Something killed all my fish?

[workhz]

With a mature system, skimmer, live sand and live rock would a few dead snails crash a system? Not sure what else is in OP’s tank but that would be scary if a few dead inverts can crash a tank.

 

[Rtaylor]

With a mature system, skimmer, live sand and live rock would a few dead snails crash a system? Not sure what else is in OP’s tank but that would be scary if a few dead inverts can crash a tank.

No, it won’t. I’ve had a 3-4” inch fish disappear without any impact.

 

[exalectric]

With a mature system, skimmer, live sand and live rock would a few dead snails crash a system? Not sure what else is in OP’s tank but that would be scary if a few dead inverts can crash a tank.

They all have live sand and live rock and skimmers. The 75g has a sump woth socks and refugium section. The 40g has a canister filter.
And the biocube is an all in one with normal media and just the mini skimmer designed for it

 

[cmoore806]

Forgive me if this was already asked, I did read through all five pages and didn’t see anyone ask WHY were you adding cleanup crew in the first place? Is there a reason? Die off or algae problem?

 

[exalectric]

Forgive me if this was already asked, I did read through all five pages and didn’t see anyone ask WHY were you adding cleanup crew in the first place? Is there a reason? Die off or algae problem?

we just didnt have a lot. the biocube had 1 snail and 1 hermit, and the triggers in the 75g like to murder snails for fun. same for the 40g, theres some algae butnot a takeover and we just didnt have many inverts in there after taking the puffer out.

 

[cmoore806]

Any fish added in the last week?

 

[exalectric]

Any fish added in the last week?

Nope. Last one was 3 weeks ago, the pj cardinals and they were quarantined before adding

 

[cmoore806]

what are you doing for quarantine?

 

[Jupiter]

Hey guys. My husband and I just received an order of snails & hermits from ReefCleaners.org and within 24 hours more than half of our fish are dead, in 3 different tank systems. Has anyone had this happen or know what it could be? There have been no changes other than adding these CUC which leads me to believe they’re the culprits or it wouldn’t happen across 3 unconnected tanks at the same time.

Upon seeing a couple fish struggling to swim and a few others no where to be found, we did an emergency 40% water change on all 3 systems and didn’t check the levels beforehand. But now post water change testing kits look the same as always. No fish had any issues before adding these CUC. And the survivors seem to be swimming like normal for now
dead list:
Maroon clown
Oscellaris clown
Foxface
Cleaner goby
2x blue damsels
Bengaii cardinal
Clown tang

Survivors:
1 oscellaris clown
Clown trigger
Picasso trigger
Snowflake eel
Pj cardinal

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. I just can’t imagine how this happened. No water from the shipment got into any tanks and the CUC arrivals are also fine and cruising around.

 

[exalectric]

what are you doing for quarantine?

Treat with prazipro and cupramine for 6 weeks.

 

[Jupiter]

No idea, but I've got a reefcleaners order that was supposed to arrive today and was delayed, so now I'm even more nervous...

 

[Jupiter]

Nope. Last one was 3 weeks ago, the pj cardinals and they were quarantined before adding

Oh god, then it must be the inverts, or the water they were in. For sure, when I buy new *any* new livestock for my tank, I "dip" them to kill parasites. Crying for your dead fish.

 

[Rtaylor]

Oh god, then it must be the inverts, or the water they were in. For sure, when I buy new *any* new livestock for my tank, I "dip" them to kill parasites. Crying for your dead fish.

I don’t think it’s reasonable to draw that conclusion. No fish disease could be first introduced, have time to infect, and kill the fish in such a short time period. Especially since there were no physical signs of disease and a water change ‘cured’ the problem. Additionally, even if there was some toxin in the water from the inverts? The few drops that may have made it in the tanks would be so diluted that it would need to be some of the most toxic substance that exists to have any effect.
Something that kills that quickly and disappears after a water change is almost certainly one of 3 things:
1. Ammonia poisoning
2. Lack of oxygen
3. Environmental (poison)

 

[exalectric]

Update: water changes didn’t fix it. We did 50% day1 and another 30% yesterday. Just seems to slow whatever it was down. Within the last 48 hours the last of the fish in these tanks died.

 

[Goaway]

The CuC did not kill your fish. Sadly, I cannot say what did. Nothing I guess will give you an answer. Whatever is going on, was brewing to begin with. I have said before. NO disease I have ever seen kills in 24 hours of introduction and rarely kills in 24 hours of developing symptoms. The only things I know that kill this quick is chemicals, lack of oxygen and ammonia.

I am sorry for your loss. I do hope you get this mystery solved.

 

[exalectric]

The CuC did not kill your fish. Sadly, I cannot say what did. Nothing I guess will give you an answer. Whatever is going on, was brewing to begin with. I have said before. NO disease I have ever seen kills in 24 hours of introduction and rarely kills in 24 hours of developing symptoms. The only things I know that kill this quick is chemicals, lack of oxygen and ammonia.

I am sorry for your loss. I do hope you get this mystery solved.

Right but whatever it was had to come in with the CUC, or on the bags when we floated them or something to that effect because nothing else has changed and tanks without them are perfectly fine, with the only differences between the tanks being the addition of CUC

 

[Hydrored]

Any pesticides sprayed at all? Not sure how close you are to you neighbor. A lot of new home have air exchangers in them. Another one that I know of is polyurethane fumes will kill things

 

[Jeffcb]

Right but whatever it was had to come in with the CUC, or on the bags when we floated them or something to that effect because nothing else has changed and tanks without them are perfectly fine, with the only differences between the tanks being the addition of CUC

Intresting. Sorry for your fish loss. CUC didnt kill your fish and are they still alive? If so its not the water.

I lost an entire tank many years ago. It was becase I was doing a water change in the tank in my bedroom when my wife at the time was cleaning the bathroom with cleaning chemicals, With the open top the fumes killed all of the fish.

 

[Goaway]

Right but whatever it was had to come in with the CUC, or on the bags when we floated them or something to that effect because nothing else has changed and tanks without them are perfectly fine, with the only differences between the tanks being the addition of CUC

Did the packaging ever come into contact with the DT water?

 

[exalectric]

Any pesticides sprayed at all? Not sure how close you are to you neighbor. A lot of new home have air exchangers in them. Another one that I know of is polyurethane fumes will kill things

Intresting. Sorry for your fish loss. CUC didnt kill your fish and are they still alive? If so its not the water.

I lost an entire tank many years ago. It was becase I was doing a water change in the tank in my bedroom when my wife at the time was cleaning the bathroom with cleaning chemicals, With the open top the fumes killed all of the fish.

It seems unlikely to be airborne, because the other tanks in the same areas are fine, as well as all the freshwater tanks that don’t have lids on them at all.

Also it appears the snails and hermits are all fine. But we did lose the coral banded shrimp in the 40g and a peppermint shrimp in the small tank. I haven’t been able to find the emerald crabs but we rarely see them anyways.