Broom tail wrasse dies suddenly

[Reef By Steele]

I have been having problems with my auto aqua auto top off RO as it doesn’t open so I have been having to add water to several tanks recently. Sunday I changed so that the system was just fed from the RO directly as we are leaving town. Unfortunately this cause my sump to over fill in our XXL750. I removed the excess water and shut off the valve to prevent it. I realized this affected salinity, but by the time I finished feeding I didn’t remember to check it.

This morning my wife walks by the tank as tells me her fish is dead. It is a broomtail wrasse we have had for a long time. I have now checked the salinity and it is at 1.022. We run at 1.025. Would this drop in salinity account for the broomtail s death?

Any help would be appreciated, and how quickly should I raise it. Leaving town tomorrow. Other fish seem OK, porcupine puffer was laying on the sand, but is now up and around. Raccoon butterfly, clown grouper, sunset wrasse are active.

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal

Thanks

 

[Reef By Steele]

Here are some pics. Gills still had color.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here are some pics. Gills still had color.

So sorry to see
Generally a drop in salinity quickly does not have an adverse effect or impact on fish however it can affect ph and even dissolved oxygen
Other signs are gasping and listless behavior

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have been having problems with my auto aqua auto top off RO as it doesn’t open so I have been having to add water to several tanks recently. Sunday I changed so that the system was just fed from the RO directly as we are leaving town. Unfortunately this cause my sump to over fill in our XXL750. I removed the excess water and shut off the valve to prevent it. I realized this affected salinity, but by the time I finished feeding I didn’t remember to check it.

This morning my wife walks by the tank as tells me her fish is dead. It is a broomtail wrasse we have had for a long time. I have now checked the salinity and it is at 1.022. We run at 1.025. Would this drop in salinity account for the broomtail s death?

Any help would be appreciated, and how quickly should I raise it. Leaving town tomorrow. Other fish seem OK, porcupine puffer was laying on the sand, but is now up and around. Raccoon butterfly, clown grouper, sunset wrasse are active.

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal

Thanks

Sorry to see.

I agree, that salinity drop would not have caused the fish any issues by itself.

Are all the other fish in the tank ok?
Could there have been some other change that took place at the same time?

Jay

 

[Reef By Steele]

Thanks for the answers. The other fish appear to be doing fine. No outward expression of anything. Only thing I can think of, is that the sump rising cause the skimmer to overflow. This may have caused a drop in oxygen. We lost our first one a couple years ago, and based on something @Jay Hemdal told us at the time, broomtail may be more sensitive to lower oxygen. It is t the best for aesthetics, but we run air stones in the tank now just for the broomtail. Odd part is that this occurred last night, think I cleaned up the mess around 10. But the fishes hills were still pretty red, so don’t know how long it hav been dead when my wife saw it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the answers. The other fish appear to be doing fine. No outward expression of anything. Only thing I can think of, is that the sump rising cause the skimmer to overflow. This may have caused a drop in oxygen. We lost our first one a couple years ago, and based on something @Jay Hemdal told us at the time, broomtail may be more sensitive to lower oxygen. It is t the best for aesthetics, but we run air stones in the tank now just for the broomtail. Odd part is that this occurred last night, think I cleaned up the mess around 10. But the fishes hills were still pretty red, so don’t know how long it hav been dead when my wife saw it.

I still suspect oxygen issue despite other fish not bothered

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Wrasses and parrotfish are more sensitive to lower oxygen levels than many other species.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Yes looking back at my apex. ORP dropped significantly but on short term came right back up.