Why can't I keep fish alive...

[jgoldsney]

I have had the worst luck lately with keeping fish alive.....I am taking more care now than I ever have to acclimatize the fish but frankly I had better luck when I followed the not so good advice of a former LFS that reccomended just dumping the fish in the tank.

All my parameters seem to be normal but fish seem to be fine one day and gone the next.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

I am honnestly thinking of saying to heck with it and getting a tank full of bright blue damsels, they are cheap, they look good and they are tough.

[bubblepuffer]

I am not expert myself, but if all kind of fish end up dead in your tank.. I am thinking some kind of poison in the water or bacteria and also make sure there is no Real Dead Decorative of coral, starfish or anything in the tank that from a craft store.. those thing will leach poison or chemical into tank water

[Justusfish]

What parameters are you measuring?

Do you have any plastic or metal items in there that might be leaching chemicals into the tank?

Are you treating your water with buffers or using reverse osmosis?

On the other hand, you can get some wicked damsels and there is a fair variety of them.

[findingnemo1]

What about your oxygen levels? Do you have enough powerheads and water movement at the top of the water? Maybe youare not getting enough gas exchange and they are suffocating. When do they die? At night or day?

[kwirky]

I'd recommend seeing if the LFS will allow you to place a deposit on the fish, then let them stay at the store for a week before you bring them home for quarantine. Sometimes the brand new arivals at the LFS are experiencing lots of trauma from shipping and need a bit of extra time to recover before they're shipped a second time to a tank at your house.

Plus, it's better for it to die a day later at the LFS, than a tank at your house. Takes yourself out of the equation in it's death, and saves you money. Most places will let you re-apply the deposit to another fish.

[Black Phantom]

You need to give us a bit more information. And don't always trust a test kit. Borrow or buy a different brand for ammonia and try that. What kind of water are you using. What sort of symptoms do the fish show before they die.
Check your RO filters. Are they clogged and letting chlorine and other chemicals in.
Do a chlorine test.
Hope some of this helps:neutral:

[Scavenger]

Is it just new fish that die or all fish in the tank? Also what other livestock is in there? As this is in the reef forum, I was curious if you had corals ect that were doing better than your fish stock.

Edit #1
Hey, I just read apost of yours in this thread http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=240575#post240575 where you did a expanding styrofoam backdrop using krylon paint. As far as I know none of this stuff isn't made for marine use and who knows if it's safe for your livestock. You could be poisoning your fish.

Edit #2
I very highly suspect this is killing your fish. Just looked up the ingredients of kylon fusion paint. Here see for yourself. http://www.paintdocs.com/webmsds/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=DBS&UPC=724504025184

[christyf5]

Hey, I just read apost of yours in this thread http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=240575#post240575 where you did a expanding styrofoam backdrop using krylon paint. As far as I know none of this stuff isn't made for marine use and who knows if it's safe for your livestock. You could be poisoning your fish.

I very highly suspect this is killing your fish. Just looked up the ingredients of kylon fusion paint. Here see for yourself. http://www.paintdocs.com/webmsds/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=DBS&UPC=724504025184

OY! That can't be good.:neutral:

[X-Treme]

One other thing to look at.......when the fish "die" are they still in the tank (meaning can you see the dead body) or do they just disappear? (here one day, gone the next) If the latter is the case, maybe you have a mantis shrimp????

[Shrimpy]

Is it just new fish that die or all fish in the tank? Also what other livestock is in there? As this is in the reef forum, I was curious if you had corals ect that were doing better than your fish stock.

Hey, I just read apost of yours in this thread http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=240575#post240575 where you did a expanding styrofoam backdrop using krylon paint. As far as I know none of this stuff isn't made for marine use and who knows if it's safe for your livestock. You could be poisoning your fish.

I very highly suspect this is killing your fish. Just looked up the ingredients of kylon fusion paint. Here see for yourself. http://www.paintdocs.com/webmsds/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=DBS&UPC=724504025184

Holy carcinogens Batman!! http://bestsmileys.com/eek/3.gif

[AndyL]

krylons proven itself to be safe in reef tanks... there are hundreds of tanks out there with significant amounts of painted material... Including mine; never had unexplainable deaths (fish or coral).

I notice most of those carcinogens etc are part of the propellant & thinners (things which once dry are gone). MSDS requires some skill in interpreting - doesn't tell you everything. Should we dig out the MSDS on de-ionized water - I've got a copy at work!

[justinl]

tell us about your tank. dimensions, filtration, livestock, powereheads, heaters? parameters, livestock, LR, sand?

Are the fish you're trying out just the kind of fish that don't do well, like moorish idols?

yeah i agree that the foam might definitely be a cause.

[Black Phantom]

Scary - the foam back was the thread I started. I think I'll stick with the natural look.:smile:

[justinl]

there was one guy who said he worked with the expanding foam a lot and he recommended using it only as a mold. So get the shape you want, cover it in resin/sand, w/e and then remove the foam because over time it degrades. I wouldn't want that myself. but hey i got no experience with the stuff, this is just someone elses opinion.

[jgoldsney]

Wow what a response.....

first off... it is only the new fish that seem to have issues and not all of them... I had a school of chromises gradualy dissapear but that seems to be the way with chromises

I did a bunch of research on the foam and Krylon method and there are a number of people who are doing this without a problem The major issue seems to be letting things cure. My backdrop sat for at least a month before being added.

I have lost these fish within 24 hrs
In all cases they were eating and swiming around fine one day and gone the next. I only ever found 1 body

1 - flame angel
2 - fox faces


I had a single clown fish that is doing fine and have added a second clown that seems to be doing well

I also lost a wrasse that I added but I suspect he jumped as when I first was setting up he made the journy down to my sump and lived there for at least 6 months untill I found him....he then lasted another 2-3 months in the tank so I don't count him as one of the "mistry" deaths.

I have had all of this rock for quite a while so I doubt that it is a mantis...I have not heard any clicking either.

Zoos and other corals seem to do ok....almost lost some stuff when my calcium & alk got out of whack and due to heat but other than that things seem fine

[pinhead]

I would agree with a previous post about checking your oxygen levels. My tank is established and has been running for a number of years. All of a sudden one morning I had a dead pygmy angel and a tang in distress. The tang recovered later in the morning after the lights had been on a while. I had repositioned a power head a few days earlier and the circulation at night had changed with not as much flow at the surface.

As the corals have grown larger, they are now requiring more oxygen at night for respiration leaving less for the fish. By altering the flow there was now too little for the fish. I think Angels are particularly sensitve to oxygen levels. The only way I was able to figure this out was seeing the Tang recover. If they hide in the rockwork, you will never see them in distress and may never find their bodies.

Adjusting the powerhead to ensure surface agitation at night solved the problem.

[Black Phantom]

One more thing I just thought of. You never did post if you checked your RO system.
A friend of mine had the exact same thing happen to all of his new fish. Turned out he was buying RO water from the store and they hadn't changed their filters in a long long long time.
As soon as he bought his own RO system everything was fine.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Black Phantom hit upon an excellent point and I can say from experience, test kits go bad. Take a sample of your water to the LFS and have them test it, then compare what they say to your readings...
Dumping fish into a tank is one way to deal with fish that have been shipped over long distances and time. The theory is, the water they are shipped in will have massive amounts of ammonia, however the pH will be very low due to lot's of CO2 in the water so the ammonia may actually be in the form of non toxic ammonium. However, as soon as you start adding tank water the buffers, O2 etc will quickly raise the pH and the ammonium will change to toxic ammonia. They figure the change in water chemistry will be less stressful on the fish than dealing with the ammonia.
If you aren't finding bodies I figure something is eating them, any green brittle stars? Keep us posted as you find things out.

Doug