all my fish died

[chargher]

tank coming along well and everything was fine, i was going to get some corals from others when i noticed my niger trigger was acting weird. I had to go to school when i returned all my fish died, i checked nitrate and they were high, what can possible cause this nitrate to jump so fast, i thought it was because i put my hand in the tank without washing them,

i was very angry not even because of them money but more because my trigger would wait for my every morning until i fed him. swimming up and down really fast,

Ok so i did a 15 percent water change what else i still have a living anemone and some zoa i have no chemicals to this second whats something good for nitrates. I also cannot seem to find one small fish does that mean i have to move everything?


im gonna get my tank levels good again and wait 1-2 weeks before getting another coral or fish, my birthday is april 1 so im gonna tell everyone that i want fish or corals or money to buy new stuff, it also gives me a chance to redo landscape i was never too happy with the way the rocks were placed.

but just want to add that this site is great, ever though im new i have meet some really nice people.

 

[seascape]

sorry to here what happened i know whay its like to loose fav fish.

 

[michael stern]

Sorry, we've all been there.

How long was tank established?
How large is tank?
What fish were in it?
How high were nitrates?
Any ammonia or nitrite?

 

[masterswimmer]

High nitrates will facilitate excess algae but it won't kill fish. High ammonia and/or high nitrites will kill fish.

Sorry for your loss. How long did your tank cycle before you added fish?

swimmer

 

[cthoughts1]

Chargher, man that sucks.. I guess we've all been there at some point or another.. What you should try to figure out is what happened so you don't make the same mistake again and you don't lose any more of the little guys... Maybe we could help figure out what happened here, but you're gonna need to post some more info on your tank..

How long have you had it?
How long did you cycle it?
How did you cycle it?
How often did you check your levels?
How much live sand?
How much live rock?
How much filtration?
Skimmer?
What did you feed?
What are your Nitrates? Nitrites? And Amonia levels now?
How many fish did you have in your tank?
How big was your tank?

I guess knowing the answers to some of these questions will help us give you a clue as to what could have gone wrong.. I'm no expert, but I'm sure that both myself and others on this forum will be able to provide you with some great advice & suggestions so hopefully you can avoid this happening in the future.. It's good to learn from each others mistakes, if you know what I mean.. I feel your pain man.. =/

 

[chargher]

thanks guys, well 6 months with only rocks, dsb (3-4 inches), added fish tang, clowns and other stuff, they seemed very happy, started to buy corals sometime after. 50 pounds live rock, 15 pounds in sump ( plan top add more live rock) turbofloter 1000 skimmer just got this skimmer 2 weeks ago hasn't filled a full cup yet i should do some reasearch no real settings on this one but it got some good reviews skimming real dry, stuff inside no so thick but dark brown. its a 68 gallon half circle, i was going to meet with some guys to pick up fish and stuff today gonna have to hold on that i guess.

nitrate was above 100

havent tested amm i will test tonight after i get off work

i feed brine shrimp and myst sometimes grandules
at work now but gonna run amminia and other test first thing when i get come, my coral bandit and pep shrimp still alive last time i checked

 

[KathyC]

How often were you doing water changes & what percentage?
We need that ammonia reading please.
Sorry about your losses

 

[chargher]

i get home an hour from now and will post my ammonia readings

 

[bacalao]

That sucks. Sorry to hear that but Nitrates Levels shouldn't have killed the fish. Did U stick your hand in the tank recently?
A friend of mine stuck his hand in a few minutes after putting on some aftershave and when he got back home 2 of his fish were dead.

 

[chargher]

i did a big water change and everything is going crazy
i

 

[aznt1217]

Sorry to hear. But yea we need more precise levels and more importantly numbers.

WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE TANK. I cannot emphasize this enough, ESPECIALLY if you have a reef.

- What % water change did you do and how did you do it. Did you match the temperatures?

 

[chargher]

ok i match temp but then i added salt, my snales are all comming out of there shells and there all dying, Im gong to run some test i just panicked. brb

 

[chargher]

added alot of salt waited 10 min levels are still low should i add more?

 

[chanman]

sorry this happened but i am not understanding you.. You did a water change today then did another one just now? What are your PARAMETER LEVELS.?

 

[aznt1217]

Okay two extremes there.

Hypersalient environment- high salinity

and

Hyposalient environment - low salinity

Which is it? What is your salinity at?


Temperature shocks affect the animals as well. Take a deep breathe and slow down. Give us ALL of your parameters.

 

[chargher]

low sanlinity i also noptice a clear hair like stuff and my tang out of all the fish is still alive which is a huge suprise he is moving around nervously and scratching his body

 

[chargher]

nitrate still high

 

[aznt1217]

Okay your tang has ich. Stop what you are doing because you are shocking everything. You still haven't given us any parameters yet. We need those.

When you say nitrates are still high that won't help anybody. Is it 40ppm? 125 ppm? 165 ppm? Who Knows?

-For your inverts keep your salinity 1.023-1.025.
-Make sure your temperature is at 76-79 range (not fluctuating, but what you are keeping it at)
-Feed your tang food that has been in garlic or contains garlic.

 

[chargher]

ok, my nitrate are low 50 highrange 250 ( this is what i see in the new test kit I got from red sea) Salinity is still a bit low 1.017 and temp is 78

 

[ming]

I don't suggest bothering with feeding at least until tomorrow because after this shock, they won't be hungry.
Don't worry about nitrates, thats the least of your worries. High nitrates won't kill fish unless it gets VERY high like > 80ppm which still isn't terribly life threatning.
Your goal is to get the salinity stable, but since its already too low, you want to raise it SLOWLY to the correct levels.(2 posts up) They can't handle huge swings very well and can very well die from it. The same for temperature.