My aquarium has been unsuccessful

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Hello,

I’ve been losing fish consistently for the past nine months. It’s been a constant struggle to get fish to live past 6 months after acclimating.

My fish have died with what seems like swim bladder disease, or being above or below the tank gasping for air and heavy gill movement.

I have a 40 gallon tank with live sand, live rock, a protein skimmer, built in carbon filter, wave pump (it needs a replacement however), heater, and a thermometer.

I use distilled water to top off the tank. For saltwater I have been using my aquariums store brand but have recently switched to making saltwater at home. I do a 20% water change weekly and my skimmer overflows in less than 10 minutes of use. I clean the glass with my sponge once a week.

For testing parameters I use API testing kit. My numbers are listed below.

PH: 7.5
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .5
Salinity: 1.022

Pickle_soup · Sep 10, 2023

I am really sorry to hear it. Don't give up. This can be a very frustrating hobby, but it is also 100x more rewarding. So that you don't lose fish, stop buying them for now until we figure out what's happening and how we can help you. Tell us a bit more about your set up. Do you have a sump? Is your skimmer hob? Btw, your salinity is a bit low, but it's nothing major. Try to keep it between 1.023-25.

Pickle_soup · Sep 10, 2023

chaifish said:
Hello,

I’ve been losing fish consistently for the past nine months. It’s been a constant struggle to get fish to live past 6 months after acclimating.

My fish have died with what seems like swim bladder disease, or being above or below the tank gasping for air and heavy gill movement.

I have a 40 gallon tank with live sand, live rock, a protein skimmer, built in carbon filter, wave pump (it needs a replacement however), heater, and a thermometer.

I use distilled water to top off the tank. For saltwater I have been using my aquariums store brand but have recently switched to making saltwater at home. I do a 20% water change weekly and my skimmer overflows in less than 10 minutes of use. I clean the glass with my sponge once a week.

For testing parameters I use API testing kit. My numbers are listed below.

PH: 7.5
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .5
Salinity: 1.022

20% water changes are a bit much. Let your tank settle in a bit. It will find itself. How is the flow in your tank? Do you have surface agitation to help with gas exchanges? What you seem to be dealing with, is nothing that this community can't fix.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Sep 10, 2023

Can we start with a pic of the tank? Lets see it

14 foot reef · Sep 10, 2023

PH at 7.5 is a really low reading, 8.0 is the lowest I would want to be, salt needs to be 1.025
What is your alk ?

Get us a measurement of
Calcium, Alk, Magnesium and post please

Garf · Sep 10, 2023

chaifish said:
Hello,

I’ve been losing fish consistently for the past nine months. It’s been a constant struggle to get fish to live past 6 months after acclimating.

My fish have died with what seems like swim bladder disease, or being above or below the tank gasping for air and heavy gill movement.

I have a 40 gallon tank with live sand, live rock, a protein skimmer, built in carbon filter, wave pump (it needs a replacement however), heater, and a thermometer.

I use distilled water to top off the tank. For saltwater I have been using my aquariums store brand but have recently switched to making saltwater at home. I do a 20% water change weekly and my skimmer overflows in less than 10 minutes of use. I clean the glass with my sponge once a week.

For testing parameters I use API testing kit. My numbers are listed below.

PH: 7.5
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .5
Salinity: 1.022

You still got fish left in the tank?

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Pickle_soup said:
I am really sorry to hear it. Don't give up. This can be a very frustrating hobby, but it is also 100x more rewarding. So that you don't lose fish, stop buying them for now until we figure out what's happening and how we can help you. Tell us a bit more about your set up. Do you have a sump? Is your skimmer hob? Btw, your salinity is a bit low, but it's nothing major. Try to keep it between 1.023-25.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

I have a tunze doc 9001 protein skimmer. For the filtration system I have the sicce syncra silent pump along with the activated carbon, bio balls, and bio sponge from water box aquariums.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Pickle_soup said:
20% water changes are a bit much. Let your tank settle in a bit. It will find itself. How is the flow in your tank? Do you have surface agitation to help with gas exchanges? What you seem to be dealing with, is nothing that this community can't fix.

I run the syncra silent pump on low. I did have the aio wave pump running on medium flow but about 2 weeks ago it stopped working.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Garf said:
You still got fish left in the tank?

I have one clownfish left. I lost the remainder of my fish a couple of days ago.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
Can we start with a pic of the tank? Lets see it

Sebastiancrab · Sep 10, 2023

Suggest you purchase Hanna, Salifert or Red Sea for your test kits. Skip Nitrite. API will always show .25 for ammonia not zero. Hanna is the easiest to use. Is this a fish only tank? Are you using an RODI unit to make your water? Something is in the water to make your skimmer go nuts. For example, I purchase padding from my LFS to use in plastic buckets instead of filter socks in my sump. Unless I rinse and soak it well, it will cause my skimmer to overflow.

brandon429 · Sep 10, 2023

tell us about your disease management approach, the most likely cause here.

post a tank pic, the non dead stuff in the pic is how we narrow down to fish disease, bad params would kill it all. fish are the last to die due to bad params you can measure and report to us with a reef tank test kit. 99% of all new reefers skip disease preps, that's the most likely cause. they don't practice any biosecurity at all.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

Sebastiancrab said:
Suggest you purchase Hanna, Salifert or Red Sea for your test kits. Skip Nitrite. API will always show .25 for ammonia not zero. Hanna is the easiest to use. Is this a fish only tank? Are you using an RODI unit to make your water? Something is in the water to make your skimmer go nuts. For example, I purchase padding from my LFS to use in plastic buckets instead of filter socks in my sump. Unless I rinse and soak it well, it will cause my skimmer to overflow.

This is a fish and invertebrate (crabs) only tank. I use distilled water and LFS water.

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

brandon429 said:
tell us about your disease management approach, the most likely cause here.

post a tank pic, the non dead stuff in the pic is how we narrow down to fish disease

chaifish · Sep 10, 2023

brandon429 said:
tell us about your disease management approach, the most likely cause here.

post a tank pic, the non dead stuff in the pic is how we narrow down to fish disease, bad params would kill it all. fish are the last to die due to bad params you can measure and report to us with a reef tank test kit. 99% of all new reefers skip disease preps, that's the most likely cause. they don't practice any biosecurity at all.

If it’s ick I’ve used the API super cure to medicate the tank. If a fish has been injured I’ve used stress guard from seachem. If it’s parasites I have used copper safe from fritz but to be honest it worsens their condition. I also add more saltwater to the tank.

Seansea · Sep 10, 2023

Ya the skimmer going nuts has me thinking something in the water is not good. Chemicals of any kind will make your skimmer go nuts. I wonder if something in the water your lfs is giving you. Also be careful putting hands in the tank. If you have dish soap or cleaning solution on your hands that will kill stuff i. Tank.