saltwater fish dying?
Posted by admin on January 30th, 2009 filed in Fish
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Casey K posted
saltwater fish dying?
saltwater fish dying?
I have a 40 gallon tank I recently had a scooter blenny die and now my half black angel laying on the bottom kinda curled and stiff that is about to, I still have a couple damsels, a clown, a couple snails and hermit crabs, and two anemones, is there something wrong with my tank? are they in danger of dying too.
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February 1st, 2009 at 7:51 am
Fish death is usually cause by : Chlorine, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Have you cycled your tank? Added dechlorinator? Tested your water for high levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
check your salt level and your pH level.
If you put any new fish recently then it may have brought in disease.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Posted by puredoller
You need to do a water check asap - primarily your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. if you don’t have a test kit bring a ziplock baggie about half full to your petstore and they will check it for you for free… You can tell a lot from the water quality.
If you have already done this, list the results here for us so we can tell you what to do. The fact that a fish died in your tank and now another one is dying doesn’t help us figure out WHY.
It’s possible you are over feeding and the extra is rotting on the bottom and turning into waste which would essentially poison your fish. think of it like us standing in a cloud of smog and breathing it in constantly. You say you have ‘a couple’ snails and hermits…. a couple isn’t enough. aim for 1 detrius eater per gallon, be it a hermit, snail, starfish, lobster, shrimp….
and 2 anemones in a 40 gallon is a lot. anemones get very big and are very aggressive with a nasty sting for anything that touches it that isn’t a clownfish. They don’t like each other either and can have a chemical war with one another from opposite sides of the tank. Is one of your anemones relatively new? have they been growing and now are very large? If your fish can’t swim around without running into an anemone, that could be a problem!
February 7th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Posted by icecubez189
use a saltwater test kit first to check to see if your ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes levels are out of whack. check your water temperature and food.
February 8th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Your saltwater tank is severely overstocked. Saltwater tanks stock differently than freshwater, in the fact that you have to stock lighter in order to have a healthy tank. The more sensitive fish are the first to go, as you are currently observing.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Posted by Jon S
I agree with puredoller, a water test is a must, and right away. I would suspect a chemical imbalance since your damsels and clown (which is also a damsel, by the way) are not yet affected, but your more delicate fish are getting sick and dying. Damsels are notoriously hardy and can withstand moderate fluctuations in water chemistry. If ammonia level is high make sure you’re not overfeeding since decaying food is an aquarists worst enemy. Long story short, the water test should give you a clue as to what the problem is. Let us know the results if you’re not sure what they mean.