Dead Clownfish

[rudi 51]

Hi I introduced 2 juvenile clown fish into a recently cycled tank on Thursday.

They seemed to be swimming around normally yesterday and both were accepting food (frozen mysis) this morning one of them was lying dead on the sand.

It’s a 20 gallon tank and the parameters (that I have test kits for) are -

ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 8.15 ‘ish
Alkalinity 11.5 ‘ish
Salinity 1.025
Temperature 26c

The only other inhabitants are 5 Astraea snails and 2 coral frags, one is pulsing Xenia (which hasn’t settled in and looks dead) and the other is Anthelia (which looks fine)

I also added some copepods yesterday morning, directly to tank, they came in a 250ml pouch.

Is there anything I should do?

 

[Australian_Reef]

Were they wild caught clowns or tank raised?

How did you cycle the tank?

 

[rudi 51]

Were they wild caught clowns or tank raised?

How did you cycle the tank?

They were describes in the shop as Aquacultured which I’m almost certain would be by the company TMC.

I cycled using Fritz turbo start 900 and ammonia.

 

[Australian_Reef]

They were describes in the shop as Aquacultured which I’m almost certain would be by the company TMC.

I cycled using Fritz turbo start 900 and ammonia.

But time frame and method etc for the cycle.
Without seeing the tank etc the obvious thing, especially given tank raised clowns, would be an incomplete cycle or secondly some sort of contamination externally/toxin in the water. How long were the tangs in for? TMC uk?

 

[rudi 51]

But time frame and method etc for the cycle.
Without seeing the tank etc the obvious thing, especially given tank raised clowns, would be an incomplete cycle or secondly some sort of contamination externally/toxin in the water. How long were the tangs in for? TMC uk?

Got you. Sorry, this is my first saltwater tank

I set up the tank 4 weeks ago. Mixed salt with Ro water.
Washed the coral sand and put in rocks, left heater return pump and lights running for a week just in case of failures.

So 3 weeks ago added ammonia, as instructed by Fritz, then Fritz turbostart 900, over the course of the following week the ammonia level went from 4ppm to 0.25ppm, I could not get a reading for nitrite but nitrate started to show and ammonia fell to 0.

Last Tuesday, so nearly a full month after tank set up I added snails and Coral. Tested water parameters on Wednesday and they were as above. Added clownfish on Friday and another full dose turbostart just after I added the fish. Tested yesterday and water parameters were fine then a dead fish this morning.

Tank is a mess of algae. Should I post a picture?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Tank is a mess of algae. Should I post a picture?

Yes please. Its not normal to have an algae problem at only 4 weeks.

Please also describe your filtration system and any equipment you have on the tank.

Please also describe how you acclimated the fish before you added them to you tank?

Since your inverts are fine, I am thinking it is either a low oxygen issue or acclimation issue.

 

[Australian_Reef]

Got you. Sorry, this is my first saltwater tank

I set up the tank 4 weeks ago. Mixed salt with Ro water.
Washed the coral sand and put in rocks, left heater return pump and lights running for a week just in case of failures.

So 3 weeks ago added ammonia, as instructed by Fritz, then Fritz turbostart 900, over the course of the following week the ammonia level went from 4ppm to 0.25ppm, I could not get a reading for nitrite but nitrate started to show and ammonia fell to 0.

Last Tuesday, so nearly a full month after tank set up I added snails and Coral. Tested water parameters on Wednesday and they were as above. Added clownfish on Friday and another full dose turbostart just after I added the fish. Tested yesterday and water parameters were fine then a dead fish this morning.

Tank is a mess of algae. Should I post a picture?

Don’t worry, everyone has a first tank. Everyone here wants you to be successful. *clowns I meant from my previous post. Spelling correct!!

Pictures will help. Maybe a video too via YouTube.

So you used sterile rock? What test kits are you using ? How are you measuring salinity?

 

[rudi 51]

Thanks. I haven’t got a you tube account. I’ve used salifert test kits for all the above tests. I also double checked the ammonia results with an API test which I have for my freshwater tanks. I used sterile rocks and sterile sand.

I’m pretty cut up about this death tbh. I thought I was good to go. Are there any other test kits I should get to try and work out what killed the fish?

Anything I should actually do to increase the chance of the remaining fish surviving.

 

[rudi 51]

Sorry, measuring salinity with a Milwaukee ma887 tester.

 

[rudi 51]

Filtration is the built in one that comes with this tank https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/products/tmc-first-wave-aquarium?variant=55734555312507

So a few sponges, bio rings, carbon, strip of filter floss. 600 lph return pump.

I’m not planning on keeping the sponges long term but despite washing the sand there’s still a bit of cloudiness when it’s disturbed so left in for now.

 

[Tinklez]

Following. Do you test your phosphate levels too?

 

[rudi 51]

No they never had that test kit in the shop . Will look on Amazon and get one ordered now. Any others?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

That looks like diatoms to me, which is very normal at this stage, it will pass on its own.

The tank looks great, I love that big rock leaning up against the glass.

My only suggestion would be to add a powerhead in the tank and get more water movement. Personally I would drop the sponges and the bio rings, they are not necessary and can become detritus traps. Good luck

 

[Australian_Reef]

Filtration is the built in one that comes with this tank https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/products/tmc-first-wave-aquarium?variant=55734555312507

So a few sponges, bio rings, carbon, strip of filter floss. 600 lph return pump.

I’m not planning on keeping the sponges long term but despite washing the sand there’s still a bit of cloudiness when it’s disturbed so left in for now.

So the tank has an inbuilt skimmer? Plenty aeration?

 

[rudi 51]

Thanks, I have 1000lph power head on the opposite side of the tank which I should have mentioned.

 

[rudi 51]

Yes it has a skimmer but I was told it wouldn’t be needed until I had a higher bioload so it’s still in the box.

 

[Australian_Reef]

Yes it has a skimmer but I was told it wouldn’t be needed until I had a higher bioload so it’s still in the box.

I’d still run it tbh. Even if just on very low. Tbh I think I’d just give your tank a few more weeks. Don’t over feed, don’t add anything else, take it slow. Water change frequently. At least 10% a week with good quality water. Time is the best solution.

 

[rudi 51]

Thanks. Will just have to wait and see with the other clownfish I guess. Have just turned the return nozzle up towards the surface and it’s splashing the water up a bit. Never thought about aeration because there was a decent ripple across the surface.

Will also add the skimmer. Any other test kits I should order apart from phosphate and the ones I have?

 

[ScottJ]

Hi I introduced 2 juvenile clown fish into a recently cycled tank on Thursday.

They seemed to be swimming around normally yesterday and both were accepting food (frozen mysis) this morning one of them was lying dead on the sand.

It’s a 20 gallon tank and the parameters (that I have test kits for) are -

ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 8.15 ‘ish
Alkalinity 11.5 ‘ish
Salinity 1.025
Temperature 26c

The only other inhabitants are 5 Astraea snails and 2 coral frags, one is pulsing Xenia (which hasn’t settled in and looks dead) and the other is Anthelia (which looks fine)

I also added some copepods yesterday morning, directly to tank, they came in a 250ml pouch.

Is there anything I should do?

Did you see any signs of aggression between the 2 clowns? Was one larger than the other, or were they both the same size.

Did the dead one look beat up at all? I know, that's hard to determine on a dead fish.

 

[rudi 51]

Not really but these are the first saltwater fish I’ve ever had. They were best buddies, swimming alongside each other when first added, then after a few hours they went their own way a bit more which I figured was a good sign. A little bit of niggle when they went after the same piece of food but nothing persistent. The fish that’s still alive was slightly bigger than the dead one. Dead fish looked perfect, good colour, no frayed fins, just dead.