Everything Dead within an Hour

[polyppal]

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.

Will certainly be my standard going forward… thanks!

 

[Dburr1014]

Im almost certain it is an oxygen issue. I just installed a simple chaeto reactor in the rear chamber a few days ago that ive been leaving the lights on 24/7. Maybe with PH swings it elevated the Co2...

To long ago. It would shown something earlier.

I did put some chaeto and a grow light in the rear chamber last weekend, maybe that oxygen caused issues

Same, to long ago.

Really sorry about your losses.

Nothing sprayed anywhere or something different in or around the house? You do anything out of the ordinary?

 

[Dburr1014]

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

What did you feed?

Read later, mysis, same diet forever.
Laundry room. Any way at all something dripped? Bleach, soap? Did you check above the tank? No shelves with puddles?

 

[Should I]

dang that sucks that mando looked like a chunky little guy too

 

[FortyFour44]

Maybe 15min

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

Old friend of mine left his frozen food out to thaw for too long (multiple hours) and fish died very quickly after feeding. Anecdotal and not relevant based on your 15th thaw time but this is why I asked.

 

[formallydehyde]

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

Is the laundry room in a basement by any chance?

 

[Spare time]

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.

I was thinking more like shrimp and things.

 

[Charles Zinn]

How long had you had fish? Did anyone use cleaning supplies near tank or an air freshener that would posion the fish ?

 

[kourtnee]

this was a very strange comment to leave...yeah...so?

Right!? very odd…

 

[Hans-Werner]

Sorry for your losses.

Did you have a sea cucumber or other potentially toxic invertebrates except the zoas?

To my knowledge palytoxin also affects invertebrates, especially some SPS.

I would expect the invertebrates to be much more sensitive than the fish for toxins from outside the tank. Specific toxins of invertebrates is the only thing that comes to my mind at the moment.

 

[BetteMidler]

Check your laundry soap for Alkyl polyethylene glycol ether or other cleaning agents that are classified as a "surfactant," those are toxic to aquatic life. This stuff is more common than you think.

 

[Treefer32]

There's stray voltage and the concept of creating an electrical closed circuit within the aquarium. It's not stray voltage perse, it's salt water being used as a conduit to pass electricity through and to a ground. There's different types of electricity in water. I don't understand the electrical mechanics (definitely not an electrician). All I know is that I had the "rare" type where the tank became and electrified fence if you will. That as long as I grounded myself my body became part of the electrical grid. This type of "Stray" electricity does affect fish. I noticed it first hand in a tang that swam in circles. When I unplugged the offending heater the tang stopped swimming in circles. When I plugged it back it it immediately swam in circles.

Electricity and water in this way are extremely dangerous to both fish and humans. I don't know what it's called, if it's not called stray voltage. ....

I've replaced the offending heater 6 years ago and haven't had issues keeping live stock since. Lost 15 fish though over a 3 week period. Probably would have lost them faster if it was a bigger shock making it into the water.

 

[polyppal]

Ive got to attribute it all to the tank becoming hypoxic over a few days. Seems really hard to do but it’s the only reasonable explanation. Between the lidded tank, being in a laundry room where a heater would draw in oxygen and all the other variables, I have to assume there was no gas exchange going on within the tank…

Painful lesson learned but the tank is back up now, I’ve improved the turbulence of the weir between the first and second chamber and added a permanent airstone, thanks all for the input

Rip Keanu Reefs and Reefs Whitherspoon (…and unnamed but still missed mandarin)

 

[IceNein]

Sucks man, but we do our best, we learn from mistakes, and we move on.