All my fish died over night

[emilystelck]

All my fish died overnight. Everyone looked great last night. I added a couple new fish yesterday, did not change water. Did not quarantine these fish because I’ve had such good luck and everyone has always been fine after temperature acclimation. Most of these fish have been in the tank already for 2-3 weeks.

ph about 8
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Alkalinity 200
Hardness 300
Temperature 78

Deceased fish:
sailfin blenny x2
Royal dotty back
Clown fish x 2
Arrow crab
Snowflake eel
Blue Koran angel
Blonde naso tang
Hawkfish
green long tentacle anemone

Alive still:
Pink spotted watchman goby x 2
Emerald crab x 2
Hermit crabs
Chocolate Chip Star Fish
Two different types of coral (I think they’re alive?)

Not seen yet and assuming deceased in caves:
Caribbean Octopus
Black and white Heniochus
Striped Blenny
Pajama Cardinal

I’m also relatively new to salt water tanks. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Very upset over the situation. Also to add, none of the fish have any visible spots, wounds, discoloration, slime or anything on them. They’re just dead.

 

[Zartan]

You are on the right forum. Do some serious research. Good luck!

 

[jmatt]

I didn’t mean to be irresponsible. I had misinformation. I apologize for making the mistake. I thought I knew what I was doing.

You don't owe anybody an apology. It's a difficult hobby and you were misled by people who you rightfully expected to know better and give you better advice.

You're getting a lot of technical/chemical advice here, so I'll offer something more basic: Keep a spreadsheet with a list of creatures and dates that you placed in your tank (and maybe even who you got them from).

When you go to find a new addition for the tank, ask the shop owner to check it out and see if anything you have now is incompatible with what you're about to purchase, or if he thinks it's too much too soon, too much for the tank size overall, etc. Give him some context so he can give you better advice. And go during the off-hours when he has time to look at it and have a conversation.

 

[SaltwaterSky]

Hi Emily,

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. My best guess, which can and will crash a tank faster than an ammonia spike, is your anemone died/got stuck in a powerhead/overflow wier teath - do you see it anywhere or did it melt? If so it could have easily killed all the livestock you mentioned as its death would release a huge bioload, toxins and even sting nematocyst cells throughout the water. If you don't know, they can detach their foot, inflate, and float around a tank until they get minced/caught in a wavemaker/overflow box, with no clear rhyme or reason to their movements or behavior.

Sorry to hear about your loss again.

 

[MaxTremors]

I mean... I do give you Grace. It's a learning curve that we have all been on bc we all have thus fantasy of fish swimming everywhere and the whole tank is a Wonderland.

My point is nobody would be allowed to walked in a Petco or PetSmart and buy 5 different breeds of puppies as family pets without Mgmt denying the sale bc of inhumanity at the cash registrar

Yet LFSs are so desperate fir cash that they let you walk knowing there's a 90% chance you coming back in fir more fish when those die. The great excuse is your "water quality" killed them...here buy more fish, feed the monster

It's a cash windfall

I guess ppl just don't care about fish rights.

Glad you know better now

I mostly agree with you, but I don’t think this is the thread for this type of comment. The OP clearly cared about her fish, this is a difficult hobby to get into even when you’re getting great info/advice. Yes, the internet exists, and people should do research, but there is so much misinformation out there, even in this thread there people are throwing out all kinds of suggestions (not all of them good) and I imagine its overwhelming and difficult to parse what is useful/good advice and what isn’t. I also think that pretty much everyone who is new to the hobby had to learn the hard way to take anything an LFS tells you with a grain of salt, even the best ones still have a vested interest in selling you something. My point is that it’s understandable why this happened, and yes people viewing aquatic organisms as disposable, or as something you can just swap out, or as a pet you don’t really need to make a commitment to (not many people are committed to keeping a fish for its 20+ year lifespan), but making such a comment in a thread like this is just kicking someone while they’re down, it’s just not the time or place.

 

[Lavey29]

I’m late to this but can we back up a sec… Was this tank cycled? Did you cycle it prior to adding livestock, and how did you cycle?

It was a new tank with way to many inhabitants.

 

[Lyss]

It was a new tank with way to many inhabitants.

Yes, but I’m specifically asking if it was cycled and how. I haven’t seen any mention of the cycle, or anyone else ask that, unless I missed that.

 

[Lavey29]

I mostly agree with you, but I don’t think this is the thread for this type of comment. The OP clearly cared about her fish, this is a difficult hobby to get into even when you’re getting great info/advice. Yes, the internet exists, and people should do research, but there is so much misinformation out there, even in this thread there people are throwing out all kinds of suggestions (not all of them good) and I imagine its overwhelming and difficult to parse what is useful/good advice and what isn’t. I also think that pretty much everyone who is new to the hobby had to learn the hard way to take anything an LFS tells you with a grain of salt, even the best ones still have a vested interest in selling you something. My point is that it’s understandable why this happened, and yes people viewing aquatic organisms as disposable, or as something you can just swap out, or as a pet you don’t really need to make a commitment to (not many people are committed to keeping a fish for its 20+ year lifespan), but making such a comment in a thread like this is just kicking someone while they’re down, it’s just not the time or place.

A good post but we can't deny the fact this situation was clearly avoidable.

 

[Lavey29]

Yes, but I’m specifically asking if it was cycled and how. I haven’t seen any mention of the cycle, or anyone else ask that, unless I missed that.

Based on the conversation and OP knowledge I doubt it.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Yes, but I’m specifically asking if it was cycled and how. I haven’t seen any mention of the cycle, or anyone else ask that, unless I missed that.

It was not cycled, up and running for 3 weeks. Ammonia must have been insanely high with the sudden bio load. And the lfs sold her an octopus among many other things knowing this.

Fish are fish, still living creatures. But to sell a creature as intellectually advanced as an octopus to certain death is really sick

 

[glb]

I wouldn’t empty out the tank because then you’d have to start all over again. Just do a big water change, dose with Prime, take a deep breath and let the tank cycle. I’d get some beneficial bacteria (like Dr. Tims One and Only) to help jumpstart the cycle.

BRS (an online and physical store) has a series called 52 weeks of reefing that pretty much covers everything for getting started. Here’s the link:

52 Weeks Of Reefing Playlist - Bulk Reef Supply

The complete playlist including all 52 episodes from our year-long build a reef tank vieo series focused on the famous BRS160 aquarium. We also cataloged additional update videos in which Ryan keeps

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Post pics of your setup when you can so we can get a better idea of what you’re working with. Good luck!

 

[Rmckoy]

What size tank ?

 

[Lyss]

It was not cycled, up and running for 3 weeks. Ammonia must have been insanely high with the sudden bio load. And the lfs sold her an octopus among many other things knowing this.

Fish are fish, still living creatures. But to sell a creature as intellectually advanced as an octopus to certain death is really some sick shi t.

I read the posts in the thread, and was specifically asking if she cycled it and how, asking her to share that. No other information needed, just if she cycled it and how. I didn’t see that info from her in any of the posts. Where did you see her share that it wasn’t cycled, in case I just missed that?

FYI, I asked b/c an OP’s answers to questions like this will tell a lot and enable folks to help them better and more accurately, so it’s important to hear from the OP, and not speculation from others.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

I read the posts in the thread, and was specifically asking if she cycled it and how, asking her to share that. No other information needed, just if she cycled it and how. I didn’t see that info from her in any of the posts. Where did you see her share that it wasn’t cycled, in case I just missed that?

FYI, I asked b/c an OP’s answers to questions like this will tell a lot and enable folks to help them better and more accurately, so it’s important to hear from the OP, and not speculation from others.

She said the tank was 2 years old but only had water and fish in it for 3 weeks. It was not cycled.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Even if this didn't happen, with the fish they sold her it would still have ended badly. The octopus would have probably killed all the fish and escaped out the top and died. This lfs needs to be exposed for the frauds they are.

 

[Lyss]

She said the tank was 2 years old but only had water and fish in it for 3 weeks. It was not cycled.

Thank you but I am specifically asking OP to answer if she cycled it and how. Like I said, hearing this information specifically from the OP directly will be revealing and enable us to better help. Has anyone explained cycling and how to do that? For example. Id like to wait to hear from OP now.

 

[malacoda]

Do yourself a BIG favor ... take the advice given a few posts earlier and get a book on basic saltwater aquarium keeping. Your local library may even have one or two.

The two WORST places to learn about the basics of this hobby are from brief, word-of-mouth conversations ... and forums. Yes, that's right — forums.

Here's why...

When you get advice from people in passing — whether it be people who work at local fish stores ... or clients/customers you talk to at work ... or even text messages or short chats with friends, you're only getting little snippets of information. In random order. Not the whole, clear big picture.

Likewise with forums...

R2R is a great place to get advice or info...

But...

95% of the time it's just in short, broken-up segments of info. Bits and pieces. In no clear order. If you don't know what the whole, big picture looks like ... then you'll have no idea where each those little pieces fit into the overall puzzle.

To make things even more difficult, a LOT of people just want to be super helpful ... to the point of being overly helpful. Meaning that they will pass along info they heard elsewhere on the forum ... even though they may not have personally experienced it, or have a clear idea if it truly applies to your situation. If it doesn't ... and neither you nor the poster realizes it, then you'll just end up going down the wrong rabbit hole.

The quickest, clearest way to get started is to read a book.

Then ... ONCE YOU HAVE a clear basic understanding ... you'll get far more value out of the smaller, more focused bits of info found here on R2R and other forums.

Just my two cents...

Be patient. Go slow. And let the experience teach you rather than defeat you. It's a fun, beautiful, rewarding hobby if you take it one step at a time.

 

[zafink]

Guess I need to use more reputable sources when making purchases and asking questions. I think I got a lot of false information. Do you have any recommendations of good websites to use to do my own research before trusting salesmen?

If your local ifs is what they sound to be, you may very well be better off ordering online unless you have a better option nearby... for research, no where better then this website. You can ask the pros questions like you are now.

My favorite places to buy fish: (typically recommended you quarantine new fish, but I buy only from these companies because they are well known for selling safe fish and I don't have space to quarantine in my small apartment. some, or many, would say its still a bit risky not to quarantine though)

shop.thebiotagroup.com
tsmaquatics.com
drreefsquarantinedfish.com

 

[jesse88]

Take your time for the first year and if you do buy just buy cheap fish and give your tank time to cycle

 

[MoshJosh]

I tried to read many of the post, but didn't get through all of them, so sorry if I missed it, but drip acclimation?

Think OP said she only temp acclimated, while I don't think this is the main issue, it could be helpful in the future. I'm not saying the plop and drop method can't work, but drip acclimation seems to be the agreed upon best method, and in my experience seems to cause less stress.

Just something to think about in the future OP.

 

[Lyss]

Y’all… She posted photos of the dead fish and eel. Not a troll post, just someone who started off on the wrong foot and needs a lot of help.