Help!! all my fish are dying!

[AntarcticIkeelu]

The clown is at the top, right now near the heater and the return pump, he has done that since I got him, is this not normal? he only does it when the lights are out! He hasnt been as playful the last few days, I am really worried.. I dont want to lose all my fish, I feel like an awful fish mother

Yes that's normal, my clownfish sleep in the same vertical position near the top corner of my tank.

 

[Justiena]

I messaged melpry1985, but I am guessing she went to bed.
Your clown is the more resilient of the fish.
Where did you get your live rock?
I am so lost as to how you have so many bugs and coraline algae.
Maybe you have a hitchhiker in your tank or velvet. Velvet is deadly. Like 2 day deadly.

Can I cure Velvet? how do I know if I have it?
I got the live rock from a LFS but I got it out of a tank is that not good? I read that it would help with cycling. As to the bugs im not sure either!! I just noticed them today and there is a bunch! I don't understand how they just appeared I haven't added anything new into the tank since the angel.. Maybe from the frozen mysis shrimp?

 

[40B Knasty]

Mine did that for awhile in the my 20g. Now he sleeps in a cave with my Swissguard Basslet in my 40B.

 

[40B Knasty]

Velvet I am no expert on. I just know if it hit my tank. It would probably be to late to cure it.
Flukes you would need Prezipro. That is a simple cure. Just delt with that actually.

 

[Justiena]

I'm interested in what your pH. level could have been at night. Given that it is only a 14 gal and it was very heavily stocked, it is possible all of this was attributable to a massive pH swing. When the lights go out and your plants and coral stop photosynthesizing, your oxygen concentration decreases leading to higher CO2 levels which mean lower pH. I have a 150 gal tank with only 9 small fish, a 30 gallon refugium full of macroalgae with lights running opposite my DT, a protein skimmer, and a filtration system that has great aeration. With all of this my pH still swings from 8.3 during the day to 8.1 at night. Since your tank is so much smaller and was far more heavily stocked there is a good chance you were experience large CO2 spikes at night. Try testing your pH 2 hours after the lights go out and see if there is a large difference from day to night. If there is you can simply add an airstone and only run it when your lights are off to help offset this

I will check it soon! I have a protein skimmer running, with bioball filter and UV sterilizer .. do you think that is okay? is there something more I should add?

 

[Justiena]

Velvet I am no expert on. I just know if it hit my tank. It would probably be to late to cure it.
Flukes you would need Prezipro. That is a simple cure. Just delt with that actually.

I'll look it up, thanks! do you think it would hurt to dose my tank if I pick some up tomorrow? I hope its not velvet!!

 

[40B Knasty]

Honestly I would not do anything unless I knew 100% what was wrong. I was throwing ideas out hoping someone with experience jumped in the mix, because there really is no help from your explanation what it could be. Aside of the bad fish choice for a 14g tank and how mean a maroon clown can be.

 

[thaitopher]

It's a very small tank for that many fish being added so swiftly. Maroon clowns are notorious for aggression, I would bet he killed every other fish to expand its territory. A 14 gallon tank is much too small for that many fish, not to mention a dwarf angel..

Agree. You shouldn't put more than two fish max in a tank that small preferably one.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

I will check it soon! I have a protein skimmer running, with bioball filter and UV sterilizer .. do you think that is okay? is there something more I should add?

I would slowly (over the course of ~3 weeks) replace your bioballs with 'Matrix' or ceramic rings for your biological filtration

 

[cmcoker]

You say your clown is lethargic, what is it doing?
Is it still eating?

As long as that maroon is in the tank, I would not add any other fish. Consider the tank stocked.

You either has some ammonia issue, disease (timeline of deaths would indicate velvet), or the clownfish being aggressive and killing other fish.
You didn't witness any aggression? What did the dead fish look like? Tattered fins?

You can either take the clown fish back to the store, let the tank sit with no fish for 76 days, they start trying to restock. I'd recommend quarantine before adding to the tank.

Or you can watch the clown and see if he is going to need to be removed for disease treatment. Watch for behavioral signs, hiding, swimming into powerhead, not eating, yawning, head twitch, flashing on rocks sand.
That clown should be you only fish though imo, she'll claim that whole tank as hers

 

[lodestone]

Have you checked oxygen, seems with all those bugs, fish sometimes we forget that, oxygen levels can change fast, how is you water movement? Like do you use a power head, or just the biocube outlet, is the outlet pointing up or down. Do you use a skimmer, if not an airstone? I suspect oxygen as your little bug friends grow they would stress out oxygen levels in your tank killing off the heavy breathers first. Just a theory but never hurts to over oxygenate to reach equilibrium with an airstone and see if that improves your fish activity. Like others mentioned might want to verify your test results. In a QT I got a fish dying because of an ammonia spike, hoping he pulls through but test strips showing ok, but the liquid test showed a 1.0 ppm.

 

[40B Knasty]

Just to save yourself the time. I would get rid of the maroon and the LFS that allowed you to buy what you did. Your maroon will grow to 8". That is huge for a 14g tank. Start all over. Sorry for your loses. Do lots of research. There are so many variables in saltwater fish keeping. If you ever need help choosing. PM me. I have pretty much weighed out all the fish between max size, what they eat(including inverts), tank size recommended, and attitude. I have had a 20g and now a 40B. The choices are somewhat limited, but can also be a great choice and enjoyment to have when making the right ones.

 

[Justiena]

You say your clown is lethargic, what is it doing?
Is it still eating?

As long as that maroon is in the tank, I would not add any other fish. Consider the tank stocked.

You either has some ammonia issue, disease (timeline of deaths would indicate velvet), or the clownfish being aggressive and killing other fish.
You didn't witness any aggression? What did the dead fish look like? Tattered fins?

You can either take the clown fish back to the store, let the tank sit with no fish for 76 days, they start trying to restock. I'd recommend quarantine before adding to the tank.

Or you can watch the clown and see if he is going to need to be removed for disease treatment. Watch for behavioral signs, hiding, swimming into powerhead, not eating, yawning, head twitch, flashing on rocks sand.
That clown should be you only fish though imo, she'll claim that whole tank as hers

He is still eating, just not as playful, he had been hiding in the LR for the past few days
When the angel when he kinda look like he had fin rot? he just looked jagged

 

[Justiena]

Have you checked oxygen, seems with all those bugs, fish sometimes we forget that, oxygen levels can change fast, how is you water movement? Like do you use a power head, or just the biocube outlet, is the outlet pointing up or down. Do you use a skimmer, if not an airstone? I suspect oxygen as your little bug friends grow they would stress out oxygen levels in your tank killing off the heavy breathers first. Just a theory but never hurts to over oxygenate to reach equilibrium with an airstone and see if that improves your fish activity. Like others mentioned might want to verify your test results. In a QT I got a fish dying because of an ammonia spike, hoping he pulls through but test strips showing ok, but the liquid test showed a 1.0 ppm.

I have a protein skimmer, UV sterilizer and a power head. I am going to get a liquid test kit, and re check everything today! and my oxygen!

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

I seriously doubt that your O2 levels are having anything to do with your tank's issues, I second 40B Knasty's post

 

[lodestone]

I seriously doubt that your O2 levels are having anything to do with your tank's issues, I second 40B Knasty's post

Not so sure the sudden appearance of countless pods, and fish death does seem fishy, doesn't hurt to double check it. Skimmer general does not add much O2 because it lacks direct contact with the water forcing most contact inside. If the power head is pointing down and no wave maker in a 14g I could see oxy being an issue in this case. While rare it does happen. Think power outage, how long would they last without surface agitation in a small tank. I say maybe few hours. To increase surface agitation and air contact, point your outlet up and if you have not done so already consider a small wave maker too. There's a good article on difference between let's say a bagged fish shipping and our tank set up and the importance of airation. I believe I read it on this forum while I was deciding to airate with a air stone or not.

 

[bstrawn]

Do you have a grounding probe? $10 at your LFS

Hi! so im new to saltwater tanks, Iv had mine up for almost two months and everything was doing great until this past weekend. I came home on Friday and my purple fire fish was dead so I did a water change, checked my levels (all normal) and just assumed he got picked on and was stressed out.. then next day my royal gramma was dead, I was baffled and upset, I did another small water change. This Monday morning I woke up and my dwarf flame angle was dead.... All levels still normal, I have a lighting maroon clown left and hes seems to be okay there haven't been any signs of illness... I dont know what is happening!!!!


(I have a 14 gal biocube, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite PH at an acceptable level and very low Nitrates salinity at 1.024 (using APR test strips))

 

[bw777]

Maroon clown or bio load

 

[Justiena]

Do you have a grounding probe? $10 at your LFS

I dont have one, I will pick one up tomorrow!! should I just put it in the tank?

thank you!

 

[Maritimer]

Hi, Justiena . . .

I'm sorry to read about all those fish passing!

I do suspect that so many fish being confined in such a small tank - particularly with a maroon clownfish - probably had a lot to do with it. The angel's "jagged" fins could be due to aggression, or could have been damaged post-mortem. (As mentioned above, that variety of clownfish will get rather too large for a 14 gallon tank all by itself, and it might be a better choice to rehome that one and choose fish - less of them - that will stay smaller. Maybe something like a smaller shrimp-goby, a tailspot blenny and a possum wrasse - that'd be about as much as I'd dare try in a 14, and each of those fish will utilize your tank's landscape in a different way.)

Your "bugs" look like munnid isopods, a cousin of amphipods - and of the roly-polies in your garden. They're harmless scavengers, and an awful lot of fish regard them as tasty snacks. They probably came in on your liverock, and they've got no guilt in the loss of your fish.

You mentioned that your clownfish was less playful today - does he seem actually ill, or is it perhaps because he doesn't have other fish around him? Is he showing any symptoms like swimming into the flow of a powerhead? Hiding from the lights? Head-shaking? "Flashing", scraping some part of his body against rock or sand? Small white specks on his fins or skin?

Hovering near the heater seems pretty normal for clowns - my ocellaris pair sleep next to mine every night, and the way they wiggle around it, I expect them to start laying eggs on it almost any day now.

I'd like to see if we can get some more helpful eyes on your situation, so ... #reefsquad . . .

~Bruce