What is wrong?

[boogers]

I don't know what is wrong w/ my water. I have had my tank for about 3 years. I have 2 percula clowns and 1 yellow tang. Any other fish I put in there die w/ in a couple weeks. Last week I put a coral banded shrimp in there and the next morning he was gone. I have tested my water levels and everythign was where it is supposed to be. I took my water to the fish store thinking I might have been doing it wrong. They got the same results I did. I have a lot of cyno on my sand and powerhead and want to put something in there to help clean it up but I don't want it to be dead the next morning.

Sandra

[Billybeau1]

Have you tested for copper ?

Copper is very toxic to inverts.

Your cyno problem may be elevated nutrients like phosphate. I would test for that as well. Also what is your nitrate level ?

[wizzbane15]

Where did you get your setup from? was it new or used?

Copper can be a very lethal killer and it can hitchhike on a lot of different things including tanks, silicone, plasic pieces, rock, ect...

[boogers]

Originally posted by Billybeau1
Have you tested for copper ?

Copper is very toxic to inverts.

Your cyno problem may be elevated nutrients like phosphate. I would test for that as well. Also what is your nitrate level ?

The lfs tested for the phosphates and said it was fine. The only thing that wasn't where it needed to be was calcium and she said that it wasn't that bad.

[boogers]

Originally posted by wizzbane15
Where did you get your setup from? was it new or used?

Copper can be a very lethal killer and it can hitchhike on a lot of different things including tanks, silicone, plasic pieces, rock, ect...

Everything I've gotten has been brand new. I haven't added anything new in a few months. But I have been having this problem for a while. So I dont know.

[zotzer]

Tell us about your acclimation process....
Tracy

[Menez]

could it be that what you bought was not in as good as condition as you thought??

[jamiep]

DO you have any inverts in you tank? Where does your top of water come from? Is it stored in a copper tank? What all have you tried to add to your tank?

[fishox]

Tangs and clown fish can be pretty aggressive. Have you observed any aggression?

[bertoni]

The shrimp isn't going to clean the sand, in any case, but it might have died due to acclimation issues or general stress. It also might be hiding, I guess.

The cyanobacteria is more likely to respond to nutrient control methods, like better skimming, growing and harvesting a macroalga, or less feeding.

[boogers]

Originally posted by zotzer
Tell us about your acclimation process....
Tracy

I put the fish still in the bag in the top of the tank sitting in the water. I leave it there for 20-30 minutes or so then open the bag and let the fish swim out on his/her own.
Sandra

[amazd]

Acclimation must include dripping a small amount of water into the bag over a period of 30-60 minutes depending on the hardiness of the species. By the end of the process you should have nearly doubled the amount of water in the bag (spill some water out in the beginning of the process if necessary). And don't pour the water back into the tank.

[boogers]

Originally posted by fishox
Tangs and clown fish can be pretty aggressive. Have you observed any aggression?

I have been watching the fish to see if one of them was attacking the others but haven't seen any kind of aggression. They just kinda swim around and at night the Tang hides between the rocks and the glass. And the Clowns stay right next to each other.
Sandra

[Dano999]

IMO that's not a correct acclimation procedure. You are only equalizing the temperature and doing nothing for PH and salinity.

You need to either drip or pour small amounts of tank water into the bag over the period of at least an hour (longer for inverts). After you have doubled the bag amount remove half the water and do it again.

If you are buying the fish online the salinity in the bag is most likely low as this helps reduce the stress. I have also seen some LFS keep the salinity low for the same reason.

Also never put the bag water into the tank.

amazd beat me to it.

[fancyfish]

you may have inadvertently allowed copper to enter your tank. give the acclimation process sounds as though some water from the LFS mixes with your water. I would get a heavy metal sponge and use as directed. Then do a water change after removing this.
As for the cyano increase flow, cut back on nutrients, increase skimming

[boogers]

Originally posted by fancyfish
you may have inadvertently allowed copper to enter your tank. give the acclimation process sounds as though some water from the LFS mixes with your water. I would get a heavy metal sponge and use as directed. Then do a water change after removing this.
As for the cyano increase flow, cut back on nutrients, increase skimming

How do I increase skimming? And cut back on nutrients?

[hmello@bermexin]

Cyano lives off the nutrients it is growing on top of. The procedure to get rid of it that worked for me is:

1. Siphon it out. It comes up like a blanket.

2. After you siphon stir the area that it was on, if on the rocks use a turkey baster to blow the rocks. This will get the nutrients into the water column to be removed by water change, skimmer, filter.

3. Do a 10% water change, do this once per week every week.

4. Evaluate your flow, there should be water moving over the affected area. If there isn't it is in effect a detritus dump causing the nutrients.

5. Evaluate your feeding, you may be feeding too much.

Again this worked for me. If you try it I hope it works for you.

[fancyfish]

increase your skimming by changing the consistency of your skimmate. make it thin and wet. cut back on your feeding and this will help with nutrients.

[zotzer]

Most LFS keep their water at lower salinity than we keep our reef tanks. Although fish can adjust to lower levels of salinity rather quickly, they can't do the same when dumped into a tank with higher salinity. It kills them, slowly.

Sounds to me like this is your primary issue...since all current inhabitants seem to be fine and the new ones die.

Pour 1/4 cup of tank water into the bag every 15 minutes or so. When the volume of water in the bag has doubled, pour out half and repeat the process again...1/4 cup every 15 minutes. Then you can let the fish into your tank.

I think this will most likely solve your problem.

Tracy

[hmello@bermexin]

Remember do not put the water from the bag into your tank though. strain the critters into a net in your sink, or a container by the tank, then put the critters in the tank and throw the water away.

[bertoni]

Cyanobacteria can pull nutrients from the water column, not just the substrate. Since the tank is new, the bloom is fairly normal, and I wouldn't worry much about it yet.

[hmello@bermexin]

Thank you Johnathan, I had not realized that it could pull from the water column also.
So cyano being in one place on the substrate or rock work is just happenstance or are there also nutrients in that particular area that cause it to be in that particular place?
Also just so I am answering correctly these kinds of questions, is it also true that there is a better chance of the nutrients being picked from the water column by filtration means if they are indeed stirred up a bit?

[bertoni]

Cyano on rocks might be due to flow conditions, etc, or possibly due to phosphate being leached from the rocks. I wouldn't stir up a substrate since that will grind any organisms in the substrate and thus possibly release nutrients into the water column.

[Zestay]

heres a great flash on how to acclimate fish

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/acclimation.php

[tunaluver]

dumping water from the bag could introduce copper into your system