Sudden Fish Death

[DobleVM]

Hello everybody!

I come with sad news, all the fish in my tank died suddenly and I would like to hear your opinions. We have a 36 gallon tank. We had 2 clownfish, 1 fire goby, 1 royal gramma and 1 shrimp. We’ve had them for a long time, some even 1 year And they were all just fine. We also have 2 bubble tip anemones, 1 GSP, 1 Kenya tree and 1 duncan. All we had for a while. The week before this accident happened, we added 1 pulsing Xenia, 1 palythoa and 1 organ pipe. We added them on a Sunday. They were just fine, every coral and every fish. Other new thing we did was getting a product called Reef Energy Plus Coral Nutrition which we added a spoon to the tank to feed the coral. Everything was just fine. Thursday the person we pay to come check the tank and make sure everything is fine came and he did some water changes. Water levels were fine. Yes, I pay someone to take care of my tank, I have no experience and I find this a little too complicated sometimes, so I’d rather get some help. Anyway, we came back home Thursday night and everything seemed to be fine, fish were acting normal, we did not see anything out of the ordinary. Friday morning we go to work and they all look just fine. When we come back from work I noticed every single fish were dead. Including the shrimp. Some corals and anemones seemed to be acting out or ordinary, they weren’t completely out. We were shocked and sad, since we had some of the fish for so long, they felt like our babies. We tested the water at home with some strips and water was fine. We took some of the water next day to a store close by so they would test it and they said water levels were fine, only thing that was low was salinity at 1.022, which I think is acceptable? I’m not sure. Then Monday the person who helps us came by and tested the water we put aside and said it was fine. I really have absolutely no idea what happened. He did mention that Thursday that the water was a little too hot, so we adjusted out thermostat that same day to always be at 75 while we’re away. Only other thing I can mention that would be related is, that when we open the windows in our balcony, the light hits the tank, but the tank its 12 feet away from the balcony, and its not like it was giving that much light to increase temperature, I guess?

So what do you all think? Let me know if you have any questions. I still cant figure it out.

Thank you Everybody.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everybody!

I come with sad news, all the fish in my tank died suddenly and I would like to hear your opinions. We have a 36 gallon tank. We had 2 clownfish, 1 fire goby, 1 royal gramma and 1 shrimp. We’ve had them for a long time, some even 1 year And they were all just fine. We also have 2 bubble tip anemones, 1 GSP, 1 Kenya tree and 1 duncan. All we had for a while. The week before this accident happened, we added 1 pulsing Xenia, 1 palythoa and 1 organ pipe. We added them on a Sunday. They were just fine, every coral and every fish. Other new thing we did was getting a product called Reef Energy Plus Coral Nutrition which we added a spoon to the tank to feed the coral. Everything was just fine. Thursday the person we pay to come check the tank and make sure everything is fine came and he did some water changes. Water levels were fine. Yes, I pay someone to take care of my tank, I have no experience and I find this a little too complicated sometimes, so I’d rather get some help. Anyway, we came back home Thursday night and everything seemed to be fine, fish were acting normal, we did not see anything out of the ordinary. Friday morning we go to work and they all look just fine. When we come back from work I noticed every single fish were dead. Including the shrimp. Some corals and anemones seemed to be acting out or ordinary, they weren’t completely out. We were shocked and sad, since we had some of the fish for so long, they felt like our babies. We tested the water at home with some strips and water was fine. We took some of the water next day to a store close by so they would test it and they said water levels were fine, only thing that was low was salinity at 1.022, which I think is acceptable? I’m not sure. Then Monday the person who helps us came by and tested the water we put aside and said it was fine. I really have absolutely no idea what happened. He did mention that Thursday that the water was a little too hot, so we adjusted out thermostat that same day to always be at 75 while we’re away. Only other thing I can mention that would be related is, that when we open the windows in our balcony, the light hits the tank, but the tank its 12 feet away from the balcony, and its not like it was giving that much light to increase temperature, I guess?

So what do you all think? Let me know if you have any questions. I still cant figure it out.

Thank you Everybody.

Can be several things. What is age of tank as there are/were a few occupants in the tank
Was any tap water added for top off?
What temperature is your tank?
What is salinity?
Are you testing the tank or other person?
Would you know current ammonia and nitrate level?
Did either of you place hand in the tank for any reason the night before?
Sorry to hear of experience!

 

[Tamberav]

What temp was the tank?

Do you have a powerhead? I can't see one.

Do you have a skimmer?

How much surface agitation?

Does the tank have a lid? If so, what kind? Mesh, canopy?

Trying to see if gas exchange/oxygen could be an issue.

I don't suspect disease at all but rather some acute event... (too hot or low oxygen, etc).

 

[davidcalgary29]

Or a chemical contaminant could be the cause of the loss. I've had several deaths in the past when cleaners with bleach in them were sprayed in a bathroom adjacent to a tank with a screen top, and once when someone cleaned my ATO water jug with bleach, and I didn't check for the tell-tale odour before I used it again.

 

[Isaac Alves]

My go-to thoughts would be oxygen loss or an electrical issue. Increased temperature will decrease oxygen and stress out fish and coral which would further decrease o2 levels in the water.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Did you talk to your maintenaince guy? Its too coincidental to me. If the maintenance guy worked on the tank Thursday, and the fish were dead 24 hours later, then my first thought is that he forgot to turn on a machine, or forgot to plug something back in, or he accidentally spilled something in the tank.

 

[DobleVM]

What temp was the tank?

Do you have a powerhead? I can't see one.

Do you have a skimmer?

How much surface agitation?

Does the tank have a lid? If so, what kind? Mesh, canopy?

Trying to see if gas exchange/oxygen could be an issue.

I don't suspect disease at all but rather some acute event... (too hot or low oxygen, etc).

The temp in the tank is 77 I believe. I do have a powerhead. I do not have a skimmer. Not much surface agitation. It has a mesh lid.

Now that we are talking about oxygen, I notice that I really don't see many air bubbles in the tank. I'm having a moment of revelation I think. Theres not much agitation and the powerhead that I have I don't see it creates much movement and bubbles. With all the fish in the tank and if it was hot that day it could have caused this.

 

[DobleVM]

Did you talk to your maintenaince guy? Its too coincidental to me. If the maintenance guy worked on the tank Thursday, and the fish were dead 24 hours later, then my first thought is that he forgot to turn on a machine, or forgot to plug something back in, or he accidentally spilled something in the tank.

Yes we did, obviously we thought of that. But they said everything looked fine.

 

[DobleVM]

My go-to thoughts would be oxygen loss or an electrical issue. Increased temperature will decrease oxygen and stress out fish and coral which would further decrease o2 levels in the water.

That's what I'm thinking. I just replied to another message with what I think happened.

 

[DobleVM]

Good morning everyone!

I wanted to give you an update on what has been a very frustrating journey.. After allof this happened we have done everything we can in our hands to improve the conditions of the tank. We added a skimmer, we added UV lightwater filter and another power head. After all the fish died that first time, we had 3 more incidents. First, about 2 weeks after the first one we bought a fire goby and a royal gramma. Both died not too long after we got them. We waited about a month to add anything into the tank. We got a Mandarin goby(I know a bold move considering what had been happening..) It was fine for a weekeating we added cope pods regularly and it just died. After that we waited about 2-3 monthsto add anything. That's when we added the uv light. Time passes and we think ok it's time, what the heck..Last Thursday we got 2 clown fish and a fire fish goby. Yesterday everyone was just fine at night we were watching them eating very excited and exploring. Now this morning the firefish is dead. And I'm like what the f is going on? This is so frustrating, wasting money but also just feelingsad for this and for them. We have tried everything in our hands to prevent this and it keeps happening.Water parameters seem to be fine (adding a photo).

I don't know if this is a coincidence but this all started when we went to a store and brought home 3 corals. One organ pipe which is still alive, one pulsing xenia which the original body died and it just split into small ones that are bigger and healthy now, and one palythoa with the green tentacles.. I know that one is supposed to be poisonous. I'm not sure if the paly is the villain here or not but I took it out. I'm not risking the other 2 clownfish that seem to be happy.

What are your thoughts guys? I r ally don't know what to do

 

[TokenReefer]

Sorry for the losses. Extremely curious... Following

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I know you mentioned you have corals and a anemone. How are the they doing?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Have you performed large water changes? What is your water source? Do you have any chemicals, sprays, or air fresheners in that room? Is it possible the palythoa or something else poisoned the water? How are you acclimating the fish? That could be a factor. I would perform a 100% water change…take everything out and let it dry them set it back up…and wait a few weeks for the tank to cycle again and find another fish store as a test if you don’t know the problem. And get a better test kit and refractometer if you don’t have one. Salinity is best kept between 1.024-1.026.

 

[TokenReefer]

Try to post the water test results. That's really important

 

[DobleVM]

I know you mentioned you have corals and a anemone. How are the they doing?

Here are some photos of my aquarium. All corals and anemones are good. Just came back home and clownfish are still alive and exploring looking happy. Ate like sharks.

 

[DobleVM]

Have you performed large water changes? What is your water source? Do you have any chemicals, sprays, or air fresheners in that room? Is it possible the palythoa or something else poisoned the water? How are you acclimating the fish? That could be a factor. I would perform a 100% water change…take everything out and let it dry them set it back up…and wait a few weeks for the tank to cycle again and find another fish store as a test if you don’t know the problem. And get a better test kit and refractometer if you don’t have one. Salinity is best kept between 1.024-1.026.

I have not performed big ones. Only 30%
Usually someone does it for us. There are no chemicals or air refresher close by. My palythoa theory is just because all of this started after we brought it in.. so idk, big coincidence right? Who knows. I temp acclimate my fish. I never had any issues with them before.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

Here are some photos of my aquarium. All corals and anemones are good. Just came back home and clownfish are still alive and exploring looking happy. Ate like sharks.

Other posters can correct if I am wrong, but it seems the water parameters are fine. I would think corals would show the first signs of stress when the water parameters isn't what it should be.

I don't think its parasitic or disease related. They don't just suddenly die.

have you dosed or your maintenance guy dosed lanthanum?
I would also check your equipment, you might have a stray voltage. Especially your heater

Those are the things I know that can cause your fish to die within hours.

 

[DobleVM]

Other posters can correct if I am wrong, but it seems the water parameters are fine. I would think corals would show the first signs of stress when the water parameters isn't what it should be.

I don't think its parasitic or disease related. They don't just suddenly die.

have you dosed or your maintenance guy dosed lanthanum?
I would also check your equipment, you might have a stray voltage. Especially your heater

Those are the things I know that can cause your fish to die within hours.

No dosing. Also we have everything connected to a surge protector. Heater is a year and a half old. Should I get a new heater? It so what do you recommend?

 

[brandon429]

I'm amazed we ruled out disease in a tank stocking mixed pet store fish with no preps, and having repeat fish loss but no coral or invert loss on a second round, delayed after the first non-disease causes remained and only fish are dying.



you need to post your exact description and the second round of fish loss in the disease forum, let them know fallow and quarantine does not apply in your tank, and that fish loss is all that's happening and it's rapid.

 

[brandon429]

Given the timeline sequence of losses here, disease just got moved up to 90% likelihood and it was like that on day 1 too.

this is a no fallow, LFS stocked reef, we ruled out disease right off the bat/never told the reefer about QT and Fallow, in fact told him there couldn't be disease, and more fish got lost but not two tough clowns. Those guys tend to be the strongest it seems among pet store fish, lots of nano reefers get away with two clowns and no preps/just not mixed species.


to stop your fish loss, fallow out your system and don't add anymore wet materials from your source without preps: they are importing disease as most LFS stock does. It doesn't mean their stuff is bad, it means within the collection and holding chain nobody is taking time to disease prep. delayed losses after cycling in fish are exactly disease caused the majority of the time, you had been adding wet and unprepped stuff from the lfs

how would you rate your tank's biosecurity-

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