All my fish and inverts died overnight.

[Yotero6933]

So I woke up to the unpleasant sight of seeing pretty much all of my fish and most invertebrates dead.
2 mocha Vinci clowns
1 blood red shrimp
1 baby tomini tang
1 pink streaked wrasse
all my amphipods
emerald crabs
and possibly even my watchman goby but the tiger pistol shrimp is still moving somewhat

As of last night, everything in the tank seemed perfectly normal. My parameters were within range and no changes had been made since my scheduled water change would be on Friday. The corals seem to be perfectly fine and haven’t closed up or anything which is really odd as I would expect them to be more sensitive than the livestock. Does anyone have any idea what may have caused this to happen?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Why is disease caused loss initiated by fish kill ruled out here

What steps were taken to avoid disease wipeouts

Do you have tight import control over diseases by fallow preps etc and the losses excluded corals it seems, at least when water quality is reinstated

Why must you consistently insist on awkward sentence structure, verbiage and self coined terminology? Doing so only serves to obfuscate your point and confuse people, not lend scientific credence.

“disease caused loss initiated by fish kill?”

Translate for the non Brandish speakers please.

Do you feel that disease killed a single infected fish and that caused an oxygen depleting chain reaction?

Do you feel that all of the fish were diseased and weak and one died, causing a small oxygen depletion that finished the rest off?

Do you feel that all of the fish were diseased and died all at once for reasons other than oxygen?

What is “water quality reinstated“ and when was it determined that there is a water quality issue?

What does “disease prep” have to do with solving the puzzle? It really can’t be used to rule in or out disease unless said “prep” is rather extreme (what you advocate for, but we both know is not likely in this, or most cases).

 

[Oldreefer44]

Agree with others that the likely cause is oxygen depletion. Don't see where there would have been time for disease to have wiped out everything that quickly. In my almost 50 years in the hobby the only time I have seen a similar occurrence was due to lack of oxygen because of a power outage.

 

[MnFish1]

the question would be - what caused oxygen depletion. ?

 

[gbroadbridge]

the question would be - what caused oxygen depletion. ?

I've seen a short power outage kill a tank in less than 2 hours where the oxygen was borderline to start with.

In the olden days you'd be alerted by all the flashing clocks around the house, but these days a power outage can easily happen unnoticed.

 

[BeanAnimal]

the question would be - what caused oxygen depletion. ?

I think that the choices are small.

1 - a stuck pump (snail?)
2 - a bacterial bloom
3 - a dead fish creating a chain reaction
4 - power failure (as others have indicated)

Oxygen level opposite the photo period may drop based on coral respiration or other factors. Oxygen levels may have been borderline to begin with and exacerbated the issue.

I think without a good bit more information, it will be hard to tell.

 

[ronsonb]

How large of a fish are we talking about to have this happen? I’ve lost a blenny and goby to never be found again with no issue (assuming hermits ate them)

And how long would a rotting fish take to foul a system? I would think it would take longer than overnight no?

 

[MnFish1]

I think that the choices are small.

1 - a stuck pump (snail?)
2 - a bacterial bloom
3 - a dead fish creating a chain reaction
4 - power failure (as others have indicated)

Oxygen level opposite the photo period may drop based on coral respiration or other factors. Oxygen levels may have been borderline to begin with and exacerbated the issue.

I think without a good bit more information, it will be hard to tell.

Right - that's what I said - I think we can rule out 1 (since he didn't mention it), 2 (though the water was hazy, it wasn't something that would cause oxygen depletion, 3 - likely, 4. They would have known about a power failure if the rest of their electronics needed to be reset. If you mean just the tank - that would be extremely rare that something would fail a circuit - and then come back on without the owner knowing

 

[MnFish1]

I've seen a short power outage kill a tank in less than 2 hours where the oxygen was borderline to start with.

In the olden days you'd be alerted by all the flashing clocks around the house, but these days a power outage can easily happen unnoticed.

How? You're right - the clocks would be flashing. If it's un-noticed (i.e. time not reset), it's also extremely unlikely that during the short time - that it would cause a problem. Its possible. If the OP has all of his clocks set atomically or via the internet - its possible

 

[BeanAnimal]

Right - that's what I said - I think we can rule out 1 (since he didn't mention it),

No - I meant a temporary issue that came and went and he did not notice. Or even still there and flow was already borderline and now a bit lower and enough to kick of the chain reaction.

 

[gbroadbridge]

How? You're right - the clocks would be flashing. If it's un-noticed (i.e. time not reset), it's also extremely unlikely that during the short time - that it would cause a problem. Its possible. If the OP has all of his clocks set atomically or via the internet - its possible

Well, we have no flashing clocks left in this house, they all time sync using internet when the house comes back online.

The only way I know about a power fail is an SMS alert from the UPS that powers the tank.

 

[fish farmer]

What SIZE is this tank? Looks fairly small to me, does it have a skimmer/sump with return pump?

You had 5 fish? Just suggesting it may have been overstocked a bit...at least at a level where something failed and oxygen dropped fast.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Probably not the cause, but did you happen to turn on the home's central heat for the first time (this season) last night?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Probably not the cause, but did you happen to turn on the home's central heat for the first time (this season) last night?

Not a bad question at all.

I was going to ask something similar, even looked up the weather in Mobile last evening, but never wrote the post and moved on. Interesting to see if there is something here maybe.

Maybe an overheating event, or one where the heater did not kick on, a plume of dust from the vents on the water surface... carbon monoxide, etc.

 

[DJC]

Do you have any sort of shiny film on the top of the water or in your sump this can indicate a toxin in your tank which can indicate something is not right

Also
I had this same problem recently my tank was not as mature as yours but all fish died corals were ok and inverts

Battled the reasonings behind it and narrowed it down to potential parasites due to an introduction of a new addition

Treated the tank with medi-x which treats a wide range of parasites including marine velvet kept the tank clear of fish for over 60 days now the tank is bank housing fish again with no issues

Like yourself had no mechanical disfunction
Parameters were perfect
Did have an ammonia spike but this was due to fish dead
prior to the event parameters were perfect

Only indication I had prior to the event was the fish were behaving not as they should
Withdrawn
Some fish were swimming strangely
Hiding a lot
But these symptoms were minimum then boom woke up 1 morning with an empty tank lifted rocks all dead

When was your last introduced creature ?

 

[SaltyCabbage]

What SIZE is this tank? Looks fairly small to me, does it have a skimmer/sump with return pump?

You had 5 fish? Just suggesting it may have been overstocked a bit...at least at a level where something failed and oxygen dropped fast.

This is what I was thinking as well, looks like a 13g Fluval and with 5 fish any chain reaction would be really fast.

 

[rennjidk]

This is what I was thinking as well, looks like a 13g Fluval and with 5 fish any chain reaction would be really fast.

Not just any 4 fish, a tang, a wrasse, and 2 clowns in a 13g...my vote is gang warfare.

 

[Yotero6933]

Update on everything, it’s probably safe to say that the cause of death was related to a depletion in oxygen. My outflow nozzle was lower than normal which was weird, but paired with no protein skimmer the surface biofilm must have been an issue. Why did it become a problem on that one specific day, I’m unsure, but as of now I have fixed the issues and created more surface agitation.

Also to those that asked what size tank, it is a fluval 13.5, and I understand that a tank of that size is not ideal for a tomini tang. He was a baby and only measured about 1.5 inches so I was going to grow him out before adding him to my larger display tank.

 

[Yotero6933]

Do you have any sort of shiny film on the top of the water or in your sump this can indicate a toxin in your tank which can indicate something is not right

Also
I had this same problem recently my tank was not as mature as yours but all fish died corals were ok and inverts

Battled the reasonings behind it and narrowed it down to potential parasites due to an introduction of a new addition

Treated the tank with medi-x which treats a wide range of parasites including marine velvet kept the tank clear of fish for over 60 days now the tank is bank housing fish again with no issues

Like yourself had no mechanical disfunction
Parameters were perfect
Did have an ammonia spike but this was due to fish dead
prior to the event parameters were perfect

Only indication I had prior to the event was the fish were behaving not as they should
Withdrawn
Some fish were swimming strangely
Hiding a lot
But these symptoms were minimum then boom woke up 1 morning with an empty tank lifted rocks all dead

When was your last introduced creature ?

My last introduced creature was the tomini which I had moved into the tank after quarantine. That was over a month before the deaths. There was no aggression between the fish, and the surface didn’t have a shine to it. It was more or less the opaque biofilm that forms when surface agitation decreases.

 

[MnFish1]

My last introduced creature was the tomini which I had moved into the tank after quarantine. That was over a month before the deaths. There was no aggression between the fish, and the surface didn’t have a shine to it. It was more or less the opaque biofilm that forms when surface agitation decreases.

Thanks for the update!!

 

[littlefoxx]

I've seen a short power outage kill a tank in less than 2 hours where the oxygen was borderline to start with.

In the olden days you'd be alerted by all the flashing clocks around the house, but these days a power outage can easily happen unnoticed.

Yep experienced this myself when I lost all my fish in a power outage