which has marine pure brick in the corner, another marine pure sphere bag and underneath another brightwell brick, also has my ehiem heater and my aquamxx skimmer, then it used to go through a bubble sponge which I removed because I though it housed detirtus which contributed to nitrates and lastly goes into my return pump chamber which also has my temp gauge and back into the tank. I have a RedSea 750xxl.

 

[newreef1]

What size tank and how long has it been running?
What products are you adding (if any) routinely ?
Do you keep coral?
Explain your filtration setup please

I’ll post pics if that helps.

 

[newreef1]

Search Humble Fish guide to quarantine and medication forums/videos. Great info to help with all sorts of fish related issues.

Sourcing good healthy fish from a trusted shop/vendor is also half the battle.

I’ve done that and tried QT, using his methods, I’ve successfully treated copper once using his methods and my fish were fine since.

 

[newreef1]

I watched BRS’ 52 weeks of reefing when I started. Set aside the marketing ploy, it’s a good quick basic watch.

I’ll try that too.

 

[newreef1]

Sulfur denitrator?

Looking at your past threads, it looks like you've been adding adult fish (younger ones often do better; there's a sweet spot in size for many), medicating in the DT, choosing some less-than-novice-level species, and doing this all in a pretty sterile tank with species that would prefer something much more natural (more grazing opportunities).

I agree that posting all the details and a timeline would help repliers give useful feedback.

I’ve not heard of that, please explain.

 

[newreef1]

Overnight deaths are usually oxygen related issues ime but disease is probably the most common cause of death if it's not a chemical or equipment issue.

I’ve added an extra air stone and increased my mp40 and RedSea wave makers speed. Could it be ammonia burns? Something with the live sand and ammonia? I’ve ordered some fritz turbo 900, hoping that will add some good bacteria and reduce ammonia fast, comes in tomorrow. Should I dose prime?

 

[ReeferFive-0]

I like the BRS 5 Minute Guide series Here. There are 30 five minute videos covering various topics. This will give you a good foundation to set up, monitor, and fix problems in a reef aquarium.

Edit: I would also add that API test kits aren't great for reef keeping. If you get more into corals definitely upgrade your test kits. I use Hanna checkers for phosphate and nitrate. Salifert for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium.

 

[Uncle99]

API test kits.
Not fine enough IMM.
Kinda sounds like the possibility of parasite death.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

I’ve not heard of that, please explain.

I assume you're asking about the sulfur denitrator.

A sulfur denitrator is basically a chamber with sulfur pellets in it, through which tank water is very slowly dripped. The chamber gets anerobic, bacteria use sulfur and nitrate to respire in the absence of free O2, and the nitrate gets used up (well, converted). I use a modified calcium reactor and run it as a denitrator, but they're available purpose-designed:

GEO NR612 Nitrate Reducing Sulfur Reactor | Geo's Reef

www.geosreef.com

There are a bunch of threads about them here.

Just to be clear, it isn't obvious to me that high nitrate is the root cause or even a substantial contributor to your issues. I just suspected that you hadn't used one.

Changing topic a bit: are you losing fish in QT or in the DT? What's the QT setup and protocol?

 

[newreef1]

API test kits.
Not fine enough IMM.
Kinda sounds like the possibility of parasite death.

Wouldn’t parasitic death be slower though, overnight?! Also wouldn’t there be any visible signs?