Clownfish Died - Nitrate Spike

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Hi! Total newbie here. I cycled my tank for a little over a month with live rock/sand and Microbacter7. My readings last week were at zero. I purchased my first clown on Saturday and he was fine until this morning (Tuesday). He was swimming towards the top of my tank for a bit and then later on he was dead. I ran some testing and noticed my Nitrates spiked. My temperature was 78F and I have two Vortech mp40 running at 50%. Any ideas of what killed my fish? Was it the Nitrate spike? What can I do to prevent this in the future? Thank you! Karen

Reef. · Mar 30, 2021

That nitrate looks fine, wouldn't think it was that.

Could have been an issue with the fish, hard to say without knowing much about the setup.

Nigel35 · Mar 30, 2021

Where did you purchase the fish from? 20 nitrates shouldn't kill a fish. Any sign of disease or injury? How were your levels like during the cycle?

Nigel

Zer0 · Mar 30, 2021

Nitrates, even pretty high readings, wouldn’t kill your clownfish.

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Reef. said:
That nitrate looks fine, wouldn't think it was that.

Could have been an issue with the fish, hard to say without knowing much about the setup.

Nigel35 said:
Where did you purchase the fish from? 20 nitrates shouldn't kill a fish. Any sign of disease or injury? How were your levels like during the cycle?

Nigel

I got him from a local pet shop in San Diego, CA, Pet Kingdom. He looked fine. I honestly don’t remember the numbers when it was cycling.

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Reef. said:
That nitrate looks fine, wouldn't think it was that.

Could have been an issue with the fish, hard to say without knowing much about the setup.

Ok good. I’m wondering what happened then. I have a HOB filter, two Vortech mp40s, rock, sand and a heater for now.

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Zer0 said:
Nitrates, even pretty high readings, wouldn’t kill your clownfish.

Ok. This makes me feel somewhat better.

josephxsxn · Mar 30, 2021

Can we get a photo of your tank please?

Nigel35 · Mar 30, 2021

What was the fish like when at the store? Healthy, swimming around, feeding well, agile etc. ?

Zer0 · Mar 30, 2021

We really need more information, as much as you can give us, even things you might not think are relevant or important.

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

josephxsxn said:
Can we get a photo of your tank please?

A little dirty. Ordered a magnetic scrapper already.

Nigel35 · Mar 30, 2021

How is your salinity and temperature?

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Zer0 said:
We really need more information, as much as you can give us, even things you might not think are relevant or important.

Like what? It’s a pretty basic tank. I just started a little over a month ago.

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Nigel35 said:
How is your salinity and temperature?

My salinity earlier today was 1.026 and 78.2

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Nigel35 said:
What was the fish like when at the store? Healthy, swimming around, feeding well, agile etc. ?

All the above. And he was like this here to until this morning. At first I couldn’t find him then I found him towards the top of the tank, then later dead against the outside part of the foam to my MP40.

Zer0 · Mar 30, 2021

What kind of rock is that? Dry rock that’s purple colored, or is that real live rock?

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

Zer0 said:
What kind of rock is that? Dry rock that’s purple colored, or is that real live rock?

Real live rock. I bought it from the pet stores huge tank. It was in water.

josephxsxn · Mar 30, 2021

Have anything else alive in the tank? Snails? Etc?

Kacor13 · Mar 30, 2021

josephxsxn said:
Have anything else alive in the tank? Snails? Etc?

No.

josephxsxn · Mar 30, 2021

Can you talk to us about the source of your water, and how you make your salt mix?

Sorry at this point I am just trying to ask questions that may give us some hint.