Okay, For Real...

Discussion in 'New To The Hobby' started by HSL0389, Oct 30, 2008.

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  1. HSL0389

    HSL0389 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    May 23, 2008
    Messages:
    35
    Location:
    Hobe Sound, FL
    Why can't I get this right? I've mentioned in other threads that I lost my entire lot of fish about a month or two ago, and finally got some new live stock this past week. But then last night I look in the tank and I can't find one of my clowns. Sure enough, another casualty. A clown, one of the hardier fish. I do water changes, filter changes, param checks and the whole deal frequently. I have ten different kinds of food that I change between. I know it's gonna take a while for me to get the hang of everything, but I'm so friggin discouraged and tramatized by these poor fishy deaths that I'm about to swear off the hobby! Any words of advice?
     
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  3. PharmrJohn

    PharmrJohn The Dude

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2008
    Messages:
    4,622
    Location:
    Shelton, Washington
    What are your params?
     
  4. HSL0389

    HSL0389 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    May 23, 2008
    Messages:
    35
    Location:
    Hobe Sound, FL
    They're alright. Checked them today and ammonia was a bit high, and so were the nitrates. But I'm not sure if that caused the little guy to die, or if they're high BECAUSE he died and was in there for a few hours. We just did a 50%+ water change less than a week ago. I put in some water treater stuff so hopefully everyone else will be okay until we figure out what the problem is.
     
  5. ermano

    ermano Zoanthid

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2008
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    1,112
    Location:
    Rochester, New York
    How old is the tank?
     
  6. Camilsky

    Camilsky Montipora Capricornis

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2007
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    1,004
    Location:
    Groningen, The Netherlands
    hey! You simply need to be more specific if you want to get feedback from us!!!
     
  7. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2008
    Messages:
    3,401
    Location:
    Dallas
    As mentioned above that info is needed to figure out what is wrong.

    How old is the tank
    How much live rock in what size tank
    Ammonia
    Nitrite
    Nitrate
    Ph
    Temp
    SG
     
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  9. toemoss

    toemoss Plankton

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2008
    Messages:
    22
    Location:
    Raleigh NC
    As well as tank parameters, it would help to know if there's anything unusual about your tank. How much of it did you build yourself. Are all the components aquarium safe? Do you have any additives in the food? Are you feeding them?

    There are so many things that can go wrong, the more info you give the better...
     
  10. bc219

    bc219 Millepora

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2008
    Messages:
    937
    Location:
    Mishawaka, IN
    How long was the tank running before you added fish? Is your equipment new or old (stray voltage)? Are you possibly feeding too much? What kind of water are you doing your water changes with?
     
  11. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2008
    Messages:
    5,176
    Location:
    Texas

    How much livestock are you adding in a single week? It sounds like (and I could be misreading) that if you can't find 'one of' your clowns that you have multiple and that everything was added in the same week. No more than one fish every couple of weeks on an established tank, less on a fresh tank.

    Filter changes probably shouldn't be 'frequent' (depending on what you mean by frequent and what kind of filters you're referring to).

    10 types of food? I feed my clowns flakes. Once every other day. At 7pm sharp.

    So my advise (that I'm basing on my potentially flawed exercise of reading between the lines) is to slow down - a lot. Slow down on adding live stock, feeding times, filter changes, and even on the water changes - 50% is probably too much, especially if that is being done 'frequently'.

    Like others have wisely said, we need a lot more info before we can do more than guess.

    But don't be discouraged! It's a difficult hobby to get started in. There are plenty of disaster stories on 3reef - even from the pro's.

    Good luck!
     
  12. HSL0389

    HSL0389 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    May 23, 2008
    Messages:
    35
    Location:
    Hobe Sound, FL
    Alright Alright sorry I wasn't being more specific, I was just venting not inputing data. But now my other clown is on the edge so here's the numbers:

    Ammonia: .25-.5
    Nitrite: 0
    Nitrate: Somewhere in the red 40-80 ppm
    Temp: 78
    Ph: 8.4

    The tank is 5 months old, and yes I did add the pair of clowns at the same time which could have been my mistake. I do feel like I over feed sometimes but I have a few big hermits and I like to make sure enough gets down to them. Water changes I do about every 4 weeks, and filter changes every 3 or 4 weeks just like they say to do.


    My clown is swimming around all topsy turvy but not bottoms up so I don't believe it's her swim bladder but I could be mistaken. I don't think she's been eating well. Please help...