Losing A fish a day...

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

I have a 220g with a 55g sump/refugium & Bubble Magnus Curve DC9 Skimmer & Tunze ATO... There is around 200lb of rock in the tank..All set up a couple of months ago..Everything has been running great until about a week ago when we found a dead fish.. Following day another one was missing . That's the way it was all week including today.. Some days we find dead sometimes I know the shrimp are eating them..Water tests like this
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 0
PH 8.26
Alk 6 Dkh
Salinity 1.024
Amonia .02

Can anyone point me in the right direction please.. I have 3 very small Percula clowns left & 1 Yellow Coris Wrasse... All the fish that were lost were under 2" in length...
Please help..

Brew12 · Nov 7, 2016

Any noticeable symptoms on the fish? Swimming in powerheads, gasping, spots or rubbing on rocks? Any marks on the dead fish you have been finding?

Was it live rock or dry rock? If live rock, any chance a predator got in with the rocks?

Bubblebass · Nov 7, 2016

Am I understanding correctly that this tank is 2 months old?

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

Brew12 said:
Any noticeable symptoms on the fish? Swimming in powerheads, gasping, spots or rubbing on rocks? Any marks on the dead fish you have been finding?

Was it live rock or dry rock? If live rock, any chance a predator got in with the rocks?

The only time I saw anything like those symptoms was this morning, one of my clowns was swimming up to a powerhead just before it died.. Watched it for an hour before that as I do just about everyday & all seemed well.. The only other indication was a Blue Reef Chromis 3 days ago with a white patch on it's side when I took it out of the tank.. I only found one of the other fish & that had no marks on it & again it seemed fine right up to the point it died..
It was mainly dry rock that went in. Maybe 40lb of live. I spend a lot of time with this tank & I haven't seen anything that shouldn't be there..

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

Bubblebass said:
Am I understanding correctly that this tank is 2 months old?

Correct...

Brew12 · Nov 7, 2016

DJ Monty said:
The only time I saw anything like those symptoms was this morning, one of my clowns was swimming up to a powerhead just before it died.. Watched it for an hour before that as I do just about everyday & all seemed well.. The only other indication was a Blue Reef Chromis 3 days ago with a white patch on it's side when I took it out of the tank.. I only found one of the other fish & that had no marks on it & again it seemed fine right up to the point it died..
It was mainly dry rock that went in. Maybe 40lb of live. I spend a lot of time with this tank & I haven't seen anything that shouldn't be there..

This is above my pay grade. Let's get more help.

#reefsquad

Paullawr · Nov 7, 2016

Hi, the white patch could be indicative of fungal infection but also easily just from scraping against rock.
Turn tank lights off and use a torch. See if the patches are more pronounced in this light.

What inverts are in the tank. Humour me for a moment - I had nassarius snails going after the fish when the lights were out. The fish were healthy so much so in order to get away they jumped clean out of tank.
Those snails went back to LFS where you could tell the owner didnt believe a word of it. Until the next time she saw me and caught the same act with her own fish.

Sorry I digress, still don't leave any rock unturned metaphorically speaking. Its possible there is a predator at prey.

I think to move this along we will need further information.
Picture say a thousand words.

Worthwhile dimming lights an hour early and commencing a stake out. Toss in a prawn or something. See if a nasty takes the bait.

The other possibility is they are getting caught in the power head (without seeing it im guessing here). Is there a reason the fish are hanging around in that area. Bullying?

Armydogracing · Nov 7, 2016

When was the last water change?
Did you let the tank cycle before adding livestock?
Nitrites should be 0 ammonia should be also but could have raised a bit because of the die off. I suggest you do a big water change

Paullawr · Nov 7, 2016

Indeed, if the water clarity and chemistry isn't as good as it should be it can lead to an increase in pathogens and fish that are living in those conditions will have a lower immunity.

High nitrate isn't too much of a concern in newer tanks though I'd be having a flap if it were over 80ppm, but do check it. Nitrite and ammonia must be zero. They are highly toxic to fish. Technically the rock you have should be able to cope with bio load so something is off.

Do a water change as suggested run some gac and if you have some polyfilter use it until you are more comfortable with the cause. I wouldn't rely on polyfilter but terribly handy in the short term.

themcnertney · Nov 7, 2016

How many and what fish are/were there in the tank?

Alfrareef · Nov 7, 2016

The night stake out it's a very good advice.
How are the clown tail fin? Do they look rotten or bitten?

jsker · Nov 7, 2016

Your in central FL right?

Shep · Nov 7, 2016

Could you post a pic of the next one you find? Are there any signs of disease?

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

Paullawr said:
Hi, the white patch could be indicative of fungal infection but also easily just from scraping against rock.
Turn tank lights off and use a torch. See if the patches are more pronounced in this light.

What inverts are in the tank. Humour me for a moment - I had nassarius snails going after the fish when the lights were out. The fish were healthy so much so in order to get away they jumped clean out of tank.
Those snails went back to LFS where you could tell the owner didnt believe a word of it. Until the next time she saw me and caught the same act with her own fish.

Sorry I digress, still don't leave any rock unturned metaphorically speaking. Its possible there is a predator at prey.

I think to move this along we will need further information.
Picture say a thousand words.

Worthwhile dimming lights an hour early and commencing a stake out. Toss in a prawn or something. See if a nasty takes the bait.

The other possibility is they are getting caught in the power head (without seeing it im guessing here). Is there a reason the fish are hanging around in that area. Bullying?

1. None of the fish left have any patches on them as of a few moments ago so I can't check that out...
2. I have 6 nassarius snails, around 60 or 70 red legged & blue legged hermits, 2 fire shrimp & 4 cleaner shrimp, a serpent star & a banded star... I had thought the shrimp might be responsible as anytime there was a death the shrimp usually ended up with the fish. That is until this morning when I saw the clown die..
3. I will be watching for a couple of hours every night to see if there is a predator.. Up to now I have had no suspicion of one..
4. Other than pictures what information can I give ? I'll post them a little later.. I keep taking random pics through the day but haven't got a good one yet...
5. I'm running Maxspect Gyre 250s & don't see any way they can get in there.. Also the clown I saw this morning was going up to the return line head, not the gyres..

I wish I knew what else I could tell you...Thanks for taking the time to help...

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

Armydogracing said:
When was the last water change?
Did you let the tank cycle before adding livestock?
Nitrites should be 0 ammonia should be also but could have raised a bit because of the die off. I suggest you do a big water change

1. Last water change was 20% 4 days ago... I check my numbers before a water change, nitrate was at 0..
2. The tank was cycled before any additions. Fish were not all added together..
3. I plan on a water change tomorrow.. It's making right now...

themcnertney · Nov 7, 2016

I'm under the impression a lot was added in a short time. I'd guess your water parameters are off? Ammonia?

Armydogracing · Nov 7, 2016

I was saying your Nitrites. With the presence of nitrites your tank has not cycled fully imo.
What kind of water are you using? Rodi or tap?

Armydogracing · Nov 7, 2016

Ok after some googling I could be wrong about the non cycle

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

themcnertney · Nov 7, 2016

I'd do small frequent water changes with freshly made RO/DI. Continue to monitor water parameters.

DJ Monty · Nov 7, 2016

Paullawr said:
Indeed, if the water clarity and chemistry isn't as good as it should be it can lead to an increase in pathogens and fish that are living in those conditions will have a lower immunity.

High nitrate isn't too much of a concern in newer tanks though I'd be having a flap if it were over 80ppm, but do check it. Nitrite and ammonia must be zero. They are highly toxic to fish. Technically the rock you have should be able to cope with bio load so something is off.
Do a water change as suggested run some gac and if you have some polyfilter use it until you are more comfortable with the cause. I wouldn't rely on polyfilter but terribly handy in the short term.

Before last week my Nitrite & nitrate were at zero.. What is polyfilter & where would it go..

Dan McNertney said:
How many and what fish are/were there in the tank?

There were 13 fish in total.. None over 2" in length.. Most were around 1.25"

Alfrareef said:
The night stake out it's a very good advice.
How are the clown tail fin? Do they look rotten or bitten?

Tails have been fully formed & in great condition on all of the fish..

Shep said:
Could you post a pic of the next one you find? Are there any signs of disease?

I'll certainly get a pic of the next one & post it.. The only sign I've seen was a Blue Reef Chromis With a white patch on it's side.. I was checking the fish throughout the day and there were no signs of anything. When the fish died it had the white patch...