Black Ocellaris Clonwfish died

[herlin518]

Hmm, I purchased my first fish Friday. I bought a Snowflake Clownfish, a Black Ocellaris Clownfish, and a Six Lined Wrasse. I also purchased a Fire Shrimp and six hermit crabs. My readings were all where they needed to be. I even had the lfs check the readings before I bought the fish. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates around 2 ppm. Salinity has been at around 1.026. The fish seemed fine all weekend. The two clowns appeared to be getting a long fine. The Snowflake is large and a female. The Black is quite a bit smaller. I do have some green algae growing. The fish was fine last night, today it's dead. I rechecked the readings again today and they still read fine. Is there an SDS for fish?

Thanks
Herb

 

[Marshall O]

Well, that was a lot to be buying at once for a new tank. What size tank and how long has it been setup? How did you cycle it? How much live rock do you have?

 

[herlin518]

It's a 90 Gal tank. It has about 30 lbs of live rock and 55 lbs of dead rock. It had been cycling for about two weeks. I had some shrimp in it decomposing during that time. Towards the end of the cycle, I used Bio Spira in it to help out. I checked the readings last Friday. They were 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, ad Nitrates were around 3 maybe a little lower. Salinity was at 1.026. Water temp is at 79. I have a 20 gal sump with an Octopus Protein Skimmer. Also, when I went down to purchase the fish, I took some water with me and had the lfs owner check the water also, just to be sure. I also checked the water last Sat, and it was fine. I also checked it today when I found the fish, and it was still fine. I do have some green algae growing in the tank.

 

[fishroomlady]

you added your fish too early. I don't think you're completely cycled and then you added in a big bioload at once, and the bacteria isn't established yet to handle it. :( you should see higher nitrates if you're truly cycled. You also should have seen a strong ammonia/nitrite spike.....two weeks is too early. Your other fish are probably at risk too.....I would see if you can rehome them until you're cycled.

 

[DragKnee]

Two weeks isn't enough time to cycle .. especially if you used shrimp during that time.

Regardless, If ammonia and nitrites are still reading 0, I doubt that has anything to do with it.... but you are in for a very large uphill battle! Patience is key, and 2 weeks is not patience.

My money is on the Snowflake/Black thing. Snowflake probably killed it, that's my guess.

 

[fishroomlady]

Could be many reasons it died, but my guess is that the filter couldn't support it.

 

[herlin518]

A couple of things. First, when I was cycling the tank, I did see an ammonia spike. Then a nitrite spike. So, even though the Ammonia and Nitrite readings are 0, you still should wait? Plus, it seemed like the Black was doing fine all the way through yesterday afternoon when I fed them last. He was chasing after the food I was feeding them with no problems. When I went to work this morning, I couldn't see into the tank, so I don't know if he was still alive. His death seems to have occurred rather suddenly. I probably did add too much to the tank, but I was following the advise of the local lfs who is a sponsor of the local saltwater aquarium club and members of the club have given him some high praise. I plan on talking to him the next day he works.

Thanks for the input

 

[SaltAddict]

If you have algae growth its possible that the algae is hiding the nutrients in your tests. Cycle prolly not complete.

 

[herlin518]

So, during the startup cycle, even though the parameters appear to be good, you should still wait until you get algae to grow, then for it to dissappear? My two remaining fish seem to be doing ok. I saw the Shrimp last Sunday, but not since. So who knows if he made it.

Thanks

 

[Bad Company]

I don't understand how folks are saying it was the short cycle that killed the fish. Regardless of the cycle happening or not, if ammonia and nitrites are low, they didn't kill the clownfish. Nitrates do seem very low, possible not enough was used to run the cycle, OR the algae has consumed the available nitrates. My bet is clownfish on clownfish agression, or accumulated stress. Was RO/DI water used? All other inhabitants are ok? Visable damage on the Black clown, or was it already being eaten by the CuC?

A 90Gal is pretty big plus a 20 gallon sump, and with 85 pounds of liverock, should be able to handle three small fish added...

 

[herlin518]

I have my own RO/DI unit. The other two fish appear fine. I did not see any visable damage on the fish and the CUC had not found it yet. I removed it. The fish seemed fine up through Sunday, he was swimming around, eating fine and I had not seen the two Clowns fighting at all. In fact, there were a number of times where they were swimming around together. The only critter I am not sure of is the Fire Shrimp. I saw him Sunday peeking out of the rocks, but haven't seen him since. My CUC is hermit crabs, snails and the shrimp (he gets fired though for not coming out and doing his job.)

 

[*SENSI*]

this hobby can get crazy fast, my 95 wavelive cycled for 2 months with no fish in it, then i was givin the green light for 2 fish it sat for another 5 months before i could add anything else, ive lost hundreds of dollars in fish over the year, all the numbers can be right an they jus dont make it

 

[herlin518]

Follow-up on this loss. All my other critters are doing fine. I even saw my Fire Shrimp moving around. So, hopefully things stay calm. My parameters appears to be staying where they need to be at. I plan on doing a water change this weekend. I figure to do at least a 10% change.

 

[Dalmatia]

Your pH and salinity are prob way different than the fish store. Some LS have their fish at 1.020 or less to save on salt I guess. So from going to 1.020 to 1.025-1.026 is a ways away?!?! Maybe a 3-4hrs drip acclimation, it only makes sense?

 

[Mike in CT]

If all your other fish are doing fine, and your ammonia is reading zero, it was probably just something wrong with that one fish. Sometimes they just don't make the transition well. I would hold off adding anything else to the tank for at least a month. Let your biological filtration catch up.

 

[cpayne015]

Dead rock has had no chance to cycle in a two week time span. It is so sad how many fish are never even given a chance because they add so early and kill them.

 

[Mike in CT]

I agree adding all that livestock at once was not a good idea, but I doubt ammonia would build enough in one day in a 100 gallon system to kill a fish that quick . I would think the other fish would be showing duress, if not also dying.