Recent fish deaths, need ideas

MattPG · May 12, 2023

Have a 75g DT with 25g sump. System is 1.5 yrs old. Had 2 clowns, 2 banggai cardinals, diamond gobi, foxface, skunk shrimp, 15ish small crabs and snails CUC. Also have started corals; 8 softie frags. Three days ago found the clowns kind of hiding and no other fish around. Finally yesterday found what's left of the foxface being enjoyed by a crab. Water parameters: temp 78, sal 33.6, amo 0, nitri 0, nitra 2, Ph 8.3, Alk 9.0 from yesterdays testing. These are essentially identical to what I have been running. Only thing I have done differently in the last week is a thorough algae cleaning of the back wall and gyre 5 days ago. I have done this before and while the water gets murky for a few hours the filtering (sock, skimmer) have it back to clear in 8hrs. The clowns, shrimp, CUC, AND corals all seem fine. Feel like I let them down...Any ideas?

blaxsun · May 12, 2023

I mean, salinity seems a tad low (but maybe that's normal for your tank). Was the foxface the only death?

MattPG · May 12, 2023

blaxsun said:
I mean, salinity seems a tad low (but maybe that's normal for your tank). Was the foxface the only death?

No, lost the two banggai cardinals and my beloved diamond goby as well.

jkcoral · May 12, 2023

I’m sorry to hear about your losses. It’s such a bummer when someone goes through this type of thing.

Did your fish show any indications of being ill? Any indications of an outbreak of ich or some other disease?

Also, what kind of soft corals did you add? Years ago I had a buddy that had some leather corals go toxic and bombed one of his setups. Makes me wonder if some type of toxin might’ve been released. Are you running carbon?

MattPG · May 12, 2023

jkcoral said:
I’m sorry to hear about your losses. It’s such a bummer when someone goes through this type of thing.

Did your fish show any indications of being ill? Any indications of an outbreak of ich or some other disease?

Also, what kind of soft corals did you add? Years ago I had a buddy that had some leather corals go toxic and bombed one of his setups. Makes me wonder if some type of toxin might’ve been released. Are you running carbon?

Bummer for sure. No prior signs of a problem. They all looked good, no spotting, film on eyes or scales, looked good. The corals are all softies and are still doing very well.