My fish are dying

[lm1976w]

Hi i need a bit of help

I have a new set up been running around a month a have afew soft corals with I have been feeding AB plus but since I have been using this (only used twice) I have had my manderine and clown fish die !! Any ideas, I have water checked and have now started to add 8.4 and Ions calcium say they were low

 

[Tahoe61]

Did the fish show any signs or symptoms of disease?
What size is the tank? How many gallons of water were you changing?
I am inclined to think your tank has not cycled completely yet.
Do you know why phos is so high?

Welcome to R2R.

 

[lm1976w]

Did the fish show any signs or symptoms of disease?
What size is the tank? How many gallons of water were you changing?
I am inclined to think your tank has not cycled completely yet.
Do you know why phos is so high?

Welcome to R2R.

Hi thank you for the reply bought the fish a couple of weeks apart and both died and looked fine, before feeding the AB plus tank has been running for around 5 weeks it’s full of copepods at the min

 

[AmazingYocool]

How much do you feed AB plus? Feeding a lot can cause low alk and ph, which seem to be your main problems.
i'd only feed twice a week at max

 

[lm1976w]

Hi my tank is only 75l on the bottle it says 4ml to 100l so I but 3ml in once a week

 

[AmazingYocool]

in that case, could just be new tank syndrome. Dose for alk (shoot for 150-170)
and take it slow, let the ammonia and nitrite cycle out (should only take a day or two) with your current bacterial load

and add a small pair of clowns once its all cleaned out. After that, give it 2 weeks before doing anything. feed lightly

if the old clowns had any infections or parasites then its a different story. hope that it goes well

edit: also, I just noticed your po4. are you using RODI for your tank?

 

[lm1976w]

I’m dosing 8.4 5ml until level right am also dosing calcium 5ml daily untill level right and also Ions 6ml till level right this is what the shop recommend is that about right

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't know what the fish issue is, but I expect it is not driven by the AB+.

 

[redseaenroute]

Just my opinion here...

That's a brand new tank essentially. Even with soft corals, there should be no need to dose anything at this point. Your salt mix should be sufficient to cover your "dosing" needs for quite some time. And honestly, on a tank of that size, depending on your coral selection, simple water changes may be all you ever need.

I don't trust that test kit or the results. Assuming fish store ran those tests? Do you have any test kits at home?

Are you using their (fish store) pre mixed water by chance? Or mixing your own? If mixing your own, are you using RODI? Do you check your own Salinity?

I would suggest stopping with dosing anything at this point. It honestly sounds like the fish store was looking to make sales here.

Appears you have Nitrate present, which indicates cycle. But I would do the following to start...

1) Stop dosing anything/everything

2) Get your own test kits for Nitrate, Phosphate and Alk (Hannah, red Sea or Salifert brand).

3) Complete a few weekly 20% water changes and get comfortable testing the tank yourself.

4) Don't add anymore fish/coral until you see stable numbers for a couple weeks straight.

5) Read as much "getting started" content that you can stomach on this site. Ask questions

6) Check back here in a couple weeks with an update and potential advice for next steps

7) Take all advice from that fish store with a heavy helping of salt ...