Losing my fish again

[Byte2022]

So I started into the hobby 15 months ago. Since then I have been through countless fish, snails, crabs, and more fish. Some of which was 100% learning curve by the newbie by not being patient. However, I am losing fish again and I can’t figure out why. In total I have lost nearly 25 fish. I have a 32 gallon nano with 25/30ish lbs of live rock, Sponge filter, purigen, phosguard, bio balls, and a carbon bag. I clean the tank regularly and do water changes once a week if needed. I have tested my water many many times using both the saltwater kit and the reef master kit from
API. I have also had the lfs test it and they said everything was nearly perfect just carbonate hardness was on the high side. The fish appear to be great with no fin rot, no loss of color, no bulging eyes or parasites on the skin, no visible Gill flukes. I did however have what was I believe to be hole in the head in one of my fish. I have since also lost snails and hermit crabs pretty steady as well. Here as of the last week I have done 2 water changes vacuumed the sand bed and still lost a coral beauty, green chromosome, naked clown, and a neon pseudo. That being said, I have coralline algae growing all over the tank and little to no green algae growing on any rocks just the rear of the tank which has been slowly dying off. Lastly. I Want to tell you what I have been treating my tank with. Since it’s a reef tank the lfs suggested only to use Rally and dr Tim’s aquatics first defense. I have also used prime but only at the first sign of trouble and only norminal. And only when I couldn’t immediately go to the fish store for more saltwater. Can anyone please help me before I get out of the hobby because I definitely enjoy it and love the beauty of the tank but I can not keep throwing money down the drain and fish into the yard

Oh and I also use reef buffer 8.3 and the tank is pretty well 8.2/8.3 all the time. I use replenish during water changes.

 

[DLHDesign]

First; welcome to R2R! You've come to the right place.

A few questions to help get us started on the right foot:
1) Where do you get your saltwater from? If you mix it yourself, do you have an RO/DI setup? And - if so - what type?
2) Could you share the specific numbers from a round of testing with us, please (salinity, alk, nitrite/nitrate, ammonia, etc.)?
3) What sort of equipment do you have running on the tank (lights, skimmer, powerheads, filters, sump/HOB, etc.)?
4) Have you followed any quarantine procedures?
5) What sort of feeding regime do you follow?
6) What do you currently have in your tank in terms of fish and inverts?

 

[melypr1985]

Hi there. I'm sorry for your troubles. Firstly I would suggest leaving your tank without fish for at least 76 days. This will give your tank a clean start as far as parasites go. From there, start quarantining your new fish before adding them to the display. The Rally will be useful, but not the other.
Here are some helpful links:
Medications to keep on hand
Fish Disease Index
How to Quarantine

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!!

#WelcometoR2R
For your water changes, are you using RO/DI water? Do you know what your exact parameters are?

 

[Byte2022]

Hey thanks for the quick replies. I do not mix my water i buy it from the lfs and i also get a gallon or rodi for top off. I am not going to put anymore fish in the tank for a while. I also do qaurantine my fish as mentioned in the link about in a smaller tank. Just a fyi

 

[code4]

Oops, Byte replied as I was

Are there any fish in the tank as of now? What other critters still in there other than the large turbo snail I see in your photo?

Sorry for your loses.

 

[Byte2022]

Sounds like they are getting their salt water from the LFS.

That is correct My saltwater comes from the lfs

 

[code4]

Looks like we are both typing at the same time Byte2022. Could you post a few photos of your equipment that is being used as of now? There are some pretty smart peeps here that might see something from them.

Shelley

 

[declanisadog]

Can you give a run down of your QT procedure, and has EVERY fish added been through QT? I agree with melypr. Your best bet is to got fallow (fishless) for a couple of months. if you have lost every fish you put in, there has to be something not right.

 

[Byte2022]

Hey all. The only fish I have left at this point are two green chromis. I only have a few turbo snails large in size as few asteria snails 2 nassarius snails all have been in the tanks for 6 or more months. Pom Pom Xenia, another sps that I cant recall the name at the moment and one small GSP. I do quarantine in a small 1 gallon tank with filtration and use water from the lfs and acclimate fish to the tank using an accudrip line Not home at the moment but no equipment being used other than bag media of phosgaurd, purigen, some stone media in a bag, carbon in a bag( changed regularly) bio balls and the first step of the filtration is the sponge.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I do quarantine in a small 1 gallon tank with filtration and use water from the lfs and acclimate fish to the tank using an accudrip line

What timeframe do you quarantine for and do you medicate the QT tank at all during that time?

Did you start your tank with dead rock or live rock? Asking this question for potential hitchhikers..

 

[rockstarta78]

Take this comment with a grain of salt. That being said, my assumption so far is; 1. RODI water and Saltwater comes from the LFS so I am HOPING the water is as pure as it can be. 2. Your test shows no ammonia in the water, 3. Your QT protocol is up to per with standard QT protocol. No parasite that you can think of.

What type of powerhead and heater are you using? This is totally taking a shot in the dark, but have a tested for stray voltage in the water?

 

[Byte2022]

Hey all so I do quarantine my fish and treat the water with two different medications. One being API general cure and the other being a fish dip from dr Tim’s aquatics.

Note. I received this tank 2nd hand and it had only one fish no coral and a whole lot of green algae. 3 Walmart bags full of algae to be exact I did not put fish in right away but I did cover the tank with a black out sheet and no lights for 2 weeks as well as adding algae remover. The tank was 99% algae free if I had to guess at that point. I however had a lot of nasty substrate and using a siphon hose removed all substratecleaned the bottom and the sides. Did a water change and let the tank alone for 3 weeks. I then cleaned the tank again to include the rear of the tank and removed a lot of junk from the rear of the tank. After cleaning the filter and replacing the water again I left the tank alone again and ordered some live rock that was dead reef rock from
Brcc. Once it arrived I prepared to lose the fish that I inherited but made preparations not to with another temp tank and bubbler. I added live sand and the reef rock and preformed a water change. I also added the nitrifying bacteria and let the tank sit for 3 weeks again.

 

[Byte2022]

Water change again and then began slowly adding fish at that point. Daily additives are at a minimum but I use reef buffer. Fish food include frozen brine a few times a week. 2 times daily. Mini pellets and flake food Never used any copper since I have had it and did not see copper meds in the supplies I got with the tank Hope this helps

 

[Byte2022]

Anyone have ideas to why my fish may be dying. Since the last post I lost 1 green chromis but the other two have been doing great. No signs of scales coming off or fin rot They are active and eating everything that goes in the tank. I feed a mixture of things. Frozen brine, mini pellets, and flakes. All of my test come back at zero or within range for things like carbonate hardness etc. using two different kits. One api saltwater test kit and the other api reef test kit. Someone asked about stray voltage. I have tested for it and I have a ground probe in the tank as well that was added last month even though I found no voltage. I am using two power heads. One a pump in the rear of the tank and the other is a biocube suction cup power head for nano tanks just to ensure low flow areas in the tank don’t exist in the live rock (which was dead reef rock). I do now have a algae outbreak and not sure why or where that came from as I have been gone for 2 weeks and the girlfriend has been feeding and adding Rodi water as needed

 

[HotRocks]

How are you QTing your fish? Did you ever remove all the fish and allow the tank to be fallow for 76 days as recommended in previous posts on this thread?

I suspect a parasite here of some sort. I can tell you I have ordered tons of fish from LA. I do love their customer service, and rarely do I have quality issues with arrivals. I have had a couple broken/leaking bags etc. Out of all these orders I have encountered Brook/ich/velvet/flukes/internal parasites/worms or a combination thereof EVERY time. While API GC is a great useful medicine, it only treats for flukes/Brook or internal worms/parasites if you mix into food.

Copper has been necessary (for me) every batch of fish I have received. You could also consider CP.

It will also potentially be hard to get a stable tank going if you keep dosing the heck out of it for algea/water quality. Trust me I've been there as well!

 

[Byte2022]

Thanks hot rocks for the reply. No I have not removed all the fish as it is impossible to catch them without a full tank tear down. However, I have stopped adding fish. I’ve never used copper at all and I have a small 1 gallon at tank for qt. It has no sand and has a small piece of live rock and a piece of pvc for the hiding area. I was qting with api gc , stress coat and melafix for 14 days. I will try copper next but decided I will not add fish for 3 months minimum

 

[HotRocks]

Thanks hot rocks for the reply. No I have not removed all the fish as it is impossible to catch them without a full tank tear down. However, I have stopped adding fish. I’ve never used copper at all and I have a small 1 gallon at tank for qt. It has no sand and has a small piece of live rock and a piece of pvc for the hiding area. I was qting with api gc , stress coat and melafix for 14 days. I will try copper next but decided I will not add fish for 3 months minimum

Ok I just want to make sure you know, if you don't let the tank be fishless or fallow as we call it, you will not erradicate the parasites regardless if you add fish or not.

The fish have to be out of the tank for 76 days in order to make sure your DT is parasite free. Then the fish would need to be treated separately in their own QT tank.

 

[Byte2022]

Thanks for the info as I did not know that. I don’t dose my tank currently with anything other than reef buffer to keep ph stable@ 8.2/8.3. If I do dismantle the tank I will have to put coral back in as they are attached to the rock. Do I need to treat the tank once the fish are out and if so what do I use that’s coral friendly

 

[HotRocks]

All coral and inverts can stay in the tank for the 76 day fallow period.

The removal of the fish is what allows the parasites to die off as they can no longer can complete their cycle.

The fish would need treated separately in the QT tank. Depending on what parasites you are treating for the products used will vary.