Livestock quickly dying!

[roblox84]

I have a 20g waterbox and just yesterday when I was doing my weekly water change I found my orchid dottyback dead in its cave. I think it might have died maybe 2-3 days ago since that's the time frame i remember not seeing it at all.

Yesterday I noticed my Azure Damsel was hiding all the time when it's normally swimming in the open. I threw some mysis in the tank and it darted out of the live rock and quickly darted back in faster than I've ever seen it swim. This morning I looked in the tank with a flashlight and it was in its usual hiding spot but appeared to be breathing heavier than usual. I check back a few hours later when the lights turned on and I find the Azure damsel dead in its side.

Then i checked parameters they read 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and <5 nitrate. Mind you this was after the water change but even after the 5 gallon water change my Azure damsel was dead next day. What could be killing my fish so fast?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Have you added anything new to the tank recently? fish coral inverts?

 

[AmaleeC]

Have you added anything new to the tank recently? fish coral inverts?

Or have you made any changes to the tank?
Also, try to check around the tank and check to see if there is a way that contaminants can enter the water. Sorry to hear about your losses

 

[Fishyfish22]

What's your salinity?

 

[IKD]

What kind of water are you using?

 

[roblox84]

I added a snail clean up crew last week and 4 coral frags which were glued down with super glue (cyanoacrylate) from the dollar store. The frags were dipped in coral revive then placed in tank.

I used RO/DI mixed with instant ocean salt to 1.026 salinity. No cleaners or anything were used around the tank. Is it possible stay voltage might be killing my fish like that?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I added a snail clean up crew last week and 4 coral frags which were glued down with super glue (cyanoacrylate) from the dollar store. The frags were dipped in coral revive then placed in tank.

I used RO/DI mixed with instant ocean salt to 1.026 salinity. No cleaners or anything were used around the tank. Is it possible stay voltage might be killing my fish like that?

No fish additions recently? Do you have any pics of the fish? Any white dots on them or anything like that?

 

[maroun.c]

Any signs of damage on the dead fish from.possiblyna predator ? Any sign of disease on the other fish?

 

[Albertan22]

I had an event like that kill most of my fish. It turned out to be a cracked glass heater leaking voltage into the tank. Check for stray current, and also signs of velvet.

 

[roblox84]

I have not added any new fish. I don't have any pics but they both looked great as far as i could tell, no spots, fins looked good, swimming happily just a few days ago. If it was marine velvet could it have been transferred in by a CUC? Because I added both those fish at the same time maybe a month ago or longer so i imagine if it came in the fish they would have died a while back?

Those were my only 2 fish in the tank but I'm afraid that whatever caused this event might kill off my cuc and corals next. Although at this point i think my corals look fine but my 3 nerite snails are all grouped up right at the water line in the same exact spot, I'm not sure if i should be concerned about that.

I checked the heater and it doesn't look cracked but I'm on my way to purchase a multi meter right now and will report back with my findings.

Edit...I just remembered i through the damsel in the trash bin, when i get home I'll snap a pic.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have not added any new fish. I don't have any pics but they both looked great as far as i could tell, no spots, fins looked good, swimming happily just a few days ago. Those were my only 2 fish in the tank but I'm afraid that whatever caused this event might kill off my cuc and corals next.

Although at this point i think my corals look fine but my 3 nerite snails are all grouped up right at the water line in the same exact spot, I'm not sure if i should be concerned about that.

I checked the heater and it doesn't look cracked but I'm on my way to purchase a multi meter right now and will report back with my findings.

Snails grouping up at the waterline is common, especially with nerites.
Keep us posted on the findings with the multimeter

 

[IKD]

How old is the tank? What source water are you using?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I used RO/DI mixed with instant ocean salt to 1.026 salinity.

How old is the tank? What source water are you using?

 

[Fishbird]

Fish parasites can hitchhike into your tank in their encysted form on corals and inverts. From what I've read, coral dips won't remove the encysted parasites. I've been reading a lot of threads recently in the fish disease section where fish are getting velvet and it is just going right to their gills so the fish die quickly but don't show spots or a dusting.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods-going-fishless.190324/

The above thread talks about going fallow (running your tank without fish to give any more parasites time to hatch and die off since they can't find a host). If you don't find stray voltage or some other obvious explanation I would read up on fallow periods to be on the safe side. Good luck!

 

[roblox84]

How old is the tank? What source water are you using?

Approximately 2 months old post cycle.

 

[roblox84]

I tested the voltage and I'm getting a max of 8.6v.

 

[Albertan22]

Unplug everything then plug one thing in at a time and retest to see where your problem is.

 

[roblox84]

Sorry...i tried a newer extension cord and these are my findings:

All equipment off 5.8v
Only heater on 12v
Only powerhead on 12v
Only return on 35v

With everything on besides the return it hovers around 20, with all equipment on it's showing 42.

 

[roblox84]

Pic

 

[roblox84]

Fish parasites can hitchhike into your tank in their encysted form on corals and inverts. From what I've read, coral dips won't remove the encysted parasites. I've been reading a lot of threads recently in the fish disease section where fish are getting velvet and it is just going right to their gills so the fish die quickly but don't show spots or a dusting.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods-going-fishless.190324/

The above thread talks about going fallow (running your tank without fish to give any more parasites time to hatch and die off since they can't find a host). If you don't find stray voltage or some other obvious explanation I would read up on fallow periods to be on the safe side. Good luck!

I will definitely be doing a fallow period to be on the safe side. Another thing I noticed which i forgot to mention was that the Orchid Dottyback was missing a few scales and it's fins were a bit deteriorated. I'm not sure if that's just because he was dead for a while before i found him or not, but i figured I'd mention it.