Fish wiped out

[Uncle_Matthew]

Titles says it one of my 40 gallon breeders fish just died with no visible signs of disease no burns around gills both clowns where eating normal amounts behaving normal before I left for class once I got back both dead tank is very cloudy, inverts all lived including a star fish and snails all coral seem to be unaffected other than a pulsing xenia which is still open but is floppyier than normal on his base

only recent changes to tank was a bottle of microbacter 7 and added a couple of Favia's
with a volt meter I was able to pick up .02 volts

Tank:
40g breeder
2 fluval canisters (running carbon, floss and bioballs)
micmol light


Salinty 1.027 ( I run 1.027 on all tanks)
temp 80 within a half degree or so
ammonia ~0
nitrite ~0
nitrite ~.25
phosphate ~0.4
According to my Redsea Test kits (I know they are inaccurate)

they where 2 adult marron clowns

There is now no fish in tank and about 10 corals and 10 assorted inverts and im concern without fish the corals will not have a source of nutrients other than reef roid's ill be spot feeding with and if im safe to move a set or ocs. clowns from another tank in.

ive got zero idea what happened the only thing i can think was maybe somethng in the microbacter but ive never head of it causing problems

#reefsquad @Jay Hemdal any idea's?

 

[BeltedCoyote]

I’m so sorry for your loss.

while we wait for more help, I’d say do a decent water change.

cloudy water brings to mind a few things:

Something like snails or clams feeling the call of nature

bacterial bloom.

if it is a bacterial bloom it could potentially starve the tank of oxygen. Although if your inverts aren’t showing issue that might not be it?

how long have you had the clowns? Did you notice rapid breathing or swimming close to a source of flow (powerhead, HOB)?

 

[BeltedCoyote]

@vetteguy53081 @Eagle_Steve @fishguy242 @F i s h y @Lost in the Sauce

 

[Blumy]

A whole bottle of it?

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

I’m so sorry for your loss.

while we wait for more help, I’d say do a decent water change.

cloudy water brings to mind a few things:

Something like snails or clams feeling the call of nature

bacterial bloom.

if it is a bacterial bloom it could potentially starve the tank of oxygen. Although if your inverts aren’t showing issue that might not be it?

how long have you had the clowns? Did you notice rapid breathing or swimming close to a source of flow (powerhead, HOB)?

running Rodi right now for a water change

o2 was my first thought especially with my recent does of bottle bac but the inverts all seem fine

my clowns where over a year old no rapid breathing or out of place behavior this morning they where diging in the sandbed by the rock they liked like normal and eating normaly

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

A whole bottle of it?

yeah its how ive always dosed it dosed 3-4 hour before i left i checked on them before i left and seemed normal

 

[BeltedCoyote]

The inverts are what’s making me scratch my head. And I may well be missing something. How often have you dosed a full bottle?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry to hear of your losses.
For starters- salinity quite high. You want 1.024-1.025

Sounds like a bloom occurred and the Bacteria supplement caused the bloom and oxygen levels fell especially if entire bottled was added (you want 1-1.5 ml per 10 gallons).
Any white ppop noticed?3
How about haxy coloration on the skin and body, swimming into powerhead flow??

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

The inverts are what’s making me scratch my head. And I may well be missing something. How often have you dosed a full bottle?

Every tank ive esablished in the past ive done a full bottle to start and other bottle about 4 months in just to top of on bacteria seemed to help with nuicense algae

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

Sorry to hear of your losses.
For starters- salinity quite high. You want 1.024-1.025

Sounds like a bloom occurred and the Bacteria supplement caused the bloom and oxygen levels fell especially if entire bottled was added (you want 1-1.5 ml per 10 gallons).
Any white ppop noticed?3
How about haxy coloration on the skin and body, swimming into powerhead flow??

Dont be sorry stuff happens
ill lower my salinity slowly

not sure what you mean by white ppop if you mean poop no
fish looked and behaved absolutely normal hosting there favorite rock showing normal color

 

[Tamberav]

Wait you put an entire bottle of microbacter 7 in?

It sounds like a bacterial bloom. Guessing an entire bottle of MB7 might do that.

The clownfish would then die of oxygen deprivation. Running higher salinity also lowers oxygen so both combined would be worse off.

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

Wait you put an entire bottle of microbacter 7 in?

It sounds like a bacterial bloom. Guessing an entire bottle of MB7 might do that.

The clownfish would then die of oxygen deprivation. Running higher salinity also lowers oxygen so both combined would be worse off.

Gotcha lesson learned

so wait for bloom to settle and i should be good to add more fish?

 

[Tamberav]

Gotcha lesson learned

so wait for bloom to settle and i should be good to add more fish?

Yup

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

Yup

Thanks I apricate it wish I would have know sooner about adding bottles at a time will miss those evil clowns

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Agreed. Also, might not hurt to get an airstone in there to help things along the way

 

[Tamberav]

Thanks I apricate it wish I would have know sooner about adding bottles at a time will miss those evil clowns

Yah it doesn’t happen every time but I have had a bloom when setting up a new tank. I am guessing it just depends what nutrients or other things are in the water column to feed the bacteria. Every tank is so different.

 

[Uncle_Matthew]

Agreed. Also, might not hurt to get an airstone in there to help things along the way

Ill throw one in

Will o2 depravtion effect the current corals if so other than airstone and waterchange is there anything i can do

 

[Tamberav]

A small UV can clear it up quickly if you want to go that route.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Thanks I apricate it wish I would have know sooner about adding bottles at a time will miss those evil clowns

something I’m still struggling to remember with my first coralsnothing good in this hobby happens quickly.

Easy to say, contemplate, account for in planning, but very hard to practice

again OP, sorry for your loss. Good on you for resolving to learn and keep going

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Ill throw one in

Will o2 depravtion effect the current corals if so other than airstone and waterchange is there anything i can do

I don’t know enough to say for sure regarding corals. Well, nothing beyond how lack of oxygen can change certain tank level like what @Tamale said.

but an airstone and the combination of bubbles plus surface disturbance they may is one of the best ways to oxygenate. So if you have that pulse flow and return, I don’t know what else you could do to further oxygenate your tank