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Sad day, here. Multiple fish and shrimp deaths. Help me think this through.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by softieatheart, Jan 20, 2013.

  1. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    About an hour ago my son called upstairs that something was wrong with my tank. Went down to find dead and dying fish. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/sad.gif


    So far I have lost a clown and a shrimp for sure and have them out of the tank. The midas blenny, and the purple tang were all showing distress, laying on the rocks and gasping. I was able to catch them and get them into another tank, as well as the remaining cleaner shrimp. I can't catch the remaining clown or find the mandarin or the watchman goby. Midas and tang appear to be in a little less distress after 10 minutes, but that could be wishful thinking.


    After transferring the two fish and the shrimp and finaly giving up on catching the others, I hooked up the RODI and am making water. Freaking out a little so stepping back for a minute to think things through.


    Corals looks fine. Great, in fact. Anemones are fine. Snails seem fine. Red star fish seems fine. (Cant see any of the brittles right now.) Crabs seem fine, but are maybe sluggish. Water temp is 78, right where it always is. Power did not go out. There is no stray voltage.


    I will test parameters in a minute.


    Don't really want to tear everything apart, risking corals to get these three fish. Willing to lose them, if it comes down to risking them or risking corals and anemones.


    History:


    Last night: Fed corals and fish same foods I feed every two days. Everything ate fine. No new packages. Washed my hands and rinsed well before putting them in tank to right a coral that had gotten knocked over.


    Day before yesterday: Did 30% water change, water was RODI, aged 48 hours after mixing in salt (not a new bucket), matching temp and matching salinity of .025. Sand bed was not disturbed. (This same batch of water also did water changes on two other tanks that are totally fine.)


    Day before that: Fed and then later cleaned up the glass, cleaned powerheads, changed out chemipure bag, changed filter floss, changed Phos guard and Puirgen bag. (Here is where the only difference occurs.... I did put in a smidge more Phosguard and Purigen than I normally do, but not enough more that it should make a difference, I wouldn't think.)


    The three days before that: nothing out of the ordinary.


    A week ago: changed all my bulbs.


    I have no parameters to report for that week. I didn't test because I have been crazy busy with a remodeling project and was going to do a water change on Thursday night regardless. Prior to that, nothing unusual parameter-wise.


    No hair algae in this tank, no diatoms, there has been a bit of cyano lately in the top back corner at waterlevel where circulation isn't the greatest.


    Going down to test parameters now.
     
  2. mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    yeah keep us updated but. The only thing that comes to mind is ammonia that would cause fish to suddenly die. Other then some outside poisoning that is.
     
  3. blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Cedar Rapids, IA
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    That's too bad, hopefully you can get it figured out before losing any more livestock. Let us know how the parameters look.
     
  4. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    I don't get it. Parameters are perfect . Checked everything twice with Hannah checkers and the stupid API kit. And now mandarin, watchman goby and sixline (forgot about him) are swimming around looking better. Clown still looks a little shocky, though.


    Crabs are fine and now that I have had time to calmly look, I see tiny brittle stars are fine. (Still can't locate the big one.)


    Tang and midas that were moved to the other tank look MUCH better.


    What could suddenly make fish and shrimp sick enough to kill them or leave them extremely shocky, (but they recover in same tank) but leave corals other inverts in perfect condition?


    A small cuke dying? I know I had a teensy blackish green one. A sponge?


    Could a temporary stray electrical current do that, leaving corals unharmed? I am sure it is not disease, given the suddenness of mass onset and recovery. Fairly sure it is not some toxin in the water given apparent recovery, unless it was something the chemipure could remove.


    Color me confused.


     
  5. jstngates Experienced Reefkeeper

    Toledo Iowa
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    How new are the fish? Do you qt everything? About a year ago I bought some fish from a place in Florida and had something similar happen. We narrowed it down to marine velvet. Sucks I lost over half of my fish.
     
  6. mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    you mentioned you were having your kitchen remodeled, perhaps something from that is the culprit?
     
  7. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    That is what I am wondering. I was working on the floor prior to feeding last night. Grouting between tiles. But I made such a point to wash and dry my hands. I wonder if there was some grout dust in the bowl I thawed the food in..... So strange that corals would be just fine though. SPS have good polyp extension and everything.


    ugh! Hate this.


    Losing fish is something that is going to happen to every fish keeper, I guess, but not knowing and not being able to learn from it makes it 10x worse in my opinion.
     
  8. Lee

    Lee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Are you positive your water circulation pumps didn't get turned off overnight? What type of setup do you have? Sump? Any controllers / Timers, GFCI's that may have tripped?
     
  9. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    Newest fish is the blennie and I have had him for months. Always qt.
     
  10. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    Sumpless with DSB + ATS. No controllers. Timers only on lights.



    Everything was running this morning when I checked it. Nothing was tripped or unplugged and digital clocks showed no sign of having lost power.
     
  11. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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  12. blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Cedar Rapids, IA
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    what about stray voltage from something?
     
  13. softieatheart

    softieatheart Inactive User

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    I wondered about that, too. Could stray voltage hurt the fish, but not the corals? There isn't currently any stray voltage in tank. I checked. Could stray voltage happen temporarily? All equipment seems to be in good working order. I am kicking myself for not getting that grounding probe sitting in the closet installed yet.
     
  14. ruggerkc Experienced Reefkeeper Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member

    North Liberty , IA
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    I am grasping here but maybe check for voltage when the heater or any other intermittent device.
     
  15. rgreene

    rgreene

    246
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    are u sure your heater didnt crack it wont show stray voltage if its off i had one do that to me shocked me pretty good when i put mu hand in the tank
     
  16. blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Cedar Rapids, IA
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    +738 / 5 / -0
    I don't know what issue it could cause. Just seems like a plausible idea with the way your issues came about.
     
  17. jstngates Experienced Reefkeeper

    Toledo Iowa
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    +40 / 1 / -0
    Agree stray voltage, Fish would show signs before corals.
     
  18. fishyness

    fishyness Inactive User

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    Sorry for your loss. Please keep us updated.
     
  19. Ray

    Ray

    243
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    Sorry to hear about your losses, I hope you can narrow down the problem.
     
  20. ShaneP Well Known Hawkfish

    473
    Williamsburg, IA
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    I've read about many cases of this over on TRT. It's figured to be a case of oxygen depletion during heavy bacterial or algae respiration, and inverts are usually fine. It's the fish that die because oxygen levels drop below what they need, which explains the heavy breathing. Though it usually happens in tanks that have heavy algae problems or higher phosphate levels. You said your tank doesn't have excessive algae though. How thick is the growth on your ATS? Are you having to dose kalk to raise alk?


    Maybe do a search and see what comes up, see if it fits with what you have going on. Over there they call it Sudden Mass Death syndrome. Hope that helps.
     

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