A silent killer

[JAMSOURY]

So I checked my ammonia (0), nitrate (0) and nitrite (0), and everything seems to look good but my fish are dying off one by one. The snails seem to act a little weird because a few of them are flipped over but that could be because they fell off a rock. But it still seems strange. There aren’t any signs of marks on the fish, no white spots (ich/velvet) or anything else notable. The fish are all eating normally and swimming like they regularly do. Any ideas of what to do/check? Also, all my corals soft and all the way up to sps are all doing great.

I’m trying to evacuate everything into quarantine but they’re hard to catch even with my fish trap lol

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Please post pictures of the tank and any fish you have left. Also, what test kit are you using?

 

[Mark Gray]

Post pictures when you have a fish die put him in fresh water see if you have any parasites come off him. test again. years ago I had a banded corasl shrimp in a 10 gallon aquarium I had him for many years one day he died I thought from old age but then I took the tank down I found out why one of my grandkids and droped a penny in the tank I guess that's what killed him this was like 15 years ago

 

[JAMSOURY]

Post pictures when you have a fish die put him in fresh water see if you have any parasites come off him. test again. years ago I had a banded corasl shrimp in a 10 gallon aquarium I had him for many years one day he died I thought from old age but then I took the tank down I found out why one of my grandkids and droped a penny in the tank I guess that's what killed him this was like 15 years ago

I’ll give that a try! I got a couple clownfish, two tangs, and a starry Blenny hanging on still!

Doesn’t seem to be ich or velvet. So I’m guessing you’re right and it’s parasites but I’ll have to check.
Is there anything to combat parasites without killing my coral?

 

[JAMSOURY]

Oh on another note, my cleaner shrimp died. Those guys aren’t supposed to die lol

 

[mcarroll]

any weird algae growing?

how old is this tank?

 

[geniusgio]

How deep is your sand bed? Did you stir it up recently ? Maybe sulfur gases released from the substrate ?

 

[EmdeReef]

Temperature fluctuations and
Did you use any medications in your tank?

Also any rusting equipment or a chance of copper getting into your tank?

 

[JAMSOURY]

any weird algae growing?

how old is this tank?

No weird algae out of the normal, what algae is harmful that I should be aware of in the future?

The tank is about 8 months old

 

[JAMSOURY]

How deep is your sand bed? Did you stir it up recently ? Maybe sulfur gases released from the substrate ?

It could be a possibility, any way to prevent something like this happening? My sandbox is about 1-1.5 inches deep

 

[JAMSOURY]

Temperature fluctuations and
Did you use any medications in your tank?

Also any rusting equipment or a chance of copper getting into your tank?

Temperature looks good according to apex. No medications. No copper or rust as far as I know, but I’ll look around.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[mcarroll]

Have you been testing any other parameters like alkalinity?

Does your protein skimmer appear to be functioning? Any different than usual?

Anything strange or new happen before this started?

 

[JAMSOURY]

I’ve been testing alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium and they all seem to be in range for my coral which seem to be doing great.

My skimmer looks good

The only thing I notice that was weird was that a day after my tang died, my cleaner shrimp died. I felt the cleaner shrimp would be the hardiest of all my livestock.

Doing regularly 10% water changes weekly

 

[5altkreep]

I would thoroughly inspect every piece of equipment in the system for rust. (Impellers and magnets!)

I would also do a full round of tests, ( probably 2x just to compare results)

Take many pics... might not seem like much, but theres many sharp eyes here that might see something.

Maybe run some carbon and increase water changes.

If your trying to remove fish, you could try and make a divider ( eggcrate works well) and corral them to one end, or drain the water down.

Looking forward to some test results and pics. Good luck.

 

[Oceanwave45]

Oh on another note, my cleaner shrimp died. Those guys aren’t supposed to die lol

Cleaner shrimp can die just like fish, trust me, I've had three of them. Anyway, have you checked your RODI water supply? Have you tested the RODI water to make sure its clean? Also, did you check and clean out your filtration system?