Please Help... Need Expert Advice!!!!!!!

[that fish guy]

I have a 75 gallon mini-reef. It has been set up for a little over a year. When I first started the tank up, I did an aggresive tank, a grouper, trigger, lion and an eel. About 6 months into it, they were out growing the tank so I sold them on MR and I started a community tank. Last July my tank CRASHED ( don't ask me how, I can't figure it out)!!! I lost all my fish. I did I 35% water change and I just let the tank sit for about a month with just the live rock in there ( filter and protein skimmer, etc. still running). I tested all the levels and after everything checked out perfect, I introduced new fish to the system. Within a month all the fish I introduced died. Finally, I introduced 3 purple firefish, 2 gold head sleeper gobies, a mated pair of Maroon Clowns and 2 anemones. They all did well, but when I introduced a baby purple tang ( 2 inches) and a female bellus angel ( 3 inches) and within a month they got sick and died. Ever since I got rid of my aggresive fish the tank has been going down hill, I can't keep fish in that tank.

I don't know what to do, I am afraid of introducing new fish.

Any ideas why this is keep happening would be GREAT!!!!!!!

I also have a 55 gallon FOWLR tank that is doing great and a 29 gallon reef that is doing great. So it is not like I don't know what I am doing.

 

[MikeyZO]

Well... lets start with a few questions:
What kind of equipment are you using?
What parameters are you testing for?
What are the results of the tests?
Did you ever medicate the tank with anything when you housed the aggressive fish?
Do you use RO/DI water?
Did you QT the new fish before adding them to the community?

Sounds like something has contaminated the tank... perhaps even been absorbed into the live rock and is now slowly leeching back into the water. But thats just a theory. Im sure others will chime in with more questions and possibilities.

 

[Pareef]

After the tank sat did you introduce the new fish and anemones all at once maybe it cycled again and had a amonia spike

 

[that fish guy]

I am using the Marineland C-360 canister filter with just Purigen in it, a Aqua C remora with a mag 3 pump, a Coralife Turbo Twist 3X 9 watt UV sterilzer.

I am testing for pH which reads 8.3, Ammonia which reads 0.0 ppm, Nitrate which reads between 0-5 ppm, Nitrite which tests at 0.0 ppm, Alkilinty which reads 10 drops ( I dont remember the ppm, with my test kit you want it between 9-13 drops), calcium which reads at 450 ppm, and Phosphate which reads at 0.0 ppm. My specific gravity is 1.024.

I medicated the tank a few times. Once with copper and formalin, once with melafix and erythromycin and once with STOP parasites.

I use RO/DI water

I QT my fish for 3 weeks before going into the main tank.

 

[mluz]

I would say test for copper, it may have been absorbed into the live rock and its now releasing. Also are you adding all the fish at once or one at a time? If all at once you may be creating an ammonia spike as previously mentioned and killing all the fish.

I'm sure someone a lot more knowledgeable than me will chime in with more suggestions.

 

[that fish guy]

I add them one at a time and I have tested my copper and it is zero, also the purigen would have taken it out and the last time I put copper in my water was about 9 months ago when I have the aggresive tank.

 

[MikeyZO]

Im thinking it might be the copper too... leeching slowly from the live rock...

 

[that fish guy]

but the copper tested zero and there is too much purigen in the system to keep any copper in the water. I have also done about 20 water changes since I used copper. Also copper really wouldn't kill the fish and anyway I have a good amount of corals and inverts in the tank and they are fine and if there was any copper, they would be dead.

 

[Killerdrgn]

how are you acclimating the fish? are you just throwing them in?

 

[KathyC]

Curious as to why you are calling the tank a 'mini-reef', is there a very small amount of rock in there? Do you have a current pic of the tank?

Are there any inverts in the tank, if so what kinda, how many and how long have they ben in there?
Before you put anything else alive in there, I would drop an uncooked shrimp (as in people food) into the tank and then tale ammonia, nitrite & nitrate readings daily for the next couple of weeks to see that it does.

 

[MikeyZO]

Well, the only thing that makes me a little suspicious that it might be copper or formalin leeching back in is because everything was ok until you added the tang and angel... and angels tend to be very easily effected by the smallest amounts of copper... And if Im reading Kathy correctly, the death of the fish might have caused a very strange amonia spike, which would lead me to believe there might be another underlying problem as well....

But then again, I cant read Kathy's mind without doing the vulcan mind meld... lol

 

[that fish guy]

I drip my fish. And I call it a mini-reef beacuse I have 100 lbs of live rock with some soft corals in the tank, I consider it a mini reef beacuse the tank is mostly fish with some coral. And if I have the corals in there the copper would have killed all my corals already.

 

[Awibrandy]

I agree with you. I don't think it is/was the copper. But I am not sure about the formulin(?).

Kind of curious that all the fish you introduce including two fish that I would consider to be hearty (maroon clowns & purple tang) also died.

Is there any chance what so ever that some other chemical has gotten in to the tank? Air freshners, Windex, bug sprays anything at all?? Any little kids in the house that may have dropped a crayon or two in the tank? My friend's son did that one. Killed all his fish.;(

 

[that fish guy]

well I have some fish still living in that tank and the pair of maroons are in that group that r still living. I don't use any cleaning products around my tank and formalin would have killed my corals and my corals are still doing fine.

 

[h20 freak]

Ok so you say its not the parameters,toxin, anything outside of the tank, or acclimation. You have two other successful tanks(that are smaller and should be more delicate) so its not the source water or your skills, do you treat this tank differently in any way? What about a stray voltage?Have a ground probe?

 

[that fish guy]

no

 

[QUESTIONMARC]

if you have fish that are living presently.. and corals that are doing fine.. and all levels read correctly.. i think you are just having a bad run of luck.. might be where you are buying your fish.. it only takes one to start trickling down the entire line. what do the fish look like when they die? how fast do they die? is it one day .. one.. then another .. then another.. or do they all die at once..

if they all die at once then it is somethign that is taking place at that instant..

if they are dieing off one by one.. then it just might be 1 fish being introduced with a disease which spreads.. are their any signs on their bodies after they die? Velvet? Ick? etc??

i have gone on terrible runs of fish.. where i stock the tank one by one.. and then on the last one my tank couldnt handle the bacteria load and started turning the water properties.. or i had a fish that just wastn healthy.. that caught something and then one after another went down.. weird things happen like that sometimes..

 

[ocholoco]

hey

It can also be the way you are introducig them into your tank, Aclamation is very Important, are you aclamating the fish??? How are you doing it???

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Maroon clowns can get very aggressive. Ever think they could have killed the other fish?

 

[that fish guy]

ok, first I have gotten my fish from a few different places, so the problem can't be where I buy the fish. Second, the fish die one at a time, and the fish look fine when they die, no nipped fins or anything. It still has good coloration and everything after it dies. Also I QT my fish before they go into my main tank. Last, I doubt the maroon clowns are attacking the other fish, they stay in their anemone and do not come out, also when the fish die, they have no signs on them of being attacked.