Frustration

The purpose of this post is just for me to vent off a little frustration.  I have had 5 fish die off in 3 days and have the chance to loose probably 3 or 4 more from the looks of them.  The other day I noticed a fish that I had purchased a short while ago had died.  I pulled it out and decided to check my levels just to make sure nothing was wrong in my tank.
My levels were
Sal  1.026
ph  8.14
alk 12.2
cal 440
ammonia .20
nitrates 10
nitrites 0
phosphate 0
CA reactor Solid at 6.69
ORP 330

I figured the raised ammonia must be due to the dead fish. Since everything seem to be fine, I put in a fresh carbon filter to help clean out the system.

The next day, I noticed my Powder Blue had a terrible case of ICK.  This to me was strange because my fish have never had ICK like this and I always have my UV running.  So fearing the worst, I did a quick check of my levels but everything was the same as before except the ph was a slight bit lower (my ph fluctuates but nothing major).  I ended up finding that my bulb for my UV had burnt out.  This bulb must have just been a crappy one because I changed it only 4-5 months ago. 
Anyway,  added some of my dosing garlic to see if that would help save the PB, but I didnt think there was much chance of this.  While I was looking over the tank, I notice my Royal gramma was also dead. 
The next day, I woke up and checked the tank and found the PB dead and stuck to the side of my vortech.  That was my favorite fish, so it was pretty frustraiting.    Anyway, I pulled the fish out and looked over my other fish.  They all seemed to be acting a little strange.  I checked the levels again and the only thing to note is my ORP has been dropping.  Last night I notice my coral beauty was swimming odly and my bluehead wrasse (my other favorite fish) was having issues as well.  This morning when I got to work I was told by my wife that the wrasse is dead on the sand and the beauty is no where to be seen.  So I figure its a goner as well.
All the corals in my tank are looking great, nothing seems to be having problems besides the fish in my main display.  I have 2 or 3 fish in my frag tank but they are doing fine and do not seem to be affected by whatever is going on in my Display. 
Currently as you can see below in my sig, my ORP is at 190. Dont know if that is part of the problem now or if my probe is just being lame.   I am not sure what is causing this, but I do know it sucks when you loose a bunch of fish. 
I may or may not do a big water change today, my levels are still looking normal besides the ORP so I do know if it would really do anything.  I am just frustrated,  thanks for allowing me to vent a little

Wow, that really sucks. Sorry to hear it. That would be extremely frustrating.

Here's just 2 random thoughts that probably don't have anything to do with what's going on.

One, I see your ph at 7.8 right now and when you posted it was at 8.14. I know a mild swing is to be expected but this seems like a pretty big swing to me personally. It may be that I don't have a pH probe going constantly so I don't notice similar swings in my tank.

The other thought was the UV bulb dying. Is it possible that running the UV made the water so clean that when it died, and who knows when that may have happened, it could have caused a bacteria bloom that shocked the fish??

I had a recent ammonia spike.... wiped out my tangs in one day.  It is saddening and shocking when everything looks great one day, and then wham, death.  Sorry Keith. 

Luckedout wrote: Wow, that really sucks. Sorry to hear it. That would be extremely frustrating. Here's just 2 random thoughts that probably don't have anything to do with what's going on. One, I see your ph at 7.8 right now and when you posted it was at 8.14. I know a mild swing is to be expected but this seems like a pretty big swing to me personally. It may be that I don't have a pH probe going constantly so I don't notice similar swings in my tank. The other thought was the UV bulb dying. Is it possible that running the UV made the water so clean that when it died, and who knows when that may have happened, it could have caused a bacteria bloom that shocked the fish??

first, to answer the question on the PH....I have had swings in my PH ever since setting up the system in Kaysville, which has now been over a year.  I am not sure why I have such swings, because when I lived at my previous house my PH was solid all the time.  The only thing that has changed is the city where the water comes from.   Im not saying it is a good thing that I have these swings and I do plan on getting a Kalk reactor to help keep it steady. I just havent had the extra funds with the wife being out of work.  With that being said, maybe it has finally become an issue for the fish but why after so long?

Second.  The UV idea is an interesting topic.  I guess that could be something, I just dont know how to prove that....

Not that this is any help cuz i'm a rookie but might explain a lot about all my stupid post but my PH Swings majorly day to day i'm talkin 1-2 points a day...

As noted, the elevated Ammonia is due to dead fish.

chk4tix wrote: ...other than the water change and garlic do I just let everything run its course and hope for the best?

Sorry to hear about your fish troubles, Keith - hope things get better for you...

These things happen to the best of us. Sorry for your loss.

BDerron wrote: hey keith sorry to hear about your loss   on a side note having seen your frag tank and location i would be willing to bet that your ph swing is due to your furnace using up oxygen in your basement.  i remember you telling me that you were in an older house before that was probably not as well sealed up.

I guess that could be a possiblity.  I am thinking about running a air tube outside to feed the skimmer