Problems...every where I turn

[Ashlee_274]

Hey guys.

I'm relatively new to the saltwater. My mother used to have one and i loved it.

Now I have a 125 gallon salt water. I have about 60 pounds of live sand. About 80 pounds of live rock. I have the tank on two canister filters (350 Magnum marineland) and i have two hang on filters on the back. I have two water pump circulation pumps on both corners. Im not sure what my lighting model is but its a AquaticLife. It has the white, blue and night selection.
This tank has been cycling for about 6 and a half months now.
Now i leave my tank at 79 degrees. I test my water every day and i do a 30% water change once a week.

Now i have about 6 turbo snails and a green star polyp in the tank right now.They have been in the tank for 2 months and they are alive and healthy. I went to buy fish. I bought a dwarf lion fish, a lunare wasse, and a salfin tang. I was gone probably about an hour, two hours tops. I came home and my tank was cloudy. VERY cloudy. I understand that its a bacterial bloom or could be but what i dont understand is why all of the sudden in such short of time? And if thats the case, the bacteria shouldnt have killed the fish instantly. It took 2 minutes tops for the fish to die.

I acclimated them for about 15 minutes and once i put them in they instantly die. I tested my water again and every thing is good. My PH can go up a smidgen but its find none the less. WTH happened?

 

[emmett0122]

what are the tank parameters and how did you acclimate your fish

 

[ErinCahir]

Yeah... we need actual numbers on your parameters.

Also you're going to need more rock. One to two pounds per gallon is recommended. How did you cycle your tank initially?

 

[Ashlee_274]

what are the tank parameters and how did you acclimate your fish

Right now everything is at zero but PH which is 7.8.
My ammonia spiked this morning to 0.25 my salinity is at 0.25

I acclamted the fish by putting 1/3 cup of my tank water into the bag and I do this for about thirty minutes in total. And the pounds are actually more then what I posted. Its more around 100 pounds.

 

[jahel318]

Your acclimation time was too short for your fish. I would suggest 1-2 hours of acclimation depending on the type of livestock. Liveaquria.com has this good article on acclimating fish and other livestock:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=157

Also, when was the last time you did maintance on all your filters? You might want to brush the inside of your tubings and change your media if you haven't done so in the last six months.

Get into a habit of brushing the inside of your filter tubings every 2-3 months as unhealthy junk can build up in them quickly and cause fish to die even if your parameters are normal. I lost several fish 2 yrs ago due to poor maintanance of my filters!

Erin is right...you need more rock.

 

[emmett0122]

another thing how did you cycle your tank you should have some trace of nitrates if you went thru a full cycle snails and corals do not put any load on your bio filter nor do help build it and i would suggest getting a cheap hardy fish for your first fish like a damsel or chromes. you can always find i new home for them if you dont want them in your tank later on but they are good for a new tank so if you get a mini cycle they can make it thru it but just dont use them to cycle your tank. and as far as your rock you should have no less then 125 pounds the more the better i would say about 150 pounds would be good

 

[BL1]

A couple things, first, thirty minutes is enough time for acclimating fish. The only thing I've ever acclimated longer then 30 mins are anemones. Second, if you have no fish in your tank then adding 3 at once may just have been too much at one time. I agree with Emmett that you should try adding one hardy fish first and see how it does but, don't add just any fish, add one you'll a thallus want to keep. It's a PITA to catch a fish in bigger tanks without taking the whole things apart and then you have to find someone to take that fish. On top of that the whole process is pretty stressful on the fish.

 

[OceanCrazy]

Nice tank size, wish I had one that size ( tank ). I would get a sump, it's better than the canisters from what I have read. Better in the long run too. Any way I hope u find out what caused them to die . GL

 

[Reef Raf]

I try to acclimate fish a bit longer than that. Have you checked other levels? Nitrite? Nitrate? Phosphate? There must have been something at a crazy level to hit fish like that so quickly.