Everything Dead within an Hour

[Nano_Tuners]

I don’t think the guy asking about the bioload meant anything nefarious, everyone put down the pitchforks

 

[PharmrJohn]

Just a shot in the dark. Sorry if the query was already posted. What was your water source?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

What still doesn't make sense is why the inverts are fine.

All fish dying very quickly (and at the same time) but inverts being OK, usually points to the tank reaching some sort of hypoxic state. In general, most inverts (particularly cnidarians) have much lower O2 demand than fish. Fish can go in a matter of minutes…inverts can take hours to even days.

Corals often look fine in hypoxic events because they often have extreme polyp extension in order to increase surface area to facilitate passive O2/CO2 exchange.

 

[Nano_Tuners]

Just a shot in the dark. Sorry if the query was already posted. What was your water source?

Rodi

 

[Nano_Tuners]

All fish dying very quickly (and at the same time) but inverts being OK, usually points to the tank reaching some sort of hypoxic state. In general, most inverts (particularly cnidarians) have much lower O2 demand than fish.

I opened the lid and added an airstone in the case that’s what happened

 

[Cichlid Dad]

So i thought of something else... Though its also a long-shot

I moved this tank into the laundry room since im moving this week, which has a gas heater on the other side of the room. There is a co2 detector in the room though that shows normal and the pilot light is still lit

In the laundry room, is there anything that gets sprayed? Any power used? I can imagine More than one way to contaminate a small reef in a laundry room

Edit: posted prior to seeing all the questions about the laundry room LOL :rolleyes:

 

[Nano_Tuners]

In the laundry room, is there anything that gets sprayed? Any power used? I can imagine More than one way to contaminate a small reef in a laundry room

Naw, though maybe these fish did the Tide pod challenge :/

Dam TikTok

 

[BryanM]

I'm so sorry, this made me very sad. I hope we find a root cause though, at least that would be "something".

 

[Nano_Tuners]

I'm so sorry, this made me very sad. I hope we find a root cause though, at least that would be "something".

Thanks

Ive narrowed it to has to be either a hypoxic tank or I stuck my hand in with some kind of chemical on it

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Naw, though maybe these fish did the Tide pod challenge :/

Dam TikTok

Ok , I'm not supposed to laugh at a time like this, but...... That was funny

 

[Fenral]

Thats what Id have thought. Literally eating like pigs and acting normal 60-90 minutes before all this.

I think you just found your answer … maybe… what where they eating??

 

[Nano_Tuners]

Ok , I'm not supposed to laugh at a time like this, but...... That was funny

I’ll be the first one to post a funny gif when I’m in a better mood

 

[Nano_Tuners]

I think you just found your answer … maybe… what where they eating??

I thought maybe, but it’s just frozen mysis and a few drops of selcon. Same diet they’ve had forever

 

[Fenral]

I thought maybe, but it’s just frozen mysis and a few drops of selcon. Same diet they’ve had forever

Yeh i feed the same stuff - but at a guess something was toxic in the food… that the scavengers didn’t care about - if it was other chemicals most likely a lot more stuff would be dead… o2 is unlikely (not impossible - but again nothing else died…), voltage is unlikely

It is just a guess though…

 

[Nano_Tuners]

Ok here ya go @Cichlid Dad

 

[Tamberav]

I don’t think the guy asking about the bioload meant anything nefarious, everyone put down the pitchforks

Ya, I took it as he was surprised and just checking if there was really only 3 fish and no survivors.

Text doesn’t translate intention well.

 

[FortyFour44]

How long did you leave the frozen mysis to thaw?

Really sorry to hear.

 

[Nano_Tuners]

How long did you leave the frozen mysis to thaw?

Really sorry to hear.

Maybe 15min

Just checked up on the inverts and they’re all great still, so I’m ruling out chemical

 

[Salt_ee]

Broooo so sorry to hear that, ugh! I would lose my ****! I have had a cowfish for 9mo and yes I'm a total newb so not saying anyone should get one, however initially he was getting beat up by my clown so badly I had to quarantine the clown. Literally ran out to Petco same day I purchased Morgan - cowfish and just grabbed a cheap 5 gallon tank w/HOB and airstone. Point is I didn't know what I purchased that day, but I fell in absolute love! I saw him release his poison several times and nothing died. Following though as I just installed a fuge and a CO2 scrubber which I custom retrofit to my protein skimmer to recirculate. Been a week and tank is thriving but I have seen my ph as high as 8.5. I also have a ATO w/Kalk but I have it scheduled to run only at night due to fear of high ph. I also have my fuge lights running only at night so 12hrs. I also do have a ton of surface agitation, surface skimmer, GFO/carbon reactor. Its all scheduled to the best of my knowledge but this electrical issue is concerning. I have a grounding wire but haven't installed, this makes me think I should asap! I do have everything plugged into a UPS though so perhaps I'm safe? Sorry again dude that sucks so bad!
P.S. I have a Landen AIO 26.3g 60P mixed reef

P.P.S I just saw the laundry room comment. I don't even like being in mine for too long...its like a chemical philharmonic in mine so guessing it was something you touched and transferred in with feeding. Sorry again...

This raises another question in my mind. I usually wash my hands, then use hand sanitizer, then rinse my hands with RODI water every time before I touch anything around the tank. Is this safe or nah?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

In the course of an hour, all of the fish in my 32 just suddenly died inexpilcably. An hour or so ago, they were all swimming around fine and doing great. The corals and the inverts are fine.

Lost about 300$ in fish (A paired group of mocha storms and ORA mandarin I was successfully fattening up) just like that with no explanation. Tested the water, it’s fine so I’m guessing either all of the oxygen suddenly disappeared (no bacterial bloom or anything) and they somehow suffocated, or there’s suddenly stray voltage in the tank. Don’t have a volt meter but the only things in there are an axis return pump and a Helios probe

Wow - four pages on this post! I can’t read them all, so I’ll just give you my opinion;

It is either a low oxygen/high carbon dioxide issue, a fish-specific toxin or Amyloodinium/velvet. It is NOT stray voltage.

You ruled out lanthanum, and that’s the only fish-only toxin that is used in aquariums.

Amyloodinium is tricky in that people may miss the first symptoms (rapid breathing and not eating) so the fish just “turn up dead”. If you are certain that the fish were eating normally within 24 hours of death, it isn’t that.

That leaves low oxygen/high carbon dioxide. I don’t see that myself, I use air stones in every tank I manage, to avoid this, and to act as a safety net should a pump cut out.

Dissolved gasses are tough to measure without expensive meters. You can sometimes infer the issue by measuring the pH before lights come on in the morning and then again late afternoon. If you see a large rise in pH, that indicates dissolved gas issues.