Star Fish dying

[jeswin1.jose]

I am new to Reef tank.
My tank is 90 gallon and now 4 months old.
I have live rocks etc.
I keeps testing parameters always found Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5 ppm
PH - vary 7.8 to 8.0, i add ph buffer to increase to 8.2. but few told me to maintain 7.8 as it may increase more and could be reason for fishes dying.
Salinity - 1.020 - 1.021
Temperature - 28 to 30 degrees (in summer)


I have my long tentacle anemone, club anemones without issue from 45 th day.
First round of all fishes died in few days - including clown, damsels, gobi, linckia star, unicorn
Second round all fishes died in few days.

Third round all fishes are success since 2 weeks - chromies, gobi, clown, wrasse etc

But Star fish still not succeeded, this time max 5 days it died.


What could be the problem?


The parameters i keep testing on daily basis.
Only PH 7.8 usually and if i add PH buffer then moves to 8.2.
Temperature 28 to 30 degrees usually.

I need expert advise on this.

 

[Timfish]

It would help to know what starfish you're having issues with. If one died in just 5 days my suspicion is it had a problem before you got it. Fromia and Linkia liekly starve in aquaria and shouldn't be purchased IMO. Do a search on "starfish" and the member "LivinLifeInBKK" to see more on this subject

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I'm here...yes, do you know what starfish you had? That could help explain a lot.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I have my long tentacle anemone, club anemones without issue from 45 th day.
First round of all fishes died in few days - including clown, damsels, gobi, linckia star, unicorn
Second round all fishes died in few days.

Third round all fishes are success since 2 weeks - chromies, gobi, clown, wrasse etc

But Star fish still not succeeded, this time max 5 days it died.


What could be the problem?


The parameters i keep testing on daily basis.
Only PH 7.8 usually and if i add PH buffer then moves to 8.2.
Temperature 28 to 30 degrees usually.

I need expert advise on this.

Ok, first off, if you experienced multiple fish deaths on two separate occasions within a few days, there was something very wrong with your water chemistry I suspect. Possibly due to your water source. Where do you get your water from is it RODI? It sounds like perhaps it was contaminated with heavy metals, there was a sudden ammonia spike, or even possibly a stray electrical discharge from somewhere. You mentioned you have live rocks and always tested ammonia at 0 but did you test after adding the fish? The Linckia likely died for the same reason as the fish in the first round.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The last and final time you said that you've managed to keep the fish alive for two weeks now but the Linckias died within 5 days. You probably are still having the same issue because you never identified what the issue was.
Furthermore, Linckias stars are very difficult to keep, especially in new systems. It almost inevitably would have starved to death eventually unless you provided it special care and paid almost constant attention to it. Please don't add any more starfish until your tank is stable. Once it's stable do actual research into the biology and ecology of the starfish you desire. Do not rely on your LFS. After your research you'll probably realize a Linckias or Fromia just isn't the right match for you right now. If I were you, I'd advise an ICP test to test for heavy metals which may be toxic and test for ammonia daily for a little while longer.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

If you'd like to discuss, feel free to comment or message me. Pretty sure that's why the star died though.

 

[LordofCinder]

How many fishes are you adding at a time? Should be 2-3 small fishes, then let your system adjust to the increased bioload for 3-4 weeks, then introduce another 2-3, then wait again... until the tank is full. Be patient

PH is not really all that important as long as its normal. A fluctuation of .2 or .4 won't bother anything, thats not the issue,