Sudden fish death.

[jackd625]

Hey guys,

Trying to figure out what happened to my 3-stripe damsel tonight.

At like 8:40 I decided to check all my levels. At that point everything looked fine.

All results seemed alright. Not perfect but I don't think it would kill anything.

Salinity- 1.026
Temp-78.6
NH3- 0
NO2-0
NO3- 5ppm (haven't done a water change in a while)
PO4- undetectable with API test. I don't have the Hanna checker
Kh-8
Ca-420
Mg- ran out of time before dexter came on.

At like 8:40 I looked at my tank and the damsel was floating.

How in one hour did he go for swimming around looking healthy to dead? I haven't put my hands in the tank or anything for days. Jut scooped out some water with the cup I've always used.

My two clowns look fine and my orange line chromis also looks fine. They have all been in my tank for at least 1.5 years. Haven't had any other fish added or taken out.

 

[jokersplayground]

could he have been picked on by the clowns ive had this happen a few time the clowns attack anything that come nere them. what kind of clowns do you have? was he eating? what is your ph?

 

[Brady]

Sometimes you will randomly get sudden fish deaths like that. I know its happened to me a couple of times over the years.

 

[Andy V]

Has happened to me a few times too. One of those times I actually saw it happen. The fish was eating and swimming normally and then an hour later, it was dead. But the time I saw it happen the fish was on the bottom on it's side, and then shot up into the water and flew around like a corkscrew for about ten seconds and then died. After a lot of research through various marine biology (read: NOT HOBBYISTS) departments at universities, government, and commercial, what I found that was somewhat likely (but by no means certain) was whirling disease.

In my research I discovered that there are myriad diseases and parasites that can affect fish, and most of them have no known signs of disease or cure. Sometimes it's bad luck with the fish you get, even if you do everything right.

Of course, having the husbandry of your tank perfect dramatically increases the chances of your livestock surviving these things.

 

[jackd625]

Sorry PH is like 7.2

So my black chromis is also about to die and he was fine this morning.

Something has to be going wrong and I can't figure out what!!

Skimmer was going nuts this morning too.

Doing a WC now and putting in some carbon!!

 

[jackd625]

All corals seem fine, clowns fine, and inverts fine

 

[jackd625]

I meant ph is 8.2

 

[dad300]

check heaters and the like for stray voltage... small crack or a cut in one of the powerhead lines may be a cause. skimmer going nuts could signal other death too... snails etc..

 

[P-Nut]

Did anyone use one of those air freshner sprays near the aquarium?

 

[jackd625]

check heaters and the like for stray voltage... small crack or a cut in one of the powerhead lines may be a cause. skimmer going nuts could signal other death too... snails etc..

I looked and couldn't find anything, so I stuck my hand in to see if I would get shocked or something and nada.

That's what I thought too when I saw the skimmer this morning but the snails, urchin, and bta all seem to be fine. Sometimes the skimmer does go a little nuts since its new. It could just be random but I think you are right. I just haven't noticed anything else yet. Skimmer is back to normal now.

Did anyone use one of those air freshner sprays near the aquarium?

Negative. There was a candle lot about 5ft away last night, but we always have one going.


Clowns still seem fine, so I dropped a little food in and they ate too so knock on wood.

 

[jackd625]

Well the chromis was struggling to hang on, but he stopped to rest near the BTA. That didn't work out good for him....

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

What a sad way to end the struggle to survive, but it's the circle of life. At least your bta got to enjoy a good meal. Hope everything looks good tomorrow. Good luck.

 

[jackd625]

A few days later and everything else is fine. Not sure what caused this problem but I have my suspicions.

I unpluggd my K1 powerhead that day so the tank wouldn't have as much flow to make it easier on the fish. Since then there hasn't been an issue. I'm wondering if it is something from that? It just confuses me that these two "hardy" fish died when everything else is fine. Like I said before, I have two other clowns, lots of coral, an urchin, bta, and a bunch of snails and didn't lose any of them.

 

[PSU4ME]

Sorry to hear man. The thing that sucks is you can't find the cause. Do you have a grounding probe in the tank? This is the time of year when our heaters kick back in so it always worries me.

 

[jdeb101]

I had one of my Koralia ph's sitting in a bucket of vinegar for a few weeks, went to clean it and the whole back cap along with waterproofing fall apart. I'm sure it prob wasn't a great idea to leave it sitting in vinegar for so long, but makes me wonder how reliable the waterproofing seal is...

 

[jackd625]

I need to get my hands on one of those electric meter things and try to figure it out. If that isn't it, then I have no idea. The koralia is still in the tank, just not plugged in right now. I need to get it out this weekend and give it a better inspection