why are my saltwater fish dying?

Question

i have a sea clear 2 tank 40 gallons ran it for 3 months with no problem had 5 damsels 2 star fish and 2 shrimp and hermit crabs.i added some amquel plus water cond and then some of that nirate remove all the fish died because i added it into the tank not water and then the tank . the fish store said my tank did not work well for saltwater so i just bought a 50 gallon tank with a canister filter and a new protien skimmer. so i moved the rest of the living things in the tank ( starfish shrimp and hermit crabs) they lived when all the fish died i rasied up my salt reading and am doing a ph buffer (my ph reaDING WAS 8.0) and got a heater to about 79. bought a fish and it died still my starfish and shrimp live.what is wrong with my tank ?! fish show sings of stress fast beathing not moving and not eating. can anyone help me

all my test are fine fish store said fish should be fine only low reading was the ph at 8.0

all my test are fine fish store said fish should be fine only low reading was the ph at 8.0

all my test are fine fish store said fish should be fine only low reading was the ph at 8.0

Answer 1

Let me try and help you here.

First, some understanding. You changed the environment the fish were in. I dont just mean the tank. You chemically altered (If I am reading correctly) more than one attribute that created your stable tank to begin with. As a Marine Biologist I see this allot with Salt Water keepers. You must understand that even swicthing from a 40 gallon tank to a 50 means you have added 10 gallons of new water to the tank. Water that was not previously populated with bacteria and did not have a complete ammonia cycle started. So you have changed the eco system the fish were in. A dropping PH tells me your Ammonia cycle never really completed. Now your other fish might have looked fine but, they adapted to the stress of one change chemically. Now that you have changed the Salenity, and bacteria cycle along with an unstable PH, you are seeing a mild shock reaction turn to a full wipe out of your fish life. You can take steps to improve this.

Step 1: Get the PH under control.
How?:
Well first things is first: What are you using as a substrate here? You should be using crush coral to keep the PH constant. Of you chose sand (Which people love to do) you should have bought a bag of Crush coral and purchased what are called filter bags (These are usually used to keep baby fish from getting caught in the filter. They look like small nets)
Putting the Crush coral in the bags and rinsing them. Then burrying them behind your rocks or decorations would have ensured the PH stablizing while still using live sand as a substrate. I will be honest with you here, using chemicals to stabilize water is a waste of time. They will never stabilize the water's PH long enough to make a huge impact. Your eco system (Your tank) changes with water displacement every hour. Thus, PH can not stablize with water based chemicals.

2. The skimmer should be shut off for a week.
Why?:
Because you need that new water to get a small spike of Ammonia so it will stablize. Feed your shrimp every other day while the skimmer is off. This will also help any high spikes in Ammonia in the tank.

3. DO Not Add any more fish for a month
I know that will be hard, but adding a new fish will also change the water quality. Hold off on this.

4. You did not mention what your salenity was at to begin with.
1.23? 1.26?
Make sure you are checking this everyday, Those shrimp do not like Salenity over 1.26. Be careful.

5. Bet that Starfish is a Chocolate Chip...
Thank the lucky stars if it is. They will survive through lots of water quality mistakes. But be careful, High Nitrites will kill them eventually. If they start to fold in, you have serious chemical issues. Be on the lookout.

6. Do Not remove your filter media at this time.
I see this mistake all the time. That media is keeping you tank from really turning into a nightmare. It houses the good bacteria that is trying to stablize your tank.

7. Finally I suggest going out to one of the stores and getting some Stress zyme. You only need the small bottle for a one shot deal. release it INSIDE the canister not the water. This will force it to distribute throughout the water and the already established bacteria will balance out the water's Ammonia faster.

Correct these issues and in a month add your first fish.....

My choice.. 4 striped damsels or Dominos can take a beating in H20 errors and keep ticking.

***Of course if you want to be drastic, you could start all over again, but you do that and you are sure to kill those shrimp and that star fish. Very delicate creatures and they will not survive a new tank set up.


Hope this helps

Answer 2

OK, first things first remember that marine fish are extremely susceptible to any polution in the tank and that they are a lot less resiliant than tropical fish. The reason you use a buffer tank is to effectively increase the amount of water in the system thus diluting any pollutants.

But you still need to regularly change the water as often as you can afford to pretty much. I cycle my marine tank once a week.

Don't fiddle about with the salt content. Use exactly the quantities presented on the packet.

Cannister filters are OK for marine setups, but not optimal. You need to clean the filter very often. The more regularly you clean the better the water quality and that's the most important thing for your fishes survival.

Get some sort of agitation in the water... use an air pump to get the water moving, this will increase the amount of dissolved oxygen... good for the fish.

I would suggest stripping the tank down and restarting it. Clean it thoroughly and add fish one at a time over a long period and see how it goes.

And keep cycling the water!

Answer 3

You should probably do a little more research on the topic of marine aquariums. It's a fun hobby, but can be expensive when you constantly loose fish. And noone wants to loose a pet.

Check out this website. Probably the best for anyone's saltwater questions
http://www.wetwebmedia.com

and check out the book

"The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Bob Fenner

Happy learning!

Answer 4

how long did u wait when starting the saltwater tank to add fish. we were told to set it up for a couple weeks before adding the fish because they will die

Answer 5

I don't believe the original tank was the problem. Test your ammonia and the others as well. I thnk that could be the problem. The temp is just fine.

Answer 6

Just from what you tell, I would suggest you check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in the tank. Odds are one of those is the problem.

Answer 7

Sounds like your water temp is to warm....you should check your themometer and esp the water heater

Answer 8

maybe it is there time to go or to much salt or to less

Answer 9

it,s the boats it,s makeing the waters un heathy on the top and that,s why there is also beached whales they can breath in the water so the beach them self so the can beath.

Answer 10

hermit crabs kill the fish