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Revised June 1 2008

Troubleshooting Marine Aquarium Systems

Symptom	Possible Cause(s)	Possible Solution
Yellowish water.	Lack of water change, exhausted activated carbon, and/or heavy alagal growth.	Water change and change or addition of activated carbon filtration.
Red slime algae on the bottom and sides of the tank.	Improper lighting, high nutrient load, especially in a reef tank.	Remove nitrite and especially phosphate from the system water, remove all detritus from system, consider treatment with erythomycin (this may destroy filter bacteria).
Brown dust-like algae on bottom and sides of the tank.	Diatom bloom, improper lighting, high levels of silic acid (silica) in system water.	Remove excess nutrients, use deionized and/or RO water for all freshwater additions.
Persistent foam and/or shiny film on surface.	High level of dissolved organic compounds, the tank may be overcrowded or overfed.	Water change, add use of protein skimmer, add surface skimmer.
Reduced water flow from uplift tubes.	Caked filter bed and/or clogged air stones.	Clean filter bed, replace some filter media, replace air stones. UG filters should not be used in a reef tank setup.
Cloudy water, green or white.	A bloom in the tank water of microscopic algae (green) and/or bacteria (white).	Reduce lighting (algae bloom), increase or add fine mechanical filtration, reduce nutrients.
Cloudy white water, tiny bubbles in eyes and fins of fish.	Tiny air bubbles in tanks water, could be from an air leak to pump or pump cavitation.	Relieve supersaturation of air in the water, look for and air leak in the intake of the pump, also check for any vortices in sump.
Fish trying to jump from the tank.	External toxin such as pesticides and or household sprays.	Water change and/or add heavy, new activated carbon filtration.
Fish gasping at the surface and/or showing rapid respiration.	Low oxygen levels, possible toxins, possible Amyloodinium infestation.	Increase aeration, water change, treat for Amyloodinium.
Fish shimmying, rapid gilling (respiration), hanging in one place, apparent weight loss in small fish, fish death, the "wipe out" or "toxic tank" syndrome.	Bacterial toxins, usually Vibrio (vibriosis).	Move fish to a different system or treat in a treatment tank with antibiotics ( Neomycin at 250 mg/gal and Streptomycin at 40 mg/gal.
Fish display rapid breathing, rapid, irritable movement, little feeding activity.	New tank syndrome, ammonia, and/or nitrite poisoning.	Check ammonia and nitrite levels, change water, move fish.
Fish holding mouth open, abnormal swimming patterns, excess mucus production, slow respiration, listlessness	Amyloodinium infestation, Ichthyophonus, high CO2 levels, piscine TB, fungus disease, copper poisoning.	Look for Amyloodinium, increase aeration, look for other disease on fish, check copper level.
Fish mildly irritable, invertebrates stressed, something not quite right, fish may be inactive or too active.	Possible electric charge in system water, possible temperature problem, too high or too low, possible low pH, possible high nitrite levels.	Check, clean or replace? electrical equipment, add a ground probe to ground the tank water, adjust temperature and pH, increase aeration, do a partial water change.
A pool of water slowly enlarging on the floor around the tank.	If the water level in the tank is dropping at about the same rate as the pool is growing, there is probably a crack in the bottom side of the tank. If the tank level is not dropping, then there may be a leak in the filter sump, or perhaps a mains water leak.	Fix the leak. (NOTE: If you have this problem, and you had to run through this chart to figure it out, you may need to change your hobby to collecting stamps, or chewing gum.) :-) :D
Tiny, whitish specks, dust-like, on the sides and fins of the fish, fish breathing rapidly and brushing against objects in the tank.	Amyloodinium infestation.	Freshwater dip, copper treatment of the fish and tank.
Small white pimples on the sides of the fish.	Cryptocaryon ciliate infection.	Freshwater and formalin dip, (1 minute) 30 minute to 1 hour saltwater formalin bath, copper treatment, and repeat.
Rough white areas on the sides of the fish with excess mucus and skin loss.	Brookynella or other ciliate infection.	Freshwater and formalin dip, (1 minute) 30 minute to 1 hour saltwater formalin bath, and repeat as necessary.
Tiny black spots on the side of the fish, mostly on tangs.	Tubellarian worm infestation. (Black Ich).	Formalin bath, frequent cleaning of the filter and tank bottom.
Extended eyeball, (popeye or exothaimus).	Fish TB, internal fungus infection, bacterial infection.	Bacterial treatment, TB treatment, feed antibiotic foods.
Rapid respiration, open mouth, raised scales, fins clamped.	Fish TB.	TB treatment, streptomycin (40 mg/gal).
Soft, distended abdomen (dropsy)	Fish TB, internal bacterial infection, parasites, tumor.	TB treatment, feed antibiotic, treated food.
Frayed and red edged fins, open sores on sides, fins may be clamped to the body of the fish.	Bacterial infections (Pseudomonas, Vibrio), Possibly secondary to parasitic infection, high level of dissolved organics in system.	Antibiotic treatment: neomycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, streptomycin; water change, reduction in tank population, improve lighting.
Apparent blindness, fish may be unusually dark or pale color.	Fish TB, internal fungus, bacterial infection (vibrio).	TB treatment, feed antibiotic foods.
Fish swimming in circles and/or upside down, disoriented, shrunken stomach, ragged fins, poor color, cloudy eyes.	Internal fungus infection (Ichthyophonus).	No proven cure, good diet and good environment best control and preventative measures.
Cotton-like, wispy external growths.	External tufts of fungus and/or bacterial growths (Saprolegnia, columnaris).	Treatment with malachite green, acriflavine, furanace, copper.
Cauliflower-like, small white clumps on fins and/or mouth parts.	A virus disease, Lymphocysts.	No cure in later stages, good diet and good environment speed recovery.
Sunken abdomen.	Starvation, possible cyanide poisoning.	Supply proper diet.
Slow decline, feeding without thriving, loss of appetite, loss of vigor.	Possible cyanide poisoning including liver, kidney and intestinal damage.	No cure, good diet and good environment aid in recovery if recovery is possible! Do not support LFS that sell cyanide caught fish.
Stress intolerance, deep shock at netting and/or environmental disturbance.	Liver damage, great fatty infiltration of liver tissue as a result of poor diet and/or stray electrical currents in tank.	Remove fat from diet, particularly animal fats designed for freshwater fish, reduce feeding, add ground probe.
Hard, swollen abdomen, good health otherwise.	Eggbound, eggs in female developed fully but not spawned, possible encysted parasite.	Treat normally, eggs will gradually be absorbed or will remain encysted.
Frayed fins, marks on the body, not feeding, hiding.	Harassment by other fish.	Remove or isolate one or the other of the interacting fish.
Erosion of the skin around the eyes and in and around the pores of the lateral line.	Lateral line or "hole in the head" disease, probably caused by inadequate diet or light.	Add vitamin C and B and perhaps E to the diet, find food with "stabilized" vitamin C, feed green algae.
Anemones turn white, shrink and die.	Inadequate intensity and/or spectrum of light, high nutrient level	Improve lighting, water change, add protien skimmer.
Hard corals do not grow and may even recede.	Lack of calcium and strontium. Lighting spectrum wrong.	Add calcium and strontium, review lighting and spectrum, replace old bulbs.
Green hair algae invades hard corals.	High nutrient levels, (nitrate and phosphate).	Water change, remove nutrients in tank and in makeup water. Check water source.
Hard corals fading, soft corals stretching upwards trumpeting.	Inadequate lighting, wrong spectrum.	Increase lighting, increase actinic lighting, move specimen toward light source.
Algae (Caulerpa) turn white and die back.	Loss of essential nutrients in the system, algal reproduction.	Add iron supplement to the system, harvest excessive algal growth.