slow fish die off

[drakebuffie]

So I got back into this after 20 years. Alot has changed and I have forgotten some things. I am going to give as detailed an account as possible and see if anyone has any ideas because I am stumped.

New 75 gallon tank set up march 5th with well water. Skimmer, LR, no substrate, a wave maker and 2 pumps in back that suck the water out of tank thru socks. Bio media in 2 seperate compartments behind tank as well as some activated charcoal. Well water is very hard. First mistake. Added bacteria and after a couple weeks added 2 pink clowns, a long tooth stripped blenny and a PJ cardinal. Started to get green dust algea and diatoms. Added a bunch of hermits and snails. After a month I added a stars and stripes puffer which really threw off the bio balance of the tank. He did fine for several weeks though. I was taking water to store weekly over the first 2 months. All these fish and most of the inverts lived thru ammonia and nitrite spikes. Finally the tank was cycled.

I started using rodi water for water changes. I do 5 gallons weekly for 2 months now. After the tank was cycled about 5 weeks ago the long tooth blenny disappeared. I found him dead in the filter sock when I changed them. Also weekly. I figured it can happen. Never any signs of sickness and he lived thru pretty ****** conditions.

Then 2 weeks ago one of the clowns....the smaller one is dead at the bottom of the tank. No signs of sickness.

I got rid of the puffer last week and added an elephant ear mushroom and a mall mushroom and a frag of pink/orange monti.

Yesterday I notice the PJ cardinal is missing. Cant find him anywhere. Checked filters and flashlight all over thank. He was doing fine. Eating and no signs of sickness.

So I am down to the last clownfish. I dont beleive I am over feeding. One cube of frozen brine last 4 days. Will last longer now that I only have one fish.

I dont have parameters. Wont be able to get water tested until friday. Just too busy to get to the store. Nothing has happened that should cause an imbalance that I am aware of. The puffer is doing great in his new 300 gallon home.

Surface agitation is really good. Hermit crabs are doing great and most of the snails are doing fine. Hard to tell with them but I see different ones on the glass in different spots every day.

Still lots of green algea in tank but I am thinking that will go away eventually. New tank and slowly replacing all the well water with rodi.

Thats pretty much it. Thoughts?

 

[SlugSnorter]

So I got back into this after 20 years. Alot has changed and I have forgotten some things. I am going to give as detailed an account as possible and see if anyone has any ideas because I am stumped.

New 75 gallon tank set up march 5th with well water. Skimmer, LR, no substrate, a wave maker and 2 pumps in back that suck the water out of tank thru socks. Bio media in 2 seperate compartments behind tank as well as some activated charcoal. Well water is very hard. First mistake. Added bacteria and after a couple weeks added 2 pink clowns, a long tooth stripped blenny and a PJ cardinal. Started to get green dust algea and diatoms. Added a bunch of hermits and snails. After a month I added a stars and stripes puffer which really threw off the bio balance of the tank. He did fine for several weeks though. I was taking water to store weekly over the first 2 months. All these fish and most of the inverts lived thru ammonia and nitrite spikes. Finally the tank was cycled.

I started using rodi water for water changes. I do 5 gallons weekly for 2 months now. After the tank was cycled about 5 weeks ago the long tooth blenny disappeared. I found him dead in the filter sock when I changed them. Also weekly. I figured it can happen. Never any signs of sickness and he lived thru pretty ****** conditions.

Then 2 weeks ago one of the clowns....the smaller one is dead at the bottom of the tank. No signs of sickness.

I got rid of the puffer last week and added an elephant ear mushroom and a mall mushroom and a frag of pink/orange monti.

Yesterday I notice the PJ cardinal is missing. Cant find him anywhere. Checked filters and flashlight all over thank. He was doing fine. Eating and no signs of sickness.

So I am down to the last clownfish. I dont beleive I am over feeding. One cube of frozen brine last 4 days. Will last longer now that I only have one fish.

I dont have parameters. Wont be able to get water tested until friday. Just too busy to get to the store. Nothing has happened that should cause an imbalance that I am aware of. The puffer is doing great in his new 300 gallon home.

Surface agitation is really good. Hermit crabs are doing great and most of the snails are doing fine. Hard to tell with them but I see different ones on the glass in different spots every day.

Still lots of green algea in tank but I am thinking that will go away eventually. New tank and slowly replacing all the well water with rodi.

Thats pretty much it. Thoughts?

how did the tailspot get to the filter sock? That WC is pretty small. Are you sure salinity is good? do you QT fish? consider getting a way to test params. What animals do you have? Disease symptoms?

 

[drakebuffie]

So I got back into this after 20 years. Alot has changed and I have forgotten some things. I am going to give as detailed an account as possible and see if anyone has any ideas because I am stumped.

New 75 gallon tank set up march 5th with well water. Skimmer, LR, no substrate, a wave maker and 2 pumps in back that suck the water out of tank thru socks. Bio media in 2 seperate compartments behind tank as well as some activated charcoal. Well water is very hard. First mistake. Added bacteria and after a couple weeks added 2 pink clowns, a long tooth stripped blenny and a PJ cardinal. Started to get green dust algea and diatoms. Added a bunch of hermits and snails. After a month I added a stars and stripes puffer which really threw off the bio balance of the tank. He did fine for several weeks though. I was taking water to store weekly over the first 2 months. All these fish and most of the inverts lived thru ammonia and nitrite spikes. Finally the tank was cycled.

I started using rodi water for water changes. I do 5 gallons weekly for 2 months now. After the tank was cycled about 5 weeks ago the long tooth blenny disappeared. I found him dead in the filter sock when I changed them. Also weekly. I figured it can happen. Never any signs of sickness and he lived thru pretty ****** conditions.

Then 2 weeks ago one of the clowns....the smaller one is dead at the bottom of the tank. No signs of sickness.

I got rid of the puffer last week and added an elephant ear mushroom and a mall mushroom and a frag of pink/orange monti.

Yesterday I notice the PJ cardinal is missing. Cant find him anywhere. Checked filters and flashlight all over thank. He was doing fine. Eating and no signs of sickness.

So I am down to the last clownfish. I dont beleive I am over feeding. One cube of frozen brine last 4 days. Will last longer now that I only have one fish.

I dont have parameters. Wont be able to get water tested until friday. Just too busy to get to the store. Nothing has happened that should cause an imbalance that I am aware of. The puffer is doing great in his new 300 gallon home.

Surface agitation is really good. Hermit crabs are doing great and most of the snails are doing fine. Hard to tell with them but I see different ones on the glass in different spots every day.

Still lots of green algea in tank but I am thinking that will go away eventually. New tank and slowly replacing all the well water with rodi.

Thats pretty much it. Thoughts?

I do test salinity. 1.025-1.026

 

[drakebuffie]

how did the tailspot get to the filter sock? That WC is pretty small. Are you sure salinity is good? do you QT fish? consider getting a way to test params. What animals do you have? Disease symptoms?

whats a wc?

I assome blenny died and got sucked in filter. Fish were all added at same time from same tank system at LFS except for the puffer.

Animals? I have 2 dogs other than the fish tank.

One thing is my wife uses air freshners. The lug in scented oil ones. I removed those from the room.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Any contaminants getting into the tank during water changes? Seems like something dies after the water changes and nothing else?

 

[punchy7080]

I'd be concerned with starting the tank with well water and not knowing parameters. I'd either do some massive water changes or get an ICP test to see what's in your water.

 

[drakebuffie]

how did the tailspot get to the filter sock? That WC is pretty small. Are you sure salinity is good? do you QT fish? consider getting a way to test params. What animals do you have? Disease symptoms?

Wc is water change. I could do 10 gallons. And yes I need to get the salifert test kits.

 

[drakebuffie]

I dont know about containments' getting into tank during water changes. I doubt it? But anything is possible. The thing that baffels me is one fish every week or 2 after they were there thru the worst of it for 2 months.

If it was the water changes doing it I would think everything would die all at once and the snails and hermits wouldnt be doing good either. One fish every week or 2 just seems odd.

Over the first 2 months or so I was testing weekly so I know things were very off but once I got 2 good tests from LFS I havent been back.

Lacrosse season and really busy at work.

Need to order my own test kits from salifert.

 

[dedragon]

I do test salinity. 1.025-1.026

what are you testing salinity with? swing arm hydrometer, refractometer, etc?

 

[drakebuffie]

what are you testing salinity with? swing arm hydrometer, refractometer, etc?

refractometer

 

[drakebuffie]

Took water to store to get test. They use api. Water is fine per api

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10 is.....hard to tell with colors
According to their refractometer my salinity is a bit high at 1.027 my last reading qith mine was 1.025

So ammonia being culprit is out which is what I thought anyways.

Still extremely odd that they all died except the last clown who is still doing fine.

 

[davidcalgary29]

All these fish and most of the inverts lived thru ammonia and nitrite spikes.

Well, this may be the first problem. Ammonia can cause permanent damage to the respiratory system of many fish, and they may have suffered lethal injuries during an ammonia spike, and then died off during the ensuing weeks. I just really can't get behind the idea of cycling with "hardy" fish.

The other likely option is disease. Not every tank killer is ich or velvet, and are diffciult to diagnose without doing a necropsy. And no, I couldn't do one, either. Your best option in the end might be to let your tank go fallow for at least 45 days, although that won't help with something like uronema.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Well, this may be the first problem. Ammonia can cause permanent damage to the respiratory system of many fish, and they may have suffered lethal injuries during an ammonia spike, and then died off during the ensuing weeks. I just really can't get behind the idea of cycling with "hardy" fish.

The other likely option is disease. Not every tank killer is ich or velvet, and are diffciult to diagnose without doing a necropsy. And no, I couldn't do one, either. Your best option in the end might be to let your tank go fallow for at least 45 days, although that won't help with something like uronema.

doesn't sound like uronema.

 

[drakebuffie]

Plan is to let it go until july. See how the last fish alive does before adding anything further. If last fish dies, which there is zero sign that he will but there was zero warning with the others also, I will wait until the end of summer before adding anything further.