Fish died :(

SaltyMarine07 · Mar 15, 2019

Trying to get some ideas on what may have caused the death. did a water test. 8.2 ph, .25 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 ppm nitrate. He was very active always ate well. even before I left this morning he was happy and swimming aorund. came home to him sucked against the overflow skimmer. Nothing has changed since I got him sunday.

James M · Mar 15, 2019

Sorry.....They’re should be 0 ammonia in the tank. Did you cycle it properly ?

dansreef · Mar 15, 2019

Sorry for your loss. It sucks losing fish for sure. It happens to all of us... even those who are the "experts". Sometimes there are no known reasons....and sometimes there are some things you can learn to prevent loss in the future.

In addition to the question above, can you please provide more details on your tank? Size, Age,.....etc.. Also what kind of fish? How long have you had it and where did you get it?

You should not see any ammonia in your tank as it is very toxic. If you found the fish quickly, it should not have contributed so much to the ammonia reading you reported.

It would be good to get more details so that some of the experts here on R2R can help you out.

Waters · Mar 15, 2019

The fact that there are 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates leads me to believe the tank is probably cycled, and you are using API test kits to test for ammonia? If so, they often show .25, even with 0 ammonia. If that is the case, the numbers look fine. Are there any other fish in the tank? Any signs of disease on the fish?

Halal Hotdog · Mar 15, 2019

If you have other fish in the tank it is important you address the ammonia. Seachem makes a product called prime that binds the ammonia and makes it less toxic.

Gonebad395 · Mar 15, 2019

Sorry to hear this it always stinks to have a fish die but as the members above me have stated you should have zero ammonia. Any other fish in the tank if so are the not acting like they usually do?

SaltyMarine07 · Mar 15, 2019

Yea I did the dr tims fishless with the ammonia twice. waited till everything zeroed out. Since adding the two fish I have had since tank was new I have been hard pressed not to have .25 ppm on the ammonia. I currently am using a tunze 9004 protein skimmer that I have had on for a couple weeks trying to get it dialed in properly. I also have the Innovative Marine cady like the intank one and it has filter floss with some purigen and some gfo and carbon. With all that and feeding every two days that ammonia still hasn't dropped from. .25 I do around 30% water change every two weeks.

SaltyMarine07 · Mar 15, 2019

I have had the tank up and going since September and added first fish the end of November after it finished the cycle. Its a nuvo fusion 40 with 30 lbs of liverock and 1 bag of live sand. Bought the tank brand new and all items associated with tank are new no used equipment. rock was dry rock. currently in the tank I have a cinamon clown, bangai cardinal, peppermint shrimp, conch snail and sand sifting star, pygmy hawk fish, 5 nassaris snails 2 margarita snails and 2 turbo snails. 5 blue leg hermits and one emerald crab and last a long tent anenome. All was added slowly overtime. I do use an api saltwater test kit. No change in any of the fish they are all acting the same. Even the Tang was happy and swimming around this morning. He was a very active little guy.

cracker · Mar 15, 2019

The poor fish could have been doomed before it ever got home.

FishyFish · Mar 15, 2019

Waters said:
The fact that there are 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates leads me to believe the tank is probably cycled, and you are using API test kits to test for ammonia? If so, they often show .25, even with 0 ammonia. If that is the case, the numbers look fine. Are there any other fish in the tank? Any signs of disease on the fish?

I second this about the API ammonia kit. I had the exact same problem a month ago, mine was testing at .10 even though my trusted LFS had tested my water at 0. Turns out the API test kits are just really bad at low levels of ammonia, my tap water even tested positive for ammonia with that kit. I switched to Salifert and my tank has been reading at 0 ever since so I definitely recommend either switching ammonia kits or if that's not an option, at least get a second opinion from your LFS.

jtl · Mar 16, 2019

I have lost more than a few fish over the years. In some cases I was able to figure out why (flukes) but in others there was no obvious signs.

SaltyMarine07 · Mar 16, 2019

Yea one of the things I was worried about in the hobby is the randomness that sometimes is unavoidable. I mean almost 40 dollars for a fish is an ouch but I know how much more people spend and the same things can happen. I think I may just not buy fish from that store from now on.