Changed from HOB filter to sump and now two of my fish are dead and my clownfish isn't doing well.

[cypike]

A couple of days ago I installed a sump to change from a HOB filter and first my pipefish died but now the next morning my goby is dead and my clownfish is struggling. I cleaned out my sandbed during a water change last Sunday but I would think that if it was a bacterial problem it would have showed itself before then. I put my old HOB filter back into the tank with the same media bag from the sump that I took from the HOB and did a water change. Going to do another one tomorrow after I make fresh saltwater. Anything else I can do or that you can think of to help?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO adding a sump to a tank will not cause fish to die, straightaway I eliminate this as a cause. If you have enough rock in your tank, then the little bit of media in the hob serves no purpose or benefit.

Can we see a tank pic? Sump pic? Did you stir up your sand bed? What are the water parameters? Did you let the pipe glue dry out long enough before plugging it to your system? Is it possible that some of the chemicals accidentally dropped or splashed into the tank? Any metal screw or parts that may have fallen into the tank? Were you working close to your tank where something might have fallen in?

I would suggest to get out of the rabbit hole that that sump/hob is causing this, all you did was add more water volume which is a good thing.

 

[cypike]

IMO adding a sump to a tank will not cause fish to die, straightaway I eliminate this as a cause. If you have enough rock in your tank, then the little bit of media in the hob serves no purpose or benefit.

Can we see a tank pic? Sump pic? Did you stir up your sand bed? What are the water parameters? Did you let the pipe glue dry out long enough before plugging it to your system? Is it possible that some of the chemicals accidentally dropped or splashed into the tank? Any metal screw or parts that may have fallen into the tank? Were you working close to your tank where something might have fallen in?

I would suggest to get out of the rabbit hole that that sump/hob is causing this, all you did was add more water volume which is a good thing.

I stirred up the sandbed when doing a water change last Sunday, nothing got added to the tank chemical wise I'm really careful about that. No pipe glue just vinyl hoses pressure fit by themselves.
Salinity is 1.024
Temp is 77.7
PH is 8.2
Ammonia is 0

 

[vetteguy53081]

IMO adding a sump to a tank will not cause fish to die, straightaway I eliminate this as a cause. If you have enough rock in your tank, then the little bit of media in the hob serves no purpose or benefit.

Can we see a tank pic? Sump pic? Did you stir up your sand bed? What are the water parameters? Did you let the pipe glue dry out long enough before plugging it to your system? Is it possible that some of the chemicals accidentally dropped or splashed into the tank? Any metal screw or parts that may have fallen into the tank? Were you working close to your tank where something might have fallen in?

I would suggest to get out of the rabbit hole that that sump/hob is causing this, all you did was add more water volume which is a good thing.

Did you Allie glue used to fully cure?
Also, return pump- any stray voltage from return pump?

 

[cypike]

Did you Allie glue used to fully cure?
Also, return pump- any stray voltage from return pump?

No glue

 

[cypike]

Waiting on fresh saltwater to heat up

 

[cypike]

Moved the clown to the 5 gallon bucket with the goby. Somehow he’s still alive. Now it’s a waiting game I think. I talked with my local fish store and they think me moving the sand did it. They said do a massive water change and let things settle out.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Have you tested the ammonia? That would rule out one issue at least.

in trying to determine causation, it is really important that the timing supports that. Can you more clearly outline that? The pipefish died the day after the sump was installed? How much later did the goby die? Can you post a video of the clown?

 

[cypike]

Have you tested the ammonia? That would rule out one issue at least.

in trying to determine causation, it is really important that the timing supports that. Can you more clearly outline that? The pipefish died the day after the sump was installed? How much later did the goby die? Can you post a video of the clown?

The goby is surprisingly still alive, but he was not looking hot earlier. I moved him to the bucket with the clown fish. Ammonia was zero and still is. The pipefish died the day after the sump, then one day after that everything else was struggling.

 

[cypike]

How long before I have to do a water change in the bucket because of ammonia buildup?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How long before I have to do a water change in the bucket because of ammonia buildup?

That varies on variables such as volume of water and weight of the fish. You should test it a couple of times a day to keep it below 0.5 ppm, and better below 0.25 ppm. I would expect ammonia to rise within 36 hours, but it can be as short as 24 hours (think of a fish being shipped in a plastic bag, same thing really).

 

[cypike]

That varies on variables such as volume of water and weight of the fish. You should test it a couple of times a day to keep it below 0.5 ppm, and better below 0.25 ppm. I would expect ammonia to rise within 36 hours, but it can be as short as 24 hours (think of a fish being shipped in a plastic bag, same thing really).

Thank you, also just for an update. The goby that I gave about a 1% chance looks 100% better this morning. I even separated the clown and goby because I thought the goby was going to die and didn’t want that raising the ammonia level in the clowns bucket. No idea what is going on in the display tank but I’m going to do a massive water change today. All the parameters are fine. When should I add my fish back?

 

[cypike]

Clown fish looks 10000000% better in the bucket

 

[Uncle99]

You stirred up yoursand
Likely released ammonia trapped all at once.

Water changes

 

[cypike]

But that should show up on a test correct? Ammonia was zeros all day yesterday

 

[cypike]

So here are the steps that happened

Sunday I did a water change and stirred up quite a bit of sand (yes I'm stupid)
Wednesday I installed an ESHOPPS 75 with a Jaebo wifi pump and had that all set up
Thursday morning I noticed that the pipefish seemed to be struggling (I thought maybe he had gotten caught in the return pump wake and got thrown into the glass)
Friday morning my goby was struggling to breathe and my clownfish was also struggling and the snails kept falling off the rocks.

Snails are still in the display tank, and still alive, urchin is too.

Pipefish is unfortunately dead, but goby made a recovery in the bucket and the clown fish seems to be fine in the bucket as well.

My water salinity is at 1.024 and has stayed that way throughout
Ammonia has read zero the whole time
Nitrites are 0 too
Nitrates are a little high
PH is 8.4

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So here are the steps that happened

Sunday I did a water change and stirred up quite a bit of sand (yes I'm stupid)
Wednesday I installed an ESHOPPS 75 with a Jaebo wifi pump and had that all set up
Thursday morning I noticed that the pipefish seemed to be struggling (I thought maybe he had gotten caught in the return pump wake and got thrown into the glass)
Friday morning my goby was struggling to breathe and my clownfish was also struggling and the snails kept falling off the rocks.

Snails are still in the display tank, and still alive, urchin is too.

Pipefish is unfortunately dead, but goby made a recovery in the bucket and the clown fish seems to be fine in the bucket as well.

My water salinity is at 1.024 and has stayed that way throughout
Ammonia has read zero the whole time
Nitrites are 0 too
Nitrates are a little high
PH is 8.4

Stirred sand doesn’t release ammonia, but it can release hydrogen sulfide if the sand layer is really thick and fouled. That is toxic to fish, but within minutes to hours, once aerated sulfide turns into non toxic sulfate.

It does seem like a water toxicity event, except that the snails and urchins are fine - I can’t account for that.

 

[cypike]

Stirred sand doesn’t release ammonia, but it can release hydrogen sulfide if the sand layer is really thick and fouled. That is toxic to fish, but within minutes to hours, once aerated sulfide turns into non toxic sulfate.

It does seem like a water toxicity event, except that the snails and urchins are fine - I can’t account for that.

Well they were falling off the rocks and such but they seem to be doing ok right now. I did a 80% water change, when do you think I can add mg fish back in?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well they were falling off the rocks and such but they seem to be doing ok right now. I did a 80% water change, when do you think I can add mg fish back in?

That's impossible to say since we are not certain what caused this event. Can you add just one fish first, to see how it does?

 

[cypike]

That's impossible to say since we are not certain what caused this event. Can you add just one fish first, to see how it does?

Yeah I can add the goby back and see how he does, going to add some activated carbon and wait one more day as they’re fine in the bucket so far.