Can’t keep anything alive, need help

[Adamski08]

I’m new to this hobby and have only had a saltwater aquarium for a couple of months. I have a problem, I can’t keep anything alive, I don’t know what to do. I think to give you guys an understanding of my problem. I started with two clowns after my tank was cycled. It didn’t take long before one of the clownfish died. At the time I didn’t know what could’ve killed him. I thought that he was stressed out and died from stress. After a while I noticed that the female (and remaining) clownfish had tiny white spots on it. My neighbor had had a saltwater aquarium before and he said that it was just “stress dots”. So me not wanting my clownfish to be alone bought another clownfish. This time I bought it online. When I looked at the bag that the clownfish had arrived in I noticed it was very pale and it had a bunch of its scales floating around in the bag. The one clownfish that I originally bought died after a couple of days after introducing the new one. I waited for probably to weeks before I added a clownfish and two hermit crabs. I waited because the clownfish was pale and I wanted it to recover. The pale clownfish died two days after I added the new clownfish. After around a week of having the new clownfish I noticed that it has developed some kind of white coat on it. I had research a bit about fish diseases and thought that I got brookylnella. My family and I went on a trip for five days. When I came back I noticed that the clownfish had died. I also noticed that one of my hermit crabs wasn’t in its shell. I checked my salinity to make sure my ATO didn’t malfunction or anything. My salinity was at 1.025 so the ATO had done its job.

I am certain that my tank has some kind of disease so I’m planing on keeping my tank fallow for 11 weeks to make sure that my tank is disease free.

Is that a good idea? What should I do after the fallow period?

 

[Formulator]

Sorry you are dealing with this so early in your journey. Yes, fallow period sounds to be in order.

My neighbor had had a saltwater aquarium before and he said that it was just “stress dots”.

Also, this is hilarious … likely had ich. Stress dots. Sheesh

Also, @Jay Hemdal can probably advise better than I on the details of your fallow period needed to eradicate likely ich and brook.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Pics of the tank will help a lot, lets see it. How big is the tank? How long after cycling your tank did you add the fish? What kind of filtration do you have?

 

[Fish Fan]

I’m new to this hobby and have only had a saltwater aquarium for a couple of months. I have a problem, I can’t keep anything alive, I don’t know what to do. I think to give you guys an understanding of my problem. I started with two clowns after my tank was cycled. It didn’t take long before one of the clownfish died. At the time I didn’t know what could’ve killed him. I thought that he was stressed out and died from stress. After a while I noticed that the female (and remaining) clownfish had tiny white spots on it. My neighbor had had a saltwater aquarium before and he said that it was just “stress dots”. So me not wanting my clownfish to be alone bought another clownfish. This time I bought it online. When I looked at the bag that the clownfish had arrived in I noticed it was very pale and it had a bunch of its scales floating around in the bag. The one clownfish that I originally bought died after a couple of days after introducing the new one. I waited for probably to weeks before I added a clownfish and two hermit crabs. I waited because the clownfish was pale and I wanted it to recover. The pale clownfish died two days after I added the new clownfish. After around a week of having the new clownfish I noticed that it has developed some kind of white coat on it. I had research a bit about fish diseases and thought that I got brookylnella. My family and I went on a trip for five days. When I came back I noticed that the clownfish had died. I also noticed that one of my hermit crabs wasn’t in its shell. I checked my salinity to make sure my ATO didn’t malfunction or anything. My salinity was at 1.025 so the ATO had done its job.

I am certain that my tank has some kind of disease so I’m planing on keeping my tank fallow for 11 weeks to make sure that my tank is disease free.

Is that a good idea? What should I do after the fallow period?

First of all, welcome to Reef2Reef!

There's a lot of great people here that will help you get you back on the right track. Hang in there, everyone who has had a saltwater tank has had problems

I'm not an expert AT ALL, but please share more info about your tank so the real experts will be able to help you more easily:

• Tank size, filtration setup (All-In-One (AIO) or sump, or Hang On Back (HOB)) and when was the tank started
• Did you use dry rock and sand, or live rock and sand
• If you used dry rock/sand, how did you cycle the tank (fishless with Dr. Tim's One And Only, Microbacter7, or similar AND a source of ammonia such as ammonium chloride (my preferred choice), fish food, or a piece of shrimp from the seafood market)
• How have you been testing your water parameters (API or Red Sea test kits, etc. or Hanna Checkers or other)
• What are your water parameters - Salinity (1.025), Temperature, Ammonia, Nitrite (some will say is unimportant to test for, but is 'traditional', if you will) and Nitrate will be most important at this time.
• A Full Tank Shot (FTS) or picture of the tank (with the whites lights as bright as you can get them) from the front would also be helpful

I'm willing to bet that your tank was never really fully cycled. Then, you seem to have some diseases going on as well. Those "stress dots" were very likely "ich" (short for Ichthyophthirius sp.) which is a fairly serious fish parasite. An outbreak of *ich* very often occurs when fish get stressed.

If you started your tank with live rock and sand, and want to preserve what micro and macro life you may have, then almost certainly you need to maintain your tank "fallow" or fishless for a fairly long period of time to rid it of fish parasites.

However, if you started your tank from dry rock and dry sand, you can bleach the rock and sand, vinegar/citric acid clean your equipment, restart your tank, and and get it going again in a couple weeks.

Please let the experts advise you further, but I wish you the best of luck!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Ich or Brooklynella for sure, can't believe your neighbor called them stress dots. If you receive another fish like that make sure to contact the retailer, they likely have a "warranty" of sorts. Make sure to buy from reputable websites as well.

 

[Adamski08]

First of all, welcome to Reef2Reef!

There's a lot of great people here that will help you get you back on the right track. Hang in there, everyone who has had a saltwater tank has had problems

I'm not an expert AT ALL, but please share more info about your tank so the real experts will be able to help you more easily:

• Tank size, filtration setup (All-In-One (AIO) or sump, or Hang On Back (HOB)) and when was the tank started
• Did you use dry rock and sand, or live rock and sand
• If you used dry rock/sand, how did you cycle the tank (fishless with Dr. Tim's One And Only, Microbacter7, or similar AND a source of ammonia such as ammonium chloride (my preferred choice), fish food, or a piece of shrimp from the seafood market)
• How have you been testing your water parameters (API or Red Sea test kits, etc. or Hanna Checkers or other)
• What are your water parameters - Salinity (1.025), Temperature, Ammonia, Nitrite (some will say is unimportant to test for, but is 'traditional', if you will) and Nitrate will be most important at this time.
• A Full Tank Shot (FTS) or picture of the tank (with the whites lights as bright as you can get them) from the front would also be helpful

I'm willing to bet that your tank was never really fully cycled. Then, you seem to have some diseases going on as well. Those "stress dots" were very likely "ich" (short for Ichthyophthirius sp.) which is a fairly serious fish parasite. An outbreak of *ich* very often occurs when fish get stressed.

If you started your tank with live rock and sand, and want to preserve what micro and macro life you may have, then almost certainly you need to maintain your tank "fallow" or fishless for a fairly long period of time to rid it of fish parasites.

However, if you started your tank from dry rock and dry sand, you can bleach the rock and sand, vinegar/citric acid clean your equipment, restart your tank, and and get it going again in a couple weeks.

Please let the experts advise you further, but I wish you the best of luck!

Sorry for late response. I have been traveling with my family.

Tank size: 25g

I used dry rock and sand which you add nitrifying bacteria to. I used microbacter 7 and maybe two shrimps to cycle the tank. I began with 50 ppm nitrate, 2 ppm of nitrite. I didn’t write down what ammonia I had for the first couple of days which I realize now maybe wasn’t the brightest idea. I had an ammonia alert thing on the tank but I didn’t trust it so I bought a salifert ammonia test kit. At the 8th day of cycling my nitrate was at 25 ppm, nitrite at 1 ppm and my ammonia at <0,15 ppm. At the 17:th day my nitrates were at 25 ppm, my nitrates were at 0.1 ppm and my ammonia was <0.15 ppm. It was after that I bought the first fishes. The place I bought then from was a little sketchy and I probably won’t buy from there again. Since I was at a very beginner stage I didn’t know what to look for in bad fish stores. But according to my dad some of the clownfish that he sold swam upside down. I don’t think that is a sign of healthy fishes.

It’s kinda late so I can’t take a tank picture right now so I’ll have to do it tomorrow.

I went to fish store which isn’t a small fish store in somebody’s basement and their fishes looked 1000x better so I’ll be buying from there instead. They advised me to use some medicin which probably will kill the diseases faster than the fallow period, although it probably isn’t a dumb idea to do both. Anyways they said that I should dose eSHa Trimarin for three days and then leave a water sample to them.

As your response was from 16 days ago and I have missed to respond I’m not sure what parameters I’m gonna send. The ones I have right now or some that are closer to the where I started this thread?

 

[Adamski08]

Ich or Brooklynella for sure, can't believe your neighbor called them stress dots. If you receive another fish like that make sure to contact the retailer, they likely have a "warranty" of sorts. Make sure to buy from reputable websites as well.

Thanks for the advice, will buy from more reputable websites and store from here on out.

 

[Adamski08]

Sorry you are dealing with this so early in your journey. Yes, fallow period sounds to be in order.


Also, this is hilarious … likely had ich. Stress dots. Sheesh

Also, @Jay Hemdal can probably advise better than I on the details of your fallow period needed to eradicate likely ich and brook.

I went to a more reputable store and they advised me to dose with eSHa Trimarin, which is copper based, for three days and then give them a water sample. Is keeping the tank fallow still necessary or should I still do a fallow period?

 

[Uncle99]

I went to a more reputable store and they advised me to dose with eSHa Trimarin, which is copper based, for three days and then give them a water sample. Is keeping the tank fallow still necessary or should I still do a fallow period?

With no fish, the fallow period is very very effective in ending the ick cycle and destroying this pest from the tank. Take the time and do it write.

Fish, if any, need to be treated with a copper based treatment, separately and in isolation. In this case, about 30 days treatment is needed.

 

[Adamski08]

Pics of the tank will help a lot, lets see it. How big is the tank? How long after cycling your tank did you add the fish? What kind of filtration do you have?

With no fish, the fallow period is very very effective in ending the ick cycle and destroying this pest from the tank. Take the time and do it write.

Fish, if any, need to be treated with a copper based treatment, separately and in isolation. In this case, about 30 days treatment is needed.

There is no fish so I should keep it fallow?

 

[Lavey29]

Don't dose anything with copper into your tank. You will never be able to keep corals or inverts. Fallow the tank for several months. Buy 2 tank bred clowns from an LFS not wild caught clowns. Make sure they do in house QT with copper and prazipro.

 

[Adamski08]

Don't dose anything with copper into your tank. You will never be able to keep corals or inverts. Fallow the tank for several months. Buy 2 tank bred clowns from an LFS not wild caught clowns. Make sure they do in house QT with copper and prazipro.

Will the tank be okay if I do a massive water change to get rid of copper and other bad things?

 

[Lavey29]

Will the tank be okay if I do a massive water change to get rid of copper and other bad things?

No because it binds to the rock and sand. It's not floating in the water. Never put copper into your tank if you ever want inverts or corals in there.

 

[Adamski08]

No because it binds to the rock and sand. It's not floating in the water. Never put copper into your tank if you ever want inverts or corals in there.

Then I'll temporarily remove the rocks and then replace the sand as i have already dosed some copper into the tank

 

[Lavey29]

Then I'll temporarily remove the rocks and then replace the sand as i have already dosed some copper into the tank

You may as well replace the rocks and sand at this point, emoty the tank and do a deep clean on the tank and equipment. This will eliminate the need for a fallow period.

 

[Adamski08]

You may as well replace the rocks and sand at this point, emoty the tank and do a deep clean on the tank and equipment. This will eliminate the need for a fallow period.

so just start over from the beginning?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Then I'll temporarily remove the rocks and then replace the sand as i have already dosed some copper into the tank

You'll have to completely sterilize both. Inverts are incredibly sensitive to copper.

 

[Lavey29]

so just start over from the beginning?

Why not?, it's a small tank so easy to rip clean it and start fresh.

 

[Adamski08]

You'll have to completely sterilize both. Inverts are incredibly sensitive to copper.

but if i don't plan on keeping inverts in the future, will corals still be fine?

 

[Adamski08]

Why not?, it's a small tank so easy to rip clean it and start fresh.

fair enough