HELP!! Fish are dying, but Inverts are still alive!

[blondie]

I hope someone can help me. I have started a 10 gallon tank in December (about 6 1/2 months ago) and have not had any problems up until now. My tank contained 1 tomatoe clown, 1 percula clown, 1 damsel and one hawaiian strawberry crab. I do regular water changes every month and feed them a variety of food. A couple days ago I lost the tomatoe and the damsel within an hour of each other, and the following day, the percula clown died as well. Prior to dying, the fish lost color, stopped eating and started breathing heavily. I tested the water for the usual...PH, salinity, Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, and they all tested normal. I also just put in a poly pad/filter to test for other things and so far it has tested positive for copper. My question is....the crab is still alive and seems to be doin fine, but what else can i do to figure out what it is that is causing my fish to die and not my crab. Please help because I am stumped.

[BiG Orange]

>I have started a 10 gallon tank in December

>My tank contained 1 tomatoe clown, 1 percula clown, 1 damsel and one
>hawaiian strawberry crab.



Too many fish, pick ONE next time. Ten gallons doesn't leave much room for
error either. Damsels are very aggressive surprised it worked out this long.
He must have been good because the tank was so small he thought it was jail.


B.O.

[[email protected]]

could be brooklynella, sorry.

[Billy]

"blondie" > wrote in
message ...
>
> I hope someone can help me. I have started a 10 gallon tank in
> December
> (about 6 1/2 months ago) and have not had any problems up until
> now. My
> tank contained 1 tomatoe clown, 1 percula clown, 1 damsel and one
> hawaiian strawberry crab. I do regular water changes every month
> and
> feed them a variety of food. A couple days ago I lost the tomatoe
> and
> the damsel within an hour of each other, and the following day, the
> percula clown died as well. Prior to dying, the fish lost color,
> stopped eating and started breathing heavily. I tested the water
> for
> the usual...PH, salinity, Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, and they all
> tested normal. I also just put in a poly pad/filter to test for
> other
> things and so far it has tested positive for copper. My question
> is....the crab is still alive and seems to be doin fine, but what
> else
> can i do to figure out what it is that is causing my fish to die
> and
> not my crab. Please help because I am stumped.
>


An infection is possible, and somewhat likely due to the speed that
the losses occured. I would also be sure nothing metallic was
introduced to the tank, and carefully examine ANY changes you made in
the 48-72 hours preceeding the deaths. Be sure your test kits are
reliable, take a water sample to the lfs to verify your results, as
the symptoms you relate *do* sound a bit like ammonia\nitrite\nitrate
poisoning, but if your test results are correct, this did not occur.
Could you post more than just 'normal' on your test results? Do you
have LiveRock? What's your filtration setup?
And once again, I must disagree with BO, 3 small fish in a 10g is
not overstocked. Close, but reasonable if cared for properly.
Something went wrong here, but overstocking is not the issue.

billy