death of 2 fish

I have a 20 gallon reef aquarium and I am very new to this hobby. I have 1 clown, 2 gobys and lost 2 fish today. I bought a six line wrasse and placed him in the tank at noon. I returned home in the evening and he was dead along with my blue devil damsel fish. I am very confused as to what happened. I have checked all the water parameters and all seems to be well. I also added 2 corals today, and they seem fine.

 

Sorry about your loss! Something isn't right in there! Tell us about your tank, cycled when and for how long, lights, filters, skimmer(?), feeding, rock, sand, ro/di(?)everything....

You sound over stocked already with fish, IMO. And all the bad that goes along with it..

 

I have had my tank for about 3 months. I started with about 15 lbs. of live rock. I added a couple of snails, 3 hermit crabs and a few other clean-up crew after about a month. Then about 2 weeks later I added some corals and a mated pair of goby (Bubble coral, mushroom coral) which all look great. I waited a couple more weeks and added clown fish and blue devil damsel. Everything was looking very healthy and I waited another 2 weeks and today added six line wrasse and hammer coral and open brain. This evening I found the six line and blue devil dead. I just purchased an aqualight system today that the fish store recommeded and am using the filter system they recommeded as well. I usually feed frozen shrimp once a day. I have been doing 5 gallon water changes once a month with tap water. I do not have a skimmer.

 

do you test for anything and if so, what are your parameters(results)?? Five gallon once a month? A 26 gallon with that much livestock. My guess is your ammoina is high, probably nitrites too(did I get that one right?) what kind of salt/water do you use for water chages? Is your rock brown or green?

 

Also, did you cycle it with a damsel or anything, a piece of shrimp? or just rock?

 

Did you acclimate the fish??

 

I only cycled my tank with live rock. Currently my nitrate is 0, nitrite 0, alkalinity 240, ph 8.0, ammonia 0.25. My live rock is both brown and green.

 

i may have rushed the six line but if that is the cause why did the blue devil die as well?

 

your cycle may not have been complete, some say it never completes. It keeps changing, but I'm talking aobut the first 3 or 4 ladders you climb... It may...anyone else wanna chime in???

I would do a 15-20% water change now and then in two weeks do another, then everyother week do a 5-10 gallon. This will help get rid of the ammonia and slow down the cycle a little but it will eventually happen... IMO, when you put in fish b4 your cycle period is over(the 1st steps) then you have to cycle the tank very slowly, if it ever does at all.

On your rock you have algae and diatoms, IMO. Increase your cleaner crew and do the water changes and remember GO SLOW!!!

pH is a little low too. that should change with water changes.

Do you feed any flake food? How much frozen shrimp do you feed them?? measured in teaspoons?

 

To 3Reef!!!​

Sorry to see you joining us with such bad news. That ammonia is a sure sign of trouble. When things go wrong in a smaller tank, things go wrong very fast.

How about SG? or another thing to think about is amount of O2 in tank?

Am assuming no protein skimmer or sump?

Acclimation is very, very important, esp when introducing fish to a new tank with unstable water params.

You may need to do daily water changes with that much of a bio-load.

Lots of things to think about...best recommendation is don't add any more fish. Increase water change amount and frequency. Test params daily for a while until your tank gets broken in.

Good Luck.

The Tao of Marine Aquaria
Tips for Our Hobby and Life

© 1997 Adam H. Whitlock
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 11/25/00

​

​