Fish Just Dying

[gatorman543]

It has been 8 weeks since i started my tank, almost 9, two weeks ago my water tested perfect everything was right. So i bought myself a pair of percula clowns. They were doing great, after going back to check the water agian it was pefect, and i then bought a sixline wrasse to add to my tank. Now all of a sudden my fish are dying. I lsot one clown three days ago, another today, and now my wrasse isn't looking good either. I rushed straight to the fish store to ifnd out that my water was again was perfect. I dont understand why this is happening. Any help

 

[RayneBow]

I think your tank is not cycled. 8 weeks is very young for a tank and I'd be surprised if anything survived in it.

a Marine tank needs to be cycled for at least 3-5 months before adding fish.

 

[billa_bong]

I think your tank is not cycled. 8 weeks is very young for a tank and I'd be surprised if anything survived in it.

a Marine tank needs to be cycled for at least 3-5 months before adding fish.

2 months of cycling is enough to get you through any cycle. 3-5 months is overkill, that's just cooking your liverock.

anyways, can you give us more specs on ur tank?

size? pounds of liverock? what type of tank? lighting? filtration? etc etc.?

 

[steelhealr]

I'm a very big proponent of the 'go slow' method but waiting on the order of several months is ludicrous. Fish die with 'normal parameters because there are many more things that can be toxic in a tank than just measured numbers. Agree with above...you have to tell us what's in your tank and what the numbers are:
-s.g
-temp
-params
-corals? types? inverts?

Corals can kill fish too with toxins. Fill us in if you need help. SH

 

[Tiggs]

"a Marine tank needs to be cycled for at least 3-5 months before adding fish"

back this up with anything.

 

[Navarre]

Sure i can back this up...

This is a quote from a leading marine hobbiest and studying marine biologist.

Fully cured live rock should not cycle on introduction to a new salt water aquarium.

What Steve has said above is right - it really all comes down to the rock being fully cured on introduction. If it is, when it enters your tank, then there should be no problem.

I've noticed a lot of replies lately about fully cured live rock going through the 'recognized' cycling process. I really don't think that this is true. The reason I don't say that "it categorically isn't true" is because I'm waiting for an answer to a question from some microbiologists - hopefully within the next week (all established tanks cycle continuously but this is beyond test kit detection )

Fully cured live rock has nothing on it that will die back. With no die back, there can be no cycling of the rock - end of story.... - ish . There is the issue of 'osmotic shock' to address though. From what I believe, the Nitrosomanas sp. of bacteria found on/in live rock don't have a cell wall that allow the rapid transfer of water into/out of the cell (this is what I'm trying to establish). So, osmotic shock should not be a major factor.

That said, if anybody doesn't agree with me, then why do Steve, STM, Fantasea etc (all purveyors of quality fully cured live rock) say that their rock is ready to go? Provided that the rock arrives with you within 12-24 hrs then it should be fine. The only way this rock will 'cycle' is if some of it has died during shipping (unlikely, given the experience in packaging of the sellers) or if you kill some of it on receipt.

Provided that your salt water is set-up in accordance with your salt manufacturers’ recommendations, then there really shouldn't be a problem.

I've only set-up 6 reef tanks thus far (nothing, compared to others), all using fully cured live rock as the main filtration, and I've stocked each tank within 2 days of the rock going in . So far, I have suffered no fatalities as a result of this start up procedure (fatalities down the line are a different issue ). Now, I'm either the luckiest Taff reef keeper around or the suppliers of fully cured live rock are right .

Once I've received the answers to the questions I've asked, I'll write a diatribe on this subject . If I'm wrong, then I'll go gracefully

I have set all my systems up using this methos and nevr once have i had a spike nor lose of fish due to a cycling tank.

Only 3 months ago i setup a tank for a friend whilst visiting his house on holiday. We got a Juwel Rio 300, 70kg of liverock and 2 bags of livesand.
The liverock was from a lfs and is extrelmly well matured.
We purchased a pair of clowns, 35 hermits and 35 snails and put these in the tank about 3 hours after the rocks and water had all settled in.

3 Months later the tank is doing fine, the clown are still with us and never once did the tank show signs of a cycling spike on his test kits.

The same tank now has the same clowns, a Yelloweye tang, royal gramma, 2 bloodshrimp, 3 cleaner shrimp and a dwarf angel (not sure which type though as i havent seen this).

Whilst i agree that the tank will take many many months to "mature" do not get this confused.. a mature tank is completely different to a cycled tank.

 

[RayneBow]

yea, thats what I mean, maturing, not cycling. I always get the two mixed up.

sorry guys

 

[gatorman543]

alriight I have no coral, inverst include 3 hermits, 2 snails and a feather duster. 10 gallon my tank is.

How i set my tank up.

1st went and bought salt mix and
2nd. bought 4 pounds of base rock.
3rd. After two weeksn, bought some live rock app. 6 pounds
Antoher week passed and i got 4 more pounds. checked my salinty and adjusted it due to the presense of the rock. At this point bought a starter fish (carindalfish all they had left)
Two weeks ago, carindalfish was eating and growing, so i went and checked my water, everything checked outr. So trade4d the fish for a pair of clowns. It took them a few days to adjusted but both were eating flake food, and then i said in my first post they just slowly didn't look good, even thought my water was checking out

 

[steelhealr]

Ten gallon is a tough nano. Still..you haven't given us any numbers to help you out. The following still not sure:
1) what does adjusted salinity to the LR rock mean? in fact, what IS your s.g?
2) what salt mix and how are you mixing and adding it? how do you do your water changes? are you using RO? tap?
3) if my maths is correct, you have 14lbs of LR, 10 of which is good porous stuff
4) I still need some params to help you..

Adding the LR in multiple stages could have been the culprit. Are you sure that there were no spikes between additions? Need more info to truly help out. SH

 

[gatorman543]

as of yesturday ph was 8.3 everything else tested 0. I used a 10 gallon slat mix, and there was no spike in between adding fish. My salinty is 1.022. And has an update everything is no longer lving, so i am just starting over. VEry frustraintg. And i am mixing the water before i put it in

 

[Navarre]

Do you use poslish or deoderants near the tank? Or perhaps air freshners etc.. all of these are toxic and deadly to fish/corals

 

[Chac]

How were your fish acting before they died?, I am thinking along the same lines as Nav. (Poisoning)

I would also wait and get to the bottom of this mystery before adding more live stock

Can you also tell us what Equipment you are using?

Are ou using any other form of Bio Filtration? (iE Sponges, Floss in an External)

What is the Flow rate in your Tank?

 

[Darrell]

Did you use tap water to fill your tank? Maybe full of nitrates, phosphates and silicates!

 

[gatorman543]

Bio Filtration, and no i am allegric to fragrances so none of those have been used near my tank. I am just going to do a real good cleaning job today, and see if that helps

the thing i dont understand is why my cardinalfish wqas doing fine and then these aren't

 

[j0rzeh]

It has been 8 weeks since i started my tank, almost 9, two weeks ago my water tested perfect everything was right. So i bought myself a pair of percula clowns. They were doing great, after going back to check the water agian it was pefect, and i then bought a sixline wrasse to add to my tank. Now all of a sudden my fish are dying. I lsot one clown three days ago, another today, and now my wrasse isn't looking good either. I rushed straight to the fish store to ifnd out that my water was again was perfect. I dont understand why this is happening. Any help

You can muture a tank in 6 weeks using cycle or a biostart plus live sand but id check for disease in the tank and maybe pro protainzin (sorry my spelling sucks its all the salt water i swolled) made by water life u will have to take ur carbon filters out thou and turn ur UV off its better safe the sorry

you can allways use a polyfilter in there to make sure your water doesnt have any thing in there it shoudlnt have.