My fish are dying

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I have a new 60 gallon tank that it is currently going through the "ugly Phase".

I had a fairy Wrasse and two clo in it. I added some CUC a few weeks ago.

The parameters are good. Actually the NO3 is 0 and the PO4 is 0.

Ammonia and Nitrites are 0.

PH is at 8.1 and salinity at 1026ppm

My Fairy Wrasse died two days ago and today I cannot find one of the Clown Fish. The other one is there but swiming under the rocks. Before both were swiming on top of the tank.

I have three more fish coming on Friday and I am afraid to put them in the tank since the fish I have are apparently dying for some reason.

Any advise??

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Sorry you are dealing with this. A couple of important questions:

How new is new?
Are you noticing cloudy water?
What is you surface flow like?

I am worried about a bacteria bloom in new tank causing low oxygen. Swimming near top may be indicative of this. Oxygen deprivation will kill more quickly than disease.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I have a new 60 gallon tank that it is currently going through the "ugly Phase".

I had a fairy Wrasse and two clo in it. I added some CUC a few weeks ago.

The parameters are good. Actually the NO3 is 0 and the PO4 is 0.

Ammonia and Nitrites are 0.

PH is at 8.1 and salinity at 1026ppm

My Fairy Wrasse died two days ago and today I cannot find one of the Clown Fish. The other one is there but swiming under the rocks. Before both were swiming on top of the tank.

I have three more fish coming on Friday and I am afraid to put them in the tank since the fish I have are apparently dying for some reason.

Any advise??

Some pictures of your tank will help with assessing the issues.

 

[Biokabe]

I'm just going to ask a bunch of the standard questions here. There isn't really enough info to go off of here yet, so we need to start building our picture of what's going on before we can speculate as to what's happening.

Before the questions start, though, No3 and Po4 being 0 is not good. You want small but non-zero values for both of them - something like 10-30 ppm nitrate, 0.06-0.3 ppm phosphate.

And also: I assume when you say that your salinity was at 1026 ppm, what you actually meant is that your refractometer is giving you a measurement of 1.026 specific gravity. There are two different ways of reporting on salinity, specific gravity or ppm (really, ppt for salinity). Saltwater in a reef tank should be 1.026 specific gravity, or 35 parts per thousand (which would convert to 35,000 ppm). Easy mistake to make.

First question: How long has your system been running?
Second: What is your feeding system like? How often, how much, and what?
Third: When you say you're in the ugly phase, what do you mean? What does the algae look like? Is it mucousy? Is it bubbling?
Fourth: How long had your fish been in the tank?
Fifth: Before their demise, how were the fish acting? How was their breathing? How was their swimming? What was their appetite like?

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Sorry you are dealing with this. A couple of important questions:

How new is new?
Are you noticing cloudy water?
What is you surface flow like?

I am worried about a bacteria bloom in new tank causing low oxygen. Swimming near top may be indicative of this. Oxygen deprivation will kill more quickly than disease.

It is 3 weeks since the cycle was completed. It was cloudy a week ago and now is not that much. It is still cloudy but not that much.

I have two return pumps pointing to the surface and two other power heads. I think the flow is right

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I'm just going to ask a bunch of the standard questions here. There isn't really enough info to go off of here yet, so we need to start building our picture of what's going on before we can speculate as to what's happening.

Before the questions start, though, No3 and Po4 being 0 is not good. You want small but non-zero values for both of them - something like 10-30 ppm nitrate, 0.06-0.3 ppm phosphate.

And also: I assume when you say that your salinity was at 1026 ppm, what you actually meant is that your refractometer is giving you a measurement of 1.026 specific gravity. There are two different ways of reporting on salinity, specific gravity or ppm (really, ppt for salinity). Saltwater in a reef tank should be 1.026 specific gravity, or 35 parts per thousand (which would convert to 35,000 ppm). Easy mistake to make.

First question: How long has your system been running?
Second: What is your feeding system like? How often, how much, and what?
Third: When you say you're in the ugly phase, what do you mean? What does the algae look like? Is it mucousy? Is it bubbling?
Fourth: How long had your fish been in the tank?
Fifth: Before their demise, how were the fish acting? How was their breathing? How was their swimming? What was their appetite like?

yes, it is 1.026ppm sorry.

I'm feeding 3 times a day to try to get the nutrients up. I know it is not good to have the PO4 & NO3 at o, so I am feeding more to bring them up (Frozen Mysis and pellets).

The tanks is 5 weeks old (34 weeks after cycle complete.
The fish were normal. Everything started to chenge after the cludiness I guess

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

yes, it is 1.026ppm sorry.

I'm feeding 3 times a day to try to get the nutrients up. I know it is not good to have the PO4 & NO3 at o, so I am feeding more to bring them up (Frozen Mysis and pellets).

The tanks is 5 weeks old (34 weeks after cycle complete.
The fish were normal. Everything started to chenge after the cludiness I guess

I meant 3 to 4 weeks after cycle sorry

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Found it. Regrettably it got cut up with one of the powerheads and died. I don 't understand how it happened. These are Hygger PH and they have a guard on them. I don't know how it got in there. Too sad.

 

[bluemon]

Found it. Regrettably it got cut up with one of the powerheads and died. I don 't understand how it happened. These are Hygger PH and they have a guard on them. I don't know how it got in there. Too sad.

It’s unlikely a healthy wrasse would swim directly into a powerhead.

Chances are, it was moribund, sick, lethargic, or already dead, and floated into it.

Did you QT the fish?

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

It wasn't the wrasse. It was the clown fish.

 

[Fish Fan]

Have you considered this may be a disease? Were there any symptoms or anything unusual going on with the fish before they died?

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Nothing at all. They were fine one day and then the other day the wrasse started to hide and then died.

The clowns were ok and yeaterday ther were under the rock and today one hit cut up with the PH

 

[Gone Reefin’]

How many days from fish intro to death? If less than 3-4 days my money is still on O2 deprivation. Unless you are dealing with velvet or major contaminant.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

How many days from fish intro to death? If less than 3-4 days my money is still on O2 deprivation. Unless you are dealing with velvet or major contaminant.

the clowns were there for 3-4 weeks. the wrasse was there for 2 weeks

 

[Ziggy17]

Did you ever show nitrates?

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

the clowns were there for 3-4 weeks. the wrasse was there for 2 weeks

I have 1 clown left. There are 2 cardinals and 1 fire fish coming this friday. Do you think I should do something now??

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Did you ever show nitrates?

Yes. The Tank cycle went well. The ammonia went up and down and the nitrites went up and now.

Both are 0 now

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I wonder if I should do a 50% water change just in case I need to clean some of the water. It won't help with the NO3 and PO4 levels being 0, but it might clear anything that might be in the water. Just an idea

 

[Ziggy17]

Yes. The Tank cycle went well. The ammonia went up and down and the nitrites went up and now.

Both are 0 now

Just checking. Sometimes a recycle can occur, but it doesn’t sound like it here. From I’ve read on numerous post of mass dying, if you’re not seeing the culprit, it’s likely O2. An you put an air stone in to help out? Do you run a skimmer?

 

[Ziggy17]

I wonder if I should do a 50% water change just in case I need to clean some of the water. It won't help with the NO3 and PO4 levels being 0, but it might clear anything that might be in the water. Just an idea

I mean a WC is never a bad idea, but you don’t really know why you’re changing it. Sorry if I missed it, but any fish left?