Losing A fish a day...

[4FordFamily]

When you get back, see if you can get some pictures of the other fish that are still alive. You're right, that clown looks completely normal. I was just thinking that something in your tank must be kicking on at 930 and it's leaking voltage- but apparently not. I want to know if any of your fish -at this point- have any abnormal marks on them: dark patches, white patches, red streaks, red dots - anything red that shouldn't be, redness around the gills, heavy breathing, hiding a lot.... I know we covered this before but I'm hoping something will have manifested by now that might help point us to a cause and a solution.

Have you done a fresh water dip on any of the fish you lost? Might be a good way to check if you have some type of parasite that is hatching at night or when lights first come on.
Really stumps me as to why it is only 1 fish each day.

These are exactly my suggestions

 

[DJ Monty]

Well guys we may have made a little progress.. No deaths this morning.. I still have 1 clown & 1 wrasse.. 9 30am came & went & the bell did not toll, both fish appear to be good.. I did manage to catch the clown at 7 30am & get it to a qt tank with copper.. Tried to catch it yesterday with no avail. No chance of catching the wrasse.. I have still tried numerous times to take pictures but they are really camera shy...

 

[DJ Monty]

Have you done a fresh water dip on any of the fish you lost? Might be a good way to check if you have some type of parasite that is hatching at night or when lights first come on.
Really stumps me as to why it is only 1 fish each day.

What gets me is that it's not just 1 fish a day but give or take 10 mins it's always around 9 30am

 

[Paullawr]

The only thing on a timer is my new kalk doser. I have had a meter in the tank at different times of the day and it shows nothing.. I also have a ground spike...

What's the PH after the kalk doser starts?

 

[DJ Monty]

When you get back, see if you can get some pictures of the other fish that are still alive. You're right, that clown looks completely normal. I was just thinking that something in your tank must be kicking on at 930 and it's leaking voltage- but apparently not. I want to know if any of your fish -at this point- have any abnormal marks on them: dark patches, white patches, red streaks, red dots - anything red that shouldn't be, redness around the gills, heavy breathing, hiding a lot.... I know we covered this before but I'm hoping something will have manifested by now that might help point us to a cause and a solution.

I just can't get a picture of my wrasse that is clear enough to post.. There are no marks of any kind anywhere. No redness around the gills & no abnormal breathing. I have spent a lot of time watching this fish at different times of the day & there is nothing unusual.. It goes to bed at around 4 30pm so I can't comment on night time. So as I was watching a few minutes ago the wrasse pooped this out.. It looks like a piece of shrimp but I'm not sure. I managed to net it right away & get a picture.. Any ideas ? On a good note neither the clown or the wrasse died this morning.. That has to be a good sign....

 

[DJ Monty]

What's the PH after the kalk doser starts?

PH is always between 8.13 & 8.3.. Its monitored by a Pinpoint PH controller.. I'll check the exact numbers when it comes back on..

 

[jsker]

Stray voltage?? from something that turn on around then?

 

[DJ Monty]

Stray voltage?? from something that turn on around then?

Thanks but I already been through that.. Meter shows nothing at that time or any other part of the day..The only thing that's on a timer is my kalk doser & it doesn't come on till 10am.. I even tried unplugging it for 12 hrs to be double sure & a fish still died at 9 30am the following day...

 

[jenreefer]

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..

That alkalinity if is dKH is a bit low, you may be getting pretty big PH swings between day and night. Not sure this would be the cause of death of any fish, but is something to look at. Good luck

 

[DJ Monty]

That alkalinity if is dKH is a bit low, you may be getting pretty big PH swings between day and night. Not sure this would be the cause of death of any fish, but is something to look at. Good luck

PH is always between 8.13 & 8.3..I'm slowly getting it more stable... My deaths have stopped but I only have 2 fish left.. Now I'm not sure what to do...I know I will be putting all new fish in qt but what should I do with the tank.. Maybe keep doing water changes every two weeks for the inverts & corals or should I be doing something different ?

 

[Brew12]

PH is always between 8.13 & 8.3..I'm slowly getting it more stable... My deaths have stopped but I only have 2 fish left.. Now I'm not sure what to do...I know I will be putting all new fish in qt but what should I do with the tank.. Maybe keep doing water changes every two weeks for the inverts & corals or should I be doing something different ?

It really has all the indications of a predator in the tank. If it were a stray voltage or a parasite I would expect it to kill more than one fish at a time. Just knowing your setup I have no idea how a predator could have made it into the tank. The fact that the fish show absolutely no symptoms or markings would also tend to rule out a predator.

Did you ever get a chance to do a fresh water dip on either a survivor or a victim?

 

[melypr1985]

Did anybody ever sell you a green brittle starfish and tell you that it's perfectly safe? Long-shot, but still.

 

[DJ Monty]

It really has all the indications of a predator in the tank. If it were a stray voltage or a parasite I would expect it to kill more than one fish at a time. Just knowing your setup I have no idea how a predator could have made it into the tank. The fact that the fish show absolutely no symptoms or markings would also tend to rule out a predator.

Did you ever get a chance to do a fresh water dip on either a survivor or a victim?

I can't see that it was a predator, I managed to catch one of the clowns a couple of hours before the usual death time & put it in a QT. It still died at 9 30am with not a mark.. As for the fresh water dip, I have one yellow coris wrasse left that I doubt I can catch & I didn't get the chance to freshwater dip any of the others.. I'm not sure how long to wait or how to treat the tank now..

 

[DJ Monty]

Did anybody ever sell you a green brittle starfish and tell you that it's perfectly safe? Long-shot, but still.

Never had a Green Brittle Starfish..
Do you have any suggestions what I should do now.. I'm not sure how long I should wait before adding anything. I'm in no rush at all but I'd like to put a timeline together & I'm trying also to learn how to handle this..I'm going to use a QT now (lesson learned) & also should I treat the tank or just keep doing water changes ?

 

[jsker]

Good Morning and good to here that you are not losing any more fish. My suggestion would be to QT and add one fish at a time back to the system to let the system bio load adjust. How is @beachsidereefer system doing?

 

[jsker]

Just found his thread

 

[Alfrareef]

Can you post a video of the tank from 9:28 to 9:31?

 

[Brew12]

Never had a Green Brittle Starfish..
Do you have any suggestions what I should do now.. I'm not sure how long I should wait before adding anything. I'm in no rush at all but I'd like to put a timeline together & I'm trying also to learn how to handle this..I'm going to use a QT now (lesson learned) & also should I treat the tank or just keep doing water changes ?

I'm not sure how good this advice is..... but it is what I would do if it were my tank.

I'd pick up a green chromis and put it through a TTM quarantine regime dosing Prazi on transfers 2 and 4. Then get it into the DT and see what happens. If it makes it for a week or 2, I would begin with a new restocking plan. If it doesn't make it I would get the body out and do a fresh water dip. Once the dip is done I would freeze the fish and see if I could find someone to help identify the cause of death.

Without knowing the cause, it is impossible to say the tank is safe to put more fish in or how to treat the tank. If you put another fish in without going through quarantine you will never know if it died because of something it came with or from being put in the DT.

 

[melypr1985]

Do you have any suggestions what I should do now.. I'm not sure how long I should wait before adding anything. I'm in no rush at all but I'd like to put a timeline together & I'm trying also to learn how to handle this..I'm going to use a QT now (lesson learned) & also should I treat the tank or just keep doing water changes ?

I would do anything I had to do to get that wrasse out of the tank and leave the tank fallow for 76 days. Since we can't be totally sure what happened in the tank, it would be safest to leave it fallow for the time being. Treat your tank as you normally would -save for feeding the fish since they won't be there while it's fallow- and feed corals, do any dosing, perform water changes as you normally would.