I have no luck keeping fish alive

parrotchute said:
Kind of curious as to why you keep getting tangs in a tank that is clearly too small...
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Uhhh... there were two tangs total.

A powder brown a long time ago that had ich to begin with because I got it from a less than reputable store. Not to mention powder browns are difficult in any tank. Then a kole tang that was fine (or perhaps underfed) for over a month. I just couldn't get him to eat the algae sheets that you clip on the side. I have a small patch of that maroon macro algae growing on one of my rocks too that the kole tang didn't seem interested in either.

It's not just tangs that are dying on me. People are going after the tank size issue, but the problem isn't specifically with tangs or any bigger fish. Plus both tangs I had were tiny at the time. I've also seen people keep multiple tangs in under-sized tanks for a long time, which I certainly wouldn't promote, but there has to be an underlying issue.

And weirdest of all. My healthiest and longest living fish so far is a Mandarin.

I do have a 29 gallon quarentine but it hasn't been running for awhile. I used to run a little copper in it though, should I still run the copper or no?

I'm going to grab some new frozen food when I get the chance too. Mines kind of old and not the best brands really. I'll try some PE mysis and Hikari foods I guess.
 
i also think it could be some kind of parasite... from what i know about mandarins, they are less prone to getting parasites like that, so that could explain why he's been around longer

like stated, not having fish for a while would allow those parasites to die, without a host, and then you can pick back up later and be fine
 
+1 cthegame and parrotchute. A 55 gallon tank is too small for a powder brown tang. I would not recommend them for anything less than a 180, and even then it can be tricky. Those guys need room to swim.
 
I'LL BET MY NEXT PAY CHECK says you have a stray eletrical current issue got a grounding rod in there?? ( lost 2 sailfins in the course of 90 days) put in the grounding rod and presto...
 
Okay, I am really surprised that you no one else caught this at all! You said in like your third post that you had a COWFISH in the tank for a while that died! Well when a COWFISH DIES, they can release a toxin that can wipe out your tank! This toxin can stay in your tank and kill the next fish. Especially if you didn't get the Cowfish out. I am not sure how long it will last and what your water changes are like, but you could be continously diluting it but still enough in there to affect any new fish. So if you got the cowfish out great, then I would do a 100% Water change and run a lot of carbon as well.

Now what I don't know is if this toxin that cowfish can release can be absorbed into sand/rock/tank silicone or anything like that. So I would at least start with a 100% water change and then run carbon. Oh and you could get used tank water from a fellow reefer doing a water change and some freshly mixed salt water like 50/50. So you still have bacteria/microfauna in the water and you don't burn any corals. JUST PLEASE PLEASE GET THE WATER FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE WHERE YOU KNOW THEIR PARAMETERS, then just match that with new mixed walter.

As a last measure, I would pick up some Brightwell Microbacter 7 or other bacteria supplement and put some of that in. Let us know how this works out for you and NO MORE COWFISHES unless they have their own tank.!!
 
To eliminate your stray voltage concern...try some new power strips that run all equipment. I truly think this is one thing that rarely gets talked about as needing to be replaced. I replace all power strips once a year, because the saltwater destroys them, and I have shocked my self enough in this hobby. That is how I learned, and I asked the LFS and they do it every 6 months from so much humidity.
 
Fitchguy said:
Okay, I am really surprised that you no one else caught this at all! You said in like your third post that you had a COWFISH in the tank for a while that died! Well when a COWFISH DIES, they can release a toxin that can wipe out your tank! This toxin can stay in your tank and kill the next fish. Especially if you didn't get the Cowfish out. I am not sure how long it will last and what your water changes are like, but you could be continously diluting it but still enough in there to affect any new fish. So if you got the cowfish out great, then I would do a 100% Water change and run a lot of carbon as well.

Now what I don't know is if this toxin that cowfish can release can be absorbed into sand/rock/tank silicone or anything like that. So I would at least start with a 100% water change and then run carbon. Oh and you could get used tank water from a fellow reefer doing a water change and some freshly mixed salt water like 50/50. So you still have bacteria/microfauna in the water and you don't burn any corals. JUST PLEASE PLEASE GET THE WATER FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE WHERE YOU KNOW THEIR PARAMETERS, then just match that with new mixed walter.

As a last measure, I would pick up some Brightwell Microbacter 7 or other bacteria supplement and put some of that in. Let us know how this works out for you and NO MORE COWFISHES unless they have their own tank.!!
Click to expand...

That hadnt even crossed my mind.Great call Fitch.
 
That cowfish was a LONG time ago, before I even had my RO/DI unit. Which is a very relevant point because I did more than a 50% water change as soon as my RO got hooked up, then did 20% changes every few days. I also had other creatures in the tank when the cowfish died that were fine. I think people make a bigger deal out of the cowfish nuking than it actually is. I read somewhere that this rarely actually happens when cowfish die.

Plus, again I'm perfectly able to keep anything but fish. I have a buttload of nassarius, turbo, and cerith snails in there, a cleaner shrimp, a tridacna maxima and a lot of corals. I'm fairly certain that anything like stray voltage or cowfish toxin would be effecting my whole tank. Although I do plan to get a voltmeter fairly soon.

I'm pretty sure it's because I've been underfeeding given the age of my tank. I do have a ton of pods but I think I've been overcrediting most of my fish's ability to catch them. Now I'm feeding once a day though, as opposed to like once a week. And the wrasse was just a fluke thing.
 
daugherty said:
i dont think it is stray voltage. if everything else is doing ok. how fast were you adding the new fish? how close to each other were they being added 1 a week 2 a week?
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I always wait AT LEAST 3 weeks. Usually longer.
I always drip acclimate for at least an hours too.

It's weird the way they die too, which also leads me to believe it's underfeeding. Usually people say that if their fish stay alive for a week or two, they're in good shape. But mine usually go at least a month.
 
are the fish skinny when they die? most fish can go a month or longer before starving. some of the fish you mentioned are just nearly impossible to keep.

Are you getting the fish from the same store?
 
winyfrog said:
are the fish skinny when they die? most fish can go a month or longer before starving. some of the fish you mentioned are just nearly impossible to keep.

Are you getting the fish from the same store?
Click to expand...


Not noticably skinny, but they start to breathe heavily towards thair final days.

And yeah, they're coming from the same store except some of the earlier ones and the powder brown.
 
Not sure that I would blame starvation....

Does the store treat them with copper? If a fish is in copper for too long this will cause some internal damage, especially in tangs.

How does your store acclimate the fish? most fish if acclimated improperly can take up to 2 - 3 weeks before they show bad signs. It sounds like you acclimate them fine.

the powder brown is one of those fish that just don't do well in captivity.

I would check your oxygen levels as well.
 

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