New fish always die but inverts do fine. ***?

[arminkropp]

Wondering if I can get some guidance. For some reason I can't seem to keep fish alive in my tank no matter what, yet inverts like featherdusters, blue leg crabs, astrea snails, copepods and amphipods all do good.

Everything is drip acclimated (3-4 drops per second) and have bought fish from separate stores.

I've tried 3 fish. Yellow tail damsel, Purple dottyback and a Orange marked goby. Dottyback lived the longest, about 3 weeks.

Tank was cycled and has been up for a couple months.

Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites are at 5 (API test kit). pH is at 8.4 (API test and digital) and sg is at 1.022-1.023. (3 different hydrometers, Refractometer coming this week.) Water changes every week. Have my own RO/DI unit and TDS is at 0. Running some carbon, Purigen and PhosGuard, so that should eliminate silicates and phosphates.

My tank is a 75 Gal and I have 100lbs of live rock (nicely cured, covered in coralline) Filter is a fluval C4 (running media) Remora skimmer with the maxijet 1200 and 2 850GPH Aqueon powerheads. Lighting is a quad T5 fixture.

Appreciate any help!
TIA

[Microcosmos]

How do you find their bodies? Or do you find them? If water quality is good I'd wonder if you may be introducing a disease or parasite. Do you quarantine new fishes? If so or if they are healthy specimens, you might have a mantis shrimp in all of that live rock.

[sreefs]

If tank was cycled Ammonia, and Nitrites should be zero not 5.
He is some great info in these threads.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1166124
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112

[Crush Coral]

I would raise salinity to 1.025 but that has nothing to do with losing fish. Beware of aerosol contaminates and Frebreze. There is always the chance that u had bad luck and got fish that were just going to die. I do not use a pi test kits so I do not know what 5 for ammonia is. Have the lfs test your water too. Decide what fish and corals you most want to keep, build a plan f9r what the other tank mates u will have with it and start with a hardy fish from that list. Inverts are tougher than fish. Perhaps let it sit for a couple weeks too. The ammonia is the only thing that makes me raise an eyebrow.

[arminkropp]

If tank was cycled Ammonia, and Nitrites should be zero not 5.
He is some great info in these threads.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1166124
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112

My mistake nitrAtes are 5 not nitrItes

[arminkropp]

Ughh, typing to fast. Ammonia and Nitrites are at 0, Nitrates are 5

As far as the rock goes, I started with base rock so I doubt that there are any predators. I seeded with a couple rock from a friends tank.

[mcginnisandrew]

What were you feeding them and how often?

[arminkropp]

My food is New Life/Spectrum Saltwater Flake With Garlic. I fed every other day.

[Dmorty217]

Sounds like you brought in disease of some sort and don't know it. I would read up on disease and educate yourself so you can figure out what "it" is thats in the tank. Fish only living 3 weeks at the longest is for sure signs of disease

[scooter31707]

I would let the tank go fallow for 72 days and during that time research illness and quarantine procedures as mentioned above.

[Reef Frog]

Letting the tank go fallow for 72 days is the right thing to do.

The fish could have had a disease, and they could have simply been weak dish that were highly stressed & destined to die.

One thing that stands out in the OP's story s drip acclimation and no mention of quarantine. IMO & IME drip acclimation is very hard on new fish. New fish do best when put directly, with no delay, in a QT tank that matches the salinity of the tank the fish came from. Simply float the bag in the QT for a while until it matches the QT's temperature.

Unlike the drip method, this method has several advantages:

-Does not expose the fish to ANY possibility of osmotic shock. Going from typical LFS water of 1.017 to 1.026 found in the reef tank is hugely stressful no matter how carefully or how long you drip.
-Keeps temperature as stable as possible. Drip aclimation often ends up being significantly under tank temperatures.
-A month in QT allows the fish to rest and learn to eat your food.
-It's easy to deworm a fish in QT

Also, when buying fish, I believe the most vulnerable time is when they've been in LFS custody for only a few weeks. They've already been exposed to possible disease & stress of the LFS stock tanks, but haven't been there long enough to prove they can survive the stresses of recent shipping. I prefer to buy fish right when they arrive from the wholesaler, or at the other end of the spectrum after they've been in LFS tanks for a while and proven themselves more hardy survivors.
-

[arminkropp]

I had let the tank go fallow for 6 months before I added my third attempt this past weekend.

I have a 90 minute drive to the closest fish store.

The reason I thought drip acclimation was better was to avoid pH shock not so much osmotic shock.

[A1t2o]

What's the temp and light schedule? You may also want to check for stray voltage in the tank. Also what size if your heater and how cold does it get at night both in the house and the tank. Definitely raise your SG to 1.025.

Drip acclimation is best, but try to get the fish out of the bag in about 30 min or so after opening. Make sure the water you are acclimating in didn't cool off before putting the fish in the tank.

Try adding a clean up crew first just to make sure they will survive before you add any more fish. It sound like you just got unlucky or your local pet store doesn't take very good care of the fish. Let the CUC stay in there for the 72 day waiting period (to be safe) and keep them fed with small amounts of fish food. If the CUC survives then after the 72 days, there is no reason fish wouldn't.