Need help found all my fish dead!!!!

get your existing powerheads to create more surface agitation until you get another one. one thing i dont think youve mentioned , is what exactly were your test readings from your lfs? its fine for them to say its all ok, but what are the exact numbers? chance they really aarent ok.

 

You could reduce the water temperature and try an airstone to increase your O2. The extra powerhead will help. Make sure you're getting a nice ripple effect on the top of the water. This helps to stablize pH to.

 

You raise good questions, jesse. First of all, to address your question about why the overstocking issue did not show up in the water tests...Overstocking can show up in subtle ways at first. Such as a drop in pH or a spike in ammonia or nitrite or nitrate (and since it is a spike, it might not show up on testing that is done infrequently). Or a lack of oxygen, which would manifest as a drop in pH or as fish gasping or spending more time at the top of the tank. All of these reasons explain why it is important to test frequently and keep a close eye on the tank until parameters stabilize over many months (and especially after each new addition to the tank).

Now, in terms of increasing oxygenation, here are a few tips:
1) Keep the tank a little cooler. Water holds more oxygen when colder compared to when warmer. It is good to keep the tank somewhere between 76-80 degrees (although some keep it warmer than that if they have lots of flow...see later).

2) Get a protein skimmer - the bubbling produced by the skimmer helps a lot with oxygenation.

3) Increase the flow of the tank, especially by directing one or two powerheads slightly upward to create agitation at the surface of the water. This helps a lot with oxygenation

4) Consider a sump (optional). The flow of water to and from the sump increases oxygenation tremendously.

Oh, and as far as what to do with your tang, it will take you several months to get your 55g up to par. I'm not sure how heavily stocked your 24g tank is. If the tang is very small and there is nothing else in the tank, it may be ok if you keep a close eye on it. Otherwise I'd recommend you have a friend take it from you for a while, or worst case scenario have the LFS take it from you. Better than having it die on you.

Hope that helps,

Jeremy

 

I would return the naso tang as it has no place being in a 24 gal. tank. Plus, that will give you time to get a grip on the situation and solve the problem. The best thing you can do for oxygenation is get a skimmer. The process of bubble production will greatly aid in dissolving oxygen in the water. You can also think about a sump, that also helps oxygenate the water as the water is agitated when it is drained. There is a lot of good advice given so far. You should do more research before buying livestock, especially when you have encountered a problem. I would start over with the 55 and take it slow. 3 weeks is not long at all for a tank to cycle, and my guess is that it never really finished, as you kept on adding livestock so the bacteria couldn't keep up with the new additions.

As for your water tests, I have seen fish stores tell you it's fine, when it's really not. Especially with ammonia and nitrite. You may have trace amounts or small amounts of ammnia, but they may say that's no big deal just to sell you things, especially in this economy. You need to get your own test kits and do the water tests yourself.

I'm not convinced it was totally an oxygen issue, but between that, the short cycle, the amount of livestock and type of livestock, the lack of actual numbers for the water tests and the fact you dont' use a skimmer all worked together to cause this disaster. It is very strange that your corals are doing ok and all of your fish, anemone and chiton died. Good luck in the future.

 

Hello Everyone!!!

Just tested the water and wanted to post the results......if anyone sees anythign wrong please lest me know.

PH - 8.0ppm
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Calcium - 480
CArbonate HArdness - 179
Phosphates - 1ppm

Just as a side I did a 50% water change the day that everything died casue I originally thought it was a toxin issue.

So far everything else is still alive...... So let me know what you think.

 

on my 55 i have a rena xp3 and its got a manifold for the return i keep it above water lvl and have it "rain" down into the water and it keeps the o2 up