Did fish die due to flow issue?

[ishan507]

Hello all!

I had a question about my flow. So I had set up my fluval evo 5 tank, cycled and finally decided to get a clown fish (was planning to get bigger tank and move there later). I have a 50w heater which keeps the temperature pretty steady at 79.5 F. I am running the stock return pump which is supposed to be about 80gph. My question is for the wavemaker that I have running (Jebao SW2, w1, lowest speed, highest wavelength).

Now my fish when I got it, didn't eat much but over 2 weeks basically stopped eating. I noticed what I believed to be a parasite which is what I attributed to him not eating. I used Prazipro to try to treat it. However, eventually he would spend all his time on the bottom of the tank in one corner not really moving (this was for about a week until he passed). Could it be that the flow was too much (he would move more when I turned off the wavemaker)? Or was it a combination of weakness from not eating plus the flow?

I checked water and it was fine, coral are all doing very well and growing. I bought another clown but I don't want him to exert himself to death. I also have a Hydor nano 240 which I can use instead of the sw2. Please let me know your guys' thoughts!

 

[Instigate]

Following. Interested in how much flow is too much flow.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Well if a fish is stressed and not eating to begin with, blasting it with high flow definetly won't help.. the fish will spend more energy fighting the current which in return requires it to eat more. As long as the fish is healthy and is able to openly swim in the water column the flow shouldn't matter to much (although extremely high flow can lead to increased stress)

 

[SashimiTurtle]

The Jebao SW-2 is a 130-650gph ish pump. On it's lowest setting that is right at the perfect flow for a 5g aquarium. A good number to shoot for is 20-30 times tank volume in powerhead flow. That gives you 100-150gph for a lower flow reef. Some people go as high as 50 times flow.

I'm going to go ahead and say the flow wasn't what killed your fish. I'm guessing some parasite like ich, flukes, brook or velvet claimed your fish. Without pictures, it'll be hard to tell you what exactly it was.

 

[Mr. Bill]

The Jebao SW-2 is a 130-650gph ish pump. On it's lowest setting that is right at the perfect flow for a 5g aquarium. A good number to shoot for is 20-30 times tank volume in powerhead flow. That gives you 100-150gph for a lower flow reef. Some people go as high as 50 times flow.

I'm going to go ahead and say the flow wasn't what killed your fish. I'm guessing some parasite like ich, flukes, brook or velvet claimed your fish. Without pictures, it'll be hard to tell you what exactly it was.

Agreed. Sounds like it became weak and lethargic from disease or parasite. Flow would not kill a fish (unless it's getting blown against the rocks).