Fish dying?

[c.dickens9]

For the last week I’ve been dealing with my fish in my display tank just becoming extremely lethargic not eating and then laying on the ground. It’s a relatively new tank moved them from a 33 to a 60 about a month ago and they randomly are dropping like flies. Then when I move them into my 15 gallon cube that’s been running for a few months they fully recover and are fine but if I put them back in main tank they become lethargic don’t eat and are on the ground again. Also noticed my clown’s top fin is becoming translucent. Haven’t had any parameter swings and even changed my water a few days ago which throws me for a loop even more. I just run a HOB with media and activated carbon but any advice helps all my inverts and coral seem completely unaffected by whatever is happening.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Just a hob in a 60 gallon, nothing else? Do you have powerheads for surface agitation, how is the water oxygenated? Inverts need less oxygen than fish.

 

[W31Olds]

How is respiration rate? I would check your Ammonia levels an add an Airstone. I agree, a HOB filter may not be sufficient.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For the last week I’ve been dealing with my fish in my display tank just becoming extremely lethargic not eating and then laying on the ground. It’s a relatively new tank moved them from a 33 to a 60 about a month ago and they randomly are dropping like flies. Then when I move them into my 15 gallon cube that’s been running for a few months they fully recover and are fine but if I put them back in main tank they become lethargic don’t eat and are on the ground again. Also noticed my clown’s top fin is becoming translucent. Haven’t had any parameter swings and even changed my water a few days ago which throws me for a loop even more. I just run a HOB with media and activated carbon but any advice helps all my inverts and coral seem completely unaffected by whatever is happening.

I dont believe this is a water quality issue, but possibly something in new tank possibly decay from a lost fish, or false test readings but if this were the case, you would see labored breathing, gasping at surface and fish hiding.
Are there any inverts and coral in the new tank and how are they looking ?

 

[c.dickens9]

For the last week I’ve been dealing with my fish in my display tank just becoming extremely lethargic not eating and then laying on the ground. It’s a relatively new tank moved them from a 33 to a 60 about a month ago and they randomly are dropping like flies. Then when I move them into my 15 gallon cube that’s been running for a few months they fully recover and are fine but if I put them back in main tank they become lethargic don’t eat and are on the ground again. Also noticed my clown’s top fin is becoming translucent. Haven’t had any parameter swings and even changed my water a few days ago which throws me for a loop even more. I just run a HOB with media and activated carbon but any advice helps all my inverts and coral seem completely unaffected by whatever is happening.

I dont believe this is a water quality issue, but possibly something in new tank possibly decay from a lost fish, or false test readings but if this were the case, you would see labored breathing, gasping at surface and fish hiding.
Are there any inverts and coral in the new tank and how are they looking ?

I did see labored breathing and assumed it was a lack of oxygen issue so I got a new large air stone and pointed both powerheads at surface to no change in results.

 

[c.dickens9]

Just a hob in a 60 gallon, nothing else? Do you have powerheads for surface agitation, how is the water oxygenated? Inverts need less oxygen than fish.

Sorry I have two power heads and large air stone as well just meant hob as my filtration not a sump or canister

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I did see labored breathing and assumed it was a lack of oxygen issue so I got a new large air stone and pointed both powerheads at surface to no change in results.

It did sound like a low oxygen issue to me. If the air stone didn’t change things, the next question in would have is how are the non-fish, invertebrates doing in the affected tank? If they are thriving, that does push things towards a disease issue, but that doesn’t align with moving the fish and seeing improvement (as they would have moved the disease with them).

 

[c.dickens9]

I did see labored breathing and assumed it was a lack of oxygen issue so I got a new large air stone and pointed both powerheads at surface to no change in results.

It did sound like a low oxygen issue to me. If the air stone didn’t change things, the next question in would have is how are the non-fish, invertebrates doing in the affected tank? If they are thriving, that does push things towards a disease issue, but that doesn’t align with moving the fish and seeing improvement (as they would have moved the disease with them).

Yeah right big puzzle the inverts (cleaner shrimp, blood red shrimp, emerald crabs hermit crabs snails) and corals are all fine but the fish are definitely not, lost my coral beauty overnight think I just moved him too late to the cube but yeah it’s really throwing me for a loop everything I moved out early enough fully recovers

 

[MnFish1]

Yeah right big puzzle the inverts (cleaner shrimp, blood red shrimp, emerald crabs hermit crabs snails) and corals are all fine but the fish are definitely not, lost my coral beauty overnight think I just moved him too late to the cube but yeah it’s really throwing me for a loop everything I moved out early enough fully recovers

How many fish total are in the tank - and were in the tank at the start. Maybe I missed it - did you check parameters? Not all parameters that affect fish will affect invertebrates. However the fact that the invertebrates are ok make a parameter issue less likely. Are you running carbon in your new tank? (activated carbon)? - Additionally, which corals do you have - soft corals will be much more tolerant of issues than others

 

[c.dickens9]

Yeah right big puzzle the inverts (cleaner shrimp, blood red shrimp, emerald crabs hermit crabs snails) and corals are all fine but the fish are definitely not, lost my coral beauty overnight think I just moved him too late to the cube but yeah it’s really throwing me for a loop everything I moved out early enough fully recovers

How many fish total are in the tank - and were in the tank at the start. Maybe I missed it - did you check parameters? Not all parameters that affect fish will affect invertebrates. However the fact that the invertebrates are ok make a parameter issue less likely. Are you running carbon in your new tank? (activated carbon)? - Additionally, which corals do you have - soft corals will be much more tolerant of issues than others

I have some torches a trachy some hammers and a few mushrooms but not too much soft coral. The 60 gallon tank initially had two juvenile clownfish a bristletooth tang and a coral beauty. My parameters should be fine they only would’ve swung if any when I changed my water last week. First ones started acting strange were the tang and coral beauty, being lethargic, swimming strange, not eating and breathing heavily. Off of that I assumed it was an oxygen issue and added a bigger airstone and have two powerheads pointed at surface. Didn’t get better and started going into the sand so I moved both of them to a 15 gallon cube (clownfish unaffected at this point so left them in 60) both recovered over night so I put them back in the 60 and they went downhill after a day of being alright again. Was able to move the tang into the 15 again and he fully recovered and has been in it since. Couldn’t catch the coral beauty before he died so he died last night and by last night one of the clownfish looked horrible (ie: initial picture) so I moved him into the cube and now the spot where it looked like his fins were becoming transparent has gone back to normal and he’s now pretty much recovered by this morning in the cube.

 

[c.dickens9]

Yeah right big puzzle the inverts (cleaner shrimp, blood red shrimp, emerald crabs hermit crabs snails) and corals are all fine but the fish are definitely not, lost my coral beauty overnight think I just moved him too late to the cube but yeah it’s really throwing me for a loop everything I moved out early enough fully recovers

How many fish total are in the tank - and were in the tank at the start. Maybe I missed it - did you check parameters? Not all parameters that affect fish will affect invertebrates. However the fact that the invertebrates are ok make a parameter issue less likely. Are you running carbon in your new tank? (activated carbon)? - Additionally, which corals do you have - soft corals will be much more tolerant of issues than others

I have some torches a trachy some hammers and a few mushrooms but not too much soft coral. The 60 gallon tank initially had two juvenile clownfish a bristletooth tang and a coral beauty. My parameters should be fine they only would’ve swung if any when I changed my water last week. First ones started acting strange were the tang and coral beauty, being lethargic, swimming strange, not eating and breathing heavily. Off of that I assumed it was an oxygen issue and added a bigger airstone and have two powerheads pointed at surface. Didn’t get better and started going into the sand so I moved both of them to a 15 gallon cube (clownfish unaffected at this point so left them in 60) both recovered over night so I put them back in the 60 and they went downhill after a day of being alright again. Was able to move the tang into the 15 again and he fully recovered and has been in it since. Couldn’t catch the coral beauty before he died so he died last night and by last night one of the clownfish looked horrible (ie: initial picture) so I moved him into the cube and now the spot where it looked like his fins were becoming transparent has gone back to normal and he’s now pretty much recovered by this morning in the cube.

Also sorry yes I’m running active carbon as well

 

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

Interested to see what happens here. Only been at this for almost two years, so i’m still a noob. One thing that came to mind is perhaps getting an ICP test.

 

[W31Olds]

Please post a pic or two of your full Tank. Might yield a clue. Did you check your Ammonia levels?

 

[c.dickens9]

Sounds like ammonia to me. Years ago I killed a subadult Passer Angle. Cleaned a bunch of fuzzy algae off my rocks and glass and let the canister filter clean it up. Forgot to clean the canister filter and it turned into an ammonia factory. Even after a big water change the ammonia would jump right up again. Learned a valuable lesson and lost a beautiful fish in the process.

Does the HOB perform all your filtration (Mechanical, Chemical,Biological)? Maybe its just not up to the task - I would think its not enough for a 60 mixed. Have you cleaned the filter media lately? Maybe some or all of the bacteria were removed and your tank is going through a mini cycle. I believe its always best to have 2 or 3 types of biological filtration. Live rock, media, and even a prefilter (sponge, floss) will work part time.

Currently have bio balls, sponge and activated carbon in the HOB, started the tank with Liverock so that’s all the rock work. I tested 0 for ammonia the entire ordeal so if that’s what it is then not sure why it’s testing 0

 

[c.dickens9]

Sounds like ammonia to me. Years ago I killed a subadult Passer Angle. Cleaned a bunch of fuzzy algae off my rocks and glass and let the canister filter clean it up. Forgot to clean the canister filter and it turned into an ammonia factory. Even after a big water change the ammonia would jump right up again. Learned a valuable lesson and lost a beautiful fish in the process.

Does the HOB perform all your filtration (Mechanical, Chemical,Biological)? Maybe its just not up to the task - I would think its not enough for a 60 mixed. Have you cleaned the filter media lately? Maybe some or all of the bacteria were removed and your tank is going through a mini cycle. I believe its always best to have 2 or 3 types of biological filtration. Live rock, media, and even a prefilter (sponge, floss) will work part time.

Currently have bio balls, sponge and activated carbon in the HOB, started the tank with Liverock so that’s all the rock work. I tested 0 for ammonia the entire ordeal so if that’s what it is then not sure why it’s testing 0

How did you end up fixing that?

 

[MnFish1]

The one thing is that Coral is less sensitive to ammonia than fish - It would be really great if you could check a full set of parameters. Additionally - curious do the fish gulp air at the surface (more than likely an Oxygen problem) or are just breathing fast. Did you QT your fish - and have you added anything new when you upgraded your tank that might have brought a disease in, Again - disease shouldn't resolve - as @Jay Hemdal said - with changing tanks. It sounds like some kind of 'toxic issue' that coral is less susceptible to.

 

[MnFish1]

Currently have bio balls, sponge and activated carbon in the HOB, started the tank with Liverock so that’s all the rock work. I tested 0 for ammonia the entire ordeal so if that’s what it is then not sure why it’s testing 0

This is interesting - and important to point out - many tanks can run just on flow and no filtration except live rock in the tank. The HOB is handy for putting in carbon, etc. I wanted to ask - when you move the fish from tank 1 to tank 2, how long does it take to improve (you kind of implied it was instant or near instant) - additionally if you put the fish back from tank 2 to tank 1 how long does it take to get worse (the fish)

 

[c.dickens9]

Currently have bio balls, sponge and activated carbon in the HOB, started the tank with Liverock so that’s all the rock work. I tested 0 for ammonia the entire ordeal so if that’s what it is then not sure why it’s testing 0

This is interesting - and important to point out - many tanks can run just on flow and no filtration except live rock in the tank. The HOB is handy for putting in carbon, etc. I wanted to ask - when you move the fish from tank 1 to tank 2, how long does it take to improve (you kind of implied it was instant or near instant) - additionally if you put the fish back from tank 2 to tank 1 how long does it take to get worse (the fish)

Everytime I’ve moved a fish it’s been right before I turn the lights out and they’ve completely recovered and are eating by the morning

 

[c.dickens9]

Currently have bio balls, sponge and activated carbon in the HOB, started the tank with Liverock so that’s all the rock work. I tested 0 for ammonia the entire ordeal so if that’s what it is then not sure why it’s testing 0

This is interesting - and important to point out - many tanks can run just on flow and no filtration except live rock in the tank. The HOB is handy for putting in carbon, etc. I wanted to ask - when you move the fish from tank 1 to tank 2, how long does it take to improve (you kind of implied it was instant or near instant) - additionally if you put the fish back from tank 2 to tank 1 how long does it take to get worse (the fish)

Everytime I’ve moved a fish it’s been right before I turn the lights out and they’ve completely recovered and are eating by the morning

And when I moved them back to the problematic tank they’d be fine for a day then go down hill again, atm have all fish in th smaller tank and they’re all fine now

 

[c.dickens9]

The one thing is that Coral is less sensitive to ammonia than fish - It would be really great if you could check a full set of parameters. Additionally - curious do the fish gulp air at the surface (more than likely an Oxygen problem) or are just breathing fast. Did you QT your fish - and have you added anything new when you upgraded your tank that might have brought a disease in, Again - disease shouldn't resolve - as @Jay Hemdal said - with changing tanks. It sounds like some kind of 'toxic issue' that coral is less susceptible to.

Some went to the surface some didn’t but all seemed to be breathing erratically. Yeah I’ve tested nitrites and ammonia many times both read 0 so definitely confusing. Don’t think it’s disease because they all recover over night when moved to a tank I’ve had running longer and don’t think it’s oxygen because I’ve got two powerheads at the surface and a large air stone. The only “new” thing I’ve added was a tang but that was pretty much the week I upgraded the tank so not that recently. Did have to be a bit of a rushed change of tanks because I had a leak and had to get one as fast as possible.