All of my fishes are dead.. I am trying to find the cause.

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longvuong1004

Premium Member
I have a 65 gallons tank and it has been set up and cycle for 2 months. I started using the searchern ph buffer to add to my ATO tank.. 4 days later, my clown fishes and tang and 2 Chromis are dead. The last one who eat fine on Friday. there is no spot or any physical damages on the fish from what i observe. the next day, after I changed 15 gallons of water yesterday.  I find him dead, white body stucking next to the overflow box.  I did not see any sign of abuse of white spots on any of my fishes. I had my clowns and tang  for 5 months from my 40 gallons cube and there were very hardy and healthy. I also used searchen ph buffer back then but i did not see anything.Can the ph buffer kill my fishes?  I only feed a small amount of food once per day. I have a few hermit crab in there  and my corals are doing fine in the tank. so the quetion is should I move my coral to QT tank or just have a large water change for now and started adding fish slowly back to the tank? Tank 65 gallonAmmonia/Nitrite/Nitrate : 0 ppm before fish diesPH: 7.8  according to API test kit  
 
So sorry for your loss :-(Not likely the buffer directly killed them but for sure a high spike back to low may have done it. I would not use a buffer to chase Ph numbers. That will cause you lots of grief. I would stop using that all together.  Just trying to think...your ATO may have dumped a bunch of High Ph water in during your water change maybe or stayed on too long. What is your salinity reading currently? 
 
my salinity has been 1.024 (+ or -.001) since the beginning. when my fishes die, I bring the water to the local fish store and they said it is at 1.023... my PH is around 7.8 so they think it would stress the fish out.  I test my alk and KH yesterday, they are higher than recommend but i dont remember the exact number but PH is at 8.4. Calcium is at 450. I did not test Magnesium. temp is usually from 74-75oc.  I turn off the sump at night so sometime it drops to 73/  
 
Hmm, if your salinity is lower than normal then it is possible you got a large dose of ATO with high Ph. I don't know what else would have caused the deaths, other than some foreign element like a chemical or soap. I would replace your top off water with fresh RODI water, with no buffer, and slowly bring your salinity back up by adding fresh saltwater periodically. Once your at normal salinity, do a few water changes and check all parameters, especially ammonia since there were deaths, before adding anymore livestock. Do you have a controller like an APEX? If so, make sure in your maintenance feed mode you add code to shut OFF your ATO and delay ON for an hour to make sure it never comes on during a water change.I hope that info helps, those are the only ideas I could come up with. Maybe some other members will chime in with more ideas.Again sorry for your loss.
 
Please read my article on water quality.  This will help you learn what the various elements should read in your tank. http://www.melevsreef.com/node/718I tend to think using a pH buffer could have harmed those fish. While you think you are raising pH (temporarily) in the tank, you are affecting other parts of the necessary triangle (alkalinity, calcium & magnesium).  Get yourself some test kits of your own, and measure. From your own results, dose what needs to be added to keep those three on target: http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/dont-chase-ph
 
 Lesson learned. I'll stay away from buffer for now and more care about the elements in the tank. What i worry is human error while using those test. I will consider purchasing hanna testing. thank you for all the advice.
 
"I turn off the sump at night so sometime it drops to 73."Why do you turn off the sump at night?  That might cause an ammonia spike.
 
because I think i would let the fish sleep since i have a mag 9 and its pretty powerful for the 65 gallon to be honest. but i could be wrong
 
What do you depend on most for the biological filter?  Live rock, or something in your sump?IMO, if it is your sump, you could cause your biological filter to die if you shut off all the flow through it.  Even in your tank the slime coat on live rock needs some flow to live.  I cut my flow way down at night, but I never shut it off.If your tank has a solid top the fish could run out of oxygen with the pump cut off.  Oxygen is also reduced if there is no surface turbulence.Mark
 
thank for the advice I think my main filtration are the 90 lbs rock in the display tank. Sump only has protein skimmer and a few lbs of filter media. I am thinking about turn off the main pump and let the wavemaker turn on the head to the surface to provide oxygen to the tank at night. 
 
Is your heater/heaters located in your sump? I understand your reason for wanting to slow down the flow for the night time hours, but I really don't like the idea of shutting off the pump completely every night. You could always plumb a bypass valve on the return line and open it up at night to lessen the flow. Or you could get a DC return pump with multiple speed settings and turn it down that way. I just don't think shutting it down completely is healthy for the system. It really should have SOME flow 24/7 IMO.
 
No, do not turn off the life support of your system ever. Flowing water is good. Standing water is stagnant and could even begin to become toxic. Leave all pumps running all the time. 
 
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