New Fish Always Die??

[The Langs]

I was wondering if someone may know why I can't get any new fish to stay alive? So my mandarin just died last week. I don't know if he went to long without copepods or if it was something else. So now the engineered goby that we baught last week just died yesterday. The last four new fish we've tried adding to the tank has died. Blue Tang, Puffer, Mandarin, and the Engineered Goby. I don't understand it because the other fish that has been in the tank from the beginning is doing just fine (two clown fish, one basselett, one damsel, one starfish, one coral banded shrimp, and one anenome). I have checked all the levels and everything checks out good. When I bring the new fish home I introduce them to the tank just like I've been intructed to. I don't understand what's going on and I'm hoping someone can maybe help diagnose my problem. The tank was set up on Jan 1st of this year. I change out about 15% of the water every 7-10 days. My water temps stays a pretty constent 78F degrees. Any help or suggustions on how to keep new fish from dying would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[Doug]

See my post on page 2 of this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=772&start=15

You say you are checking levels, and that's good, but perhaps you need to check your instruments to make sure they're reporting accurately.

[bluwtr]

What exactly are your parameters?

Also, detail how you acclimate. A bag that is topped off with O2 is great and makes for healthy animals, however, when the bag is opened and atmospheric CO2 enters,the waste products turn from ammonium (due to O2 saturation) into ammonia. Highly toxic and the clock starts ticking. Generally have a 1/2 hour or less to get the animal acclimated and into the tank.

[Gerwin]

this is a tough question and a tougher answer,
I will go with logic and odds on this,
its possible to get a bad fish, or it get stressed out and just do poorly, so lets say 50% of the time this was the case as its unlikely your luck would be this bad especially since you come to me , I could believe the blue tang and the mandarin could fall under this situation for a example. But the engineer and the puffer should have been pretty stout and do amazingly well in tanks as a rule. So that leads to the parameters of the tank or the tank mates. I know you care for your tank and can test and ITS very likely that old tank inhabitants are hazing the new comers to the point of not eating and dieing or just plain being beat to death.
Likely fish to do this in your tank from my experience:
two clown fish (esp if its a tomato, sebae, or maroon but I have even seen very mean percs) one basslet, one damsel, either one of those two can most definitely be killers after making the territories in the tank. so pretty much every fish you have can POTENTIALLY be dominate and territorial. ( it does not help that the tank is approx 30 gallons as space is divided up quickly with bullies) If you can identify them bring them back and trade in or we can do a hard reboot and bring them all back and start over with small fish.

[The Langs]

Okay bluwtr, so I've definetely been acclimating too long. I have been adding water to the bag every 10-15 min for about 45 min to an hour. I will change the way I do this and only acclimate for 30 min.

Gerwin, I think what your saying about having bullies is definetely our main problem. I just never really thought about that until you just brought it up.The basslet is definetely the tank bully, he is very aggressive. He rules the tank. Anytime another fish comes near his half off the tank he runs them off. He really thinks that over half of the tank is his. Both clown fish and the damsel share one rock as their hangout, then the shrimp has his own rock and the rest of the tank (three bigs rocks) belongs to the basslet. So this also explains why the engineer just died. He stayed in hiding and wouldn't come out or eat for the 5 or 6 days we had him and the morning my wife found him dead she said his head was red and his eyeball looked like it was about to explode or as if he had been beatin. The damsel seems a little territorial also, but not as aggressive as the basslet. I think we will definetely bring you the basslet this weekend and replace him with something else. I don't see where the two clown fish have ever harmed anyone so I'll keep them for now. What do you think about the damsel, should I bring him also?

Oh, and this also sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger tank... Need more space!!

[Gerwin]

45 minutes of acclimation is not going to be the problem, I have been telling folks add water every 3-4 minutes for 45 minutes for a very long time and no problems, some folks even do slow drips for hours! which I think is a bit long IMO. and the Qty of water to add depends a bit on the bag size but a shot glass is a good all around qty. But for the most part 20-30 minutes will adjust the temp but in SW you also have to consider the salt, ph etc as well. Again some fish are just more prone to stress than others.

[guitarest]

I dont follow any of those rules, its live or die in my tank..... lol

Sorry just joking I admit I test my water, have a 950 submersible pump to provide water movement, swap out 30 gallons of water every 7-10 days, and careful not to over feed since they do beg allot....

Must be doing something right I let go over 15 fry that were babies from the Bull Minnows; and the crabs do eventually get let go when they get too damn large. And NO, I do not eat my softshell crabs it would be counterproductive to the overall concept of the tank.