Fish deaths cont'd
- Thread starter Treefer32
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Flukes can be fatal as they will also attack the gills. Typically though they don’t kill as fast as what you are seeing, but a FW dip could rule them out. Can you post a pic of the fox face?
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Treefer32
Valuable Member
I talked with the Fish store owner I got the anthias from - when the problem started. He feels there's something other than disease stressing the fish making them susceptible to disease. The store still had a few of the anthias from the same batch I got mine. So, if they had a contagious disease that kills quickly. All the fish in the store should be dead or dieing. And none more than normal are. So, it has to be something with my system.
I retested everything I have test kits for:
Salinity: 1.024 (Calibrated Refrac to 35 ppt control water)
PH: 8.05 - 8.3 (Calibrated Apex Probe)
alk: 10.4 (Hanna Checker)
Ca: 440 (Red Sea)
Nitrates: ~1 (Red Sea)
Temp: 76 - 77 consistently. (Apex Temp Probe)
TDS on my BRS RODI System (150 GPH per day): Output from RO is around 6, and output from DI is 0. Water is softened by water softener. There was a difference here, I didn't realize it but the softener ran out of salt about 3 -4 weeks ago, So, at least 1, maybe 2 water changes were done with unsoftened water through the RO / DI system. However, the city water is soft enough, it shouldn't require a softener.
Instant Ocean salt: 35-40 gallon water changes every two weeks (consistently).
Coral Growth is happening fast. I have a branching SPS coral. Other than 1 branch that caught some cyano it has about 25 new branches in 3 months and probably has grown easily an inch a month. With a lot of faster growth in the last 2-3 weeks (as fish were dieing my SPS coral grew faster... Due to dirtier water???)
I have my skimmer, scrubber, and water changes as my primary extraction method.
So, in talking with the fish store owner, he wondered if it was electricity leakage. Other than a stray contaminant in the air,being absorbed by the water (which how would I test for that?) The other testable item would be electricity. I told him the Skimmer pump is DC, the return pump is external, not submerged, I have two MP 40s - so nothing in the water, so the only other thing could be the heaters, which, are 5 years old or older and for 3 years they sat in an unheated garage going through extreme temps - 40 - 50 below zero to a hundred degrees above zero. I put them in and had the Apex control them and they heated when I started the tank 5 months ago. I saw they heated, didn't think anything of it. So, I'll have a multimeter tomorrow. In some ways, I hope this is the issue, because then I can solve it. Heaters are inexpensive compared to the 15 fish I've lost, with more on their way out.
And the stupid thing is that if this solves it (No idea if it will), QT couldn't have prevented this either. They would still have been stressed and probably gotten sick. . . Hopefully the multimeter arrives tomorrow and I can determine if this is the issue.
This is why I'm leaning towards electricity possibly being the culprit... I guess stray voltage can be used to promote coral growth. It doesn't hurt corals at all, and has been used since 1979 to stimulate coral propagation and growth... Which, is exactly the symptoms I'm experiencing....
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/c...uild-coral-reefs-quickly-just-add-electricity
I retested everything I have test kits for:
Salinity: 1.024 (Calibrated Refrac to 35 ppt control water)
PH: 8.05 - 8.3 (Calibrated Apex Probe)
alk: 10.4 (Hanna Checker)
Ca: 440 (Red Sea)
Nitrates: ~1 (Red Sea)
Temp: 76 - 77 consistently. (Apex Temp Probe)
TDS on my BRS RODI System (150 GPH per day): Output from RO is around 6, and output from DI is 0. Water is softened by water softener. There was a difference here, I didn't realize it but the softener ran out of salt about 3 -4 weeks ago, So, at least 1, maybe 2 water changes were done with unsoftened water through the RO / DI system. However, the city water is soft enough, it shouldn't require a softener.
Instant Ocean salt: 35-40 gallon water changes every two weeks (consistently).
Coral Growth is happening fast. I have a branching SPS coral. Other than 1 branch that caught some cyano it has about 25 new branches in 3 months and probably has grown easily an inch a month. With a lot of faster growth in the last 2-3 weeks (as fish were dieing my SPS coral grew faster... Due to dirtier water???)
I have my skimmer, scrubber, and water changes as my primary extraction method.
So, in talking with the fish store owner, he wondered if it was electricity leakage. Other than a stray contaminant in the air,being absorbed by the water (which how would I test for that?) The other testable item would be electricity. I told him the Skimmer pump is DC, the return pump is external, not submerged, I have two MP 40s - so nothing in the water, so the only other thing could be the heaters, which, are 5 years old or older and for 3 years they sat in an unheated garage going through extreme temps - 40 - 50 below zero to a hundred degrees above zero. I put them in and had the Apex control them and they heated when I started the tank 5 months ago. I saw they heated, didn't think anything of it. So, I'll have a multimeter tomorrow. In some ways, I hope this is the issue, because then I can solve it. Heaters are inexpensive compared to the 15 fish I've lost, with more on their way out.
And the stupid thing is that if this solves it (No idea if it will), QT couldn't have prevented this either. They would still have been stressed and probably gotten sick. . . Hopefully the multimeter arrives tomorrow and I can determine if this is the issue.
This is why I'm leaning towards electricity possibly being the culprit... I guess stray voltage can be used to promote coral growth. It doesn't hurt corals at all, and has been used since 1979 to stimulate coral propagation and growth... Which, is exactly the symptoms I'm experiencing....
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/c...uild-coral-reefs-quickly-just-add-electricity
Lowell Lemon
2500 Club Member
Make sure you are running your UV at the proper level of contact time to kill water borne paracites. 120,000 micro watts per cubic milliliter or something of that nature. An undersized UV does very little to help you out with paracites. Just buy a ground probe for the aquarium and check all your heaters and pumps for failure points.
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Treefer32
Valuable Member
Thanks Lowell, I'm running a 34 watt (32-38 watt, can't remember exactly) UV sterilizer. My flow through it is relatively slow because the output from the UV goes through my ATS scrubber. It's capacity is around 700 gph. Anything above that it sprays too hard over the canvas and slower it just trickles over the algae. So, the speed of the water through the UV is controlled and around 400 gph to 600 gph. I'm not sure what that equates to in terms of 120,000 micro watts per cubic millimeter...
Lowell Lemon
2500 Club Member
American Aquarium Products has an online reference that is helpful in determining the correct flow and wattage.
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Treefer32
Valuable Member
Update - he's still alive. Spotted on the webcam. Still acting strange, but alive. heh.
Murder suspects so far of my fish:
1. Stress from electricity - made fish susceptible to disease and killed them.
2. Fox face rabbit fish is going around murdering fish he doesn't like?
3. A contaminate made it into the water and stressed 80% of the fish to the point of killing them. But did not affect corals.
4. Something triggered a spread of disease that had a 80% mortality rate and took 2-4 weeks to run it's corse?
Murder suspects so far of my fish:
1. Stress from electricity - made fish susceptible to disease and killed them.
2. Fox face rabbit fish is going around murdering fish he doesn't like?
3. A contaminate made it into the water and stressed 80% of the fish to the point of killing them. But did not affect corals.
4. Something triggered a spread of disease that had a 80% mortality rate and took 2-4 weeks to run it's corse?
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Treefer32
Valuable Member
I confirmed electricity was making my fish sick. I decided to do the human test. Put my hand in the sump and touched my other hand to the furnace duct just to test. My hand in the sump started tingling and buzzing. I turned both heaters off. Immediately my black tang started swimming like normal grazing on algae and acting normal . I turned one heater on. No buzzing or tingling in my fingers. Turned other heater on. Strong buzzing instantly. Turned it right away. Good news, I found what killed my fish. Bad news. I lost 15 fish. Totalling $400-500 worth of fish. Almost lost my $500 tang. Well Wel if the 4 left recover now.
Just FYI. Electricity does kill fish!!
Just FYI. Electricity does kill fish!!
Lowell Lemon
2500 Club Member
Been there done that but on a store scale....a little more costly...get a ground probe as it is cheap insurance.
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Treefer32
Valuable Member
Sorry Lowell! It sucks to see death. Part of life, but was hoping one at a time, not all at once. My foxface is still alive, but not eating yet. Bits fat, so has a ways to go to starve. I thing my tang is trying to get him to eat. Tank is cleaning up nicely now that there's 4 fish in 400 gallons.
Lowell Lemon
2500 Club Member
It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away. Customers store snd I sorted it out for them. I had my own experience but it cost me less cause I was buying at wholesale prices.
mtdaly85
Well-Known Member
I'm going to guess it was uronema marinum that killed the anthias. This spread to your other fish, causing stress, which either killed them directly or impaired their immune system making them more vulnerable to the side effects of ich. Could also be velvet. Hard to tell without pics of the deceased fish.
