Dead Fish!!

[tenwhiteduke]

OK. Last week I lost a GSM Clown, and now this morning I lost a Flame Angel. The flame was just fine last night, swimming around and eating normally. Color was fine too. Unitil this morning. Laying on the floor, body all white in color.

LFS says "New Tank Blues" There has to be another reason.

Recent changes prior to the GSM dieing. I added my first Zoas
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1507353f.jpg

added a large GSM a week after that.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1507353g.jpg

added 7 tiny mushrooms that are in the cup to the right of the GSM in the picture.

I also did a 2 gal water change last night with sw, levels are at 1.022. Fed them and put a half cap of Purple up in the tank.

I didnt get to check the water this morning, had to get to work. Will do so tonight.
OH YEAH, this morning I also noticed that my frogspawn were opened up so where you could see there mouths, like a BTA. I never saw them like that before. Usually they are closed up a little for the night, and blooming during the day. WHats going on. I will get my water parameters tonight.

[Village Idiot]

How long has the tank been running? Need to know ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.

[tenwhiteduke]

Jan 07, I am at work and didnt have time to check the parameters this morning, will do so tonight and get back to RC.
I have been dealing with this though for awhile. My perameters were fine before, and all my fish have died in this tank so far. The only one thats left is a GSM i bought a week ago.

2 GSM clowns, 1 Cleanershrimp, 1 Flame Angel, and 1 Royal Gramma all dead. Dead Dead Dead. I have gone through perameters time and time again, and all has been normal. Something else is killing my fish. ??????????????????

[Village Idiot]

Maybe something is getting in your water. You said you did a water change right before the recent die-off -- is your bucket being used by someone else to, say, wash their car or clean windows? Is window cleaner being sprayed around the tank? Soap residue on your hands might do it. It does not take much to foul a small tank.

[Azial]

Anther hidden danger are buckets that you buy at Walmart etc. Some are not food safe. They can have chemicals used in the manufacture that will leach into the water. Check that and your source water.

[tenwhiteduke]

ok my water jugs were bought specifically for water changes, and have been using them since Jan. These are the 5Gal water jugs for drinking that have a top on them.

I came home and tested the perameters and yes something has changed the balance in the water. What?? I dont know.

Ammon was at .2
and nitrates were at 10

Why? Would Purple Up make these go up? Is that enough to kill my fish though? I found another dead Cleaner shrimp today. Now Im down to one GSM, one Cleaner shrimp and a dozen hermits 2 turbos, and 5 nassarus snails.

So I decided to clean out the tank. I removed all the LR, vaccuumed the LS placed eveything back in and added back the SW from the LFS to replace what was taken out, maybe 4 gallons. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So if i wash my hands with soap, and have residue on them, that can hurt my tank too. I dont think this happened..

Another thing I did notice. In the rear sump area its split in two. The right side for the filters, and the left for the pump. On the pump side, you can see some kind of shinny film on the top of the water. What is that stuff??? I used a turkey baster to suck that stuff out. No I dont have a skimmer yet, but I will before I buy anymore Live Stock.

[Crimthann]

Sorry for your losses. Best thing you can do right now is stop adding fish and stuff to your tank for now. Don't add any more supplements (or buy any more :) all you should have to add is calcium and KH.

Also what are you using to test your salinity? You said that it's at 1.022 when it should be at 1.026. This is kinda a big difference and could be the cause of your deaths. Could also explain why they died when you changed the water. I would do some water changes to correct this (don't add the salt into the tank directly, make sure you mix it in a separate container until it's fully dissolved).

I would also test your Ammonia, Nitrate, & Nitrite and not add anything to the tank until they all read 0. If anything bring some water into a LFS and see if you can get them to test it for you. This way they can check your salinity for you off of a refractometer.

Your tank is still very new and needs time to mature. The BTA is not a good thing to have in your tank this early. The mouths open on the BTA and frogspawn is because they're stressed out and not doing hot. Hopefully this will go away once you get the salinity in check.

Lastly i wouldn't take anything out to clean out the tank ever. That's not something you need to do ever and it's bad to stir up your live sand like that. You should only be using an algae scraper to rub the glass to clean it. Always try not to put your hands in the tank, (although i'm guilty of it on occasion, if I'm doing a lot I'll put my rubber tank gloves on that go up to my shoulders)

That's about all I got, good luck on getting everything fixed. :)

[Crimthann]

Also here's a link that helped me out when i started.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php