Getting discouraged...quickly.

[Nonfamous]

Its happened again. I've lost yet another fish. This time my Dragonette. I knew yesterday he was not going to make it. He stayed under the rock work breathing heavily and didn't even move when the starfish bumped into him. I don't understand whats happening. He was a good eater, until yesterday, and was always egar to eat. I have a very good supply of pods in the system and he was constantly eating. He was with me for over a year.

Whats happening? I've gone from 10 fish to 7 since the 28th of November. I do my water changes with RODI. I use good salt. I check all my parameters consistently. Everything seems to be running smoothly except I'm loosing my oldest fish. Everyone else appears healthy. No ick, not noticeable issues at all.

My temp is the only thing to have changed in the last few days. Its down to 78.9 from 80.4 but this shouldn't have been a problem. My SG is steady even with the ATO acting up the other day. It only went from 1.26 to 1.25 and gradually came back up to 1.26 as the extra top off evaporated.

Ammonia, Trates and Trites are all reading zero. Phosphates are zero. pH is steady at 8.2. Ca is steady at 480 and Mg and KH have been steady for months and months. My sand issue is long gone, I don't have algae problems, my corals are all looking pretty good. So what is wrong with my tank? What am I doing wrong? I can't handle any more losses. My heart just can't take it.

 

[Steveg229]

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I hope you figure out the problem asap. Just a random side thought, because I just checked my tank last night.. have you tested for stray voltage? Or do you have a grounding probe already?

 

[Nonfamous]

I haven't checked lately, but I don't suspect its an issue. All my inverts are fine and they usually are the first to react to stray voltage.

 

[Steveg229]

Very true. Being new at this, I have no other ideas as your water parameters all check out. Hopefully others will chime in here...

 

[chichimom79]

I'm sorry to hear that. What are you feeding? Perhaps they are reacting negatively to their food source?

 

[Northstar24]

I don't have anything constructive to add, other than that I very recently lost 3 fish from my tank, and of course they were the 3 favorites, my Achilles Tang, Potter's Angel, and a Kole Tang.

Everything you've posted back sounds pretty normal to me. Have you had your water test results verified by your LFS?

 

[ErinCahir]

Have you added any new fish recently?

 

[FishyReef]

I am so sorry to hear that you are still losing fish :( I have no idea what is going on, but am going to venture a guess that maybe something changed in your water? I know Northstar recently had an issue with losing fish that ended up being related to a change in iron levels in his water. I know you are using RO/Di, but what is the source? City water, well water? How long has it been since you changed the RO/Di filters? What type of RO/Di unit is it? Do you have a TDS monitor on it? Since the fish you are losing are the ones who have been in the tank the longest, it might be something we don't test for that has slowly been building up and they've been exposed to it the longest. Just an idea. Hang in there and please don't throw in the towel!

 

[joshlegs]

sorry to hear it bud. hang in there! I lost 6 fish in a week .... 3 over 2 months would have been better ... though i at least know what happened to mine :(

 

[Northstar24]

I am so sorry to hear that you are still losing fish :( I have no idea what is going on, but am going to venture a guess that maybe something changed in your water? I know Northstar recently had an issue with losing fish that ended up being related to a change in iron levels in his water. I know you are using RO/Di, but what is the source? City water, well water? How long has it been since you changed the RO/Di filters? What type of RO/Di unit is it? Do you have a TDS monitor on it? Since the fish you are losing are the ones who have been in the tank the longest, it might be something we don't test for that has slowly been building up and they've been exposed to it the longest. Just an idea. Hang in there and please don't throw in the towel!

The iron as the cause was only speculation, I went through pretty much everything used for my system and that's all i could come up with. It was also impossible for me to keep coral alive in my tank as well, other than Kenya Weed and Green Star Polyp Weed

I was really depressing losing ~$400 worth of fish over the course of two weeks, I'm still not over it

To the OP, is it possible something has made its way into your water?

 

[FishyReef]

Nonfamous, you mentioned that your temp dropped - and obviously it wasn't enough of a drop to have an impact, but I'm curious if you know why the temp dropped? Any chance it was either actually lower and you only saw it after it had come back up? Or any chance your heater is causing fluxuations that you aren't seeing? Like maybe its getting stuck on, heats up the tank, eventually shuts off and then you see it after the fact and think temp hasn't changed? I dunno, just struck me as curious that the temp changed a bit when its usually extremely stable....

 

[Nonfamous]

The temp drop is a normal thing during winter. I doubt it got too cold. Really, I don't feel its an issue. I run dual 300w heaters and both are set to the same temp.

My water is standard city water I've been running since day one. No reports of problems from the city about it. No breaks in my area as far as I know. My RODI unit is from Buckeye. Its a 4 stage and filters were changed in September. I've made, and used, a lot of water since then. TDS in is 74, RO is 4 and DI is 0.

I guess something could be accumulating in the tank that isn't normally tested for. House was built in '94 so its not lead pipes. No pest control issues nor ambient chemicals that I can identify. Everyone else seems fine. I'm going to run twice daily tests but don't expect to see anything.

No new fish, corals or anything except weekly WC. I did clean the powerheads about a month ago. Just after I lost the first two. I don't think they were a cause, I just noticed they were dirty at the time I was looking for the clown.

I'll keep ya posted.

 

[little_fish]

Sometimes fish die and we can't understand why, it's not something that is always your fault. It's especially hard with wild caught fish, we just don't know what their history is.

Keep your chin up!

 

[Nonfamous]

Yeah, I know. Honestly, I was hoping I could find something to correct. If I sit back and take a logical look at things, there really is a simple answer.

Chromis:
The middle sized one is the one that jumped. Likely it was being bullied by the largest, now female, and the smallest, the now male. Chromis are known to kill each other off. Losing one should have come as no surprise.

Clown:
This guy was a known jumper. As you may recall, he jumped into the overflow a few times. I should have been more diligent about keeping the top closed I guess. Even then, the back is open so there were no guarantees he wouldn't have jumped there.

Dragonette:
These little fellows are known for being difficult to keep. Even if they eat frozen, which mine did, they can still starve. Even with a good pod population they have been known to starve themselves. I guess I was lucky to have had him for a year.

Still, knowing this doesn't make me feel better. I am trying my best to provide a good environment for them. I'm constantly reading, learning and spending time and money to make things the best I can. Knowing I somehow failed is a kick in the teeth. I know I'm far too emotional, but I still haven't gotten over the loss of my dog. Not sure I ever will. The fish losses are just adding to the weight I'm feeling over that.

I do want to add some more fish to my tank. I may or may not "replace" the Dragonette. I really like these guys but don't want to risk losing another. As I posted in another thread, I found a nice Maroon clown that I am thinking about getting. It is tank bred so I feel a little better about adding it. Not that being tank bred makes it any less valuable!

Thanks for listening folks.