[jenstaley]

Well, my puffer died in quarentine, and I did go out that morning (before he died) and bought a whole quarentine system. Then with no signs of illness my clown fish and hawkfish both died 2 days later. My snails and crabs are still alive, and my starfish and snowflake eel, but all the fish are gone. My water tests are right on target, I don't understand. I even bought a second water test kit in case the one I had was expired (can't find a date anywhere) and that test was fine to.... the only thing I can think of is that I did a water change 2 days before puffer got sick. I used bottled water and mixed the salt early, but the water change did drop the tank tempature 2 degrees for a short time..... would this kill the enitire tank?
So, what is the next step? Water change I am sure, but do I have to start over and empty the whole thing and start the cycle again? Or can I add a fish or 2 this week, and take it slow?
thanks!

[The R/C Man]

Sorry to hear about the crash..... What we need to do is find out what went wrong. Since all your test where good we need to look at some other things. How long has the tank been running? What type of filtration are you using? Do you have powerheads in the tank? Are there kids in the house that could have poored something into the tank? I am sure I am missing some things but we can start here. In the mean time I wouldn't try to add any other animals until we find out what happened....

[jenstaley]

Thanks for helping me figure this out. The tank is 80 gallons and has been up for 9 months, and most of my fish have been around since after the cycle finished. I have an ehiem canister filter, a rio powerhead, and an air pump that puts bubbles into the tank, so there is no area where water does not move on the top. I also have a UV sterilizer in line with the filter. I do have a 5 year old boy, but the tank is built into the wall, and there is no way he could get up to the height that the lid is at, and open it without the help of myself or my husband.
I am so bummed, my whole family is coming out this weekend for christmas for the first time since I built this house with the aquarium of my dreams, and I so wanted to show it off.... plus I LOVED those fish! Thanks in advance for your help.
jen

[Poseidon]

Canister Filter, they can lead to problems for inverts. Did you check for Nitrate? Also I know you have had problems with ick, did you ever medicate the main display? You may want to consider running fallow for the next 6 weeks just to make sure the parasite is no longer present. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but it would be the SAFEST thing for your wallet, and any fish you want to add!

[Steven Pro]

I am leaning towards a disease issue. You had a previous thread about your fishes having troubles with Ich (ich is back... help!) so that would be my best guess. I would leave your tank without fishes for two months. In the mean time, get your quarantine tank up and running and carefully screen all future additions in there.

I also don't see any mention of a protein skimmer and I am unsure if there is sufficient circulation in the tank. These could be contributing factors.

[tmorr37]

Originally Posted by jenstaley

the only thing I can think of is that I did a water change 2 days before puffer got sick. I used bottled water and mixed the salt early, but the water change did drop the tank tempature 2 degrees for a short time!

Bottled water? What do you mean by this?

[jenstaley]

I buy my water from the crystal water truck, it is reverse ossmosis, and I have been told that is the best. If I was to medicate my main tank, what do I do with the snails and starfish? And I did test for nitrate, nitrite, PH, and amonia... all tests were right on target. I think my water circulation is good, I have the spray bar from the filter, the rio powerhead, and an air pump with a line that runs under the gravel and makes big bubbles. There is no area where the water doesn't break.

[Poseidon]

THis is not the cause of your trouble, but most saltwater tanks skip the airstones all together to save bubbles sticking to fish/corals.

Steven brings up an excellent point, Protein Skimmer?

[GoinSalt]

If you're not running a protein skimmer, that's probably the culprit.

I had the exact same thing happen to me after about nine months of running no skimmer. All my livestock died suddenly and ammonia and trates were off the charts.

HTH

Nate