My fish are dying
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: EMERGENCY FORUM
Forum Description: If you have an Emergency post here and you should receive a quick reply.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64890
Printed Date: July 29 2026 at 4:53am
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Topic: My fish are dying
Posted By: jh4
Subject: My fish are dying
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 8:28pm
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Hello all. I am new to the hobby of SW and to this forum. My problem is that I did a water change yesterday and noticed after that some of my fish were breathing hard. This morning I woke up and my Wrasse, 2 yellow tail damsels and chromis are dead. My tank has been set up since the new year and I have had only problems with nitrates due to the fact it is a FOWLR tank with no sump or protein skimmer. I know, I know. So water changes every week and cleaning my canister filter twice a week. I am saving to put in a better system. The only test kit I have is an API, ammonia,nitrite,PH, and nitrate. The only thing that is reading above zero with this test kit is the nitrate. 20 ppm. I use water from our home RO system for water changes. Any help would be great because the rest of the fish don't seem happy. I have a long spine sea urchin and was told they have poisonous spines. Could it release toxin into the tank? |
Replies:
Posted By: jh4
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 8:46pm
| I forgot to mention my water is at 76 degrees and my SG is at 1.022. My livestock that I have left is a Blue jaw trigger, snowflake eel, 2 clown fish, to chromis and the long spined sea urchin. My tank is a 44 gallon corner tank. I have good water movement as well. Thanks again for any help. Justin |
Posted By: AcroNem
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 8:53pm
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Well a lot of people will tell you that if you don't run a protein skimmer, have a sump everything will die you will fail blah blah blah. But I'm not one of those people, afterall you have to know the rules well to break them right? One of my reefs(smallest tank) is a 55 gallon with two canister filters. no sump, no protein skimmer. No problems whatsoever. But this is because I do weekly 40% water changes with ALL my tanks. Your fish shouldn't have died because of 20ppm of nitrates so there has to be something else. You used RO filtered water so you're good there. Is there anything that could have leaked into your tank? Unless your urchin Is dead you shouldn't worry about him I've never had an issue with them while they're alive. Do your fish show any signs of disease or parasites? |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 8:55pm
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Aloha, Several things could have happened, but the first thing to do is mix up some new water in a clean bucket and get the fish into it. If the fish cannot be caught, the next best thing, which should be done anyway, is to add a large bag of AC (activated carbon). AC removes toxic chemicals from the water. It could have been some soap or other chemical in the water change bucket. It only takes a trace. It could have been bad water. What is the RO water TDS? When was the last time the Membrane was changed? It could have been something accidentally dropped into the tank by a child. An Urchin cannot cause this. Don't let anyone tell you that it is wrong not to use a sump or a skimmer. More on that later. You may call me right now at 808-345-1049 to talk about what else to do. Quicker than waiting for this forum. Mahalo, Mark  808-345-1049 anytime Murray ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: jh4
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 9:13pm
| Thanks you guys for your suggestions. I should have gone to the store today I guess to get some AC. Im not running any right now. The local fish store PetSmart is closed. Hopefully the fish will survive through the night. I have wondered about something getting into my water change bucket too. I changed my membrane and all filters in our RO system about 3 months ago. |
Posted By: jh4
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 9:16pm
| My bluejaw trigger has a small white spot on his left eye. It has came and gone before but never anything He hasn't seemed to get rid of on his own. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 9:46pm
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The same thing happened to a friend of mine. His mother-in-law was just helping clean the house but didn't know she was using a bucket he had dedicated to his fish stuff. He never suspected it until he saw his tank gasping for air. Soap coats fish gills making the fish suffocate. Would you be interested to learn how some really simple, no cost things could lessen water changes and filter cleanings. These things might also make your tank look even better than it has looked before. Aloha Mark Oh and by the way, here is a big fishy welcome to the WMAS.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: AcroNem
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 10:28pm
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Nice fishy welcome Mark! Mark always has great answers as well. I really hope the rest of your fish make it it's always terrible when these things happen to people. Get carbon in there and change out the water keep us posted and good luck. 801-850-7577 Justin |
Posted By: jh4
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 10:57pm
| FYI TO ALL. I am pretty sure I found the problem. I just bought a new Hydor wavemaker off of Amazon and put it in the tank to replace a cheaper one that I had.... Well, it had quite a bit of oil on the impeller shaft. I didn't notice it until I was cleaning my canister filter and noticed there was oil floating on the surface of the water in my canister filter. When I pulled out the wavemaker my hands had some oil on them. NO JOKE!!! I hope this helps. When in doubt clean, clean and clean again before any thing goes in your tank. Thanks for your help |
Posted By: AcroNem
Date Posted: June 09 2013 at 11:04pm
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You've got it right there, always clean new equipment it could have leeched something into your water. definitely get Carbon asap and change a lot of water. Again sorry for your losses. -Justin |
Posted By: Softplan
Date Posted: June 10 2013 at 1:21pm
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One other thing to be conscious of is the salt mix. I always mix up my water for my water changes and stick a power head in it and let it sit for about 24 hours. I point the power head towards the top of the water so it can get some air exchange. I have heard of disasters with a bad batch of salt.
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Posted By: jh4
Date Posted: June 12 2013 at 8:38pm
Good suggestions guys thanks. Justin. FYI, it might take a day or two for me to answer or respond. Not meaning to be rude or anything but I don't always have a chance to look at email. Sharing the computer with my wife and three teenage kids. Need I say more. 
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Posted By: chris.rogers
Date Posted: June 13 2013 at 11:13pm
Just FYI, there's a few of us in Cache Valley. I'm in North Logan. PM me if you need something, I'll see what I can do.  ------------- Ils sont fous, ces Romains! |