Help!!!! Had all fish die in my tank this morning

[schwandera]

This morning when the lights came on in my 29 gallon bio cube my wife saw the fish swimming around. An hour later when I went to feed the fish everything was dead or dying. All the snails, most of my scarlet hermit crabs, urchin, 2 chromis, six line wrasse, pajama cardinal, and yellow fin demsel where all dead. My clown fish, file fish and scooter blenny all dying and dead within another 20 mins. Even the coral appears to be affected, Zoanthus, candycane coral, and toad stool are all closed up (toad stools been closed up for the past few day because the file fish took a liking to it).
The only thing that changed was last night I captured the file fish and put him in a small Isolation cage within the main tank to stop him from eating the toad stool. While catching him I accidentally hit the toadstool hard. After catching him I noticed one the chromus was floating towards the top of the tank with white marks on its side. I just thought the yellow tailed demsel had attacked him and he was just beat up.
This morning after the die off I took a water sample of water and the dead fish to the local fish store and with the exception of a low salinity 1.019 everything was within parameters. After telling the guy about condition of the chromus last night he thinks the issue is fluke.
would fluke kill/affect everything in the tank that way and so quickly. Looking for any advise/opinions of what could have happened. Attacked are pictures of the coral. I should have taken close up pictures of the fish before I threw them away.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi, welcome to Reef2Reef, sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances!

This sounds very much like some sort of toxin in the water. It is NOT flukes, that would have only affected the fish. When fish and invertebrates are affected in a short period of time, it is almost always some poison/ toxin. That said, the urchin in the picture looks perfect. Did it later die? Did 100% of the animals eventually die?

Trouble is, I can't tell you what the toxin might have been - something in the house, aerosols of any sort? Any kids that could have put something in the tank? No problem with the aeration on the tank? That leaves toxins from the animals themselves - some soft corals (zoanthids) produce toxins, but unless you really chop them up, they won't hurt the other animals. Something large and dead could have fouled the water, but you would see some cloudiness from that.

Jay

 

[Tamberav]

8 fish including a larger species of clownfish in a 29g is a lot...

I would think when something happened, toxin, contaminant, oxygen issue or what not... with such a heavy load of fish... it would easily spiral out of control. There is just no wiggle room in heavily stocked nano tanks.

 

[schwandera]

Hi, welcome to Reef2Reef, sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances!

This sounds very much like some sort of toxin in the water. It is NOT flukes, that would have only affected the fish. When fish and invertebrates are affected in a short period of time, it is almost always some poison/ toxin. That said, the urchin in the picture looks perfect. Did it later die? Did 100% of the animals eventually die?

Trouble is, I can't tell you what the toxin might have been - something in the house, aerosols of any sort? Any kids that could have put something in the tank? No problem with the aeration on the tank? That leaves toxins from the animals themselves - some soft corals (zoanthids) produce toxins, but unless you really chop them up, they won't hurt the other animals. Something large and dead could have fouled the water, but you would see some cloudiness from that.

Jay

Hi, welcome to Reef2Reef, sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances!

This sounds very much like some sort of toxin in the water. It is NOT flukes, that would have only affected the fish. When fish and invertebrates are affected in a short period of time, it is almost always some poison/ toxin. That said, the urchin in the picture looks perfect. Did it later die? Did 100% of the animals eventually die?

Trouble is, I can't tell you what the toxin might have been - something in the house, aerosols of any sort? Any kids that could have put something in the tank? No problem with the aeration on the tank? That leaves toxins from the animals themselves - some soft corals (zoanthids) produce toxins, but unless you really chop them up, they won't hurt the other animals. Something large and dead could have fouled the water, but you would see some cloudiness from that.

Jay

thanks for the reply
I ended up removing all invertebrates that where still alive, 1 scarlet hermit, and 3 conches, and also the urchin, did a 15 gallon water change and put the living invertebrates back in. The conches and hermit appear to be good. The urchins spins are still erect but has not moved so I think he has died as well.
the tank has been up and running for about 4 years now in my daughters room. No new chemicals where used in the house hold to my knowledge
My daughter did clean the exterior of the glass yesterday with windex but I sprayed and she just wiped.
no changes in the aeration or flow that I could find
The water was clear and if anything did died prior to today’s event it would have been last night because everything was alive and healthy with the exception of the toad stool being eaten by the file fish and chromus noted above .

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hmmm, I'm stumped then. Windex has been known to kill fish. I always turn my back to the tank, spray it on a cloth, then clean the glass. If the urchins spines are still erect, it may be alive. Leave it until tomorrow. If the spines are drooping, then toss it., In doubt, you can always lift it to the surface and give it the nose test (just don't spine yourself!).

Jay

 

[IslandLifeReef]

You said that all of the parameters were fine after the tank crash, but didn't tell us what parameters were measured.

Also, how was that salinity measured, a hydrometer, refractometer, or something else?

 

[Hincapiej4]

Well, I can tell you what's killing your candy corals...jesus.

 

[Privateye]

Honestly, from all of the stories I have heard on freshwater forums I'm guessing the Windex.

Your bioload was high for a tank that size and the algae could be an indicator of that as well. I'd stock a bit lighter if you want the corals to thrive, but I don't think it's the issue here. Just speculation though.

 

[Hincapiej4]

My money is ammonia. Bacteria died off from PH swing, killed bacteria, ammonia went ******* crazy and killed everything.

Think windex will cause a PH swing or kill the bacteria.

 

[JasonK84]

Well, I can tell you what's killing your candy corals...jesus.

Why would Jesus kill his tank inhabitants?

Matthew 7:1 “Judge not lest ye be judged”.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Welcome, though I am sorry to hear about why you have joined us.

To my knowledge, there's very few things that will crash a tank and kill everything, especially that quickly. It's always oxygen, ammonia or toxin.

Was there an open window in the room? Maybe something could have come in from outside?

 

[schwandera]

You said that all of the parameters were fine after the tank crash, but didn't tell us what parameters were measured.

Also, how was that salinity measured, a hydrometer, refractometer, or something else?

Salinity was tested by a refractomter as 1.019 and by hydrometer as 1.022, ammonia was 0ppm and nitrates and nitrites where near nothing

 

[schwandera]

My money is ammonia. Bacteria died off from PH swing, killed bacteria, ammonia went ******* crazy and killed everything.

Think windex will cause a PH swing or kill the bacteria.

Ammonia came back at 0 ppm

 

[schwandera]

Honestly, from all of the stories I have heard on freshwater forums I'm guessing the Windex.

Your bioload was high for a tank that size and the algae could be an indicator of that as well. I'd stock a bit lighter if you want the corals to thrive, but I don't think it's the issue here. Just speculation though.

I know it was high but I have had it at that level for about 2 years now with no other issues besides the algae blooms
I recently had to replace a lawn mower blenny, warsse, and file fish due to a emperor card eating them. Of course that crab had to survive

 

[OrionN]

It is the Oxygen issue. I don't think your tank have an overflow or skimmer. Without these, and the number of fish shrimp and crabs, and the Livesand bed using O2, it just run out of Oxygen when the light are out and the algae use O2 for respiration instead of producing O2 with photosynthesis.
That is why at 4AM the fish still swim around and 5 or 6 AM they are all dead.
If it is toxin, I think they would all be dead a few hours after you got the toxin in the tank, not OK at 4 AM and dead at 6 AM

 

[Arthacker87]

Salinity was tested by a refractomter as 1.019 and by hydrometer as 1.022, ammonia was 0ppm and nitrates and nitrites where near nothing

These are way low. 1.025 is standard at least to my knowledge

 

[Hugh Mann]

1.019 is fine for fish, if not ideal. Remember, they can survive hyposalinity conditions (1.009) for at least a month. One of my lfs keeps their tanks at 1.021. Unless it dropped very quickly, then that may cause osmotic shock, though that would have also killed the inverts. 1.019 is definitely on the low side for inverts/coral.

 

[sagedrake690]

These are way low. 1.025 is standard at least to my knowledge

Attest to that. Anything lower than 1.021 and corals usually croak. the optimal range is 1.025 (around 33-35ppt can go up to 38ish for some) But 1.019? That's considered brackish water at around 27-30ppt and on the lower end too. That's where sand flats are and horseshoe crabs, tide pool creatures and other stuff live. Some corals can handle it but not many. great for aqua scaping! lots of plants can handle low salinity.

 

[chaostactics]

Sounds like chemical contamination. And/or just a brutal cascade of death for having a way too heavily stocked tank. Once one thing died it spiraled out of control from there.

You may as well take the opportunity to start over. Chose a more appropriate stock list and work on getting a handle on excess nutrients.

Good luck.

You'll be able to find plenty of help here with guidance on how to redo it and redo it right.

 

[...]

Its not a big deal. My blue lincktia in a 1.020 tank is thriving .-.