I need help!

[Reagan001]

Im relitavely new to the hobby and im looking forward to getting help with some questions that i cant seem to get answered from the local fish store. Heres my problem.... i had a 54 gallon corner that i bought from another guy who had it established for 3 years, i had it over a year putting it established at almost 5 years. I recently (about 3 weeks ago) setup a 265 gallon tank with 75 gallon refugium. i moved everything from my 54 corner into this tank (70lbs live rock, bio balls, water, etc) also purchased 60 more pounds of live rock (putting me at 130lbs total), 100lbs live sand (40lbs in 265 and 60lbs in refugium). i was told by the saltwater store owner that i would not need to cycle the tank cause it will already be established after moving everything from other tank, so i put everything from my 54 gallon straight into the 265 and everything was doing great... then... i went and bought 350lbs of live rock from a guy who was breaking down his tank. the rock seemed to be fine, didnt have much growth on it but definately didnt smell like anything was dead or dying on it so i thought it was safe to put in my tank straight way and that is what i did. That was about 5 days ago and since then all my fish have got ich, 3 have died and 2 more look like they are about to go, all my corals seem to be doing fine and my anemone seems fine, which i cant understand how fish would die but corals would be fine or maybe they are about to go and i dont know it. all my water peremeters are good but my skimmer is pumpin out the black stuff right now... so i dont know what is going on, i dont know what i should do and the guys at the local fish store just want my money and could care less to help me figure this out so im hoping to get some help here. I thank you for any help you can give me and sorry for such a long post.

 

[yote]

It'll be easier to help if you can post the actual numbers for your parameters.

 

[BigH55]

I believe that anytime you switch tanks or move them, you will experience some type of cycling. Remember that you lose some of the bacteria growth due to exposure to air and the new tank is a lot larger than the older one. Also, adding that much rock probably caused a spike somewhere along the way. IMO i would have cooked the rock for a few weeks if possible. With that amount of stuff i would have set up the new tank and then waited and transfered the livestock. But, in some cases as in my own we are forced to move things in right away. Have you been monitoring your prams? Also, ive gotten cured liverock that isn't. Also, did you transfer the water or just make new? These just my thoughts and my experiences. good luck and im sure it will come around. The fish are probably just stressed from being in a new enviroment.

 

[HeavyHittah]

i also believe something caused a spike. How long did you wait before you added the LR. maybe you introduced it too quickly after the big move.? not sure though someone else im sure will either confirm or totally tell me im wrong. so now lets wait and see shall we..LOL.

 

[RyanG]

The stress of the move from the corner tank to the 265 couldve also been enough to weaken the fish enough to bring out Ich that was present in either your system or the live rock from the other system.

 

[Reagan001]

salinity = 1.023
ammonia = 0
PH = 8.6 (actually 8.6 is the highest test reads so it may be higher)
Nitrates = 0
Nitrites = 0
Alkalinity = 2.7 - 3.0
Phosphates = 0.30 (they were at 0.50 phosolock is bringing them down)
Temp = 74-76 (we recently had extremely cold temps over nite the past couple days and the heaters couldnt keep up temp dropped to 71). cause my sump is in garage doesnt stay as warm as house.
calcium = 380

 

[Smitty]

I agree with everyone else, the fish more than likely became a little stressed from the move, but became even more stressed after the move due to the fact that they could not adjust to a completely new surrounding because of you constantly adding sand and rocks to the tank and rearranging everything around...sounds like they panicked and had a nervous breakdown.

Good luck with the rest of your livestock.

 

[dustin_P74]

a temp swing of more then 1 degree a day is bad also so that might also add to the stress of the fish

 

[yote]

PH is to high also.

 

[bullitt21]

temp swing 1 deg is bad?mine goes down 2 deg at night and i have a temp controller.is that to much?

 

[daugherty]

2 is not bad at all you just do not want big changes in a short amount of time

 

[Reagan001]

how do i lower PH and keep the temp from moving more then 1 degree? i would think that to be impossible???

 

[dustin_P74]

to lower the pH just do water changes. and to control the temp get a temp controller and set it to the desired temp and crank your heater to a temp higher then what the controller is set to and then let the controller do its job

 

[daugherty]

if you get a duel stage controller you set the heat side to your heater and the cool side to a fan thet blows air over the water either in the sump or the tank evap of water will cool the tank fairly quickly.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome! Any of those factors by themselves (adding new rock, moving to a new tank, temps were too low, pH is too high) would be enough to stress fish and make them sick. But combine them all and have them happen at the same time, and there's a pretty good chance you're fish are not going to take to it very well. Ich is an opportunistic parasite and tends to come out when the animals are stressed and their immune systems are compromised. Too many changes in too short of a time period will do this. You need to get your pH lower, stabilize your temps, and not mess with the rockwork for a while. Ideally, you need your temps between 76 and 82, with as little swings as possible from day to night.