my fish died

[Ralph823]

So last night I did my first 10% water change on my newly cycled tank, it is a 55 gallon with 55lbs of live rock and 50lbs live sand. fish have been in for a week and I decided to do my first water change. I had three fish in the tank, two clowns and a yellow tail damsel. fish have been eating twice daily with great appetite from day one in the tank, I mixed my salt water and matched the salinity to that of the tank. I tested my water before and after the water change and the parameters were near perfect. after the water change I noticed the damsel and the one of the clowns acting strange, the damsel died with in two hours and I woke up to a dead clown this morning so naturally I tested the water again and it was still perfect. any advise or insight to what has gone wrong would be greatly appreciated. I also took some rock out going from 65lbs to 55lbs could it be stress related?

PSA - I have had saltwater tanks all my life as well as freshwater tanks and ponds this is the first time I've ever had fish die because of a water change.

PH - 7.8
Hardness - 500
Amonia - 0
Nitrates - 20
Nitrites 1
CHlorine - 0
Alkalinity - 80

 

[Timfish]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I'd think there was something wrong with them before they were added to your tank and thier death is more coincedental to, than caused by the water change. Besides water parameters I'd consider the history of the past month (or 2 or 3) of both the fish and the tank.

 

[JCM]

RO/DI water used?

 

[Ralph823]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I'd think there was something wrong with them before they were added to your tank and thier death is more coincedental to, than caused by the water change. Besides water parameters I'd consider the history of the past month (or 2 or 3) of both the fish and the tank.

I've had them for a while now in a smaller office tank and just upgraded them to the larger tank a week ago, they've been perfect up until now

 

[Ralph823]

RO/DI water used?

I use the Zephyrhills 5 gallon jugs and ad the appropriate amount of instant ocean

 

[Dom]

I use the Zephyrhills 5 gallon jugs and ad the appropriate amount of instant ocean

Zephyrhills? Is that a drinking water?

Anyway, it seems to me that there was something about your mix that killed your fish. I mean; that is some coincidence that you did a water change and within 2 hours, you lost a fish.

I would begin by adding carbon to your filtration. This will remove any contaminants that may have been introduced during your water change.

Moving forward, I would suggest using RODI water.

 

[GatorGreg]

I use the Zephyrhills 5 gallon jugs and ad the appropriate amount of instant ocean

That’s drinking water my dude. That’s not what you want to be using. I’m not saying that’s what killed your fish. But if you keep using that. You’re not going to have good results like the awesome tanks you’re viewing on here and trying to emulate. All these reefers are using distilled jug water or making their own RODI water at home. With the distilled jug users being the minority probably because of inconvenience. I use distilled water in my tank though

 

[Ralph823]

Zephyrhills? Is that a drinking water?

Anyway, it seems to me that there was something about your mix that killed your fish. I mean; that is some coincidence that you did a water change and within 2 hours, you lost a fish.

I would begin by adding carbon to your filtration. This will remove any contaminants that may have been introduced during your water change.

Moving forward, I would suggest using RODI water.

Apparently, one of my live rocks has been housing a crab for months, I caught him last night he got a hold of the other clown, I got rid of the crab and the clown is fine. I guess it was just a coincidence that it happened right after the water change.

 

[Ralph823]

That’s drinking water my dude. That’s not what you want to be using. I’m not saying that’s what killed your fish. But if you keep using that. You’re not going to have good results like the awesome tanks you’re viewing on here and trying to emulate. All these reefers are using distilled jug water or making their own RODI water at home. With the distilled jug users being the minority probably because of inconvenience. I use distilled water in my tank though

Apparently, one of my live rocks has been housing a crab for months, I caught him last night he got a hold of the other clown, I got rid of the crab and the clown is fine. I guess it was just a coincidence that it happened right after the water change.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So last night I did my first 10% water change on my newly cycled tank, it is a 55 gallon with 55lbs of live rock and 50lbs live sand. fish have been in for a week and I decided to do my first water change. I had three fish in the tank, two clowns and a yellow tail damsel. fish have been eating twice daily with great appetite from day one in the tank, I mixed my salt water and matched the salinity to that of the tank. I tested my water before and after the water change and the parameters were near perfect. after the water change I noticed the damsel and the one of the clowns acting strange, the damsel died with in two hours and I woke up to a dead clown this morning so naturally I tested the water again and it was still perfect. any advise or insight to what has gone wrong would be greatly appreciated. I also took some rock out going from 65lbs to 55lbs could it be stress related?

PSA - I have had saltwater tanks all my life as well as freshwater tanks and ponds this is the first time I've ever had fish die because of a water change.

PH - 7.8
Hardness - 500
Amonia - 0
Nitrates - 20
Nitrites 1
CHlorine - 0
Alkalinity - 80

how are you testing water (kit) ?
How long has tank been running?
The water you are using may have ions or other elements. RODI water is best.
If the water was perfect - im wondering why you changed it?

You said fish were acting strange- In what way? heavy breathing, gasping at surface, laying in corner?

 

[Tired]

A crab probably wouldn't have killed two fish that fast. Did you see any marks on them?

You should also probably switch your water source, yes. You want to be using distilled or RO/DI for best results.

 

[workhz]

How big is this crab that a healthy clown can’t fight off?

 

[Dom]

Apparently, one of my live rocks has been housing a crab for months, I caught him last night he got a hold of the other clown, I got rid of the crab and the clown is fine. I guess it was just a coincidence that it happened right after the water change.

Do you have a pic? I'm wondering if it is a Mantis.

 

[Ralph823]

Do you have a pic? I'm wondering if it is a Mantis.

I yeeted him out the window but it wasnt a shrimp it kind of looked like an emerald crab but longer pinchers and a darker shade of green, it was probably an inch and a half to two inches long... I have no idea how I missed it plus I dip my live rocks before I put them in the tanks.

 

[Tamberav]

while not the cause…


You are using spring water which has added minerals for taste. I would change to distilled.

 

[Ralph823]

A crab probably wouldn't have killed two fish that fast. Did you see any marks on them?

You should also probably switch your water source, yes. You want to be using distilled or RO/DI for best results.

I do my water changes with everything off including lights, the two clowns and the damsel usually cram up together to "sleep" in the same corner of the tank. The only reason I noticed them acting funny and turned the lights on was because the damsel was out of the corner with the lights off swimming a bit crooked, I've seen the clowns out at night but never the damsel so it sparked my curiosity and I checked on him. I didn't really look too closely for any injuries on the damsel because by the time i noticed him to the time he died wasn't very long, the clown that died was acting funny in the sense that when I turned my light off he was swimming at the bottom of the tank and not mid level with the other clown but I didn't examine him for any injuries either.

 

[Rmckoy]

So last night I did my first 10% water change on my newly cycled tank, it is a 55 gallon with 55lbs of live rock and 50lbs live sand. fish have been in for a week and I decided to do my first water change. I had three fish in the tank, two clowns and a yellow tail damsel. fish have been eating twice daily with great appetite from day one in the tank, I mixed my salt water and matched the salinity to that of the tank. I tested my water before and after the water change and the parameters were near perfect. after the water change I noticed the damsel and the one of the clowns acting strange, the damsel died with in two hours and I woke up to a dead clown this morning so naturally I tested the water again and it was still perfect. any advise or insight to what has gone wrong would be greatly appreciated. I also took some rock out going from 65lbs to 55lbs could it be stress related?

PSA - I have had saltwater tanks all my life as well as freshwater tanks and ponds this is the first time I've ever had fish die because of a water change.

PH - 7.8
Hardness - 500
Amonia - 0
Nitrates - 20
Nitrites 1
CHlorine - 0
Alkalinity - 80

How was the tank cycled ?
I don’t believe taking 10lbs of rocks out after would help as the rocks are only supposed to help with more nitrifying bacteria

 

[Ralph823]

how are you testing water (kit) ?
How long has tank been running?
The water you are using may have ions or other elements. RODI water is best.
If the water was perfect - im wondering why you changed it?

You said fish were acting strange- In what way? heavy breathing, gasping at surface, laying in corner?

I test my water with strips in a new tank every other day, and once a week I take a water sample to one of our local aquarium stores for further testing, once the tank has matured I test the water at home the day of and the day after a water change and once a month at the fish store. I do a 10% water change in all 5 of my tanks at least every other week, reason for this is I don't run protein skimmers so I do the water changes.

the water was cycling for three weeks before I added the first two fish which were the two clowns, I had the two clowns for over a year in a 32 gallon bio cube where my parameters matched. and then 3 days later added the damsel.

I typically don't put a time frame as to how long I cycle the tank before adding fish I add them after the first algae and when ammonia reaches 0 and nitrite reaches 0-1.

When I say fish were acting strange the damsel was out with the lights off swimming crooked and the clown was out swimming across the bottom of the tank.

 

[Ralph823]

How was the tank cycled ?
I don’t believe taking 10lbs of rocks out after would help as the rocks are only supposed to help with more nitrifying bacteria

I took the rocks out because I didn't like the aquascape it was too crowded so I took two rocks out, I cycle my tanks with bottled bacteria and and supplementing ammonia I use dr. Tim's, as well as live rock and live sand, no fish go in until after algae starts and the ammonia reaches 0 and nitrates are between 0-1 on this particular tank it took 3 weeks

 

[Rmckoy]

I took the rocks out because I didn't like the aquascape it was too crowded so I took two rocks out, I cycle my tanks with bottled bacteria and and supplementing ammonia I use dr. Tim's, as well as live rock and live sand, no fish go in until after algae starts and the ammonia reaches 0 and nitrates are between 0-1 on this particular tank it took 3 weeks

But to get these test results you’re trusting either api test strips or a lfs to provide their “accurate” results ?
Most lfs also use api which are unreliable imo