First our Clownfish Dies now our Royal Gramma Too

[agentfive]

We have a 14 gallon biocube that's been up and running for about 4.5 months. We had a royal gramma in there first for about 2.5 months before putting in the clown.

I'm really bummed. About 3 days ago our clown starting acting weird - we only had him for 3 weeks. And then he was swimming on the bottom - undulating and then we found him dead on Friday am. Now just 1 day has passed and now our Royal Gramma is dead. It too starting acting weird - more sluggish - etc. and also not out as much. Then today he was really having a hard time breathing. Needless to say he couldn't swim on his own and was last night swimming upside down a ton.

I'm really new to the hobby - so I'm not sure - but both had lots of white on each side of them - which for the clown just was there when we found him dead - and the gramma it seemed to come on today.

I just did another good water change - and all the parameters are normal - temp at 78-79ish, PH 8.2, all other readings 0 with KH at 11. Our salinity in the tank is always at 1.023 to 1.024 and we have never had an issue.

Not sure what happened - until the Gramma died today - I thought the clown just stressed out - but now with the double death and weirdness - really confused.

All others in the tank - inverts - hermits - emerald crab, mushroom corals, candy cane coral, duncans - couldn't be happier. Plus about 2 weeks ago our tank cleared up completely - no cyano or green hair algae - it looks pristine.

Any advice would be great. Maybe it's a double fish stress out - or the like - just not sure.

 

[frank180reef]

ick.... did you do a water change beofore this started happening, did the fish scratch on the bottom?

 

[agentfive]

The clownfish did - and before that - the gramma was doing these assaults into the bottom hitting the sand.

The clown on the night before was making a round area swimming near the bottom on the sand. The gramma I think had the little white spots for awhile but seemed great.

I'm also thinking they just may have stressed each other out - causing said ICK?

I do weekly water changes - and do them on saturday afternoon - but yesterday did one after finding the clown. And just did another one after the gramma passed.

 

[Sammynels]

Maybe your topping off with salt water bringing up the salinity?
Maybe your ammonia levels are too high?
I would also try to use another thermometer to make sure your isnt malfunctioning.
Do you maybe also have a way to better aerate the water for a few days?

 

[quarrydawg]

To me it sounds as though you had a case of ick or marine velvet. If you are new to the hobby i highly recommend you go out and buy The Conscientious marine aquarist by robert m fenner. this book has everything you need to know to run a salt tank and the sell it at petco. It will save you money in livestock.

 

[Blueflu1]

if they were scratching, sounds like ich to me. DId they look like little grains of sand on their sides? If so, Ich. If you have ich, you need to wait about 6-8 weeks before you put any fish in there. The ich will die off without a fish host. It cant be hosted on inverts, so any of those are safe.

 

[wish]

I agree with blueflu1
fyi Royal Gamma is very aggressive and so is a clown fish. They are territorial so you should add them the same time before they stake out on what mine.

 

[NateHanson]

Sorry about your fish. That's frustrating.

I think it's rare for Clowns to get ich.

They do get brooklynella though, and that kills fast, and is harder to notice if you don't know what you're looking for.

As long as you have no more fish, it's best to leave the tank fish-less for a few weeks. That will allow any remaining parasites to die off, so it won't reinfect any new fish you add.

Good luck.

 

[agentfive]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not sure I did anything wrong - the tank readings and parameters are in check. I have a refractometer that I calibrate every few weeks and check it against the older one.

On the temp front - I use two thermometers - both say 81 degrees. I will add both fish next time at the same time - probably a pair of clowns.

 

[agentfive]

Also we only top off with RO/DI water - no salt water top offs. I can't tell you how many times people reminded me to never EVER top off with salt water which makes perfect sense.

 

[agentfive]

Also we have both the stock pump and the koralia nano in the tank - so I think our aeration is really solid. We even have a backup pump air stone and backup battery pack for the heater - so even when the power has gone out the fish always got a constant temperature.

Ammonia is less than 0ppm - just tested everything again.

 

[agentfive]

Here's a shot this morning - lonely without our two pals.