HELP! Fish dying

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

I'm currently at work and I got a text from my girlfriend saying that my angel and sixline wrasse both just died and that my clown is acting crazy and breathing super heavy. I had her unplug everything and she said the clown calmed down a bit. I thought my heater might be sending an electric current into the tank and shocking everything. I had her grab my extra heater that I have and plug that in and she said the clown started acting crazy again when she plugged it in to the power strip. So I'm not sure whats going on. Last time I checked all of the water parameters were fine, although I'll check again when I get home. She had to go to work so right now the tank has nothing plugged in aside from the light. What should I do to figure out whats happening when I get home from work?

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

cooperdude916 said:
I'm currently at work and I got a text from my girlfriend saying that my angel and sixline wrasse both just died and that my clown is acting crazy and breathing super heavy. I had her unplug everything and she said the clown calmed down a bit. I thought my heater might be sending an electric current into the tank and shocking everything. I had her grab my extra heater that I have and plug that in and she said the clown started acting crazy again when she plugged it in to the power strip. So I'm not sure whats going on. Last time I checked all of the water parameters were fine, although I'll check again when I get home. She had to go to work so right now the tank has nothing plugged in aside from the light. What should I do to figure out whats happening when I get home from work?

have her check the temperature

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

maybe the tank overheated and the oxygen levels went down corresponding the temperature
RIP wrasse/angel

EDIT:

u shoulda told her to add an airstone or turn on a filter before she left

Nigel35 · Aug 13, 2020

Check ammonia. if the clown is breathing heavily and the rest have kick the bucket it could be fluke.

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

Nigel35 said:
Check ammonia. if the clown is breathing heavily and the rest have kick the bucket it could be fluke.

+1 ya probably ammonia or temperature and oxygen levels

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

|Tom the Bomb| said:
maybe the tank overheated and the oxygen levels went down corresponding the temperature
RIP wrasse/angel

She had to leave for work a couple hours ago so I'll have to wait until I get home at 4. I wish I was able to leave early but I can't today. I'm hoping the clown makes it

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

Nigel35 said:
Check ammonia. if the clown is breathing heavily and the rest have kick the bucket it could be fluke.

I don't think it was ammonia because the clown started acting normal again after any of the heaters were unplugged. I definitely will check it again when I get home though.

ReeferWarrant · Aug 13, 2020

If it's the heater and you dont have one of these, I would absolutely look at getting one. Well worth the price.

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
If it's the heater and you dont have one of these, I would absolutely look at getting one. Well worth the price.

sry i cant see the image what heater is it
imo the best cheap heater is eheim jager and best overall sw heater is the BRS titanium heater element + heater controller some other good one's are aquatop titanium heater w/ controller and cobalt neotherm

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
If it's the heater and you dont have one of these, I would absolutely look at getting one. Well worth the price.

I'm definitely going to look into buying one of those. What I don't understand is why the clown starts breathing super heavy when either of my 2 heaters are plugged in. It starts doing it as soon as either of them get plugged in.

ReeferWarrant · Aug 13, 2020

Yeah that seems odd, I would say that negates it being a electrical current issue. Highly unlikely you have two that are faulty. If you have a Multimeter it might be worth testing if there is a current in there though. I'd have to search how to test it, but I'm sure theres a thread on here.

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
Yeah that seems odd, I would say that negates it being a electrical current issue. Highly unlikely you have two that are faulty. If you have a Multimeter it might be worth testing if there is a current in there though. I'd have to search how to test it, but I'm sure theres a thread on here.

Yeah it really confuses me. The first thing I thought of when she said that was maybe my power strip was somehow causing a malfunction in the heaters but I don't really see how that would be possible. And I have my AI prime plugged into the same strip so I would think if that was the case it would cause problems with that too

Qasimja · Aug 13, 2020

how long has the tank been setup? and whens the last time you added anything wet into your tank? ie coral invert or fish

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

@ReeferWarrant what heater is that i cant see

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

Qasimja said:
how long has the tank been setup? and whens the last time you added anything wet into your tank? ie coral invert or fish

It's been up about 3 months and the last time anything was added was a couple weeks ago. That was when I added the angel. I had a bacteria bloom for a little while but it cleared up a few days ago. Everytime I've tested ammonia it says its 0 but I do have the API kit so maybe I'm reading it wrong

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

|Tom the Bomb| said:
@ReeferWarrant what heater is that i cant see

It's one of the temperature monitors that turns off a plug if the temperature goes above a certain point.

ReeferWarrant · Aug 13, 2020

@cooperdude916, yeah you can add a chiller to it too if needed. I just like the knowledge that if it happens to start boiling my tank theres a fail safe to stop it.

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
@cooperdude916, yeah you can add a chiller to it too if needed. I just like the knowledge that if it happens to start boiling my tank theres a fail safe to stop it.

Yeah absolutely. I've been planning on buying a nicer waterbox tank in the next couple of months but now I'm not sure what I want to do. Since all I have left for now is the clown I might just downsize to a waterbox cube 20. Whatever I do though I am going to buy one of those because I think i definitely need it

|Tom the Bomb| · Aug 13, 2020

@cooperdude916
oh u mean those heater controllers?
like inkbird? ya u need those
and for chiller u dont need one cuz ur tank is still a trop tank but get an aquarium fan like this https://reefoctopus.com/product/aquarium-fan-2-models-available/

How To Keep An Aquarium Cool: 7 Ways You Can Try Today | Hepper

If you want to know how to keep an aquarium cool then this article will help, we cover the 7 best and most effective ways of cooling your tank.

www.aquascapeaddiction.com

cooperdude916 · Aug 13, 2020

|Tom the Bomb| said:
@cooperdude916
oh u mean those heater controllers?
like inkbird? ya u need those
and for chiller u dont need one cuz ur tank is still a trop tank but get an aquarium fan like this https://reefoctopus.com/product/aquarium-fan-2-models-available/

How To Keep An Aquarium Cool: 7 Ways You Can Try Today | Hepper

If you want to know how to keep an aquarium cool then this article will help, we cover the 7 best and most effective ways of cooling your tank.

www.aquascapeaddiction.com

Yup that's exactly what it was