Fish Randomly Dying

[ThatFishGuy]

Hello R2R,

Hopefully the #reefsquad can help me out here. Last week my french angel that I have had for 4 years randomly died. he was acting perfectly fine the day before. I cam home from doing some running around and found him very lethargic, getting blown around by the flow struggling to stay up right and looked stressed. I put him in a specimen tank in the display to hopefully help him but he died the next day, no torn fins, marks, parasites, nothing, looked healthy as ever. I did a water change that day of 15 gallons (110 gallon FOWLR )as well as a water test:
Ph-8.1
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate 50+ (have had that reading for a while and working on bringing it down so I know it was not because of nitrates)
Salinity- 1.026 S.G
Fast forward to today and my porkfish that I have also had for 4 years is showing the same symptoms, stressed colors and acting very lethargic, yet was acting fine yesterday.
It is only happening to 1 fish which has me baffled and freaking out. I have done nothing near or in the tank that would cause anything to change. I have done a 15 gallon water change every other day this week.

Thanks,
Any help is beyond appreciated!!

 

[Billldg]

Sorry for your loss.

@HotRocks , @4FordFamily , @Big G , any ideas?

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Sorry for your loss.

@HotRocks , @4FordFamily , @Big G , any ideas?

Thank you, really hard to watch a fish that you had since a juvenile die after 4 years being healthy and no issues.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

bump

 

[Sashaka]

I know you said you haven't done anything new in or around the tank, so I take it that literally means no new fish...coral...inverts...micro algae. If anything new was added, it could be the culprit. Another thought is toxins in the air. Are you or any family members painting in the house, using sprays (example furniture polish?), scented plugins or scented candles, etc., in or around the same room as the tank? Another thought was a stray voltage from a worn pump or other electronic equipment zapping the tank?

Sorry to hear you lost your fish. I agree that it is very hard losing fish we've grown from little fry to majestic adults. I hope you figure things out soon. I'm sure #reefsquad will be along soon.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

I know you said you haven't done anything new in or around the tank, so I take it that literally means no new fish...coral...inverts...micro algae. If anything new was added, it could be the culprit. Another thought is toxins in the air. Are you or any family members painting in the house, using sprays (example furniture polish?), scented plugins or scented candles, etc., in or around the same room as the tank? Another thought was a stray voltage from a worn pump or other electronic equipment zapping the tank?

Sorry to hear you lost your fish. I agree that it is very hard losing fish we've grown from little fry to majestic adults. I hope you figure things out soon. I'm sure #reefsquad will be along soon.

yes you are correct, i have not added any new fish, coral, algae, etc. there is a scented candle in another room but we have had one for years. Nothing is sprayed around the tank and nothing has been painted. I never thought about a stray voltage but all of my pumps are external so no wires are in the water or even touching the water.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Sorry for the loss
With nothing new added i would first check your heater. They are the most often to fail in some way.

Any small kids in the house? I have found pennies, toys, etc thrown in my tanks. I still have a magnet to a frag rack behind my tank taken off while i was at work and thrown behind my tank.(discovered the 6 frags i had on there in the sand :/). But always my second thing to look at, at least at my house.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi.

wow, sorry to hear this as well, I can only add possible algae or bacterial bloom going on? You would notice I’m sure but maybe an oxygen issue. Just thinking about all angles

 

[Big G]

Firstly, fish die from strokes, cancers, heart attacks, and old age, just like us.
Without any other obvious symptoms, and the death, I usually treat the fish with Furan2.

 

[Sashaka]

yes you are correct, i have not added any new fish, coral, algae, etc. there is a scented candle in another room but we have had one for years. Nothing is sprayed around the tank and nothing has been painted. I never thought about a stray voltage but all of my pumps are external so no wires are in the water or even touching the water.

Do you have powerheads in the tank? In case you're interested in checking out how to check for stray voltage you can google, but to get you started: https://www.google.com/search?q=che...e&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_TExHXsHWB9O_0PEPr46v4Aw21

I'm sure you already knew to check all tank parameters as you're not new to the hobby. Big G brings up a good point. Some bacterial infections can kill quite quickly.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Sorry for the loss
With nothing new added i would first check your heater. They are the most often to fail in some way.

Any small kids in the house? I have found pennies, toys, etc thrown in my tanks. I still have a magnet to a frag rack behind my tank taken off while i was at work and thrown behind my tank.(discovered the 6 frags i had on there in the sand :/). But always my second thing to look at, at least at my house.

my tank does not have a heater (not needed here in Florida haha) nope, no small kids and nothing unusual in the tank or sump area. thats unfortunate about your frag rack.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Firstly, fish die from strokes, cancers, heart attacks, and old age, just like us.
Without any other obvious symptoms, and the death, I usually treat the fish with Furan2.

but only after 4 years randomly and without any other signs?

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Do you have powerheads in the tank? In case you're interested in checking out how to check for stray voltage you can google, but to get you started: https://www.google.com/search?q=che...e&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_TExHXsHWB9O_0PEPr46v4Aw21

I'm sure you already knew to check all tank parameters as you're not new to the hobby. Big G brings up a good point. Some bacterial infections can kill quite quickly.

nope, no powerheads. I do however have a grounding probe in my sump since day 1. and thats the part I can wrap my head around, a bacterial infection that randomly got one fish and almost exactly a week later another fish with absolutely no signs of anything going wrong?

 

[Sashaka]

nope, no powerheads. I do however have a grounding probe in my sump since day 1. and thats the part I can wrap my head around, a bacterial infection that randomly got one fish and almost exactly a week later another fish with absolutely no signs of anything going wrong?

Could be as each fish fights the pathogen in the tank, they are becoming weaker. Each fish will fight off infection based on its own immune system, so it is possible that the fish would get sick at different times. Any other signs of illness such as flashing or a redness near gills or on the body? By looking closely at a fish with light shining bright on the fish, I have caught septicemia and other pathogens in the earliest stages that were all but invisible otherwise. I know it's a pain but you may want to treat the fish prophylactically as Big G suggests with Furnan if water changes, water parameters all check out, and there is no chance of stray voltage being in the tank.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Could be as each fish fights the pathogen in the tank, they are becoming weaker. Each fish will fight off infection based on its own immune system, so it is possible that the fish would get sick at different times. Any other signs of illness such as flashing or a redness near gills or on the body? By looking closely at a fish with light shining bright on the fish, I have caught septicemia and other pathogens in the earliest stages that were all but invisible otherwise. I know it's a pain but you may want to treat the fish prophylactically as Big G suggests with Furnan if water changes, water parameters all check out, and there is no chance of stray voltage being in the tank.

There is no redness around the gills, no flashing and no redness anywhere on the body. just acting lethargic and showing stressed out colorations. Being in the specimen container, the french had a hard time staying upright and kept poking its head out of the water and the porkfish is doing the exact same thing. Not eating at all either while yesterday he was a pig as he always is, same when the french went.

 

[robbyg]

Seen this before so I will ask the question. What are your Alk and Calc readings? I know it’s a FOWLR but humor me.

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Seen this before so I will ask the question. What are your Alk and Calc readings? I know it’s a FOWLR but humor me.

You've seen this before? Here are my parameters:
Mag-1320
Calc-320
Alk-9.8 Dkh
Im using the red sea coral pro salt because i also have a reef tank so instead of buying 2 salts im using 1. And as of yesterday im switching back to the blue bucket red sea salt.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Let’s see the fish

 

[ThatFishGuy]

Let’s see the fish

Unfortunatley the french is trashed and the porkfish is trashed (too large to flush)

 

[robbyg]

You've seen this before? Here are my parameters:
Mag-1320
Calc-320
Alk-9.8 Dkh
Im using the red sea coral pro salt because i also have a reef tank so instead of buying 2 salts im using 1. And as of yesterday im switching back to the blue bucket red sea salt.

I know it sounds odd but raise that calcium level up. For some reason when mine once dropped down to 300 I had the exact same problem.