HELP!!! FISH DYING

[Jeremy K.A.]

I woke up this morning to find all of my fish on the sand breathing very fast and heavily. Quickly I threw an air stone in and have left it in there for 2 hours so far and they do not look any better yet. I’ve already lost two fish. I can’t make any fresh RODI water at the moment so I contacted the owner of my LFS to see if I can stop in for some mixed saltwater today, just awaiting a reply.

 

[Ghost463]

Do u have a qt set up?
Edit: get the qt setup. With a clean eco system. Save the fish first. Deal with the water table in the primary tank later.
Could be hard corals are hashing it out?.

 

[TDS ZERO]

What’s new ?
Provide people with as much info as possible

 

[HairyGary]

I woke up this morning to find all of my fish on the sand breathing very fast and heavily. Quickly I threw an air stone in and have left it in there for 2 hours so far and they do not look any better yet. I’ve already lost two fish. I can’t make any fresh RODI water at the moment so I contacted the owner of my LFS to see if I can stop in for some mixed saltwater today, just awaiting a reply.

Agitate the top of the water with power head.

Ammonia spike? how new is the tank?

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

The tanks been up and running for 3 years. No new fish additions in the last 2 or 3 months. I've now lost half of my fish. I have my gyre up top running 100% with an airstone right next to it for extra oxygen. The few remaining fish still look awful breathing fast and heavily. None of the corals seem to be fighting, no anemones or inverts notorious for nuking a tank "cucumbers" have died. I found the missing part for my RODI Faucet adapter and am now mixing water but it still won't be tank ready for at least another 3 hours. Todays been totally Fubar

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

Also all the fish that died had no noticeable physical alterations, Their gills and fins were normal and bodies normal, and eyes still clear, not foggy

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I'm afraid we can't really help much until we have more information. Did anything change recently? Did anything die recently? Inverts, cleanup crew?

This sounds like something died and spiked ammonia. Have you tested ammonia? If not, you should do so and add an ammonia neutralizer like Seachem Prime if any is found.

 

[CodyRVA]

This sounds like something died and spiked ammonia.

Does this actually happen? Everything that dies in my system always gets eaten by something else, literally nothing goes to waste. How could ammonia spike if the critter is eaten unless its an "undesirable" critter?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Does this actually happen? Everything that dies in my system always gets eaten by something else, literally nothing goes to waste. How could ammonia spike if the critter is eaten unless its an "undesirable" critter?

Yes, it does. This might be your experience, but that doesn't mean that the same will be true in all other tanks in every case. Additionally, unless you have an ammonia monitor like a Seneye, you actually can't really be certain that the death didn't cause a spike in ammonia that you didn't notice.

I've never been diagnosed with cancer, but that doesn't mean that I'm impervious to cancer. It just means it hasn't happened to me yet.

 

[CodyRVA]

This might be your experience, but that doesn't mean that the same will be true in all other tanks in every case.

Yes, i'm aware of the existence of the unique dynamic of every system; thus, I was curious if anyone has actually ever lost a critter and been able to adamantly prove an ammonia spike occurred to the extent that it resulted in a negative effect on the system.

Additionally, unless you have an ammonia monitor like a Seneye, you actually can't really be certain that the death didn't cause a spike in ammonia that you didn't notice.

If there's no detrimental affect on the system, i'm failing to see the point in having such a device despite pure curiosity and personal desire.

I've never been diagnosed with cancer, but that doesn't mean that I'm impervious to cancer. It just means it hasn't happened to me yet.

Yep, was simply asking a question, back to the original point of this thread...

 

[PDR]

At this point it doesn't seem like an oxygen issue to me, I would add an ammonia neutralizer if you have one and test whatever you can to get a clearer picture.

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

I'm going to do a 5 gallon water change today and try for another 5 gallon or 10 gallon tomorrow. I have no idea if anything had died before I woke up this morning. But all of the inverts are alive still as well as corals.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Very sorry to hear about your fish!

If something happened like an O2 drop, then the biggest fish is most likely to be affected.
This causes a *large* ammonia spike which makes everything even worse.

You should assume that you always had an ammonia spike every time you lost a fish.
But if they are small enough and the tank is not over stocked then you were able to get away with it.

What was your stocking list before the deaths.
Who died 1st, what others are dead now.
What was the last fish you added and how long ago.
What size tank.

Hope the rest are doing better now.

 

[norfolkgarden]

The fact that the inverts and corals are OK often points to an O2 drop.
Those have very low oxygen requirements compared to the fish.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Does this actually happen? Everything that dies in my system always gets eaten by something else, literally nothing goes to waste. How could ammonia spike if the critter is eaten unless its an "undesirable" critter?

"Everything that dies in my system"

You shouldn't have any deaths in a three-year-old tank.
Even the cleaner gobies live to 2 and a 1/2 years.

It sounds like you may have made the same mistakes that I have in the past.
Adding one too many fish,
Not quarantining the fish,
I was guilty of all of those.

How is everything looking now?

 

[Friday24]

In all tanks O2 drops at night, the same as PH, though it should drop low enough for what you’re describing unless something else is going on, like a bacteria bloom for instance. I’ve lost fish in the past by exactly that, and what you’ve described sounds like an O2 issue. IMO an ammonia spike large enough to kill fish in a 2-3 year old tank shouldn’t happen even with a death, unless you’re talking about a large fish in a small tank. In an appropriately sized tank for your inhabitants after 2-3 years you’re going to have a large enough population of bacteria to convert ammonia without spiking and killing fish, that and an ammonia spike would affect your corals as well.

 

[CodyRVA]

You shouldn't have any deaths in a three-year-old tank.

Huh??

Even the cleaner gobies live to 2 and a 1/2 years.

And then they... die?

 

[norfolkgarden]

Huh??



And then they... die?

Most fish live at least 5 years.

Some live for twenty.

Some live even longer.

If they look good at the LFS and are eating at the LFS before you take them home there is a good chance they should thrive.

Not all of mine did because I overstocked and didn't always quarantine.
(Well, never quarantined)

Our longnose hawkfish lived 6 years.

A number of other fish did not.

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

Stocking list for fish was 2 clowns, a small scopas tang, lawnmower blenny, 2 dart fish, and a tobacco bass. 55 gallon tank. Did a 5 gallon water change last night and am going to do another tonight if water is ready, otherwise doing it first thing tomorrow. No idea who died first, I woke up and the scopas tang and tobacco bass were dead, everything else was on sand breathing very fast. None of the fish were very big at all. I had not added any new fish for at least 2, maybe 3 months and they were the dart fish which were very healthy and had been sitting at my LFS for about 2 weeks. The only surviving fish as of right now one clown and I think the lawnmower blenny "Saw part of his fin from a hideout, so not 100% sure yet"

 

[vetteguy53081]

Water change and add oxygen either by added flow or air pump with air stone. Assure they have no parasites such as velvet and that salinity is higher or lower than you are getting a reading for ( maybe take a water sample to LFS for second opinion/comparison with your tests)