Woke up to all my fish being dead

02vetteboy · 11-26-2008, 04:32 PM

So i got up this morning as i always do and i look into my rsm and dont see eith of my fish. So i take a little harder look and find both of the in opposite corners of the tank dead. So now i am at a loss of what to do. Due to having to work i have not had time to check the water parameters. The day before my fish died i did my normal 20% water change and all parameters in both the tank and in the water change water were normal. So any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated.

Duston.

Oh all of my snails and hermit crabs are doing just great.
Tank is about 6 weeks old.

Stacef · 11-26-2008, 04:37 PM

Oh my gosh, I am sorry to hear this Duston, I wish I could help you to find answers, be sure to post your results of your params when you get out of work!

ReefGuy69 · 11-26-2008, 04:38 PM

At only 6 weeks old im thinking you may have been in your cycle still and it just caught up with you. Im unsure though. Sorry bout the loss. When you get home test everything and we can go from there. Have you been logging your past tests?

yungreefer2410 · 11-26-2008, 04:42 PM

yea sounds a little early for the tank to support 2 fish. it was prob too much waste for the bacteria to handle. that does suck though

CATALYST · 11-26-2008, 05:13 PM

Oh man, I'm sorry. You may have had an ammonia spike. Did you add the fish in the last couple days? Your tank is pretty new and may not have enough bacteria.

02vetteboy · 11-26-2008, 08:42 PM

Well the tank reading were all normal!!!

PH-8.0
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Calcium- 440
KH- 7
Salinity- 1.023
Temp-78

The fish have been in the tank for about 3 weeks. I put fully cured live rock in when i started the tank let it sit for about 3 weeks and never had a noticable cycle. I really am at a loss on this one. I have had an algae problem for about the last week from some slight over feeding. but who has not had that problem. The only thing i can think of is they got stressed out from me lightly scrubing the algae off the past couple of days. Well any one got any ideas. The tank paramaters have been backed up by the lfs.

Duston

Reefmack · 11-26-2008, 08:50 PM

Sorry Duston

Were there any signs of disease on the fish - ich spots or anything else? Were they torn up in any way? I was at first guessing the heater went crazy, but the temp. seems fine. Very hard to tell what could have happened. Hopefully it'll never happen again.

ReefGuy69 · 11-26-2008, 08:52 PM

I think your tank never did cycle. Even fully cured live rock isnt really cured in my opinion until you cure it in your tank. Its impossible to take a rock from one place to another without Bacterial die off. I think you had a cycle that killed the fish. U said you never had a noticable cycle. Since your kind of starting from scratch i would throw a shrimp from the deli in with a sock or so. and let it go to town. track the cycle and when its over then you 100% know for sure your safe to add fish. and you wont have to worry its going to happen again. Bacteria can be tricky. Mostly because we really cant see if its present and the beneficial bacteria we need theres no way to test for it.

trippkid · 11-26-2008, 09:22 PM

Any excessive stray voltage present? I've never had it kill fish, but some have attributed their losses to something like that. With only two fish, I would doubt it is oxygen depletion, but that is another area to look into if everything else seems to be spot on. Were the fish healthy? I am in my tank everyday, either messing with my corals, cleaning glass, using turkey baster to blow up detritus, etc. and never have spooked the fish as much to kill them, I don't think it was that. Good luck, I hope you can figure it out and not have it happen again to you.
Matt

scrap4u · 02-22-2009, 06:37 AM

what type of fish? Fish with toxins? Cucumbers that died? Sea apple? Just some ideas.

DaveK · 02-22-2009, 08:23 AM

Scrap4u has an excellent point. You don't know what killed the fish. While the other posters are most likely correct, you can't be sure. For example, someone could have sprayed some insecticide nearby, or gotten a chemical cleaner into the tank. Don't overlook the possibility of the salt or water used for the water change to be contaminated.

Since this is a new setup, and there is currently nothing in it, I'd do a 100% water change, and lust let the tank sit there for 3 to 4 weeks, with the lights off, unless you have corals or similar livestock remaining.

Once the system is recycled, add one small fish, and see how it does. Avoid damsels when you do this. You don't want to have to get them out later.

Reefmack · 02-22-2009, 08:27 AM

This post was from back in November, so hopefully things are under control by now!

11-26-2008, 04:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
02vetteboy Tubeworm Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 38 View Gallery Karma Komment	Woke up to all my fish being dead So i got up this morning as i always do and i look into my rsm and dont see eith of my fish. So i take a little harder look and find both of the in opposite corners of the tank dead. So now i am at a loss of what to do. Due to having to work i have not had time to check the water parameters. The day before my fish died i did my normal 20% water change and all parameters in both the tank and in the water change water were normal. So any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated. Duston. Oh all of my snails and hermit crabs are doing just great. Tank is about 6 weeks old.

11-26-2008, 04:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Stacef Golden Moray Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Dubuque Posts: 2,620 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Oh my gosh, I am sorry to hear this Duston, I wish I could help you to find answers, be sure to post your results of your params when you get out of work! __________________ Stace My 72g Build-full of pictures, we all know you loce pictures! I've had to pay my price. The things I did not know at first, I learned by doin' twice. -Billy Joel

11-26-2008, 04:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
ReefGuy69 Harlequin Tuskfish Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Syracuse, NY Posts: 934 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead At only 6 weeks old im thinking you may have been in your cycle still and it just caught up with you. Im unsure though. Sorry bout the loss. When you get home test everything and we can go from there. Have you been logging your past tests? __________________ Dennis ________ http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...journal-3.html 55gal AGA w/ built in overflow 15 gal acrylic DIY sump/fuge 75lbs Fiji Live Rock 45lbs of Live Sand 1-1/2inch (1) 96 watt Super Blue Actinic Power Compact (2) 96 Watt 10,000k Power Compacts (2) Ebo Jager 200 watt heaters Seaclone 150 Skimmer (2) Hagen 50's Power Heads for flow (2) Hagen 70's Power Heads for flow (1) Hagen 70 Return Pump DIY ATO system (5 Gal) Algae Scrubber w/(4) 9watt 67k Bulbs TLF 150 Phosban Reactor 12X turnover rate 1 Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 Firefish, 1 Blue Hippo Tang, 1 Black and White Goby, Neon Green Hairy Mushrooms, Red Zoanthus Polyps, Sand Sifting Starfish, Emerald Crab, Various Snails and Hermits

11-26-2008, 05:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
CATALYST Reef Lobster Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: SoCal Posts: 1,442 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Oh man, I'm sorry. You may have had an ammonia spike. Did you add the fish in the last couple days? Your tank is pretty new and may not have enough bacteria. __________________ _.:Bonni:._

11-26-2008, 08:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
02vetteboy Tubeworm Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 38 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Well the tank reading were all normal!!! PH-8.0 Nitrate-0 Nitrite-0 Ammonia-0 Calcium- 440 KH- 7 Salinity- 1.023 Temp-78 The fish have been in the tank for about 3 weeks. I put fully cured live rock in when i started the tank let it sit for about 3 weeks and never had a noticable cycle. I really am at a loss on this one. I have had an algae problem for about the last week from some slight over feeding. but who has not had that problem. The only thing i can think of is they got stressed out from me lightly scrubing the algae off the past couple of days. Well any one got any ideas. The tank paramaters have been backed up by the lfs. Duston

11-26-2008, 08:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Reefmack NaClH2O Addicted Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Posts: 6,160 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Sorry Duston Were there any signs of disease on the fish - ich spots or anything else? Were they torn up in any way? I was at first guessing the heater went crazy, but the temp. seems fine. Very hard to tell what could have happened. Hopefully it'll never happen again. __________________ aka Terry Excellence in reefkeeping is achieved by mastering the fundamentals, and learning from mistakes. No such thing as an evil crab. Only humans have the ability to be evil. "If you don't like what your fellow forum neighbors are doing, then don't pay so much attention to them" 34g Red Sea Max 130 (April 07), ~50-60 lbs. live rock, Aragonite substrate. Lighting: Current USA Outer Orbit Pro - 150W HQI, 2 x 24W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent by ATI, 2 x 24W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent by UVL, Vortech MP20, LifeReef RSM Siphon, EShopps RS-75 Sump, Euro-Reef custom sump skimmer, Simplicity media reactor, Tunze Osmolator ATO, ReefKeeper Lite L3 controller Reefmack's RSM 130 and...Red Sea Max Owners Club and My JBJ 6G in this thread[/color][/i]

11-26-2008, 08:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
ReefGuy69 Harlequin Tuskfish Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Syracuse, NY Posts: 934 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead I think your tank never did cycle. Even fully cured live rock isnt really cured in my opinion until you cure it in your tank. Its impossible to take a rock from one place to another without Bacterial die off. I think you had a cycle that killed the fish. U said you never had a noticable cycle. Since your kind of starting from scratch i would throw a shrimp from the deli in with a sock or so. and let it go to town. track the cycle and when its over then you 100% know for sure your safe to add fish. and you wont have to worry its going to happen again. Bacteria can be tricky. Mostly because we really cant see if its present and the beneficial bacteria we need theres no way to test for it. __________________ Dennis ________ http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...journal-3.html 55gal AGA w/ built in overflow 15 gal acrylic DIY sump/fuge 75lbs Fiji Live Rock 45lbs of Live Sand 1-1/2inch (1) 96 watt Super Blue Actinic Power Compact (2) 96 Watt 10,000k Power Compacts (2) Ebo Jager 200 watt heaters Seaclone 150 Skimmer (2) Hagen 50's Power Heads for flow (2) Hagen 70's Power Heads for flow (1) Hagen 70 Return Pump DIY ATO system (5 Gal) Algae Scrubber w/(4) 9watt 67k Bulbs TLF 150 Phosban Reactor 12X turnover rate 1 Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 Firefish, 1 Blue Hippo Tang, 1 Black and White Goby, Neon Green Hairy Mushrooms, Red Zoanthus Polyps, Sand Sifting Starfish, Emerald Crab, Various Snails and Hermits

11-26-2008, 09:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
trippkid Fire Coral Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lewisberry, PA Posts: 84 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Any excessive stray voltage present? I've never had it kill fish, but some have attributed their losses to something like that. With only two fish, I would doubt it is oxygen depletion, but that is another area to look into if everything else seems to be spot on. Were the fish healthy? I am in my tank everyday, either messing with my corals, cleaning glass, using turkey baster to blow up detritus, etc. and never have spooked the fish as much to kill them, I don't think it was that. Good luck, I hope you can figure it out and not have it happen again to you. Matt

02-22-2009, 06:37 AM	#10 (permalink)
scrap4u Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Seattle area Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead what type of fish? Fish with toxins? Cucumbers that died? Sea apple? Just some ideas.

02-22-2009, 08:23 AM	#11 (permalink)
DaveK Reef Lobster Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Philadelpahia, PA Posts: 1,364 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead Scrap4u has an excellent point. You don't know what killed the fish. While the other posters are most likely correct, you can't be sure. For example, someone could have sprayed some insecticide nearby, or gotten a chemical cleaner into the tank. Don't overlook the possibility of the salt or water used for the water change to be contaminated. Since this is a new setup, and there is currently nothing in it, I'd do a 100% water change, and lust let the tank sit there for 3 to 4 weeks, with the lights off, unless you have corals or similar livestock remaining. Once the system is recycled, add one small fish, and see how it does. Avoid damsels when you do this. You don't want to have to get them out later.

02-22-2009, 08:27 AM	#12 (permalink)
Reefmack NaClH2O Addicted Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Posts: 6,160 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Woke up to all my fish being dead This post was from back in November, so hopefully things are under control by now! __________________ aka Terry Excellence in reefkeeping is achieved by mastering the fundamentals, and learning from mistakes. No such thing as an evil crab. Only humans have the ability to be evil. "If you don't like what your fellow forum neighbors are doing, then don't pay so much attention to them" 34g Red Sea Max 130 (April 07), ~50-60 lbs. live rock, Aragonite substrate. Lighting: Current USA Outer Orbit Pro - 150W HQI, 2 x 24W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent by ATI, 2 x 24W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent by UVL, Vortech MP20, LifeReef RSM Siphon, EShopps RS-75 Sump, Euro-Reef custom sump skimmer, Simplicity media reactor, Tunze Osmolator ATO, ReefKeeper Lite L3 controller Reefmack's RSM 130 and...Red Sea Max Owners Club and My JBJ 6G in this thread[/color][/i]

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