My fish are dying!

[Noah25]

Hello! I hope you are haveing a good day! I have a 75 gallon saltwater tank and about once a week a fish will start laying/flopping on the bottom and dies. The tank is about a year and a half old. The tank had 4 clownfish(they came together and don't fight), 1 coral beuty angelfish, 1 longspine urchin, 1 chocolate chip starfish, 4 chromas, and a Damsel. The fish that died are the coral beuty angelfish and 2 chromas so far. I didnt change anything except I added a lunar light. I never see the fish fight. I really have no clue what could have killed them. Nitrites are at zero and nitrates are at 50 which is a little high but the first fish died when they were at 10. I did a water change a few days ago and will do another very soon. Thank you for your time!

 

[Mebbid]

Hard to say, are there any spots on them? Does it look like they are covered in dust? Have you tested ammonia?

 

[royaleFork]

Can you provide a picture of your tank and any current fish?

 

[Noah25]

Hard to say, are there any spots on them? Does it look like they are covered in dust? Have you tested ammonia?

No spots or dust on them. The ammonia is at 0.2.

 

[Noah25]

Can you provide a picture of your tank and any current fish?

 

[W31Olds]

Noah, we need a closeup pic or a video of your fish. One thing I do notice is you are using a HOB Filter on a 75 Gallon Tank. Not good and I don't see any power heads or wavemakers so you probably have dead spots in you Tank. Short term, I would add air stones at both ends and then look into better filtration and pumps.

 

[Noah25]

Noah, we need a closeup pic or a video of your fish. One thing I do notice is you are using a HOB Filter on a 75 Gallon Tank. Not good and I don't see any power heads or wavemakers so you probably have dead spots in you Tank. Short term, I would add air stones at both ends and then look into better filtration and pumps.

I have the HOB filter and a fluval 407 canister filter. Ill get some wavemakers soon.

 

[sgdnycct]

Ammonia should be zero in an established tank. Could be your load spiked and triggered a rise in ammonia.

Would be good to know
Overall water chemistry.
Maintenance routine.
Frequency and amount of water changes.
How long have fish been in the tank.
Do fish go from healthy and eating to dead?
Any torn fins or other signs on the bodies?

 

[W31Olds]

I thought that might be a cannister filer siphon but wasn't sure. Try and get some closeups of your fish and background info like new additions of any kind and are they QT'd. Stuff like that.

 

[Noah25]

I thought that might be a cannister filer siphon but wasn't sure. Try and get some closeups of your fish and background info like new additions of any kind and are they QT'd. Stuff like that.

I will. The fish started dying when nothing had been added in a long time. Thank you

 

[Noah25]

Ammonia should be zero in an established tank. Could be your load spiked and triggered a rise in ammonia.

Would be good to know
Overall water chemistry.
Maintenance routine.
Frequency and amount of water changes.
How long have fish been in the tank.
Do fish go from healthy and eating to dead?
Any torn fins or other signs on the bodies?

I do a 20% water change every week, the fish have been there for a year and a half, they just died and had been eating good, didn't see any signs of damage on their bodies. Ill look closer if another dies. Ill lyk the water chemistry this evening. I don't remember it off the top of my head. Thank you

 

[royaleFork]

Can you also get a picture of the water from the top? My concern would be low oxygen content due to not enough surface agitation.

Even a cheap wave maker pointed towards the surface can help while you source the ones you want.

 

[Noah25]

Can you also get a picture of the water from the top? My concern would be low oxygen content due to not enough surface agitation.

Even a cheap wave maker pointed towards the surface can help while you source the ones you want.

I can

 

[W31Olds]

I understand you added no fish, however does that include inverts, corals, and it looks like some Chaeto.

 

[kevinf]

Tanks looks very new for being a year and a half old. Do you feed that starfish?
I would think low oxygen from not enough surface movement could be a culprit of fish deaths

 

[Noah25]

I understand you added no fish, however does that include inverts, corals, and it looks like some Chaeto.

I grew the chaeto in another tank. That one has no problems.

 

[Noah25]

Tanks looks very new for being a year and a half old. Do you feed that starfish?
I would think low oxygen from not enough surface movement could be a culprit of fish deaths

Tank is about year and a half old. The starfish does get fed twice a week or so. I added a airstone today. Very soon I will get some wavemakers.

 

[Noah25]

Ammonia should be zero in an established tank. Could be your load spiked and triggered a rise in ammonia.

Would be good to know
Overall water chemistry.
Maintenance routine.
Frequency and amount of water changes.
How long have fish been in the tank.
Do fish go from healthy and eating to dead?
Any torn fins or other signs on the bodies?

Ph is 8

Alkalinity is 30

No chlorine

Phosphates are a 1

Nitrites are zero

Nitrates are 50. Haven't been there long. I am doing a water change today or tomorrow.

 

[winzig]

how often do you clean those filters?
hob and canisters can be a factory for phosphates and nitrates
tank definitely doesn't look old at all
and 30 alk ? are you sure?

 

[sgdnycct]

Ammonia should be zero in an established tank. Could be your load spiked and triggered a rise in ammonia.

Would be good to know
Overall water chemistry.
Maintenance routine.
Frequency and amount of water changes.
How long have fish been in the tank.
Do fish go from healthy and eating to dead?
Any torn fins or other signs on the bodies?

Ph is 8

Alkalinity is 30

No chlorine

Phosphates are a 1

Nitrites are zero

Nitrates are 50. Haven't been there long. I am doing a water change today or tomorrow.

It’s strange that you had an ammonia reading with 0 nitrites. But it’s possible.

Your chemistry looks good an bio load looks good. I do agree that your tank looks new. Are you doing any other maintenance? Cleaning gravel, rocks?

The fact that your fish have been in for some time and suddenly dying tells me something has to have changed.

Is the new water good? Any changes to the salt? I thought maybe it could be a toxins from the environment but that would likely affect all your fish.

I’d almost say to cut back on water changes with the levels you have. Let things settle and get the bacteria levels stabilized. Too many water changes in theory could cause problems. Just some thoughts.