Death!

[123justin]

Well, I started my first marine tank.

It's a 20g tank with 20lbs of fully cured live rock. The tank is fully cycled.

I tried adding a sick fire fish as my first fish (I work at Big Als, I was trying to nurse him back) but he unfortunately died.

So I bought a 6 line wrasse (healthy) but then it died 2 days later. I dripped the 6 line for about an hour.

The tank levels are all fine ammonia, nitries, nitrates, ph, etc. I use decholrinated tap water though.

The weird thing is, I have like 7 dwarf blue leg hermit crabs in there which should be much much more sensitive to water conditions but they are all thriving.

So what is killing my fish? Can phosphate kill my fish or copper? Is it possible that my tap water (yes, I should use RO water) contain phosphate or copper?

But my hermit crabs are alive!

Lets hear some tips.

 

[steelhealr]

Well....copper is deadly to fish...go look downstairs and see what your pipes look like. Most pipes in new homes are PVC. The only way to know for sure is to buy a copper test kit. However, if you DO have copper pipes, it could be the culprit. But..more than likely, something else in not mature in your tank. How are your nitrates? My tap water here 'on the island' can contain as high as 20ppm nitrates in summer (fertilizer runoff). That could kill some fish. SH

 

[123justin]

Yeah, I would think mostly it has something to do with my water. But if 2 "easy to keep" fish die within 2 days and yet 7 dwarf blue leg hermit crabs (which are supposed to be more sensitive to water conditions) thrive?

I see the crabs having a party running around eating stuff yet the fish die.

I'm going to get my fish manager to do my water testing, maybe I did it incorrectly.

One more question, can phosphate kill fish or inverts?

 

[steelhealr]

I"m not so sure about the hermits as a barometer for water conditions...some of those crusty's are a lot hardier than you think. SH

 

[Navarre]

hermits are real tough critters so dont use em as a gauge. As for copper in the system, this is not the case as you would definately have dead inverts/crabs. They cannot tollerate even the smallest trace of copper so if the crabs are ok then there is definately not enough copper to harm the fish.

If water peramters are ok then i would questions the shop you got the fish from. How long do they quarentine their stock for? how long does the supplier "rest" the fish once its been captured and brought into captivity? All these things are very important as they all place immense stress on the fish. I have seen perfectly healthy looking fish die within a week simply because they were caught in the ocean, flown across the world and in a hobbiests tank within 5 days You get the fish home and it looks great but the signs of stress dont make itself known unti lmuch later and then the fish simply dies. If you want good healthy stock ten make sure the fish are rested well before you buy, if you want a particular fish then ask the shop to hold it for you for a few days so you can monitor its progress, if it looks healthy and feeds well then go ahead and purchase it.

 

[123justin]

hermits are real tough critters so dont use em as a gauge. As for copper in the system, this is not the case as you would definately have dead inverts/crabs. They cannot tollerate even the smallest trace of copper so if the crabs are ok then there is definately not enough copper to harm the fish.

If water peramters are ok then i would questions the shop you got the fish from. How long do they quarentine their stock for? how long does the supplier "rest" the fish once its been captured and brought into captivity? All these things are very important as they all place immense stress on the fish. I have seen perfectly healthy looking fish die within a week simply because they were caught in the ocean, flown across the world and in a hobbiests tank within 5 days You get the fish home and it looks great but the signs of stress dont make itself known unti lmuch later and then the fish simply dies. If you want good healthy stock ten make sure the fish are rested well before you buy, if you want a particular fish then ask the shop to hold it for you for a few days so you can monitor its progress, if it looks healthy and feeds well then go ahead and purchase it.

[snapback]904963[/snapback]​

Thanx for all the help guys, very much appreciated.