black tip reef shark emergency

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

have a bit of a big issue in our shark display at the hotel. as we mentioned we took over the maintenance of this 70.000lt shark display with 3 (about 6 year old BTRS) as the aquarium was build with maintenance being a lowest priority withclose to no access to the display we needed to start cleaning the system. 3 days ago we cleaned up the Sump. the sump is huge with a 10.000lt volume. so we removed everything out of there and gave it a good clean. no chemicals or anything used just a good scrub down. we used this in one tome as a 10.000lt water change.
now 3 days later we have one shark lying on the floor barely breathing. the 2 others have red marks on their belly and fins but seem to be breathing fine and swimming around. we went straight in a 50% water change mode and removed the worse shark placing him in large basin trying to get him to move and breath which worked a bit at the start but he eventually died.
the 2 other Sharks still swimming normal.....msee pictures attached
all parameters from tank tested ok with just Nitrates up....
anyone has any theories?

 

[KilianSP]

What temperature had the water when you did the 10.000litre water change?
And how long was the sump disconected from the main System?

 

[chipchipbro]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

have a bit of a big issue in our shark display at the hotel. as we mentioned we took over the maintenance of this 70.000lt shark display with 3 (about 6 year old BTRS) as the aquarium was build with maintenance being a lowest priority withclose to no access to the display we needed to start cleaning the system. 3 days ago we cleaned up the Sump. the sump is huge with a 10.000lt volume. so we removed everything out of there and gave it a good clean. no chemicals or anything used just a good scrub down. we used this in one tome as a 10.000lt water change.
now 3 days later we have one shark lying on the floor barely breathing. the 2 others have red marks on their belly and fins but seem to be breathing fine and swimming around. we went straight in a 50% water change mode and removed the worse shark placing him in large basin trying to get him to move and breath which worked a bit at the start but he eventually died.
the 2 other Sharks still swimming normal.....msee pictures attached
all parameters from tank tested ok with just Nitrates up....
anyone has any theories?

The water appears really murky.
You said the parameters were "ok", but what is the ammonia level and what brand of test are you using for that?

I suspect that while cleaning the sump, you damaged the system's biological filtration. The timing is right for that, as is the cloudy water.

Jay

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

The water appears really murky.
You said the parameters were "ok", but what is the ammonia level and what brand of test are you using for that?

I suspect that while cleaning the sump, you damaged the system's biological filtration. The timing is right for that, as is the cloudy water.

Jay

The water appears really murky.
You said the parameters were "ok", but what is the ammonia level and what brand of test are you using for that?

I suspect that while cleaning the sump, you damaged the system's biological filtration. The timing is right for that, as is the cloudy water.

Jay

Hi Jay,
yes water murky as time video was made we had a diver in the water who disturbed alot of debris while trying to save the shark (that eventually died)
as soon as we noticed something to be wrong we tested using ApI and SEACHEM test kits which both showed result 0.0 Ammonia. we only have ApI Nitrate test showing very red (likely above 100)
so yes I sure agreed that during sump cleaning we disturbed and distributed back into the display large amounts of dirt into the main display
the actual time it took to clean the sump (about 1-2 hrs) and adding the 10.000lt new water did not spike the water temperature more the a full degree (regular set at 25.5C after all done measured at 26.4C) so I doubt it was a temperature shock as I believe the Sharks should have shown signs earlier...again all this is happening almost 4 full days after the sump cleaning......Nitrate spike could but I am not aware Nitrate could damage fish or Sharks that much in the short term....?
also question as no one here in the hotel knows when these sharks were added and everyone believes them to be original from when Aquarium was established in 2013.....Which would make the sharks now about 10+ years old?? could that have had an effect......
I experienced the behavior with regular fish 12-15+ years old they just go lay on the floor breath but no swim...last like that sometimes up to 2-3 days (sometimes can still hand feed them but die eventually)
that does not explain the red marks on all sharks but could it have been a factor?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay,
yes water murky as time video was made we had a diver in the water who disturbed alot of debris while trying to save the shark (that eventually died)
as soon as we noticed something to be wrong we tested using ApI and SEACHEM test kits which both showed result 0.0 Ammonia. we only have ApI Nitrate test showing very red (likely above 100)
so yes I sure agreed that during sump cleaning we disturbed and distributed back into the display large amounts of dirt into the main display
the actual time it took to clean the sump (about 1-2 hrs) and adding the 10.000lt new water did not spike the water temperature more the a full degree (regular set at 25.5C after all done measured at 26.4C) so I doubt it was a temperature shock as I believe the Sharks should have shown signs earlier...again all this is happening almost 4 full days after the sump cleaning......Nitrate spike could but I am not aware Nitrate could damage fish or Sharks that much in the short term....?
also question as no one here in the hotel knows when these sharks were added and everyone believes them to be original from when Aquarium was established in 2013.....Which would make the sharks now about 10+ years old?? could that have had an effect......
I experienced the behavior with regular fish 12-15+ years old they just go lay on the floor breath but no swim...last like that sometimes up to 2-3 days (sometimes can still hand feed them but die eventually)
that does not explain the red marks on all sharks but could it have been a factor?

If both test kits are reading zero ammonia, you can rule that out. Hi nitrate can be a problem over long periods of time, but does not cause immediate, acute issues like this.

A 1 degree C temperature rise would not be a problem.

I don't think the shark's age has anything to do with this - I had two sharks that were 25+ years old and we caught them up and sent them to another aquarium, and they handled that fine.

Here is the only other things I can come up with:

1) Maybe disturbing the tank lifted a lot of bacteria and detritus into the water. That in turn, caused the sharks to develop bacterial infections (the red marks).

2) Cleaning the tank caused the sharks to stress out and run into tank decorations.

3) During the tank cleaning process, the dissolved oxygen level dropped too low.

Jay

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

If both test kits are reading zero ammonia, you can rule that out. Hi nitrate can be a problem over long periods of time, but does not cause immediate, acute issues like this.

A 1 degree C temperature rise would not be a problem.

I don't think the shark's age has anything to do with this - I had two sharks that were 25+ years old and we caught them up and sent them to another aquarium, and they handled that fine.

Here is the only other things I can come up with:

1) Maybe disturbing the tank lifted a lot of bacteria and detritus into the water. That in turn, caused the sharks to develop bacterial infections (the red marks).

2) Cleaning the tank caused the sharks to stress out and run into tank decorations.

3) During the tank cleaning process, the dissolved oxygen level dropped too low.

Jay

Hi Jay

option 3 could well make sense but how does that work? pumps and water movement was all ok after just let say 2 hrs max pumps off...though again yesterday so when the one Shark seem to have gone in something cardiac we went atraight into full 50% water change mode and bombed the tank with oxygen lines when turning of pumpd....it sure looked it had an effect on the other sharks as they became more lively then.....
the overload on ditrius and bacteria is sure a factor too but didnt know that coyld cause that trauma that fast as sure water cleared out about 12-20 hrs after.....
could find some articles online though stating lifespan of blacktips to be about 10 years on avg could reach 13-15 max

someone actualy has the event of the shark going into some sort of cardiac event maybe just before laying himself flat on the floor.....

 

[alprazo]

I once had a small brown spook and slam into the acrylic. It died shortly after some erratic swimming. I’m not sure what it hit since it was heard and not observed, but blood was exiting from its gills. Not exactly what you have described, but could you have startled the shark and it suffered a blunt trauma event? It doesn’t explain your others though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

These sharks as you know are very intolerant of elevated nitrate and with the looks of the water, I would guess elevated.
Does the shark have any unusual patches/markings on the body which may be bacterial?
I would take a close look at filtration as this appears to be more than a bloom

 

[littlefoxx]

@lion king

 

[DanTheReefer]

I have no shark experience but I’m wondering about chlorine / chloramine given the red gills

 

[Jay Hemdal]

These sharks as you know are very intolerant of elevated nitrate and with the looks of the water, I would guess elevated.
Does the shark have any unusual patches/markings on the body which may be bacterial?
I would take a close look at filtration as this appears to be more than a bloom

It isn’t nitrate issue - something acute happened to them during the tank cleaning.
Jay

 

[DanTheReefer]

I am curious about the whole process. They did not have maintenance in mind when they designed the aquarium. Guessing you can’t show up with 10,000 L and had to use their equipment - was it clean, carbon block in good order?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay

option 3 could well make sense but how does that work? pumps and water movement was all ok after just let say 2 hrs max pumps off...though again yesterday so when the one Shark seem to have gone in something cardiac we went atraight into full 50% water change mode and bombed the tank with oxygen lines when turning of pumpd....it sure looked it had an effect on the other sharks as they became more lively then.....
the overload on ditrius and bacteria is sure a factor too but didnt know that coyld cause that trauma that fast as sure water cleared out about 12-20 hrs after.....
could find some articles online though stating lifespan of blacktips to be about 10 years on avg could reach 13-15 max

someone actualy has the event of the shark going into some sort of cardiac event maybe just before laying himself flat on the floor.....

It does seem like a stress event. It could be the low oxygen, lack of filtration, stirred up detritus but I've heard of blacktips getting frightened and hitting the tank wall. In that case, a sea turtle was added to the tank and they freaked out.

It isn't age related - something acute happened and all of the sharks were affected. I had a pair of blacktips that I got in 1989 and sent them to another aquarium in 2015, and they are still doing good, so over 30 years old. I have another 4 that were born in 2013 and are not yet even fully grown at 10 years old.

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have no shark experience but I’m wondering about chlorine / chloramine given the red gills

I think that can be ruled out by the boney fish in the tank not having any issues....

Jay

 

[Aspect]

Do you run a UV on this tank suited for the capacity? Jay's thought about kicking up bacteria from the deep sump cleaning of 6 year old bacteria makes a lot of sense to me. Sharks in general are very susceptible to bacteria especially on their underside and fins. This has happened to me before when removing poly filter pads from my sump I would notice my sharks get some redness on their underside.

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

happy to report that both other shark recovered fully and back to full strength eating well again as if never anything happened......need to be cleaning the actual display too though now.....

I think that can be ruled out by the boney fish in the tank not having any issues....

Jay

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

some video shot today.....
planning on a 13.000lt water change tomorrow...

 

[Aquatica Services Pattaya]

what the max size a video can be adding it?

 

[calhoun3186]

That's quite the aquarium. The red marks sound like septicemia. I agree with others, the cleaning perhaps spread the bacteria. Glad to hear they are doing better.