KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build

[michika]

Something is wrong in my tank.

The lights just came on and my imperator angel is dead. Crabs haven't gotten to it yet, so it was a recent death. No cutes, sores, or wounds on the corpse. Imperator ate yesterday, and everything was normal. What should i be looking at to try and determine a COD? I could already see some of the colours fading when I pulled it out.

Ozonizer should be here any day now, and I hope that day is sooner then later. I'm not adding any more fish to this system until its here and running. I'm seriously debating not adding anymore fish at all until I've passed the 6 month mark with the ones I have. Maybe just some additional clean up crew members.

[Delphinus]

Ouch, that sucks Sorry to hear it and good luck with things.

And not that you have enough to worry about (and I don't think it's the cause of the fish deaths), but nitrates at 35ppm is definitely something you also want to look at. (It could just be the fish feeding.) You may want to look into sugar, or sugar/vodka/vinegar dosing as a temporary stop gap measure (be careful not to overdo it, the sudden reduction in nitrates can shock things - also if you dose too much sugar your tank will go cloudy with a bacterial bloom).

[michika]

Crap...I forgot to update this thread...I have 3 nitrate tests, 1 pinpoint monitor and two different brands of traditional test kits. I tested the water with the test kit and it gave me the 35ppm reading. When I tested with the pinpoint monitor I got 22ppm. I re-calibrated the monitor and got 21ppm. We are believing the monitor.

I did that water change yesterday, so I'm going to check the levels in the tank for today, and possibly do a second change tomorrow.

Nitrate levels are definitely the product of some seriously heavy feeding over the weekend, and possibly the death of the powder grey. I know the powder grey was eaten over the course of the 8 hour night, but still 8 hours is a long time.

I'm tired of this though, I just want a nice tank again with fish that thrive and don't die. I think I'm asking too much lately.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Oh no I'm really sorry....I didn't think Nitrates at 22 ppm could kill fish like that?

I'll hold on the Regal. No hurries.

[michika]

Please do! I want to make sure whatever is happening in my tank won't happen again, or will stop happening. I am so clueless, 3 dead fish in 3 days, 2 with unknown causes of death.

[JDigital]

Ohhh horrible news!! I'm sorry to hear about your losses.. I really hope your luck changes QUICK and you figure out whats going on!

[Delphinus]

No, indeed 22ppm NO3 won't do that, even 35ppm won't, but I thought I would caution about 35ppm because the last thing one needs now is to start noticing the SPS letting go (35ppm is way too high for SPS, IMHO). 21ppm is definitely a lot better than 35ppm though, I would not bother with the test kits if you're using the monitor. Just have plenty of calibration fluid on hand, I find if I get unexpected readings (or readings that don't make sense), I guess over time that stuff just contaminates to slightly different nitrate levels, so I switch to a new batch of calibration (I use refill the little bottles with the big ones) and it seems to normalize.