On the verge of quitting..

[maleks.reef]

Hello everyone. I have had my tank up and running for 1.5 yrs now. I encountered every possible issue and algae known to man in these 18 months. However, what really gets to me is when I lose a coral or fish for no obvious reason. It all started with a firefish that I had for a few months then boom, no where to be seen. I asked people and they said it might be the odd death for no specific reason. So i moved on. After that I got a bangai cardinal, disappeared on its 3rd day DESPITE looking healthy and eating. But again, i chucked it off to random death. Months later, I bought 3 bangai cardinals. They were doing good for a month or two when one of them disappeared. A week later, i found a second one laying half dead on the rocks getting eaten by aiptasia. 2 weeks later i lose my fire shrimp. A week later (today), i find my very expensive designer clownfish dead on the sandbed. The same clownfish that was eating yesterday and Ive had for 1.5 yrs. That being said, it did look "drowsy" yesterday but I fed it and it ate normally.

You can not tell me that all of these back to back deaths are random. Something is wrong in this tank and frankly at this point I want to sell everything and move on because I cannot afford to keep losing stuff like this. I do not have ich or any other parasite. So WHAT is killing everything in my tank? If i do not find a solution to this I am afraid I will have to sell it all and move on.
NOTE: I used dry rock and dry sand. Sometimes when the light is off i hear a clicking or tapping noise from the tank, as if I am tapping the glass.

Tank is 34 gals with a diy fuge. I feed frozen most days. I have a bad outbreak of bubble algae and even aiptasia. Ive been busy with my medical school finals so I havent had time to do a wc for about a month.

Here are some pictures of the clown:

 

[maleks.reef]

Tank mates: Snails, cleaner shrimp, small clown, small bangai, midas blenny.

The blenny used to pick on the big clown sometimes, but nothing severe.

 

[blaxsun]

What are your water parameters, filtration, etc. (very important)

 

[maleks.reef]

What are your water parameters, filtration, etc. (very important)

I have a diy fuge in the back chamber of my AIO tank. I had a HOB skimmer but it died so i removed it. I usually have a bag of carbon and filter wool in the back but carbon finished a couple of weeks ago.
As for parameters I haven't tested in a while. But no matter how skewed my parameters might be, fish should not be affected. Only thing that can kill fish or shrimp is ammonia, which I obviously do not have any of.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Sorry for your lost, the tapping noise at lights off may be the source of your problem, it’s well possible that you may have a mantis in your system. Are all the fish deaths occurring at night time?

 

[maleks.reef]

Sorry for your lost, the tapping noise at lights off may be the source of your problem, it’s well possible that you may have a mantis in your system. Are all the fish deaths occurring at night time?

Yes. All the fish die overnight. I thought of the possibility of a mantis but I started with dry everything so where would I get it from? Also, as you saw on the clown, there are no signs of it being eaten or chewed. If there was a mantis wouldn't it eat the clown?

 

[maleks.reef]

I should also add that the clicking sound comes in twos or threes, always. And it almost faints more with each click.

 

[brandon429]

Disease preps have been skipped here per the description. Apply fallow and quarantine for the win, per Jays stickies in the disease forum

 

[maleks.reef]

Disease preps have been skipped here per the description. Apply fallow and quarantine for the win, per Jays stickies in the disease forum

Why would I fallow and quarantine if there is no sign of disease? Also, if i had some sort of disease then wouldn't I lose ALL my fish within a very short time span?

 

[maleks.reef]

@ReefSquad

 

[brandon429]

No they can be staggered losses. The reason I voted disease is because all disease preps were skipped and non prepped pet store fish were added, and because Jays entire day is busy troubleshooting these exact type of losses from non prepped tanks. I vote disease, oxygen doesn’t kill reef tank fish neither does any other param. Post a full tank picture too please, it shows unspoken variables or reinforcing variables all from the pic


for example, we will see things not affected by recurring losses focusing 99% on fish alone from the pic. Open, happy corals and plenty of surface area will stand out in the pic

 

[A Young Reefer]

Hey I live in the UAE too and had bangai cardinals, firefish and designer clowns SEVERAL times. they never made it in my tank idk what the reason is. the only designer clowns that made it was the ones straight up from ORA not a random breeding faciality in Taiwan or Indonesia. And we two are not alone several other hobbyists reported similar issues around here. I spent around 700 usd on designer clowns just so non of them make it except for a pair from ORA.
I just gave up on these fish. frankly at one point I only had a yellow wrasse in my nano.
So what I Would do is send an icp analysis and run your tank fallow for a period of time (assuming you don't have any fish left in the tank) and avoid these certain fish.
It might be related to shipping conditions since its a quite of a long journey from Indonesia to the UAE or even supplier issues.

 

[brandon429]

If this was in the description I’d be hard pressed to find a cause:

My tank began with fallow prep for three months. I’ve added only items to the tank that passed through fallow pre- holding and observation, and each fish was quarantine observed for thirty days before adding to the tank, and the fish die in a staggered fashion one by one after each addition.

 

[maleks.reef]

Hey I live in the UAE too and had bangai cardinals, firefish and designer clowns SEVERAL times. they never made it in my tank idk what the reason is. the only designer clowns that made it was the ones straight up from ORA not a random breeding faciality in Taiwan or Indonesia. And we two are not alone several other hobbyists reported similar issues around here. I spent around 700 usd on designer clowns just so non of them make it except for a pair from ORA.
I just gave up on these fish. frankly at one point I only had a yellow wrasse in my nano.
So what I Would do is send an icp analysis and run your tank fallow for a period of time (assuming you don't have any fish left in the tank) and avoid these certain fish.
It might be related to shipping conditions since its a quite of a long journey from Indonesia to the UAE or even supplier issues.

If the fish died soon after being added then what you are saying would make sense here but since most of them lived happily for months or even a full year before suddenly dropping dead, I do not think it has anything to do with shipping. Thank you though.

 

[A Young Reefer]

If the fish died soon after being added then what you are saying would make sense here but since most of them lived happily for months or even a full year before suddenly dropping dead, I do not think it has anything to do with shipping. Thank you though.

The clowns I also had would live for 2-3 months then one night start to suddenly look drowsy as you mentioned then just die with no apparent physical symptoms.
You also mentioned a clicking noise, can it be a mantis shrimp in there that is causing all of this chaos?

 

[maleks.reef]

No they can be staggered losses. The reason I voted disease is because all disease preps were skipped and non prepped pet store fish were added, and because Jays entire day is busy troubleshooting these exact type of losses from non prepped tanks. I vote disease, oxygen doesn’t kill reef tank fish neither does any other param. Post a full tank picture too please, it shows unspoken variables or reinforcing variables all from the pic


for example, we will see things not affected by recurring losses focusing 99% on fish alone from the pic. Open, happy corals and plenty of surface area will stand out in the pic

Just because I did not quarantine does not mean that I have a disease. Sure it is more probable but again, the way these fish have died do not point to disease, especially when ive never seen any type of mark on them. I cannot go fallow because I still have 3 fish left. I do not have the space or time to set up a separate quarantine tank for those 3 fish. Lets put disease to the side for a bit, what else might it be? Keep in mind that my fire shrimp died with no trace as well, while the cleaner has been doing good for more than a year.

Tank pic:

I know the tank is quite a bit dirty, there is bubble algae and turf algae everywhere but this is only recently due to lack of WCs because ive been too busy.

 

[maleks.reef]

The clowns I also had would live for 2-3 months then one night start to suddenly look drowsy as you mentioned then just die with no apparent physical symptoms.
You also mentioned a clicking noise, can it be a mantis shrimp in there that is causing all of this chaos?

Very unlikely that it is a mantis shrimp because 1) tank is too small 2) i started with dry everything 3) the clicking sound is closer to a door creaking than the mantis shrimp sounds Ive heard on youtube.

 

[IKD]

what is your salinity? You mentioned being very busy to test the tank. How are you topping off the water on a regular basis to handle evaporation? What water are you using (tap, RO/DI) for water?

would be good to get your other parameters too (nitrate in particular). If you’re feeding regularly and no water changes for a month or more, definitely want to see what the water quality situation is.

 

[brandon429]

Excellent pics. It’s disease

I realize the preps required that you can read about in the disease forum stickies take work, but you’ll need to do that.


for additional proof, post this exact topic with tank pics in the disease forum let them analyze it too. Make sure to state that zero disease preps on pet store fish + staggered replacement of lost fish coming from the pet store as part of the diagnostic info


thats a very nice reef. functioning in every way a reef should, you just need disease preps for fish.

 

[blaxsun]

As for parameters I haven't tested in a while. But no matter how skewed my parameters might be, fish should not be affected. Only thing that can kill fish or shrimp is ammonia, which I obviously do not have any of.

Not necessarily. High nitrites and nitrates can kill fish, too. It's water parameters, a predator or disease. If you're able to rule the first two out, then you know what it is.