all of my fish are dead or dying PLEASE HELP!

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by Wrasse Fan, Apr 2, 2010.

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  1. Wrasse Fan

    Wrasse Fan Spaghetti Worm

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    So i got ready to set up my new aquarium last night, i have 55 gallons of RO water made from my new RO system. I filled the tank, added salt and a heater, brought the salinaty up to 1.025. I then added sand and live rock from my old system. After all of that was added i let the tank sit for a hour and let everything run. After that i ran a full panel water test that showed the following.

    Ammonia: 0
    Nitrate: 0
    Nitrite: 0
    PH: 8.4
    Phosphate: 0
    Copper: 0
    Calcium: 440 mg/L
    KH: 196.6 ppm

    So after seeing good results i took everything from my old system, my 5 fish, 7 hermits, 1 urcin, 5 snails and 2 coral frags and drip acclimated them to the new system for alittle over 2 hrs. I added them in after the 2 hrs and within a few mins my coral beauty is laying on its side on the bottom. The coral beauty dies a few mins after that and the leopard wrasses were hidden so i couldnt see them but my maroon clown and watchman goby were swimming around fine. I woke up this morning to find one leopard wrasse and the maroon clown dead and the last leopard and the yellow watchman are still not accounted for but im assuming there dead.

    what do i do? ALL of the inverts are fine not a single one isent moving around and the coral frags have opened up nicely this morning they seem to be fine.

    What could have caused all the fish to die?
     
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  3. Ultraner

    Ultraner Purple Spiny Lobster

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    What was the temperature of the tank when you added the fish? Did you use any of the water from your old tank in the new?
     
  4. OnefishTwofish

    OnefishTwofish Feather Star

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    oh no.....im terribly sorry to hear about this. I am going to follow along because I will be moving my existing stuff into a new tank not too long from now and this is exactly my worst fear.

    I hope you can figure out what happened so that you get some kind of closure and know what to watch for as you restock.

    Again, sorry about this.

    :(

    elizabeth
     
  5. Wrasse Fan

    Wrasse Fan Spaghetti Worm

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    new tank was 78 degrees when i added fish same temp. as the system the fish came from. These are not new fish either ive had them all for over a year and all of them went through my last upgrade with no problem. No i did not use water from my old system because i just got my first RO maker and i didnt want any tap water from the old system in the new system.
     
  6. Barbarossa

    Barbarossa Sea Dragon

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    Have you tested your water again this morning?
     
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  7. Wrasse Fan

    Wrasse Fan Spaghetti Worm

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    yes i did ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH when i saw the dead fish the results were the same as last night 0, 0, 0, 8.4. Salinity is still 1.025 which is what i kept my old system at i made sure they were the same. I just dont get it all of my inverts are fine moving around like nothing happened.
     
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  9. TritonsGarden

    TritonsGarden 3reef Sponsor

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    When you added sand from your old system, how much did you add?
    Did you rinse it before adding it? The anaerobic zone in a sand bed
    can be toxic if distrubed.

    Jack
     
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  10. Wrasse Fan

    Wrasse Fan Spaghetti Worm

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    added 40 pounds of new sand and only added a few cups of my old sand sorry forget to mention that but if that was the case that toxin would effect fish and not inverts?
     
  11. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    2 possibilities in my mind

    1 = stray voltage as that affects fish 1st - the new tank possibly means new equipment and one of the electrical items could be leaking electricity

    2 - pure speculation on my part as Im not sure what the oxygen level is in RODI water? (never tested it)
    is it possible that the newly mixed water was oxygen deficient and mixing it one hour before adding fish meant there was not enough time for the oxygen level in the water to increase Via exchange at water surface

    Steve
     
  12. Wrasse Fan

    Wrasse Fan Spaghetti Worm

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    Well the heater, powerhead and return pump are all from my old system so i trust its not those. I bought a new skimmer but didnt install it since i didnt get done with everything until really late last night i was gonna set up the skimmer today. The light fixture is new. How would i test for stray voltage? volt meter?

    As far as the oxygen levels your guess is as good as mine. It was more like 3 and a half hours after i added water before the fish went in if you count the time they spent acclimating. Theres good flow at the surface of the tank and it is an open top.

    I still havent seen the bodies of the goby or second wrasse so it might not be a total lose although i've already told myself their dead just so i dont get my hopes up.

    I know its not the end of the world and i will restock but at this point i just wanta make sure inverts dont start dropping like flies.