cant sustain fish

I have a fairly new tank 3 months.... i cant seem to sustain fish...corals are ok ....but even hearty clowns seem to die off...the seem to hang around the top of the tank near the equipment... ie protein skimmer filter....powerhead...

any suggestions or thoughts......

 

How are you acclimating the fish, what are your water parameters (specific gravity, ph, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?

Ginny

 

the parameter are all good which is what makes this so unnerving...I acclimate by setting the fish (in Bag) in the tank for 15 min...then add some of my tank water...let sit another 10-15 mins...then remove fish from bag and release into tank....

 

My first thought when reading your problem is that perhaps the biological filtration may not be adequate. Do you have any live rock/live sand in your tank? How did you cycle the tank? And when you added your fish, did the ammonia spike?

 

Try adding 1 fish at the time, then waiting two weeks in between fish. Also, when you acclimate, add 1 cup of water every 5 minutes until you double the amount of water in the bag which should take about 45 minutes.

 

If you have corals I will assume your SG is at 1.024 or close to that. THe stores keep there fish in water at 1.022 you need to drip acclimate your fish
Danny

 

Its a 70 gal tank with 45 lbs of live rock....approx 60 lbs of sand...and a marineland emperor 400 filter...and I did have an ammonia spike..but it was after a fish died and i didnt find it for 3 days.....

 

thanks for the ideas...at this point i'm willing to try anything...

 

Drip Acclimate?

 

I guess my suggestion would be to start with a damsel (a bit cliche, I know). The logic being, if a damsel can't survive in your tank, nothing can. But the damsel will also help your tank cycle to the next level, to allow you to slowly add other fish later on. I also completely agree that the fish need to be acclimated more slowly.