Dead Fish

[shelden816]

I have recently lost 2 fish due to them being stuck on the suction in my filters. What can i do to prevent that? I have 2 aqua clear 110's

 

[theplantman]

Most times its not them being stuck on the suction of the filters that is killing them, it is something else and they just end up there. Test all your water parameters first and make sure all is ok. Other than that, it sounds like you do not have an overflow. You may want to consider using an overflow box to pull water from the tank and then filter. Is this a saltwater tank, usually don't see those types of filters on them. What are your tank specs and what's the equipment you are running? Reef tank, fish only or fowlr?

 

[bazzinga13]

Will be something killing the fish or poisoning the fish once they are weak or dead they will be drawn towards the filter, check water parameters and what else do you have in tank fish and CUC wise

 

[shelden816]

I have a 40 gallon breeder, with 45 lbs of live rock. It is a FOWLR tank. My p.h is 8.0 ammonia zero, nitrites .25 and nitrate 0

 

[shelden816]

fish wise i have another clown and a yellow watchmen, with snails hermits and a emrald crab that i can't find.

 

[theplantman]

What are your phosphates testing at, dkh? Have you treated the tank with anything recently? how long has it been up and running? How long have you had the fish in questions?

 

[shelden816]

i have had the tank running since june, idk what my phosphates are testing at. I just have a api master test kit for saltwater tanks. i haven't treated anything in my tank, and have added 6 hermits recently because i was gone for a while due to family matters and had to take care of mom, so my tank isn't in the best shape algae wise. i have had the clown since august and the watchman since late september

 

[theplantman]

if you were gone, was anyone taking care of topping off water? Salinity could have been an issue. Unfortunatley with a small tank, water parameters can change very quickly. If you have a bad algae problem just the ph change at night can be drastic. My guess is its your water quality. i hope thinks have gotten better for your mom and family.

 

[shelden816]

They have and thank you for that. The gf was taking care of my tank as well as she could, but she was also taking care of my mom's dogs and such so not that much care was taken to the tank. Unfortunatly it had to take a back seat. I'll put some p.h buffer in there to get it up between 8.2 and 8.4 and wait a day or so to see if the trites go down, i assume they are up bc of the dead fish and added hermits.

 

[theplantman]

Your Nitrites will go up after an ammonia spike which will happen whenever new livestock is added or heavier than normal feeding occurs. Just means the live rock is doing its job. Just watch your nitrates and be ready for a water change, they are next to climb. you may want to invest in a protein skimmer if you dont have one, i had great success with an aquac remora HOB in my 30 reef tank which was heavily stocked. I used live rock and it as my filters (no sump) and it worked great. eventually i added a phosphate reactor too.