Urgent Extremely cloudy tank, fish dying.

(update)
I have been changing water more frequently and have a carbon filter running with two cartridges in it. The water is now much more clear, though not all the way yet. I'm feeling better about the water condition now.

BUT...now I have another concern. I just lost another green chromis the other day, I was kind of expecting it because he wasn't eating. However when I tried to scoop it up to remove it from the tank, I flipped it over and there were two large open sores on it's side. Now the third is acting shy, won't eat, and is breathing heavy like the last one did before it died. And the last chromis is acting just fine right now but I'm starting to notice the start of a sore on its side. The other fish I have is a blue damsel and it's a trooper. He's happy as could be.

Checked the conditions and all is good. pH 8.4, ammonia 0, nitrate/trite 0, and salinity is 1.025.

 

I'm not saying its the damsel, but it might be the damsel. What kind is it?

 

How long have you had the fish? It seems like you are doing all the right things and the fish may just be freaking out from the chaos of the whole thing. If the fish are fairly new they may have still needed some adjustment and this may have stressed them some more. Keep up the carbon and the water changes. I noticed you are from I.F. also are you using tap water or R.O.? Our tap water has a ton of nitrate in it.

 

@reefbruh - I guess I don't know what you mean. What would be wrong with the damsel? I have an electric blue damsel:


@djbonney138 - bought the 2 damsels about 2-1/2 weeks ago, the 3 chromis about a week and a half. They were doing fine for the first 3 or 4 days, then I started having the cloudy water problem, then the fish started dying and acting funny. I am using an ro/di filter. Do I need to disconnect the di and just put ro in the tank? I wouldn't think that would be an issue but I'm new to this...

 

Just checked the tank this morning and the chromis that wasn't being normal is dead.... Down to 1 chromis and 1 damsel...

 

Some damsels like dominoes and striped ones are overly aggressive and might be knocking off your chromis. The damsel you have now is cool. I haven't heard anything bad about them.

 

Chromis will also beat/kill each other sometimes until there is just one left. Keep going with the RO/DI water changes and the carbon. It might take a a little while to get things back to normal. Also, losing fish during an issue like this can be pretty common. Sorry about your loss, but hang in there and k+ for asking for help and taking advice.

 

Point made. I forgot chromis are in the damsel family too.

The opinion made above is that of ReefBruh and ReefBruh alone and doesn't in anyway reflect towards 3reef and 3reef members.:-X:-X:-X

 

to me it sounds like some sort of bacteria in the water. since you mentioned the spot on the side. i would get a uv sterilizer. i dont run one all the time but feel they are a good thing when signs of trouble pop up. i also think they are good when starting a new tank and new fish are being added. i know there are debates about uv sterilizers in reef tanks since they kill bacteria. good and bad. but im going by how it worked with my first reef tank and how i had little troubles in the beginning after adding the uv sterilizer . after the tank was running a while and i had a good amount of fish i turned it off, and didnt need it again. so i will be using one on the new tank i just set up. waiting for it to arrive.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and wait to see if these last 2 fish make it. The tank is looking much better though, so thanks for the input.