please help

[Tomrip]

Im new, so i am sorry if this is not where there goes. We need help.here is the situation. we bought a fluval 32.5 gallon tank. Got it set up. added our clown fish, and all was well. after a month we decided to buy a jbj nano cube, and made a little salt water aquarium for our dinning room. at first we didnt know how to setup the lights in the nano cube so they were on for 12 to 14 hours a day with no variances. I then opened my fluval app, and set up a lighting schedule that has sunrise, sunset and changes through out the day. also temp in the nano cube was set to 78 but it was reading 82. i have turned the temperature down to 74 to see if it gets around 78 degress, which is where our fluval tank is at. we juts did a water test, we psoted the results. we went to our aquarium store, and they said that this was normal, but we have lost 4 fish now, and the water keeps getting more and more murky. should i take my surviving fish and put them in my fluval for now? what do i need to do to get this tank back. i appreciate all the help. i just dont want ot loose my fish, and want to save this tank.

 

[glb]

I would get all of your fish out of there right away. My guess is the light schedule heated up the water, which lowers the amount of oxygen in the water. How long has the nano been set up? Nano’s are tricky because things can get out of whack very quickly. I’d shorten the light schedule, add the Microbactor, and keep an eye on things. You could even leave the lights off a day or two without harming the coral. I have a 12g JBJ nanocube and I had to prop the lid open to keep the temp from going too high. You could also run a fan across the surface of the water, but be aware that water will evaporate more quickly. If you don’t have an auto topoff for the nano, I’d get one. Hope this helps!

 

[proxy001]

For now, bring your power head up to create surface agitation. Your parameters shown alone cannot explain fish death.
Temperature for fish 78-82 perfectly fine.
Can you share how you set up your new tank? Did you let it cycle??

 

[Flippers4pups]

Sorry for your losses. Lets find out why and the things we can do to help you going forward.

Bare with me as I'll be asking a few questions.

First off, the cloudiness is from a bacterial bloom or algae bloom.
White cloudiness is bacterial, green cloudiness is algae.

Place your power head close to the water surface to agitate the water. This will add oxygen from the air to the water. Blooms typically reduce 02 in the water.

Reduce your light photoperiod to only 6 hours total.

Now some questions.

*How did you acclimate your fish?

*Of the fish that died, what were they?

*Did the fish that died show any signs of disease or parasites?

*Did you buy premade salt water from your lfs or did you make your own saltwater? Tap water or RO/DI water?

 

[reanelle]

For now, bring your power head up to create surface agitation. Your parameters shown alone cannot explain fish death.
Temperature for fish 78-82 perfectly fine.
Can you share how you set up your new tank? Did you let it cycle??

This is his wife, he's driving, so ill respond. Thank you for the questions...see below. This tank has been going for about 2 months.

*How did you acclimate your fish? When we initially acclimated we floated bags in aquarium for about 20 minutes.

*Of the fish that died, what were they? 1 clownfish, red firefish, 2 cardinals

*Did the fish that died show any signs of disease or parasites? No sign of disease, they looked fine before I went to bed, woke up and they were dead

*Did you buy premade salt water from your lfs or did you make your own saltwater? Tap water or RO/DI water? Yes, premade salt water from lfs to start tank. We used live sand, lfs waters, and cycled the tank for 3 days at first. We have since been making our own salt water with RO/DI WATER

 

[jcolliii]

The turbid water is probably a bacterial bloom - that can lower O2, increase acidity and lower pH. Like another person has said above, raise your powerhead so there is some surface agitation. If low O2 is the problem, that will help.

Fish always die at night? What percent is your powerhead set on? Do you turn it down at night? Your parameters look pretty okay - except the pH - that's low - which could indicate low O2.

EDIT: I would suggest getting a refractometer. Those swingarm hydrometers can be significantly off.

 

[reanelle]

The lfs states to leave the fish in the tank, point the fan up as well. Keep lights less than 8 hours a day.

 

[1ByLand2BySea]

What size is your JBJ tank?
How long has it been running since you set it up?
How many and what type of fish did you add to this tank?

 

[Tomrip]

What size is your JBJ tank?
How long has it been running since you set it up?
How many and what type of fish did you add to this tank?

Hello. it is 28 gallons. It is the nano cube. We have a firefish, 1 clown fish and a 6 striped wrasse. We also have a small goby and a pistol shrimp.

 

[proxy001]

@Tomrip, to kill a fish you need something realllyyyyy off, specially clownfish. Double check you very basic parameters as other said. Salinity, temp.
Oxygen is tricky , but you have to assume its low. As I recall the JBJ has return pumps in the back . Are they working normally?
In my experience when oxygen is low, at first fish are lethargic, laying on the ground or grasping for air at the surface.
Did you do a very large water change recently?? like 90%??

 

[proxy001]

Hello. it is 28 gallons. It is the nano cube. We have a firefish, 1 clown fish and a 6 striped wrasse. We also have a small goby and a pistol shrimp.

Ok just in case... are you topping off evaporating water with salt water or RODI?

 

[DSEKULA]

The cloudy water is indicative of a bacteria bloom, bacteria will take up oxygen in the water and at night when photosynthesis halts this can drop to dangerous levels. I see mb7, did you dose according to the instructions (I'm suspecting an overdose) if so a wc could help clear some of this out but so could slimming if you have a skimmer. You could also add an air pump and stone to help reduce the effects along with adding surface agitation. According to the hygrometer your sg is 1.020, that's generally a bit low (can be fine for just fish) but did you acclimate them down from that or check that they came in at the same sg? Most fish are kept at 1.025-1.026 and would need to be acclimated down slowly. That's also assuming the swing arm is correct, and they are notoriously wrong. It should also be filled to the top, I'm not certain but it looks like the pic has it only partially filled.

 

[1ByLand2BySea]

Hello. it is 28 gallons. It is the nano cube. We have a firefish, 1 clown fish and a 6 striped wrasse. We also have a small goby and a pistol shrimp.

The brown growth seems to be a diatom bloom and cloudiness is a bacterial bloom, resulting in low oxygen levels. A good water change with "RO/DI" and cleaning the top layer of sand should create a better enviroment for proper cycling.
As mentioned by others, increase the flow/agitation on the water surface. I also suggest using a bit of good quality carbon without any type of phosphate remover at this point.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Tank seems way off. For warm temps. . . . . grab some zip lock bags and fill with water and place in freezer OR even ice cubes. Float a bag as it will gradually lower your temps. When it melts, replace with another frozen one and place melted one back in freezer.. . Until you reach temp.
Run some carbon to increase dissolved oxygen and clarify water.

HATE TO SAY BUT :
API test kits are less than reliable and same with hydrometer type you have.
IF and I say IF your hydrometer is correct, your salt level is Low and needs to get to 1.024.

Others asked about acclimation - How Did you introduce the fish?