help...losing fish

[JKLUSAF]

Lost 2 butterflies now i woke up to see my flamehawk dead....... Thursday i did a 30gal water change and pull my redsea 1200 skimmer out an put back on the 65corallife skimmer (150gal on the way needed the redsea 1200 for the new project:bigsmile:) along with pulling my powder brown out and putting him in a QT tank for Ich.

From friday to sunday i was pulling 5gals from my display to the QT tank about every 12hrs so basiclly did 10gal water changes fri,sat,sun. I have no idea whats going on:at_wits_end:

Perameters are the following: pH: 8.4, Ammonia: .25, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0, Salinity: 1.021, Alkinity: 150, and Calcium: 255.
2 corallife lights: 4-34inch, 96w 10000K bulbs

Justin

[Kristy]

Butterflies are pretty delicate, so that does not surprise me that they may have gotten stressed over that level of change, possible ich in the tank, etc. They'd be highly susceptible. But flame hawks are practically bullet proof (except maybe when they jump out of the tank and onto the floor)... with all the times we've had ich in our tank, I cannot remember our flame hawk ever showing even one dot or looking anything less than healthy and vibrant. So, that's a puzzler.

How long have the fish been in your tank?

Just looked again at your parameters... what's with the ammonia at .25? Ammonia should always read zero or there is a problem. That is a likely cause to your fish loss. (Also, the salinity would be better if it were a little higher for corals ~1.025 if you have any corals in there, but is okay for fish unless there was a sudden change in salinity?)

Keep doing water changes, but be more aggressive in the percentages, until the ammonia reads zero. Run carbon and light a candle to pray if you're the candle-lighting type. Good luck and keep us posted on how it plays out.

[JKLUSAF]

It wasn't till thursday when i added the foxface and flamehawk i had this problem, the other butterfly i had for months never had any problems.

symptoms started sunday morning: fish stayed in one spot looking like there barley moving grasping for air. all there eyes looked bubbled and hazed over, 8hrs later dead. it looks now if my hippo is suffering from the same problem.

Justin

[Kristy]

Eyes bubbled up and cloudy is a sign of significant stress, often from changes in water quality (if not a physical injury). Maybe caused by a change in the water conditions?

What about the ammonia?
What about the salinity? Has the salinity stayed pretty constant or has there been a big change there.

I think you need to focus on water quality, stability. Hope your blue hippo (and everyone else) makes it!

[hobogato]

you have to find out where that ammonia is coming from and remedy that. try using an ammonia lock additive why you water change to get that out of the water - it is extremely toxic to the fish. you may also try running carbon if you arent already.

[JKLUSAF]

Carbon is running daily in my wet/dry, the ammonia has always for some reason been .25 don't know if its my test kit or not. my salt has dropped 2pts during my water changes. i'm out of water going to head to B&Bs as soon as they open

Justin

[Third Coast Tropical]

get a new ammonia test kit too,.....if your test kit is malfunctioning for some strange reason, you could have alot higher ammonia levels than u think

[Bill S]

Justin,

When you go to B & B, take a water sample, and have him test for:

Ammonia (to check your kit)
Salinity (to test your hydrometer)
Nitrite
Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesium
Alkalinity

If you would like, stop by here on your way, or on your way back, and I'll run tests for you too. I'm about 5 or 10 minutes out of the way, and I should be here much of the day: 210.663.8079. I'll also be over in Cibolo later today/this evening.

If you are in an ich outbreak, you should not be adding fish. If you are doing large water changes, you shouldn't be adding anything. If you are adding water from your display to your quarantine tank, you are adding more parasites that are living in your display, to your quarantine.

[JKLUSAF]

thanks bill, i'll be doing that. my hippo looks bad, the wife will be upset if i lose him too. she's in RI for the week and not happy with whats already happened.

Justin

[msmith619]

Other possible causes:
* Where is your tank? Can other people put their hands or items in the tank? Office aquariums often suffer from kids dropping pennies in the tank. If someone had lotion or soap on their hands and put them in the tank that can be bad.
* Do you have a maid, janitor or cleaning service? If they spray cleaners near the tank, that can wipe out a system fast. Educate cleaning personel about using chemicals near your tank.
* The bug man. If Orkin or a pest service has sprayed the house recently, that can be bad. Fortunately Orkin educates their workers about aquariums and usually uses "safe" chemicals. Other pest services might not be as good about this.
There are many potential toxins in our homes. These are just some possible sources.
Mike

[JKLUSAF]

I'm the only one in my house who messes with the tank. its not in an office

[JKLUSAF]

Bill,

thanks again for stoppen by, tank looks to be getting stable

Justin

[JKLUSAF]

lost my Powder Brown last night, went from 10 fish total back down to 4 in 2 weeks.

[hobogato]

darn. it seemed to be doing so well too

[JKLUSAF]

i really think i got some bad pre-mix or one of the new fish i placed in the tank had some disease that just acted like a plague.........uhhh upset. the tank seems to be stable.

[sampsonndelila]

That sucks, Man it happened to me in the begining too. I am still scared to add anything to my tank for the same reason. Not like I really need to add anything anyways.

[sampsonndelila]

beginning as well. lol.