Am i missing something?

Im having trouble with my fish. They only last about a week, the first week they do great eating, very active, then one morning...poof

Water tests come out good

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate just over 0
PH around 8.4
Alk shows in the normal zone of the test (dont remember the numbers as they are at home...)
Sal 1.024
Coppers 0
Phosphates 0

I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks.

I have a 115gal tank with sump/fuge skimmer

I acclimate my new fish by Dripping them for about 2 and a half Hours. And keep the lights off for a few hours after i introduce them into the tank. Then i turn on one T5 at a time about 30min apart.(only have 2 T5's)

Currently in the tank i have a Porcupine Puffer, Foxface, and a LMB. that are all doing very well, and have been for a few months now.

So is there something im missing? Im just getting frustrated that i keep loosing new fish and not sure why....everything seems to be fine.

Any Ideas?

Thanks,

Billy

 

That's a tough one. What type of fish are you adding? A Puffer will actively hunt smaller fish this stress could have caused some fish deaths. But that's a stretch.

I think its possible you are acclimating for too long. this could stress the fish out due to lack of O2 in the bag.

J

 

^ Ditto with Jason. 2.5hrs is too long to acclimate anything, even shrimp.

Next time, try an hour or so for any fish. And after that leave the lights (day) off for the rest of the night. They should resume as usual in the morning.

 

Powder blue tang was my last loss, all the fish i've tried were bigger than the puffer. he's still a baby. the flame angel was about the same size as he is though. same with the Niger Trigger.

The acclimation process i follow'd directly from the instructions on the site where i got the fish from. 1hour of slow drip, then speed the drip up for another hour. then a good stream of water for the last 30 min. Seems like the new water would be supplying new oxygen. maybe just not enough though. hrm.

If you know of a better way to do the acclimation im all ears. =) i'll try anything...

Thanks for the response!

 

Have to agree, looks like a textbook system and care.

You have a very off the wall problem.

Only thoughts that come to me are:

Underfeeding? :-/

Old/bad/incorrect food? :-/


Problem with source? (LFS) :-/

Grounding Problem? :-/

Insufficient O2? (add airstone to sump)

Good luck!

(Make sure to let us know how this all turns out, thx)

 

Well if anything i over feed. i feed Mysis/brine/krill daily. puffer also gets some peas and carrots, algea clip every few days for the foxface. I dose Garlic and Selcon in the foods.

Dallas North Aquarium is my LFS, but i've lost both fish from them, and from an order i placed online from a different source.

Havent been shocked yet...

as far as O2. i think its ok. i have a Euroreef skimmer in the sump. seems like it gets a good bit of oxygen into the water. open top with Powerheads pointed to the surface water. I'll pick up a test kit for this tonight though just to be sure....

Seeing as how its only the new fish that im losing, and the one's i've had in there for a while are doing great. im leaning twards the acclimation time being the problem. I did exacaly as they said on the site, but that does not mean they were right....but...next fish i will try the hour drip, and see how it goes.

Thanks,

Billy

 

Think about trying different test kits and make sure you are doing according to instructions...:-/

 

Powder blues are tough fish to keep by even the most experienced hobbiests. They definitely need a lot of oxygen so if you don't already, I would add an airstone to the sump if and when you decide to add another one (or any tang for that matter). Also, it's quite possible that your lfs is purchasing fish from a supplier that catches fish using cyanide so if you're comfortable doing it, ask them the next time you shop there.