Can't keep new fish alive - What am I doing wrong???

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out why I have such poor success keeping new fish alive. My knowledge level is decent, but there's plenty I don't know and I'm always trying to learn more. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong!


I have a 125gal FOWLR tank that's been running for about 5 years (only 4 med/small fish the last 2 years so not much bio load). For water changes I use water from my 5 stage RO/DI filter and mix with Instant ocean salt for about a day before using. The LFS says my water is good, and I follow slow acclimation process of replacing a small amount of LFS bag water with water from my tank over the course of 1-1.5hrs.


This last time around I used an 20gal isolation tank (with a big skimmer, live rock, & 50% from my established tank) and still couldn't keep a few fish alive. I had two butterflys (Auriga & Copperband) and two dwarf angels (pygmy & Tibicen). Only the pygmy is still alive. They all ate well except the copperband. The copperband got some disease where he had cotton like growths on him, and the Auriga got open wounds on his body a week later (pics below). I treated the 20gal tank with API Furan-2 with no luck (fish died before full treatment could be applied). The pygmy is alive and well. I have a wide variety of food that i try to coat with Seachem Garlic Guard to get the fish to eat. I usually give them a mix of plankton, bloodworms, mysis, krill, brine, fish eggs then the usual flakes and pellet.

Should I just always use copper in my isolation tank just to kill off any diseases with new fish? My LFS said if I really wanted to I could put copper in my 125g tank but that everything but the fish would die. I'm not sure I want that route just yet (seems like a last resort).

My equipment:
Tons of live rock & crushed coral
Big Sump with bioballs & more live rock in sump
Big Protein Skimmer
UV Sterilizer
3 Hydor Koralia 1 Powerheads
72" Coralive CF Lighting with 12k bulbs
RedSea Merlin 120 Fluidized bio chem filter (got this from a friend recently and haven't used it yet. Not exactly sure what it does)

 

First of all, quality from an LFS is the number one thing to consider. There are 3 places that I shop at. One of them I know that I will not get fish from because they will not survive. so you might have to try others sources. Maybe online also. However Auriga and copper are very hard to keep. I tried 8 of the Auriga and none of them last longer than a month.

 

NOt so sure about the bio's, the rest look good.

Try some hardier fish first. Quarantine them. You can even use copper and Prizi Pro together in the QT.

When getting fish, one must beware. Many LFS use copper for thier DT fish anyways.
There should be a date the lfs got the fish. Fish 3-4 weeks are better thatn a few days usually. If they eat in the QT and look good for at least 3 weeks, you should be go to go.

Do you have any test kits? You mentioned your lfs told you about your water.

When acclimating, I put my DT water into the bag, and when it's time to transfer, dump the fish in my net keeping the water out of my DT, then put the fish in the DT. This way, there is less potential for any Diseases for the lfs water to get in my QT, or DT.
Should always be a QT first. If even for only a few weeks, usually 30 days is recommended.

Good luck.

 

im assuming those fish have the disease from the lfs, and it takes over when they are stressed. i say buy online from live aquaria or a different lfs. i have never shopped from live aquaria but the videos on all there equipment looks amazing.

 

My first guess would be you have parasites in your tank that your existing fish are able to fight off, but newer fish, being stressed from the move, cannot.

 

At this point i'd stop buying fish from that LFS!
Also, i'd drop your acclimation time down to 1/2 hour or so!

That being said, with the amount of money you've torn through, I'd pull the remaining fish from the DT, and put them in the QT(how many are there?) and treat them all. Then I'd leave them in the QT for 8 weeks and leave the DT fallow. I'd also start reading up on the many diseases and isolate what your fish are getting. So you know what to prep for.

After that I'd consider another LFS or def Liveaqauria.
LiveAquaria.com Diver's Den® Quarantine Procedure for Fish

Good luck

 

People here are hitting on the right marks. First of all, you need your own test kits and equipment. Many an LFS will tell you your water is fine when its far from it. Hey you keep coming in and buying fish right? Second, the list of fish you provided are all intermediate to expert fish, so they are fairly delicate to start with. And as others have said, it might be time to just visit a new LFS. That seems Luke a logical choice, since you made it sound like all the fish are dying from different diseases and ailments.

 

Just to make things clear, Live Aquaria's Diver's Den is NOT even REMOTELY the same as buying from other pages on Live Aquaria. Diver's Den fish are Quarantined, medicated, and fed by their employees. Any other fish on the Live Aquaria web page are trans-shipped. They arrive in LAX, are dumped out of their bags, thrown into a new bag with water and re-oxed, and they are immediately thrown back into a shipping box to wherever you live. In fact, not a single Live Aquaria employee has even seen that fish. This is done by the jobbers.

If you are doing drip acclimation for that long, make sure you put a drop or two of Prime or Amquel into the acclimation bucket. If they go to the bathroom at the store, the Ammonia from their waste is dissipated instantly. If they go to the bathroom in 24 ounces of water, this can become toxic very quickly.

Your butterfly has Vibrio. There's no way to treat that with the exception of antibiotics in a QT tank. Copper wouldn't have done diddly-squat to it.

 

I'm sure what I'm about to say will offend you but here goes it anyways. I'm looking at your power heads and they are very dirty. Not sure if its my eyes or the picture but everything looks covered in cynobacteria. Aside from the rock what else do have in there? What is that in the middle of your tank? I'm. Just wondering if something in there may be toxic to your fish. It doesn't look to clean in there. :/
Way to much rock in your QT and def to small for that Butterfly. Have you ever cleaned your bio-balls?

 

This.

Live Aquaria fish are not in great shape - from what I've experienced. Diver's Den fish, yes. Those fish are fantastic and eating well.

I think you're acclimating for too long. Like pointed out above, that small amount of water they are in can become toxic really fast. If the fish has only come from a LFS, they really don't need much acclimation time.

You also are trying fish that are harder to keep and more fragile. You can get hardier fish, that might help. And try a different source for the fish.