Two clowns dead after waterchange, help me understand why

[evmibo]

Hi,
The tank is a 13.5gal Fluval AIO, about 3 months old. I did a routine 4gal waterchange a couple days ago, my two true percs (only fish in the tank) that I’ve had for 5+ years died after.

A couple smaller rocks from my 8-9 year old tank were kept when breaking down the 135gal for this smaller tank.

New “live” very small grain sand (too small imo because it does get blown around, but the wife liked it) was used setting up this tank.

Prior to making water for the waterchange we were on a boil water notice for 4 days. Even though I use rodi (0 tds) I waited an hour after it was lifted to make water.

I had some brown algae issues starting to show up on the rocks and small portions on the sand. During the water change I turkey basted some portions of rock and sucked up whatever I could that got blown off. I worked a couple small areas of sand with the siphon hose too.

The tank was a little cloudy (nothing concerning) from mostly the turkey baster on the rocks but the new 4gal of mixed saltwater was put in and tank filtration cleared it up quickly. I did notice, and I guess it’s worth saying that the saltwater that was being mixed looked slightly cloudy to me before putting it in the tank. I mix the saltwater overnight and do the waterchange early morning.

The tanks filtration is (in order): filter floss, 2 packs of chemipure blue (nano packs), another filter floss, media bag of marine pure gems, return pump.

I unfortunately had to leave the house soon after the waterchange but I did notice the male clown was high up towards the overflow looking slightly lethargic and the female wasn’t moving around as much as she normally would.

With the sand being as fine as it is, is it possible that anaerobic matter was released? Ammonia released? The deepest part of the sand is about 2”.

Half of my test kits are Fluval and since they came with the tank I’ve just been using them. NO3 was under 5ppm and NH4 was undetectable or very close to it. Tested for NO2 too and nothing.

The only thing we can think of is that the sand released something into the water??

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi,
The tank is a 13.5gal Fluval AIO, about 3 months old. I did a routine 4gal waterchange a couple days ago, my two true percs (only fish in the tank) that I’ve had for 5+ years died after.

A couple smaller rocks from my 8-9 year old tank were kept when breaking down the 135gal for this smaller tank.

New “live” very small grain sand (too small imo because it does get blown around, but the wife liked it) was used setting up this tank.

Prior to making water for the waterchange we were on a boil water notice for 4 days. Even though I use rodi (0 tds) I waited an hour after it was lifted to make water.

I had some brown algae issues starting to show up on the rocks and small portions on the sand. During the water change I turkey basted some portions of rock and sucked up whatever I could that got blown off. I worked a couple small areas of sand with the siphon hose too.

The tank was a little cloudy (nothing concerning) from mostly the turkey baster on the rocks but the new 4gal of mixed saltwater was put in and tank filtration cleared it up quickly. I did notice, and I guess it’s worth saying that the saltwater that was being mixed looked slightly cloudy to me before putting it in the tank. I mix the saltwater overnight and do the waterchange early morning.

The tanks filtration is (in order): filter floss, 2 packs of chemipure blue (nano packs), another filter floss, media bag of marine pure gems, return pump.

I unfortunately had to leave the house soon after the waterchange but I did notice the male clown was high up towards the overflow looking slightly lethargic and the female wasn’t moving around as much as she normally would.

With the sand being as fine as it is, is it possible that anaerobic matter was released? Ammonia released? The deepest part of the sand is about 2”.

Half of my test kits are Fluval and since they came with the tank I’ve just been using them. NO3 was under 5ppm and NH4 was undetectable or very close to it. Tested for NO2 too and nothing.

The only thing we can think of is that the sand released something into the water??

The first thing we need to do is to confirm cause and effect. What was the timeline between the water change, you noticing changed behavior and then the fish dying? Are there any invertebrates in the tank? How do they look?

You can rule out the boil water advisory as being an issue - RODI production takes care of any issues there.
Do you aerate or stir your mixed water overnight?


Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some guesses on my end:
Temperature of new water cooler that that of tank
When new water entered, tank stirred up and toxin release
Salinity difference
Salt not fully dissolved

 

[evmibo]

The first thing we need to do is to confirm cause and effect. What was the timeline between the water change, you noticing changed behavior and then the fish dying? Are there any invertebrates in the tank? How do they look?

You can rule out the boil water advisory as being an issue - RODI production takes care of any issues there.
Do you aerate or stir your mixed water overnight?


Jay

Changed behavior was instant after the waterchange. It could have started before the new water went in but the fishare usually a little stressed anyway when the water level is down. The whole process of the waterchange was only about 10minutes if that.

I unfortunately had to leave for work for about 6 hours afterwords, so they were dead when I got home. I don’t know how long it actually took though.

I have 2 Mexican turbo snails and 4 cerith snails they are all fine and on the move.

The water is mixed in a clean 5gal bucket with a maxijet1200 overnight. The bucket has a lid that’s cracked because of the wire, and the lid also has a small quarter sized hole on top.

Some guesses on my end:

Temperature of new water cooler that that of tank
When new water entered, tank stirred up and toxin release
Salinity difference
Salt not fully dissolved

New water may have been slightly cooler. The house is at 75 and the tank was about 78 at the time.

Salinity of the new water was not tested but I weigh out the salt each time before I start mixing it to 33ppt. I use about 137gram per gallon of rodi (Red Sea blue bucket) to achieve 33ppt. I did test the aquarium salinity when I found them dead and it was spot on 33ppt (calibrated refractometer).

As mentioned, the new salt mix was slightly cloudy before I put it in the tank, which I thought was weird with the pump going all night. Nonetheless when I did put it in the tank I didn’t notice a salt cloud or anything like that.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Changed behavior was instant after the waterchange. It could have started before the new water went in but the fishare usually a little stressed anyway when the water level is down. The whole process of the waterchange was only about 10minutes if that.

I unfortunately had to leave for work for about 6 hours afterwords, so they were dead when I got home. I don’t know how long it actually took though.

I have 2 Mexican turbo snails and 4 cerith snails they are all fine and on the move.

The water is mixed in a clean 5gal bucket with a maxijet1200 overnight. The bucket has a lid that’s cracked because of the wire, and the lid also has a small quarter sized hole on top.

Some guesses on my end:

New water may have been slightly cooler. The house is at 75 and the tank was about 78 at the time.

Salinity of the new water was not tested but I weigh out the salt each time before I start mixing it to 33ppt. I use about 137gram per gallon of rodi (Red Sea blue bucket) to achieve 33ppt. I did test the aquarium salinity when I found them dead and it was spot on 33ppt (calibrated refractometer).

As mentioned, the new salt mix was slightly cloudy before I put it in the tank, which I thought was weird with the pump going all night. Nonetheless when I did put it in the tank I didn’t notice a salt cloud or anything like that.

In addition to weighing salt, always check with salinity tester as some salts settle and the salinity count can change. The cloudiness raises question as is the temperature difference which inverts can endure over fish