Completely bizarre fish death - help!

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have two tanks, one 240 display and one 25 gal Lagooon aio.

Last night I fed everyone their evening music cubes and everyone was happy in both tanks.

Today I come home and go to feed and none of my 4 anthias are to be found. Then I see a couple of crabs eating the corpse of one of them and find another one being eaten in the other side. The other 2 are mia. All my other fish, 4 tangs, two fire fish, a royal gramma, leopard wrasse, fox face, and two big clowns are all eating and look fine in this big tank.

THEN, I go to feed my two clowns in my lagoon that were my first two fish 5 years ago, and instead of jumping at the food like they always do, they are now laying on the bottom of the tank with labored breathing. The watchman pistol combo are fine. I did a water change.

I am baffled. Can anyone figure this out? It is a crazy coincidence that all four anthias in one tank and two clowns in another both went to hell in 24 hours.

* as an aside, I got some new corals for my big tank on Friday, but all corals look stellar. Acros growing, maxima clam etc all look very healthy.

See levels below. Yes Po4 is higher than I’d like it but no different than it’s been for months.

The fish dying in two different tanks could just be a red herring. With clownfish dying in the one tank, but surviving in the other doesn't lean me towards some commonality like airborne toxins or contaminated food. Still, I can't explain it.

Absolutely NO other symptoms in the other fish?

 

[MnFish1]

What *may* have happened is that the corals you recently added could have had some kind of fish parasite attached to their frag plugs, which introduced a parasite to one of your tanks, that was then transferred to your other tank by anything from using the same siphon or net, etc.

Maybe the R2R #fishmedic guys will have some better advice.

Good luck!

Sorry was out of town. It's unclear to me what happened - except that different fish are susceptible to different degrees to different diseases. If it was a disease, the coral was likely the culprit. Though the other fish 'seem' healthy, I would be extremely cautious and observant for any other signs of disease in the other fish. Unclear whether the 2 tanks are related as to cause of the problem

 

[MnFish1]

PS - in the tank where both fish died - I would leave it fallow for 6 weeks - in case it was a disease.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

PS - in the tank where both fish died - I would leave it fallow for 6 weeks - in case it was a disease.

I think the OP said there is still a watchman goby in that tank.

 

[winxp_man]

I think the OP said there is still a watchman goby in that tank.

My brothers tank has a goby and a pistol we couldn’t catch, took out all fish because of the velvet outbreak I had at the beginning of the year. That fish made it through crazy times. Never caught anything. Put all fish back after the fallow period and it’s been since May no issues with any thing.

Only conclusion I can conjure up is that because it was a bottom under the rock cave dwelling with his pistol shrimp it never got any of the parasites on him. Otherwise I don’t know and can’t explain it why it never got anything and lived through it all.

 

[LMSquire]

The fish dying in two different tanks could just be a red herring. With clownfish dying in the one tank, but surviving in the other doesn't lean me towards some commonality like airborne toxins or contaminated food. Still, I can't explain it.

Absolutely NO other symptoms in the other fish?

Yeah brother, everyone is happy and thriving, including my smaller gobies and gramma. It’s so puzzling. My mentor can’t figure it out to save his life and he’s been in this 30 years.

 

[LMSquire]

Sorry was out of town. It's unclear to me what happened - except that different fish are susceptible to different degrees to different diseases. If it was a disease, the coral was likely the culprit. Though the other fish 'seem' healthy, I would be extremely cautious and observant for any other signs of disease in the other fish. Unclear whether the 2 tanks are related as to cause of the problem

Would be a very wild coincidence that only one species of fish in each tank died at the same time though, don’t you think?

 

[LMSquire]

PS - in the tank where both fish died - I would leave it fallow for 6 weeks - in case it was a disease.

Yeah there’s still a watchman and pistol in the small tank where the clowns died, happy and eating.

 

[MnFish1]

Would be a very wild coincidence that only one species of fish in each tank died at the same time though, don’t you think?

Yes - it would be a coincidence. One could consider brooklynella. which will affect different fish (clowns are more susceptible) but usually there are specific symptoms.

 

[LMSquire]

Yes - it would be a coincidence. One could consider brooklynella. which will affect different fish (clowns are more susceptible) but usually there are specific symptoms.

Yeah so everyone else is still looking great. Such a weird thing. If one of you finds out what it might be please follow up, as will I. For now this is a mystery.

 

[mcarroll]

I wonder if oxegen dead at night could have become an issue if the HVAC wasn't running, bringing fresh air into the fish room? Do you have pH charts bob any chance?

Different critters will definitely experience O2 deprivation along a gradient, and maybe these fish were at the fringe for some reason.

...it's a theory. pH charts should show a deviation in trends if you have that data though.

Also, you said crabs were at the scene....if they got extra hungry for some reason, crabs are murderers at heart. Could that (a bit of scavenger starvation) have happened in both tanks?


...it's another theory. ;)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I wonder if oxegen dead at night could have become an issue if the HVAC wasn't running, bringing fresh air into the fish room? Do you have pH charts bob any chance?

Different critters will definitely experience O2 deprivation along a gradient, and maybe these fish were at the fringe for some reason.

...it's a theory. pH charts should show a deviation in trends if you have that data though.

Also, you said crabs were at the scene....if they got extra hungry for some reason, crabs are murderers at heart. Could that (a bit of scavenger starvation) have happened in both tanks?


...it's another theory. ;)

Yes, transient low oxygen and high carbon dioxide can occur during the night in some tanks without good aeration, but lots of photosynthetic organisms. At night, these go into reverse phase photosynthesis, taking up oxygen and giving off CO2. A pH test first thing in the morning will be very low and then it will rise during the day. Different species have differing needs for O2. Corals and algae are fine, I imagine snails will just close up. Usually, though, the fish losses are pretty similar across the board.

 

[mcarroll]

....be interesting to see if there's a chart to go with this pH readout, and if it covers the dates in question.