Omg I got home most of my fish dead!!!??

[Nhjmc]

Totally freaking out right now dude got home from work and four of my six fish and all my sexy shrimp dead my nitrites are zero nitrates are low my salinity is on point my temperature is right my PH is fine I don’t know what happened all the corals look great my tank is 14 months old I added a new purigen last night rinsed it real good first what the heck!??? Ughhh I’m devastated.

 

[Nhjmc]

This is exactly why I need an apex.

 

[Nhjmc]

Idk how but the newest of fish a mandarin is totally fine filefish fine nems and corals look normal.

 

[Jseimo]

Could be stray voltage

 

[Nhjmc]

Could be stray voltage

Huh?!

 

[Nhjmc]

Huh?!

what the heck never heard of that omg

 

[Jseimo]

Huh

 

[Jseimo]

what the heck never heard of that omg

usually from heaters or power heads. But think of all the electronics we shove in the tank. Pretty common to have stray voltage

 

[Colin_S]

sorry to hear that, apart from a few of the obvious to check maybe any of these
Ammonia spike
electrical charge?
temp drop?
power cut?
airation?

could be worth taking a icp test just to check nothing is out of whack for the future

 

[Colin_S]

I'm not sure how, but I'm curtain I have seen someone check the water for any voltage in the water

 

[Tiger Brown]

I am also sorry to hear it. Catastrophic deaths are uncommon. As Colin said it could be voltage. Could be an ammonia spike, I would think something would have had to die for that to happen, did you test for ammonia? If you have anything other than zero I would do a water change and look into Prime to neutralize. Any chance a chemical could have gotten into the water? Anyone do any cleaning in the room with the tank?

I would also make sure whatever instrument I used to test salinity was calibrated, water temperature too, although fish tolerate fluctuations in that if it happens gradually, so probably not it. Do your remaining fish seem okay? Any weird behaviors?

 

[Nhjmc]

Thanks for replying Guys I appreciate it I’m just really heartbroken right now. Could it of been the purigen? I just find that hard to believe I’ve been running it for like a year in the same compartment of my media basket. Rinsed it same way always do. Ughhh. Should I put some stress coat in there should I dO a partial water change to be safe? I don’t test for ammonia typically didn’t think I needed to with a tank 14 months old.

 

[arking_mark]

Not enough info here. Low oxygen?

On my Fluval 13.5, the pump semi-failed without me knowing. It was pushing almost no water...by the time I figured out what the issue was, it was a little too late and I lost 3 fish.

Bacterial bloom could cause low oxygen as well.

However, I think it would take more than a day at work for oxygen depletion to cause death.

Stray voltage could be the culprit.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi,

I am so sorry about this.

I would not want to venture a guess right now. As mentioned I would recommend carbon, water change, get surface agition up for O2 exchange and run a full test of the main #’s. If you have a chemipad that would be good too.

 

[mike550]

@Nhjmc so sorry to hear this! It's hard to say what might have happened, and lots of good advice. Personally, I'd start working on what to do to protect the tank. Take some water samples (for more work later) and then @Mastiffsrule lays out a good recovery plan.

 

[Tamberav]

This is exactly why I need an apex.

I am not sure an apex would have told you anything if salinity, pH, and temp are fine.

A $20 Wyze camera would have showed you a pic of dead/dying fish I guess.

When you say new purigen, do you mean NEW or like re-charge purigen that people use bleach on?

 

[Nhjmc]

I am also sorry to hear it. Catastrophic deaths are uncommon. As Colin said it could be voltage. Could be an ammonia spike, I would think something would have had to die for that to happen, did you test for ammonia? If you have anything other than zero I would do a water change and look into Prime to neutralize. Any chance a chemical could have gotten into the water? Anyone do any cleaning in the room with the tank?

I would also make sure whatever instrument I used to test salinity was calibrated, water temperature too, although fish tolerate fluctuations in that if it happens gradually, so probably not it. Do your remaining fish seem okay? Any weird behaviors?

Thanks for the suggestions def. appreciate it gonna do a 10% water change it’s all I have for ready saltwater. API ammonia test high because it picks up free ammonia salifert ammonia test not zero but could be from the five dead fish and sexy shrimp floating around dead while I was at work today. Ran to lfs picked up prime and a jug of nutri sea water as I have no premixed salt water ready but got on that two hours ago just don’t dare use it yet. Tank is a Red Sea max 130d (34 gallons) I’ve done every upgrade possible to the tank lighting included. Only thing I can think of is the new bag of purigen I put in last evening but been running purigen for a year (rinsed well under tap water I live in country so tds of my tap is 9 but I do buy rodi from lfs for my water changes). There’s no way soap could of touched the purigen I held the bag as rinsed it and the only cleaning I did which wasn’t that close to tank was wipe my glass coffee table off with glass cleaner like I do all the time (spray on paper towel in kitchen then wipe table down) omg wonder if.....when I used a quarter of a magic eraser on Saturday to clean my glass but I’ve done that before maybe that did something? The fish were fine no signs of stress nothing then boom. Ughh. Maybe it was power surge first I’ve ever heard of it but didn’t kill all my fish and my nems and corals look fine. So weird.

 

[Nhjmc]

I am not sure an apex would have told you anything if salinity, pH, and temp are fine.

A $20 Wyze camera would have showed you a pic of dead/dying fish I guess.

When you say new purigen, do you mean NEW or like re-charge purigen that people use bleach on?

Brand new purigen.

 

[Nhjmc]

Guys....OMG....yes I have a yankee candle burning about 6-10 feet from tank.

 

[Nhjmc]

And febreeze. Wow am I embarrassed.