Fish Dying Biocube

[BC1906]

I have had a biocube 29 up and running for about 2 months now. I had a pair of ocellaris clownfish in there for a month. I recently ordered a RW4 Powerhead and added it to the tank to help with the circulation for my corals. The very next day one of my clownfish had died. My guess would be is that the powerhead stirred up some of the sand and it released toxins into the water that caused the fish to die. I did a water change and everything seemed fine but now my other clownfish has died a couple of days later and I can't figure out what is going on. I cycled the tank for about a month with 15-20lbs LR and about 20lbs of LS. All of my parameters look to where they need to be. Ammonia and nitrites are at 0, PH is at 8.2, salinity is 1.025, Phosphate 0, Nitrates are about .5 and my temp is around 79. My Alk is also looking good. I am currently using a self made media rack out of eggcrate with filter floss and chemipure elite.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what could be causing the fish loss? I have a star polyp, torch coral, frogspawn, and a zoa that all seem to be doing fine. My CUC consists of 1 peppermint shrimp, 4 hermit crabs and 5 nassarius snails which now are the only things in the tank.

Any suggestions would be great. I am obviously going to hold off getting anymore fish for right now until I can figure out what is going on but I dont know where to start since my parameters seem fine.

 

[rayn]

If your parameters are correct it is concerning. two clowns should be okay at this point, there shouldn't be very much in the sand to cause a die off either. Any signs of disease at all?

 

[Sgt Jonny]

What kind of water are you using during water changes? If you are using tap water, there could be chloramines that are deadly to fish. You should try to use RODI water for your tank...I hope this helps

 

[BC1906]

There were no signs of diseases. They were acting perfectly fine. I added the power head and one of the clowns started to freak out. The other seemed fine until a couple of days later. I only use RO/DI premixed reef crystals from my local store. If by chance I add tap water (which is not often) I will use prime to to get rid of the chlorine. I find the whole situation very odd.

 

[Sgt Jonny]

Prime will get rid of chlorine, chloramine is different. Also, don't trust the fish store on their word. Test that water and see what happens...

 

[Brandon Donaldson]

I use distilled water and coral pro salt but I have lost three clowns in the last 4 months out if no were it it was a parasite I am currently treating for it I am using prazi to treat I have 15 lb live rock 20 pounds live sand I use chemi pure and purigen macroalgy and soon I will be using merical mud I also have a protenskimmer and a 10 gallon sump my tanks been up for 6 months its a 29 gallon biocube

 

[Tahoe61]

Have you turned down the gph? I doubt it's the new flow, clowns can take some time to acclimate to higher flow and usually adapt or stay in areas of lower flow.
Were the clowns eating?

 

[Tahoe61]

I think you really need to research and invest in a quarantine set up. Some clown fish disease kill really quickly, some clowns have gill damage from a previous infection. Did you get all your clowns at the same place? If so try another vendor, and really consider a QT.

 

[Brandon Donaldson]

No two different stores thay all died the same way I lost two mis bars the I got a black ice and a flurry and the black ice past last week and yes I am trying to get a 10 gallon qt set up the prazi is working well my flurry is doing well

 

[Tahoe61]

The clown pictured is too skinny? Do they arrive that way?

Now a malnourished fish will use additional calories in it's effort to swim against a constant current, this can put some already nutritional compromised fish over the edge.

What are you feeding and how often?

 

[BC1906]

Anyone know what this is and if could be causing my problems? Found it in my filter floss.

 

[melypr1985]

Anyone know what this is and if could be causing my problems? Found it in my filter floss.

This looks like a common amphipod and is harmless to your fish. Lets get back to what your OP was about. You had two clowns that died after a month in your tank. right? You said they didn't exhibit any signs of illness like spots, a dusty appearance, flashing, twitching, scratching, yawning, heavy breathing or lack of appetite correct?

Do you have any pictures of these fish while they were alive and preferably shortly before they died?

 

[BC1906]

They seemed perfectly fine. They would swim around, eat, come up the glass when I would come by. I don't have a picture right before they died and this picture is when I first bought them a month ago. The only sign was when I added the power head. One of the started to like spasm out.

 

[melypr1985]

I wish it wasn't blurry. I'm thinking I see red patches near the gills.... is that a correct observation? We might need to call in Dr. Fish for back up. @Humblefish we need another pair of eyes please

 

[Humblefish]

I'm thinking I see red patches near the gills.... is that a correct observation?

^^ Need to know this.

 

[BC1906]

Yeah I wish I had a better picture for you guys. If they are red patches, what does that signal?

 

[melypr1985]

Yeah I wish I had a better picture for you guys. If they are red patches, what does that signal?

Well, it could have been uronema. If so that's really bad news as it doesn't require a host to continue living in the water. Seeing as the red places are near the gills maybe it was damage done to the gills by ammonia burn. With no other pictures to go off of and no other symptoms to help narrow it down, it's difficult to tell. It could also have been an infection.

 

[Humblefish]

Well, it could have been uronema. If so that's really bad news as it doesn't require a host to continue living in the water. Seeing as the red places are near the gills maybe it was damage done to the gills by ammonia burn. With no other pictures to go off of and no other symptoms to help narrow it down, it's difficult to tell. It could also have been an infection.

+1 Ammonia burn is what I suspect, since the redness appears to be only near the gills.

 

[BC1906]

What are some of my options for preventing this with future fish? I read that this could occur when they are in the bag being acclimated

 

[Humblefish]

What are some of my options for preventing this with future fish? I read that this could occur when they are in the bag being acclimated

It can happen anytime an ammonia spike occurs in the DT or QT; although during acclimation is much more likely: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-acclimate.192300/