Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just set up a new saltwater fish tank and all the water tests are fine and so is the Saline but the fish are still dying, also do all tanks need a protein skimmer? The tank has live sand no live rock. or coral. I put the fish in the water in the bag from the store for 1 hr before I put the fish in the tank.

Can you give some additional information? What size tank, filter, type and number of fish? How long has the tank been set up?

You need to cycle the tank for at least a month with just live rock and sand. You would probably need a protein skimmer. At least most hobbyists I know have 'em. It just helps a lot.

When you said "or coral" I don't really understand. But if in case you are saying what I think you are saying, I would say stay away from inverts until you equalized the parameters your tank(ammonia already spiked and went to zero, nitrite already spiked and went to zero, and nitrates are significant), you've had a pretty consistent water parameters for at least 6 months, and you have a pretty good filtration system.

Don't do the freshwater tactic of acclimation when it comes to sw fish (dipping the bag on the surface for an hour). That just equalizes the ambiant temp of your display with that of the bag's. You have to drip-acclimate the fish.

you're killing fish because you are shocking them. Drip acclimate over 4 hours. Get a 5G bucket, pour the contents of the fish bag in there. You might want to tilt the bucket initially to give some water volume for fish to swim. Get an airline tube, place a couple of knots to control water flow, and syphon water from display to bucket at around 3 drops per second.

When the water volume on the bucket triples, scoop the fish with a plastic cup, try to drain most of the water from the cup, then let the fish quickly slide off into the tank. Takes about 3 - 4 hours.