Dead fish

[1fastfxr]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to the saltwater hobby and have just encountered a real dilemma. I just returned home from a week long vacation to find all my fish dead and my skimmer cup and filter sock overflowing! I had a tank sitter to care for the tank while I was gone and she said everything seemed to be fine till a couple hours before I got home. Then within a couple hours everything just started to die. She was left with explicit written instructions as to how to care for the tank daily, which she says she followed to the T (almost). I even proportioned out daily feedings for her to give so there could be no chance of overfeeding. My Inkbird shows that the temperature was stable. This morning I checked my nitrates and they were at 12ppm, so no issues there. S.G. was at 1.025 ppm. The filter sock overflowing I understand because she was unable to change it (I change ut every 3rd day). The only changes made to the tank are that 2 weeks ago I started dosing ChaetoGro. I should also note that all my snails seem to be alive and well. Any ideas what could have happened and what my next steps should be are appreciated. Also I have 3 dead fish somewhere in the rockwork that I can't find. How do I deal with them?

 

[Freenow54]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to the saltwater hobby and have just encountered a real dilemma. I just returned home from a week long vacation to find all my fish dead and my skimmer cup and filter sock overflowing! I had a tank sitter to care for the tank while I was gone and she said everything seemed to be fine till a couple hours before I got home. Then within a couple hours everything just started to die. She was left with explicit written instructions as to how to care for the tank daily, which she says she followed to the T (almost). I even proportioned out daily feedings for her to give so there could be no chance of overfeeding. My Inkbird shows that the temperature was stable. This morning I checked my nitrates and they were at 12ppm, so no issues there. S.G. was at 1.025 ppm. The filter sock overflowing I understand because she was unable to change it (I change ut every 3rd day). The only changes made to the tank are that 2 weeks ago I started dosing ChaetoGro. I should also note that all my snails seem to be alive and well. Any ideas what could have happened and what my next steps should be are appreciated. Also I have 3 dead fish somewhere in the rockwork that I can't find. How do I deal with them?

I had a hang on the back skimmer. I dropped the collection cup in the tank once. It took about 30 seconds to kill all the fish, except the hard nose clown

 

[1fastfxr]

I forgot to add that ammonia tested at 0 ppm and this tank has been running with fish since July of last year.

 

[DeniseAndy]

So sorry to hear of the issues you have.
First, what is your tank set up. Size, filtration, flow, lights, etc? What animals do/did you have? How long were they in the system? Did any go through qt protocol?

 

[1fastfxr]

I had a hang on the back skimmer. I dropped the collection cup in the tank once. It took about 30 seconds to kill all the fish, except the hard nose clown

Sadly my 2 clowns also died.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What test kits are you using?

Was there a chance of overfeeding?
Did she do her hair near tank using any aerosols?
What is tank temperature?
was any water added when you were gone and what type of water ?

 

[1fastfxr]

So sorry to hear of the issues you have.
First, what is your tank set up. Size, filtration, flow, lights, etc? What animals do/did you have? How long were they in the system? Did any go through qt protocol?

The tank is 90 gallons with a diy 30 gallon sump. For flow I have 2 Nero 5's set at random throughout the day and pulse at night. Lighting consists of 4 AI prime 16's running the David Saxby schedule. My fish included 2 clowns, royal gramma, purple firefish, diamond goby, and a one spot foxface that was added last (Oct. 2021).

 

[1fastfxr]

So sorry to hear of the issues you have.
First, what is your tank set up. Size, filtration, flow, lights, etc? What animals do/did you have? How long were they in the system? Did any go through qt protocol?

I also use a single 4" filter sock.

 

[1fastfxr]

What test kits are you using?

Was there a chance of overfeeding?
Did she do her hair near tank using any aerosols?
What is tank temperature?
was any water added when you were gone and what type of water ?

I proportioned out daily feedings for her. No aerosols near the tank. Temp stays between 76.6° and 80°. The tank was topped off morning, afternoon, and night with RODI.

 

[1fastfxr]

So sorry to hear of the issues you have.
First, what is your tank set up. Size, filtration, flow, lights, etc? What animals do/did you have? How long were they in the system? Did any go through qt protocol?

All fish have been qt'd with PraziPro and Copper Power.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Okay, so no obvious issues if last fish was in October, qt'd, and tank is not overloaded and seems in good order.

What about the coral? I know you said snails are living. Any crabs? Shrimp? Other animals?

 

[1fastfxr]

@DeniseAndy I don't have any corals yet and the only inverts I have are snails, which seem to be doing fine.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Sorry for your lost. Not a good welcome home. I am glad you do not have corals, you might have lost them too.
I really do not know much about skimmer, as I do not own one. As your parameter were ok, and your snails are fine, it could be due to the skimmer and sock malfunctions as mentioned by Freesnow 54. Would it have dropped the oxygen level too low for the fish, but not for the snails?