4 dead fish this morning...others in danger?

[PeterB113]

I think your problem is that you added too many fish at one time. God rule is to not double your bioload in a month

 

[15aleo]

It’s a bit concerning that your nitrates are zero. I wouldn’t expect a newish, fully cycled tank to have zero nitrates. Have you been ghost feeding your tank? We need to know more about how you cycled your tank, tank size, what kind of rock you used, and any additives you’ve added since starting your tank (everything).

Tank size: 30 gal
Salt: Instant ocean
Sand: Carib-sea arag-alive
Rocks: Carib-sea exotica south seas base rock that's glued together with SeaChem reef glue, aqua natural marine ocean accents, and 1 live rock I bought from an established tank
Water additives: instant ocean bio-spira, API aqua essential, API quick start marine, API stress coat +, Coralife essential elements
Ghost fed with brine shrimp and baby shrimp. I did 2 10/15% water changes since starting the cycle.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Has the tank ever tested positive (more than 0) for nitrates?

 

[15aleo]

ok and did you test to ensure that you had a safe "ammonia free" environment before introducing animals? unless biological bacteria were introduced early to speed up the process there may have not been enough time for a bacteria culture to develop.
adding more than a fish a month is also enough to overwhelm the biological needs. half a dozen is way too much.
stray voltage is a possibility but going from the information we have i think things just got rushed too fast for the system to support.
also, i would not raise the temp right now. it will only serve to accelerate the fishes inability to breath.

I did 3 tests before adding the fish, I'm going to bring a water sample to PetCo to see if they can find anything I missed/see if I'm getting false results.

 

[15aleo]

Has the tank ever tested positive (more than 0) for nitrates?

ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all had a slight spike that settled about a week ago and the levels were holding steady before I added the fish.

 

[landlubber]

I did 3 tests before adding the fish, I'm going to bring a water sample to PetCo to see if they can find anything I missed/see if I'm getting false results.

good idea.
while you're there see if they have the in-tank ammonia checkers that you stick inside the tank. that will ensure that you have at least cleared the nitrification process with a simple test that only requires you to look at it. they go for around $5

 

[SaltyT]

Sorry for your losses

Do you know what salinity Petco was keeping these fish at? did you drip acclimate your fish because you were trying to bring them up to your tank's salinity?

 

[hawk82]

I think it was to many fish added at once. I have 6 fish in my 40 breeder, but they were added with in the span of a year.

 

[15aleo]

Sorry for your losses

Do you know what salinity Petco was keeping these fish at? did you drip acclimate your fish because you were trying to bring them up to your tank's salinity?

I have no idea what the PetCo salinity was, and didn't think to test their water before adding them. I drip acclimated them because that's what people said you had to do for saltwater fish and I didn't want to mess it up.

 

[Cool tangs]

Can you post a pic of the setup?

0 to 0.25 nitrate doesnt sound like enough to be lethal.

Whats your setup, powerheads, filtration, etc?

Stress can kill fish very rapidly, have you got much hiding spots? Did they looked stressed when you bought them? Heavy breathing, etc.

Low Oxygen can also stress and kill fish, hence what type of flow do you have? Is flow rippling the water surface?

A bit more info could help us to help you instead of making guesses

Hopefully we can help

 

[15aleo]

I think it was to many fish added at once. I have 6 fish in my 40 breeder, but they were added with in the span of a year.

I didn't realize you had to add saltwater fish so slowly. I was hoping to cut down on their stress by only having to go through it once, and I've never had a problem with freshwater when stocking..

 

[LeftyReefer]

What do you have for circulation and water movement in the tank? Are the fish getting enough oxygenated water? If there is not much movement of the water surface, there might not be enough oxygen exchange going on.

 

[hawk82]

I didn't realize you had to add saltwater fish so slowly. I was hoping to cut down on their stress by only having to go through it once, and I've never had a problem with freshwater when stocking..

One of the things Ive learned on this forum is that nothing good happens fast in the world of saltwater. Best to go slow and not rush anything. I know what you mean about freshwater, when I kept african cichlids I could add a bunch at once and never had any issues.

 

[15aleo]

What do you have for circulation and water movement in the tank? Are the fish getting enough oxygenated water? If there is not much movement of the water surface, there might not be enough oxygen exchange going on.

Wave pump, Tidal filter on max flow, and protein skimmer moves the water a lot too. The top of the water in tank definitely ripples.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I think it took until posts #30 and #32 for low oxygen levels to me mentioned. That’s a potential killer, for sure.

EDIT: I guess OP was answering as I was typing. Lol.

 

[Supa]

How do I test for stray voltage? Stick my hand in there and see if I get zapped?

If you have a multi meter you can test it, or you can get them from Walmart or Lowe’s 30-40 bucks, useful around the house for other stuff. If you get zapped when you stick your hand in then yea that would be good bit of stray voltage to do that, a faulty device or surging device.

 

[15aleo]

Can you post a pic of the setup?

0 to 0.25 nitrate doesnt sound like enough to be lethal.

Whats your setup, powerheads, filtration, etc?

Stress can kill fish very rapidly, have you got much hiding spots? Did they looked stressed when you bought them? Heavy breathing, etc.

Low Oxygen can also stress and kill fish, hence what type of flow do you have? Is flow rippling the water surface?

A bit more info could help us to help you instead of making guesses

Hopefully we can help

I'll try to post a pic in a little bit (my phone doesn't like this forum and I can't access my personal email on my computer)

Wave pump, protein skimmer, RODI, and Tidal filter.

They seemed a little stressed as expected, and the clowns hid behind the live rock, while the damsels and cardinals stayed closer to the dry rock. I didn't notice any heavy breathing when I watched them from afar for another hour or two.

The water surface definitely ripples.

 

[15aleo]

If you have a multi meter you can test it, or you can get them from Walmart or Lowe’s 30-40 bucks, useful around the house for other stuff. If you get zapped when you stick your hand in then yea that would be good bit of stray voltage to do that, a faulty device or surging device.

I have one of those for working on my truck. I'll fish it out of the toolbox and test it.

 

[landlubber]

0 to 0.25 nitrate doesnt sound like enough to be lethal.

ANY amount of Nitrite (not nitrate) is bad. its indicative of either an insufficient biological culture or a system that is not yet cycled.
my guess is the levels feel to zero (as they often do in the cycle) followed by an increase when OP assumed it was safe. an ammonia checker would have avoided this mistake.

 

[Alaeriel]

I'd recommend quarantining all fish, but especially from Petco. Set up a 10 gallon quarantine tank and get it cycling so you can treat fish for diseases like flukes and ich. I'd recommend letting your current tank go fallow for at least 45 days while you quarantine your remaining fish and let the main tank become more stable during the meantime.