# Having Problems.... Fish Dieing



## Aquasteve (Jun 17, 2012)

Sorry in advance for the long winded email.... But here it goes... starting with the equipment

--*-Equipment---*

Tank - 46 Gallon acrylic Bowfront
Sump - Custom 30 gallon glass sump
Lighting - Coralife Lunar Aqualight High output T5 Quad Lamp (36")
Overflow - CPR CS90 Siphen Overflow (600 gallons per hour) [I also have the Tom aquarium aqua lifter pump to make sure it stays primed)
Circulation Pumps - 2 x Koralia Hydor 550's (1100 gallons per hour flow)
Return Pump - 500 gallons per hour returning from sump to tank (its a 750 gallon per hour but after the 4 foot gain and turning the pump power down a bit its pumping 500 to the top)
Protein Skimmer - 65 Gallon Coralife protein skimmer

*---History---*

Ok this is kinda the order with dates on how everything went together.

June 3rd, 2012 --- tank finished setting up added saltwater, had trouble getting the specific gravity right... took a few re tries adding and removing waterto balance it out
June 10th, 2012 --- added 40 pounds of live sand. This went horribly and basically had cloudy water for 2 weeks. just kept water cycling while it settled
June 27th, 2012 --- Added 72 pounds of live rock (the rock was already cured but still had some stuff die off on it)

*---Started water tests to check cycle---*

June 27th, 2012 --- Started water tests and wished I started earlier as most of the brown algae died off already by this point so i didnt get much of a spike

July 1st, 2012 --- Tested again
PH - 8.2 to 8.4, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10 ppm

July 3rd, 2012 --- Tested again
PH - 8.2 to 8.4, Amonia 0 - 0,25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10 ppm

July 7th, 2012 --- tested again
Ph - 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0 to 0.25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.5 ppm

*---Added to tank---*

*The Cleanup Crew*
-35 blue legged hermits
-10 Scarlet Hermits
-15 Astral Snails
-15 Cerith Snails
-Banded Shrimp
-Sand Shifting Goby

July 15th, 2012 --- tested again 
PH - 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0 to 0.25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm

July 26th, 2012 --- tested again
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0 to 0.25, Nirtrite 0, Nitrate 0

*July 27th, 2012 --- Added to Tank*

- 2 Clown Fish
- 1 Torch Coral
- 1 Royal Dottyback
-

July 30th, 2012 --- Tested water
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0 to 0.25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 to 5 ppm

August 10th, 2012 --- tested Water
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0

*August 10th, 2012 ---- Added to Tank*

- 2 xenia colony
- 2 leathers 
- mushroom
- 20 pounds of base rock added to sump

August 20th, 2012 --- Tested Water
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 to 5 ppm

*Added to tank*

- Frogspawn
- Martensii Butteryfly
- *Added Delicate sea Anemone *.... This was a mistake and i should have likely waited longer.... This anemone ended up dieing about 2 weeks later it seemed to be happy was fully opened a lot during the day.. However one day I looked in the tank and it was all closed up and didnt really open during the day at all and the next day it was dead.
................ This is when i started to have problems.

August 23rd, 2012 --- tested water
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0 to 0.25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm

September 6th, 2012 --- Anemone died --- took it out of tank

September 6th, 2012 --- tested water
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm

September 8th, 2012 --- Water Test
PH 7.8 to 8.0, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0

September 10th, 2012 --- Martensii Butterfly died (just before he died about an hour before he was going to the top of the water like a freshwater fish feeds) He ate extremely well the entire time I had him and loved seaweed...

September 10th, 2012 --- Water Test
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm

September 12th, 2012 --- Royal Dottyback died

September 12th, 2012 --- Water test --- baught a reef test kit as well as I was concerned something else might be wrong... Began adding calcium, KH, and Phosphate tests to my testing
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Calcium 160, KH 125.3(7), Phosphate 0 - 0.25

September 19th, 2012 --- Water test 
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 to 5 ppm, Calcium 180, KH 125.3(7), Phosphate 0 - 0.25

September 29th, 2012 - Water Test
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 to 5 ppm, Calcium 180, KH 125.3(7), Phosphate 0 - 0.25

*October 1st, 2012 --- Added to Tank*

- Bicolor Blenny

October 4th, 2012 --- Water Test
PH 8.0 to 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm, Calcium 200, KH 125.3(7), Phosphate 0 - 0.25

October 5th, 2012 ... this morning
Bicolor Blenny died...

My water seems to be good but for some reason some fish are dieing and I have no idea... I have been keeping a log of everything that has been happening including all tests on this tank so that if something like this happened maybe someone would be able to figure out why its happening....

Here is my basic maintenance routine...

*Water changes* --- I do a 5 gallon water change every 3 days... The water gets mixed in a 5 gallon bucket and sealed with the lid. I keep the water in the bucket for 3 days to age and in the basement. every 3 days i remove 5 gallons of water from the tank and put the new 5 gallons in, mix 5 gallons back into the bucket and put it back in the basement to age for the next change.

*Lighting* --- The lights on the display portion are on 6 hours a day and the moonlight is on the other 18 hours. 
--- The light in the sump is on 24/7

*Cleaning * - every second day i clean ALL the filters, the overflow box filter, the protein skimmer, and the two mechanical filters in the sump. I also clean the algae on the glass every day.

*Feeding* - the fish - eat twice a day a mixture of Mysis shrimp, Cyclop-eeze, krill, Plankton, Blood worms, brine, and flakes
- The corals - Basically the same as above but i only target feed them once every 3 days.

The Corals are doing incredable. The are growing extremely fast and look beautiful. The xenia's are always open (24/7) the leathers are open when the lights are on and one closes and the other shrinks when the light goes off. The torch coral and frogspawn are the same, both are starting to take over huge parts of the tank though so im going to have to do something about them...

The Banded shrimp, Sand sifting goby, and 2 clownfish couldnt been happier, extremely good eaters and they look great extremely colorful (even the goby is colorful somehow his orange spots are super bright) The only thing with the clownfish is they only want to be with the right Circulation pump. they stay very close to it...

Anyhow i know thats a ton of information and most people probably wont read through it all, just really hoping for some help here I dont want any more fish to die and i want to find out what im doing wrong.

Thanks very much for reading.


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## Aquasteve (Jun 17, 2012)

Figured I would add a picture of the tank itself and the sump. Not terribly good pictures, but it at least shows what is there;


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Hope you get some help with this soon. Just wanted to compliment you on having the most thorough post looking for help, that I think I have ever seen here. Anyway , I'm sure you will get some help soon as it is the weekend finally and more members will be around. Best of luck!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I wouldn't add any new fish for at least a couple of months. Let the system mature and sort itself out. The blenny could have been unhappy or cyanide caught so it could have been something other than your tank. However, when anemones die, they may release all sorts of chemicals/biologicals that we don't test for. Anemones should be late on the list of things to add to a new tank, and if its a sensitive species, should be avoided until you have more experience and the tank is already mature (6 months minimum usually is the rule of thumb). Butterfly fish are very touchy to keep at the best of times. Adding one to a new tank is not a good idea. Did you research about its diet & requirements? They are also not really reefsafe. Some will nip at corals. Some at clams. Some at anemones. That's why you see few butterflyfish kept in full-blown reeftanks.

BTW, agree with John. Best, most informative post I've seen explaining a situation when asking for a question that I've read.

So, I would not add any new fish for a while and see how things go. It sounds like your clowns have adapted to whatever is in the water (but they naturally live with anemones). The next fish I would put in should be one from someone else's tank, one that is adapted to captive conditions. That way it will have the best chance and you can have a better idea if its the fish you're buying or something is still wrong with the tank.


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## Aquasteve (Jun 17, 2012)

Thanks very much for the responses guys.

Thanks for the info Seahorse. I did read a lot into butterflys prior to buying it and did read that they can or cannot be reef safe and everything i read basically said yes and no. All seemed to be down to the fish itself so I guess i was taking a bit of a risk with purchasing one. As it turned out he didnt nip at any of the corals, but did end up dieing.... I definately regret getting the anemone, it was a poor decision that I made out of inexperience even though i did read tanks should be 3 to 4 months old prior I guess I jumped the gun at 3 months because tank seemed good with all the tests and the requirements were for a 50 gallon tank. Definately a poor decision that wont be repeated.

I think I will take your advise and just wait until after christmas for adding any new fish... I may continue with the corals as they are seem to do extremely well within a few days of placing them into that tank. Waiting will be good anyhow as it will give me more time to read more info and maybe re-do the aqua scaping as its probably not the most effective setup for 72 lbs of live rock... I was mostly making caves for the fish to hide in.

Thanks very much for reading and for the advise.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

If your other corals are already doing fine, then you're good to go for adding to your collection.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

if the water you (age) is siting still no curent no bubles it will become stail i had this hapen


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

Aquasteve said:


> I think I will take your advise and just wait until after christmas for adding any new fish...


Boxing day sales


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## Aquasteve (Jun 17, 2012)

scott tang said:


> if the water you (age) is siting still no curent no bubles it will become stail i had this hapen


Really ? I didnt know that maybe that is my problem ? should i add a small circulation pump to my bucket ? wouldnt be to hard to modify... drill a hole in the top and use the aquarium silicone to seal around the cord.


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## Aquasteve (Jun 17, 2012)

Pamela said:


> Boxing day sales


here is to hoping ! lol


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