restart...

[Dyncaus]

alright, all my fish are officially dead now, and my tank is just sitting about 4/5ths of the way filled with all the lr, ls and snails in it, and a peppermint shrimp as well. i have decided to let the tank sit for a while b4 i start trying witht he fish again. i am gonna do prob a 75% water change as well. i was wondering if any bacteria of viruses or what have you that could have caused the fish to die can stay alive on the lr or in the sand, or on the shrimp, b/c if there is a chance it can, i want to make sure to clean all the rock and sand and what have you. thanks for the help, hopefully in a month or two i will have everything back up and better than ever.

[StephenA]

What are the parameters of your tank? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Salinity PH, Alk etc. Has anyone sprayed anything in the air in your house or on the floor?

[matt]

Ouch;

Hey, don't feel too bad. Lots of us have had our fish population wiped out at some point. Let your tank sit without fish for six weeks; you can keep invertibrates in there. By that time, definitely all the parastes will havve passed through their life cycle and died.

But, the bad news is, almost all fish you bring into your tank will have at least some parasites on them; it's almost impossible to keep a reef tank completely free of fish parasites. It's a question of providing the proper conditions so that the fish's immune system can fight off the parasites when they are in low concentration, and therefore they do not multiply.

BTW, were your fish rubbing themselves against the rocks when they were sick? That's a sure sign of parasites.

[Dyncaus]

tank parameters are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, salinity 1.024, PH 8.4. those are all the tests i have. i haven't sprayed anything in the house recently, so i am pretty sure it is not that. however, i did just recently start running my tank open top instead of glass top. not sure if that might cause a problem. they fish were definitely scratching themselves, they had larg spots on them where all the color was rubbed off. so the parasites can't live dormant on the lr or on the other critters right? thanks for the replies btw

[kaiser]

You might want to think about a UV Sterilizer. It will kill whatever parasites are floating around in the water.

[StephenA]

I'd say parasites! I don't keep a top on my tank and have had no issues. I agree with the UV Sterilizer. You also need to find out what lowered their immune system. How often and how much water do you change in your tank per month. I change 5% of my water once a week.

[Dyncaus]

well i have been doing about a 5% change every 1-2 weeks. how much do UV sterilizers run, and what are the good ones out there?