All my fish died with in two weeks!

[Rickyrick]

Need help! The last two times I've cleaned my rock with a turkey Baster and tooth brush, all my fish have died! My rocks was not that dirty!I have a 75 gallon tank, 30 sump! All test come back, with great numbers! Clown fish-2. Dwarf angle, fire fish, Midas blenny. All my corals or doing great

 

[melypr1985]

Before the first cleaning and subsequent mass die-off, did you add anything new to the tank? I assume that after that you added more fish to have had them all die the same way correct? Also, did you notice anything on the fish or unusual in their behavior?

 

[Rickyrick]

Nothing new as added the 1 or 2nd time , all fish was slowly put in at different time minus the clown pair. They all died the same way, all looked healthy then started to die! After cleaning! After the first set of fish died I waited six weeks to add any back. They have been doing great and eating great too.( over four months! What can I do to stop this from gapping again!

 

[BossGT911]

what water do u use

 

[Rickyrick]

Rodi, I check it with a tds meter as well

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Have you been checking ammonia? Could you have had an ammonia spike after stirring up the detritus? Do you have a cleanup crew?

 

[Rickyrick]

I also shake the salt all the time so all the trace element don't settle. Red Sea salt brand

 

[Rickyrick]

No ammonia, great clean up crew!

 

[melypr1985]

You could be having an ammonia spike when you go cleaning your rocks. I'm curious if your having an issue that requires you to clean your rocks? I'd also like to know if your QT your fish before they go in the tank? There's not much chance they just dropped dead without showing symptoms of something. Heavy breathing, lack of eating, scratching, flashing, being reclusive, swimming into the flow of a powerhead, white spots, a dusty or dirty appearance.... something like that.

 

[Rickyrick]

I used a tooth brush because of a little bit of green hair algae, which is all taken care of now. I used the Baster just to blow off lose sand! I no it crazy to lose fish this way but I watch my tank closely every day and check over everything fish and coral. The only fish that didn't eat everyday was the red fire fish. I did not QT the fish, it's been four mouths since I put a fish in. Just coral and I always use dip for them. My bubble is doing good as is the starfish

 

[melypr1985]

I used a tooth brush because of a little bit of green hair algae, which is all taken care of now. I used the Baster just to blow off lose sand! I no it crazy to lose fish this way but I watch my tank closely every day and check over everything fish and coral. The only fish that didn't eat everyday was the red fire fish. I did not QT the fish, it's been four mouths since I put a fish in. Just coral and I always use dip for them. My bubble is doing good as is the starfish

I guess we'll have to wait and see if @Humblefish has any ideas. Without any symptoms or environmental factors to play with it's impossible to come up with a reason. Well, how about that? Anything that could have gotten in the tank like a spray cleaner, air freshener, bug spray, paint, kids that like to drop coins in tanks or sumps?

 

[Rickyrick]

Got two kids but they can not get to the cleaning stuff. My wife and I would never spray anything near or around the tank. I just wonder if the sand that I blow off gets in there gills or brings stress to them? Should I ever clean my rocks? I have Marco rock which I love, they are very, very porous!

 

[Gomery12]

Stray Voltage?

 

[Rickyrick]

It could be anything, I don't think it's voltage. But who knows

 

[melypr1985]

The only reason I see to clean the rock is if you have poor flow and detritus gets built up.... OR you have to manually remove algae. I could see sand potentially irritating fish, but not killing all of them.

 

[Rickyrick]

Thanks for all the help! Maybe [HASHTAG]#humblefish[/HASHTAG] will give some more info! Or anyone else!

 

[Humblefish]

I blow my rocks all the time and never lose a fish. There has to be something else going on. I wonder if you could possibly have sulfates trapped inside your rocks. Ever smell rotten eggs coming from the tank? After you stir up the rocks?

Also, how long after you stir up the rocks do fish start dying? Notice heavy breathing or gasping for air before they die?

 

[Salty1962]

Was your water clear? You may have had a bacterial bloom and without enough oxygen it will kill everything in pretty short order. I had one clean out my tank over night, carbon dose and forgot to plug PS back in.:(

 

[Rickyrick]

The last time I blow my rocks off it did smell a little. Water is clear. I start to lose the fish about one or two days later! I thought the smell was from my skimmer

 

[Humblefish]

The last time I blow my rocks off it did smell a little. Water is clear. I start to lose the fish about one or two days later! I thought the smell was from my skimmer

Just a theory but ... it's possible you released sulfates into the water when you blew your rocks. This can happen sometimes if a sand bed is stirred up (usually has to be a DSB), and a "sulfide pocket" gets disturbed releasing sulfates into the water column. Never heard of it happening with rocks though. o_O

The tell-tale sign of this happening is a rotten egg smell coming from the tank shortly thereafter. Fish are usually more sensitive to this than corals/inverts IME.