Why do they die?

Cbryant54

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Here's an odd sounding one. Has anyone ever had the addition of lights kill fish?

My FOWLR has been up since Feb with no lights. Only have (had) 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 bangaii cardinal. 2 days ago added canopy with lights. Cardinal won't eat anything and one of the clowns was inactive all day yesterday and breathing fast & heavy and died overnight. No other noticeable signs of distress. All the fish have been in for at least 5 months.

Salinity 1.024
Nitrate read 0 on my API test kit (yes, I know the Devil created API kits and I'm a bad person who hates my fish)

Could lights being added after so long have stressed fish to point of dying?
20201124_091225.jpg
 

HuduVudu

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Here's an odd sounding one. Has anyone ever had the addition of lights kill fish?

My FOWLR has been up since Feb with no lights. Only have (had) 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 bangaii cardinal. 2 days ago added canopy with lights. Cardinal won't eat anything and one of the clowns was inactive all day yesterday and breathing fast & heavy and died overnight. No other noticeable signs of distress. All the fish have been in for at least 5 months.

Salinity 1.024
Nitrate read 0 on my API test kit (yes, I know the Devil created API kits and I'm a bad person who hates my fish)

Could lights being added after so long have stressed fish to point of dying?
20201124_091225.jpg
Did you cover the fully cover the top of the tank with something? Like glass?
 
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Cbryant54

Cbryant54

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Any temperature swings? I'd test your theory by reducing the percentage of light you have and slowly going up. Any other things that could have changed recently?
My temp gauges show typical +/- 0 5 degree swing. They are in the sump, so there may be some hysteresis between surface of display and sump.

Using dimmable T5s but I have not built a controller yet so I can't really adjust the intensity.
 

vetteguy53081

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Introduce under low light
Ammonia spikes and stress can do it as well stray voltage and aggression
How did you acclimate/introduce the fish?
Was the skin bright orange or hazy/milky looking?
 

HuduVudu

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My thought is that the canopy is heating up the air in the canopy and that makes it harder for the gas exchange at the surface of the water. If your tank is on the edge for fish load this could be enough to push it over the edge. Usually this type of cascading event starts with a sick or dying fish. Then the weakened fish from low oxygen start a chain reaction of sick fish that usually results in a tank crash.

I forgot to ask, do you have a skimmer?
 

Jay Hemdal

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Here's an odd sounding one. Has anyone ever had the addition of lights kill fish?

My FOWLR has been up since Feb with no lights. Only have (had) 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 bangaii cardinal. 2 days ago added canopy with lights. Cardinal won't eat anything and one of the clowns was inactive all day yesterday and breathing fast & heavy and died overnight. No other noticeable signs of distress. All the fish have been in for at least 5 months.

Salinity 1.024
Nitrate read 0 on my API test kit (yes, I know the Devil created API kits and I'm a bad person who hates my fish)

Could lights being added after so long have stressed fish to point of dying?
20201124_091225.jpg
I’ve had flash photography kill an already compromised fish. Unless the new lights were way over powered, this shouldn’t have been direct cause and effect. Think of fish held under ambient room light at the wholesalers and then shipped to stores and peoples homes with bright lights...
The rapid breathing also doesn’t tie in well with lighting. How s the gramma? Have you added any new animals in the past few weeks?
Jay
 
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Cbryant54

Cbryant54

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I’ve had flash photography kill an already compromised fish. Unless the new lights were way over powered, this shouldn’t have been direct cause and effect. Think of fish held under ambient room light at the wholesalers and then shipped to stores and peoples homes with bright lights...
The rapid breathing also doesn’t tie in well with lighting. How s the gramma? Have you added any new animals in the past few weeks?
Jay
Display is a 65 gallon with 4×39w T5s. No new animals since mid-summer. Gramma and other clown are active and eating. I know the new light theory is a long shot. I guess sometimes animals just die.
 

schuby

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When I started my tank last year, I didn't have any lights for the first few months: my hood had to be built. There was very little algae during that time. I had fish in my DT for months with no lights, with just light from lamps in my living room. Also, I always had my glass-lids in place and a skimmer running in my sump.

When I did install my hood and turned the lights on, that's when things started happening. My rock changed from white to green and the ugly phases started.

What happens when algae and other things start to grow due to photosynthesis? Oxygen in the water column gets consumed at a much faster rate than before. I credit my sump/overflow and skimmer with maintaining my oxygen-level to keep my fish adequately supplied. After the surprise of suddenly having lights, the fish went back to their normal behavior in a few days.

What do you do in your tank to keep the water adequately oxygenated for your fish?
 
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Cbryant54

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When I started my tank last year, I didn't have any lights for the first few months: my hood had to be built. There was very little algae during that time. I had fish in my DT for months with no lights, with just light from lamps in my living room. Also, I always had my glass-lids in place and a skimmer running in my sump.

When I did install my hood and turned the lights on, that's when things started happening. My rock changed from white to green and the ugly phases started.

What happens when algae and other things start to grow due to photosynthesis? Oxygen in the water column gets consumed at a much faster rate than before. I credit my sump/overflow and skimmer with maintaining my oxygen-level to keep my fish adequately supplied. After the surprise of suddenly having lights, the fish went back to their normal behavior in a few days.

What do you do in your tank to keep the water adequately oxygenated for your fish?
For oxygenation: return line that splits the surface, skimmer in sump, MP10 for circulation and fan in hood to draw in outside air.
 

schuby

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Here's my theory. The MP10 isn't circulating the oxygenated water effectively in the lower areas of your tank. When you added the lights, the fish hid under rocks (lower in the tank) and algae started to grow (consuming/lowering the oxygen-level). The combination of staying lower in the tank and the overall reduced oxygen-level was too much for your fish so it perished.

Actions to consider:
  • Reduce lighting period to half and slowly ramp up over 2-4 weeks.
  • Ensure that MP10 is creating flow along sand and under rockwork
    • You want water from higher in tank (oxygenated) to be pushed down to lower parts of tank
    • Try to remove "dead" spots with no flow
    • Another powerhead may be necessary
 

schuby

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I think when I added my hood and lights, I had them on for an hour and then off for an hour (4 durations). Over several weeks, I made each ON-duration longer (maybe 5 minutes a day), more ON and less OFF, until there was one continuous 8-hour duration. I'm sure my fish thought they were in the Twilight Zone!
 

OrionN

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Here's an odd sounding one. Has anyone ever had the addition of lights kill fish?

My FOWLR has been up since Feb with no lights. Only have (had) 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 bangaii cardinal. 2 days ago added canopy with lights. Cardinal won't eat anything and one of the clowns was inactive all day yesterday and breathing fast & heavy and died overnight. No other noticeable signs of distress. All the fish have been in for at least 5 months.

Salinity 1.024
Nitrate read 0 on my API test kit (yes, I know the Devil created API kits and I'm a bad person who hates my fish)

Could lights being added after so long have stressed fish to point of dying?
20201124_091225.jpg
I think the fish is sick. Certainly deformed and emaciated. Either does not eat, does not get feed enough or have GI abnormalities where he can not process food and absorb nutrients
 

Tamberav

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That fish looks emaciated to me. Also not sure if its jaw was deformed before or if it got picked away by CUC.

Velvet likes light as it actually uses photosynthesis to survive longer so light could (I would think) make a velvet infection worse.. just one theory.

The fish also looks to me like it was melting from brook or something however.
 
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