Diagnosing Death of Saltwater Fish

[SlugSnorter]

One question, do you by chance know of the best procedure for cleaning a tank after fish death?

remove the dead fish. You can do whatever you like with the body, bury it, toss it, etc.

 

[kaijor]

remove the dead fish. You can do whatever you like with the body, bury it, toss it, etc

Ok, thank you very much.

 

[kaijor]

Also, is it possible for ammonia to spike at night then go down in the morning?

 

[Idech]

Also, is it possible for ammonia to spike at night then go down in the morning?

A tank with 0,5 ppm ammonia is not cycled. I wouldn’t look further for the cause of death, unless the fish are showing signs of disease.

If there was disease in your tank, you just can’t throw away the dead fish and get new ones. If the disease is still present in the tank, it will kill any new fish you add. There are fallow protocols to follow for tanks with diseased fish.

Unless you throw everything away, clean the tank and start over. But then you have to go through a cycle again. Last, cycling doesn’t take 2-3 months if you do it the right way. 3-4 weeks is the norm, and after that you should have 0 ppm ammonia.

 

[kaijor]

But then should I throw out my tests? Are they not working then?

 

[Wasabiroot]

I think in this case it wasn't the LFS fault, but my fault. I needed to wait a bit longer probably.

Anybody have any suggestions on cleaning procedure after fish death?

This attitude and approach will take you a long way. While it's unfortunate about the fish death, keep at it and I feel you can succeed.

My question would be regarding the treatment at the LFS. If they were treating for some disease they had in that moment, they should not have been sold. If they were simply doing a broad spectrum treatment because they were newly imported, that's different, though it could explain sensitivity issues. I would aim for barely any detectable ammonia, especially in a volume of 10g.

As for your tests, brand makes a larger difference than you think. API tests are notoriously inaccurate. I think Nyos nitrate, Salifert/Aquaforest are all good choices.
I would also suggest some form of shelter in the tank to reduce stress as well as dim lighting.

 

[Idech]

But then should I throw out my tests? Are they not working then?

Why do you say they are not working ? Test is saying 0,5 ppm ammonia and 0,5 ppm is too much. It should be 0 or close to it.

 

[BVF]

Prime can cause faulty Ammonia test readings, it may have been higher. Sorry about the loss…we’ve all been there.

 

[kaijor]

This attitude and approach will take you a long way. While it's unfortunate about the fish death, keep at it and I feel you can succeed.

My question would be regarding the treatment at the LFS. If they were treating for some disease they had in that moment, they should not have been sold. If they were simply doing a broad spectrum treatment because they were newly imported, that's different, though it could explain sensitivity issues. I would aim for barely any detectable ammonia, especially in a volume of 10g.

As for your tests, brand makes a larger difference than you think. API tests are notoriously inaccurate. I think Nyos nitrate, Salifert/Aquaforest are all good choices.
I would also suggest some form of shelter in the tank to reduce stress as well as dim lighting.

Thanks just trying to figure out what went wrong and whether I have what I need. I might invest in better tests as this has sort of made super suspicious from what I read 0.5 ammonia shouldn't kill fish so quickly since there was no signs of ammonia poisoning last night.

Prime can cause faulty Ammonia test readings, it may have been higher. Sorry about the loss…we’ve all been there.

Yeah, it's pretty disheartening. Do you know if there are any tests that might be more accurate with Prime? I kind of want to avoid problems like this in the future if I can.

 

[kaijor]

A tank with 0,5 ppm ammonia is not cycled. I wouldn’t look further for the cause of death, unless the fish are showing signs of disease.

If there was disease in your tank, you just can’t throw away the dead fish and get new ones. If the disease is still present in the tank, it will kill any new fish you add. There are fallow protocols to follow for tanks with diseased fish.

Unless you throw everything away, clean the tank and start over. But then you have to go through a cycle again. Last, cycling doesn’t take 2-3 months if you do it the right way. 3-4 weeks is the norm, and after that you should have 0 ppm ammonia.

How do you cycle tanks? I probably need to improve on this. Right now, I use Fritz Turbo and dose 1 ppm ammonia daily with no fish. I add quick start every day after the 4 day period that Fritz recommends.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Yeah, it's pretty disheartening. Do you know if there are any tests that might be more accurate with Prime? I kind of want to avoid problems like this in the future if I can.

Is the Prime part of your routine or is it what you use for water changes? If you add it regularly I would try to aim for a better biofilter instead.

An rodi system, while expensive initially, means you won't even need to use Prime because the carbon/resin block will remove all chloramines and most contaminants before you even pour it in. But, if you feel that is a heavy investment for a smaller tank it's understandable. It would let you upgrade your tank size too.... wink wink


You could also age your tap water with aeration, heat, and some carbon/resin like chemipure elite in a bucket if you wanted a cheap method for now that avoids Prime.

As for cycling, follow the instructions for whatever additive you use. I hear good things about Fritz and Dr Tim's. Microbacter 7 worked for me, though a piece of liverock might help too.

 

[kaijor]

Is the Prime part of your routine or is it what you use for water changes? If you add it regularly I would try to aim for a better biofilter instead.

An rodi system, while expensive initially, means you won't even need to use Prime because the carbon/resin block will remove all chloramines and most contaminants before you even pour it in. But, if you feel that is a heavy investment for a smaller tank it's understandable. It would let you upgrade your tank size too.... wink wink

Oh, I use RODI water for the quarantine tank, but I treat the tank with prime every water change just in case. I currently have a sponge filter in the quarantine tank. I've read that sponge filters are alright for quarantine tanks, I can send you a link of the sponge filter I'm using if you would like.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Cool. That sounds good.

 

[BoneDoc]

My best educated guess is ammonia spike. Get a seachem ammonia badge and that should help with real time ammonia monitoring.
Unless your tank is mature it’s not cycled yet. So the solution is frequent water change and bottled bacteria. Alternatively if you have an established tank some rock from the tank will help with speeding up your cycle. The downside is that if you are adding copper then you should never put it back in your main tank (if you’re going to have a reef setup)

 

[kaijor]

My best educated guess is ammonia spike. Get a seachem ammonia badge and that should help with real time ammonia monitoring.
Unless your tank is mature it’s not cycled yet. So the solution is frequent water change and bottled bacteria. Alternatively if you have an established tank some rock from the tank will help with speeding up your cycle. The downside is that if you are adding copper then you should never put it back in your main tank (if you’re going to have a reef setup)

Oh, I just bought a seachem ammonia badge. And yeah, this time around I'm not gonna take any chances. I'm going to wait until my ammonia is at zero.

 

[Idech]

How do you cycle tanks? I probably need to improve on this. Right now, I use Fritz Turbo and dose 1 ppm ammonia daily with no fish. I add quick start every day after the 4 day period that Fritz recommends.

I just use Dr Tim’s ammonia, some bacteria and live rocks from another tank if I have some. Then I test and wait it out. With rocks from another tank it takes 3 weeks, without, 4 weeks. So far.

 

[kaijor]

I just use Dr Tim’s ammonia, some bacteria and live rocks from another tank if I have some. Then I test and wait it out. With rocks from another tank it takes 3 weeks, without, 4 weeks. So far.

Thanks, how much do you dose ammonia daily? On my main tank, I dosed 4 PMM originally then wait until ammonia hit zero then dosed 1 ppm until nitrates spiked and nitrites lowered. I tried to do something a bit different with the QT tank where I dosed smaller amounts daily.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Thanks, how much do you dose ammonia daily? On my main tank, I dosed 4 PMM originally then wait until ammonia hit zero then dosed 1 ppm until nitrates spiked and nitrites lowered. I tried to do something a bit different with the QT tank where I dosed smaller amounts daily.

follow instructions on the bottle. Personally I think just the "set it and forget it" model of adding some fish food every few days is best for beginners.

 

[kaijor]

follow instructions on the bottle. Personally I think just the "set it and forget it" model of adding some fish food every few days is best for beginners.

Ok, I did buy some Fritz Ammonia Chloride so I can use that as well. I read somewhere that fish food might not be the best for dosing.

Good news, my wrasse seems to be pulling through. He's still very sluggish, but he's definitely better than where he was yesterday.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Ok, I did buy some Fritz Ammonia Chloride so I can use that as well. I read somewhere that fish food might not be the best for dosing.

Good news, my wrasse seems to be pulling through. He's still very sluggish, but he's definitely better than where he was yesterday.

depends on the fish food. I would recommend getting frozen food, fish tend to be more responsive to it.