Fish dying quickly

[MnFish1]

Sorry to hear of losses. Lets go through a few things that are generally critical with initial stocking.
First and always are your parameters (levels). You have quite a few Zeros for what appears to be a newer tank, which tells me you may be using an API test lit. If so, they are notorious for false readings.

- Are you using RODI or tap water from the faucet ?
- Age of tank
- Type of test kit(s) used
- Type of filtration ?
- Amount of water movement and what youre using for Pumps

Suspected issues:

Age of tank
Typical chemical spikes (ammonia and nitrate)
Possible sick fish or more than one
Filtration. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates can build up fast in a marine aquarium. As the high ph requirements for a saltwater tank indicate (8.3), saltwater fish are very intolerant of even the slightest change in these parameters. Vigorous filtration helps move the nitrogen cycle along.

I recommend to take a water sample to a trusted Store that DOES NOT use API test kits and have them check your water to see what they come up with and to compare with your readings.

He already answered it was an ammonia spike - he made a mistake on the first test...

 

[vetteguy53081]

He already answered it was an ammonia spike - he made a mistake on the first test...

Yes I caught that. Making a comprehensive list of possibilities for sudden fish death.

 

[MnFish1]

Yes I caught that. Making a comprehensive list of possibilities for sudden fish death.

Thanks - sorry

 

[ups.0fficial]

Please help, I got a court jester goby yesterday and found him stuck in the filter this morning, didn’t think anything of it and just came up with the conclusion that he was too weak to fight the filter and told myself to do a water change after I finished work. Went back to my room to go get some things I needed and I find my naked clown getting eaten by my hermit crab and pep shrimp. There are very noticeable bite marks out of the other midnight clown who was paired to him. My Midas Blenny looks completely fine (except for his usual traumatized look x5) and I took out the midnight blenny. I don’t have a quarantine tank set up since we haven’t been able to get the money to get one so right now my midnight is in a bowl. What’s going on with my tank? I’ve never had any deaths or difficulties with it before and it did cycle. Was it a clownfish fight or did they just drop dead?

Ammonia- around 0-0.10
Nitrates- 0
Nitrites- 0
Ph- looks around 7.5 ish (I’m assuming it’s because of the deaths)

A little warning since I’m going to be posting my dead fish, midnight clown, and Midas blenny along with my hermit crab

Well, I can say that after all of this my Midas Blenny is still alive. I never knew a fish from petco would be so strong lol. Of course he’s stressed from, well, all of the panic and everything happening. He’s back in my tank after a giant water change and he’s doing somewhat well. All of the inverts survived as well. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice! I’m going to probably stick with just my Midas and inverts for a long time. I’ll definitely keep everything I learned in mind! I’ll look into some better test kits. I’m super happy that my Midas survived!! Again, thank you everyone!

 

[ariellemermaid]

You can also add prime. (assuming you're not using copper)

I’ve seen folks say this multiple times recently. I want to challenge that idea with this post from Humblefish that both Coppersafe and Coper Power are totally safe to use with Prime. I have tested with Copper Power myself and had no issues. Perhaps you’re just referring to certain copper products?

As to the OP, sorry for your loss. When I started out I lost 3 fish to an ammonia spike in QT despite cycling with Turbostart. Now, I liberally use Prime when I make any changes to my tank (adding anything including CUC, fish, or big media changes). Just until I’ve monitored the ammonia long enough to ensure I’m good. For instance I got my current QT cycled and stable (just adding an old cycled sponge didn’t do it, still got a spike) then started going hypo when I found flukes. I never would have expected an ammonia spike but I got a big one and my fish didn’t care because of Prime (bio filter still hasn’t recovered 1 week in). Prime saved these fish twice. Another example...just adding some CUC members to my invert/coral QT also caused a spike. These are 20 gallon tanks with oversized filters and as much media as I can fit.

Given my experience I can’t help but recommend Prime and close ammonia monitoring with any tank changes especially small tanks.

 

[MnFish1]

I’ve seen folks say this multiple times recently. I want to challenge that idea with this post from Humblefish that both Coppersafe and Coper Power are totally safe to use with Prime. I have tested with Copper Power myself and had no issues. Perhaps you’re just referring to certain copper products?

As to the OP, sorry for your loss. When I started out I lost 3 fish to an ammonia spike in QT despite cycling with Turbostart. Now, I liberally use Prime when I make any changes to my tank (adding anything including CUC, fish, or big media changes). Just until I’ve monitored the ammonia long enough to ensure I’m good. For instance I got my current QT cycled and stable (just adding an old cycled sponge didn’t do it, still got a spike) then started going hypo when I found flukes. I never would have expected an ammonia spike but I got a big one and my fish didn’t care because of Prime (bio filter still hasn’t recovered 1 week in). Prime saved these fish twice. Another example...just adding some CUC members to my invert/coral QT also caused a spike. These are 20 gallon tanks with oversized filters and as much media as I can fit.

Given my experience I can’t help but recommend Prime and close ammonia monitoring with any tank changes especially small tanks.

Thanks - I agree - I couldnt remember which one was 'safe' and which one was 'ok'....

 

[ups.0fficial]

I’ve seen folks say this multiple times recently. I want to challenge that idea with this post from Humblefish that both Coppersafe and Coper Power are totally safe to use with Prime. I have tested with Copper Power myself and had no issues. Perhaps you’re just referring to certain copper products?

As to the OP, sorry for your loss. When I started out I lost 3 fish to an ammonia spike in QT despite cycling with Turbostart. Now, I liberally use Prime when I make any changes to my tank (adding anything including CUC, fish, or big media changes). Just until I’ve monitored the ammonia long enough to ensure I’m good. For instance I got my current QT cycled and stable (just adding an old cycled sponge didn’t do it, still got a spike) then started going hypo when I found flukes. I never would have expected an ammonia spike but I got a big one and my fish didn’t care because of Prime (bio filter still hasn’t recovered 1 week in). Prime saved these fish twice. Another example...just adding some CUC members to my invert/coral QT also caused a spike. These are 20 gallon tanks with oversized filters and as much media as I can fit.

Given my experience I can’t help but recommend Prime and close ammonia monitoring with any tank changes especially small tanks.

Oh wow! I think my stepdad has prime or some off brand stuff like that! I’ll see if I can add some to my tank. How often do you dose it?

 

[MnFish1]

Oh wow! I think my stepdad has prime or some off brand stuff like that! I’ll see if I can add some to my tank. How often do you dose it?

I have never used it for ammonia - in this type of situation. I assume the instructions will tell you .. I believe - though - once you've used it you can get a false ammonia level. Hopefully - since the dead fish are out of the tank you shouldn't have a problem again - the prime is to detoxify the ammonia thats causing an immediate problem

 

[ups.0fficial]

I have never used it for ammonia - in this type of situation. I assume the instructions will tell you .. I believe - though - once you've used it you can get a false ammonia level. Hopefully - since the dead fish are out of the tank you shouldn't have a problem again - the prime is to detoxify the ammonia thats causing an immediate problem

Thank you! I know what to do now if I come across another sudden ammonia spike or a small rise in ammonia!

 

[ariellemermaid]

Oh wow! I think my stepdad has prime or some off brand stuff like that! I’ll see if I can add some to my tank. How often do you dose it?

Every 2 days. There are other brands that do the same thing and maybe I’m just a sheep but Prime seems to be the product most trusted and recommended. Also carried by my LFS and Amazon so easy to obtain.

I have never used it for ammonia - in this type of situation. I assume the instructions will tell you .. I believe - though - once you've used it you can get a false ammonia level. Hopefully - since the dead fish are out of the tank you shouldn't have a problem again - the prime is to detoxify the ammonia thats causing an immediate problem

Yes, it’s a temporary fix but temporary is what is needed in the case of ammonia spikes. Temporary until the bio filter catches up and/or temporary until you can replace enough of the water. Keep in mind if you replace half the water for instance, half of the ammonia level is still in the tank and the fish continue to produce more ammonia constantly. So water changes are great and I did one when it got higher than I was comfortable with, but Prime kept the fish safe in the mean time.

In terms of whether Prime affects testing depends on the test. I use the API ammonia test and Prime does NOT affect the test. The Seachem ammonia badge on the other hand only registers unbound ammonia so that’s a different story (I’ve cycled empty tanks by adding ammonia directly and the badges didn’t work, so I cannot recommend this product). If you have a different test, just Google Prime and the test to see if it affects it.

For instance I’ve had ammonia in my QT with Prime for the past week. I’ve been able to monitor the level using the API test despite Prime and finally, just this morning, my bio filter finally caught up! No more ammonia. I dosed Stability as well (bottled bacteria) but it still took this long to get there.

 

[MnFish1]

Every 2 days. There are other brands that do the same thing and maybe I’m just a sheep but Prime seems to be the product most trusted and recommended. Also carried by my LFS and Amazon so easy to obtain.


Yes, it’s a temporary fix but temporary is what is needed in the case of ammonia spikes. Temporary until the bio filter catches up and/or temporary until you can replace enough of the water. Keep in mind if you replace half the water for instance, half of the ammonia level is still in the tank and the fish continue to produce more ammonia constantly. So water changes are great and I did one when it got higher than I was comfortable with, but Prime kept the fish safe in the mean time.

In terms of whether Prime affects testing depends on the test. I use the API ammonia test and Prime does NOT affect the test. The Seachem ammonia badge on the other hand only registers unbound ammonia so that’s a different story (I’ve cycled empty tanks by adding ammonia directly and the badges didn’t work, so I cannot recommend this product). If you have a different test, just Google Prime and the test to see if it affects it.

For instance I’ve had ammonia in my QT with Prime for the past week. I’ve been able to monitor the level using the API test despite Prime and finally, just this morning, my bio filter finally caught up! No more ammonia. I dosed Stability as well (bottled bacteria) but it still took this long to get there.

I think I was the person that recommended Prime in the first place. I agree with this completely.

 

[ups.0fficial]

Well, I can say that after all of this my Midas Blenny is still alive. I never knew a fish from petco would be so strong lol. Of course he’s stressed from, well, all of the panic and everything happening. He’s back in my tank after a giant water change and he’s doing somewhat well. All of the inverts survived as well. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice! I’m going to probably stick with just my Midas and inverts for a long time. I’ll definitely keep everything I learned in mind! I’ll look into some better test kits. I’m super happy that my Midas survived!! Again, thank you everyone!

Nevermind the Midas died, I will try to refrain from going into detail of what I want from my tank so I don’t jinx myself again but I’m gonna keep my tank an invert only tank for a bit, I’m very excited to try an invert tank!

 

[ariellemermaid]

Nevermind the Midas died, I will try to refrain from going into detail of what I want from my tank so I don’t jinx myself again but I’m gonna keep my tank an invert only tank for a bit, I’m very excited to try an invert tank!

We love our invert/coral tank. So far our favorites are the conch with its elephant-like trunk, Pom Pom crabs with their little anemones, and a cleaner shrimp is great for a little activity. We had one male emerald crab take a bite out of a favia coral within a few minutes of adding it (so it was probably very hungry). He died and the female emerald is pretty sedentary in her live rock hole, however when we come near the tank she holds on with her legs and starts waving her claws looking for a nori handout so the interaction is nice. The cleaner shrimp takes food from us as well; both know the target feeder has something good in it. Blue/red legged hermits add a nice pop of color and we added beautiful shells from Amazon they’ve made new homes in; it’s fun to watch them switch shells. As for snails we’re adding some bumblebee’s and spiny/ninja star snails have really cool shells. We also have a Randall’s shrimp that stays hidden in the rock/sand but pokes out of his hole and grabs nori from us. If you add a watchman that relationship is fun to have, and in our DT we see the pistol shrimp a lot more often since it has a body guard.

On the flip side the cleaner clam just hides in the sand so that’s not very interesting.

And of course if the lighting is right you can add some hearty corals too. Best part is that the entire tank is a CUC so while a little glass cleaning is necessary, they take care of the algae.

Keep in mind though, inverts are even more sensitive to water conditions than fish, so make sure you’re willing to put in the diligence.

 

[Tamberav]

I would just like to point out that a midas blenny in a small tank and turn very aggressive as they are territorial. Mine was a jerk in a 20g. He would grab the clowns and shake them. He was fine for about 1 year then he decided the tank was ALL HIS.

 

[ups.0fficial]

I would just like to point out that a midas blenny in a small tank and turn very aggressive as they are territorial. Mine was a jerk in a 20g. He would grab the clowns and shake them. He was fine for about 1 year then he decided the tank was ALL HIS.

My Midas had usually been very passive in my tank! I thought they were super shy fish before I heard so many stories of them being so aggressive! Regardless, he was a very calm fish, stayed in his hole and came out at feeding or when he wanted to interact with me! One of my clowns were actually the most aggressive, though there wasn’t much aggressive tendencies in the tank that I saw! But I’m definitely not saying that he couldn’t of caused the damaged fins though! In fact he probably did!

 

[ups.0fficial]

We love our invert/coral tank. So far our favorites are the conch with its elephant-like trunk, Pom Pom crabs with their little anemones, and a cleaner shrimp is great for a little activity. We had one male emerald crab take a bite out of a favia coral within a few minutes of adding it (so it was probably very hungry). He died and the female emerald is pretty sedentary in her live rock hole, however when we come near the tank she holds on with her legs and starts waving her claws looking for a nori handout so the interaction is nice. The cleaner shrimp takes food from us as well; both know the target feeder has something good in it. Blue/red legged hermits add a nice pop of color and we added beautiful shells from Amazon they’ve made new homes in; it’s fun to watch them switch shells. As for snails we’re adding some bumblebee’s and spiny/ninja star snails have really cool shells. We also have a Randall’s shrimp that stays hidden in the rock/sand but pokes out of his hole and grabs nori from us. If you add a watchman that relationship is fun to have, and in our DT we see the pistol shrimp a lot more often since it has a body guard.

On the flip side the cleaner clam just hides in the sand so that’s not very interesting.

And of course if the lighting is right you can add some hearty corals too. Best part is that the entire tank is a CUC so while a little glass cleaning is necessary, they take care of the algae.

Keep in mind though, inverts are even more sensitive to water conditions than fish, so make sure you’re willing to put in the diligence.

Oh I didn’t know that inverts were more sensitive! My shrimp and hermit crabs always seemed to live through anything! I’ll keep that in mind through the process! I have two nassarius snails that keep me entertained! Right now in the tank I have them, a zebra hermit crab, and three shrimp! Definitely gonna stay only with them until I know I’m ready to add others, I’ll keep the water conditions in mind when I get to the point I add more! Thank you so much!

 

[WallyB]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I've had similar issues with Amonia Spike when setting up my QT's which are Small 10 Gallon Tanks.
Test kits are good, but they expire and sometime you don't test enough, before things are too late.

So I got a few of these Amonia Alert Tags that are great to give you early heads up on any Ammonia Spikes.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ammonia-alert-continuous-ammonia-sensor-seachem.html

Having these in my Tank have saved me grief quite a few times. SAVED MY FISH with quick/early action.
As soon as I would notice a Color change, I would do water changes, and/or do a more accurate test to confirm the Amonia levels.

The Key is catching the Ammonia levels early enough before fish experience harmful levels.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I've had similar issues with Amonia Spike when setting up my QT's which are Small 10 Gallon Tanks.
Test kits are good, but they expire and sometime you don't test enough, before things are too late.

So I got a few of these Amonia Alert Tags that are great to give you early heads up on any Ammonia Spikes.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ammonia-alert-continuous-ammonia-sensor-seachem.html

Having these in my Tank have saved me grief quite a few times. SAVED MY FISH with quick/early action.
As soon as I would notice a Color change, I would do water changes, and/or do a more accurate test to confirm the Amonia levels.

The Key is catching the Ammonia levels early enough before fish experience harmful levels.

Glad they worked for you. However I bought 2 and the color never changed as fish died. Then, I did a fishless cycle on 2 tanks that had never seen Prime (I.e. it’s not about bound vs. unbound ammonia) by adding ammonia directly. Despite 1ppm of ammonia in the tanks the color only changed slightly, nowhere near the “blue” 0.5ppm the badge is supposed to indicate. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but I’ll never trust them again. 2 badges, 2 tanks, $100 in dead fish is enough for me to stay away. It’s Prime and regular tests for me from here on out.

 

[MnFish1]

Nevermind the Midas died, I will try to refrain from going into detail of what I want from my tank so I don’t jinx myself again but I’m gonna keep my tank an invert only tank for a bit, I’m very excited to try an invert tank!

Sometimes this happens. I dosed some vibrant in my discus tank - it had some hair algae. The next morning - 2 of the fully grown adults had jumped out - the rest were sitting at the surface - with red gills extended. I assume a big ammonia burst. I did a 90 percent water change - and all are ok - but 2 have continued to have gill problems - and one just died - the other is looking bad. The rest are fine. You just never know.

 

[WallyB]

Glad they worked for you. However I bought 2 and the color never changed as fish died. Then, I did a fishless cycle on 2 tanks that had never seen Prime (I.e. it’s not about bound vs. unbound ammonia) by adding ammonia directly. Despite 1ppm of ammonia in the tanks the color only changed slightly, nowhere near the “blue” 0.5ppm the badge is supposed to indicate. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but I’ll never trust them again. 2 badges, 2 tanks, $100 in dead fish is enough for me to stay away. It’s Prime and regular tests for me from here on out.

Yes, I agree proper testing is way better than the Amonia Alert Tags. They worked for me and I always had two in the tank. If the color slightly changed between the two I would react.

I've used "PRIME" to quickly treat ammonia. However I rather do water Changes.

I also in QT setups have used Seachem "Stability" to speed up the cycle. One caution is use as directed, since a little too much can cause and Bio Bloom, and that can quickly deplete Oxygen in a small tank. Aeration is the remedy for a short Bio Bloom.

Since you mention the Amonia Alert Tags are unreliable, I better test my QT which I just started yesterday for a couple of fish.
One fish is special since I got a "Box Fish".