Sad week this week

[lisa.gregory11]

So being new to saltwater fish keeping i have done a ton of research. Things were going amazingly well. I had a goby, 2 clowns, a mccosker wrasse, 3 pajama cardinals, and a coral beauty and several varieties of coral. Well 2 weeks ago I started a new job and missed a water change due to being away for training. Family was home but didn't do one they only fed them. My first day back I found my wrasse dead. So I pulled him and did some testing nitrates were quite high so I immediately did a water change of 25% and another 25% the next day. Sadly the next day my pajamas and coral were gone and now today my clowns are gone. All I have left is my goby and a cleaner shrimp and some snails. Any ideas where to go from here to recover this tank and start again? Should I drain the water and do a new start of cycling and all?

 

[Mikedawg]

So being new to saltwater fish keeping i have done a ton of research. Things were going amazingly well. I had a goby, 2 clowns, a mccosker wrasse, 3 pajama cardinals, and a coral beauty and several varieties of coral. Well 2 weeks ago I started a new job and missed a water change due to being away for training. Family was home but didn't do one they only fed them. My first day back I found my wrasse dead. So I pulled him and did some testing nitrates were quite high so I immediately did a water change of 25% and another 25% the next day. Sadly the next day my pajamas and coral were gone and now today my clowns are gone. All I have left is my goby and a cleaner shrimp and some snails. Any ideas where to go from here to recover this tank and start again? Should I drain the water and do a new start of cycling and all?

How high were your nitrates? I would look for other causes and if you can, please post water parameters. Do you know how much was being fed; was water cloudy when you got home?

Seems like things were going well before this event, so once your water parameters are stable and within acceptable ranges, you should be okay to "restart"

 

[tehmadreefer]

How long was your tank up before adding everything? That’s the key.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I would look into disease as a culprit unless they were severely overfed. The wrasse was likely sick and then ammonia took over from there (or disease spread). The fact that the snails are alive leads me to believe it was a disease. Were any symptoms showing?

 

[Gtinnel]

Sorry you had this happen. The only thing I will add is that when you start adding inhabitants back make sure to do it slowly.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

sorry your fish died, but missing a water change is not really a big deal, and should have nothing to do with your dead fish (some people dont change water for months).

 

[lisa.gregory11]

How high were your nitrates? I would look for other causes and if you can, please post water parameters. Do you know how much was being fed; was water cloudy when you got home?

Seems like things were going well before this event, so once your water parameters are stable and within acceptable ranges, you should be okay to "restart"

Before the water change it was .4ppm
After its back to nearly 0. Ph is 8.2 salinity is 1.26 phosphate is a little high at 0.25. Ammonia 0, calc is 400, alkalinity 8.0. I do have a hair algea issue I'm fighting but it's going away nicely. I have nassarius snails doing great, and turbo snails doing well. All my coral is thriving. Its an 80 gallon oceanic with 60lbs of sand and 70lbs of rock.

 

[lisa.gregory11]

How long was your tank up before adding everything? That’s the key.

I've had its cycled since mid February and started in January levels were perfect across the board.

 

[Hincapiej4]

I'm betting something like ICH. Or even flukes since you didn't notice anything wrong.

 

[lisa.gregory11]

I would look into disease as a culprit unless they were severely overfed. The wrasse was likely sick and then ammonia took over from there (or disease spread). The fact that the snails are alive leads me to believe it was a disease. Were any symptoms showing?

No signs but the coral beauty hid a lot but we hadn't had him long maybe 2-3 weeks

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

The fact your snails are okay indicates disease. Either improve feed quality before introducing new fish or fallow/QT fish.

 

[lisa.gregory11]

I'm betting something like ICH. Or even flukes since you didn't notice anything wrong.

No but I was gone for training

 

[Hincapiej4]

Please don't say "Perfect" when talking about parameters. It doesn't really mean anything apart from you chasing numbers. As long as it's in a decent range and stable thats all we care about.

 

[Hincapiej4]

No but I was gone for training

Ich wouldn't kill that fast without you noticing something. Flukes takes time sometimes, and might be harder to notice.

 

[lisa.gregory11]

Please don't say "Perfect" when talking about parameters. It doesn't really mean anything apart from you chasing numbers. As long as it's in a decent range and stable thats all we care about.

By perfect I mean well within normal range. Sorry.

 

[LAX Noob Reef]

Could family member over feed, which drive up your parm?

 

[Hincapiej4]

By perfect I mean well within normal range. Sorry.

Don't mean to get on your case. But I've seen people when asked for actual numbers they come back with "perfect". I usually leave thread at that point.

 

[Hincapiej4]

I still maintain disease. Even if they overfed, it's not gonna kill fish. It might coral, but that'll take time AND you'd see ALOT of algae.

 

[Hincapiej4]

No signs but the coral beauty hid a lot but we hadn't had him long maybe 2-3 weeks

Hiding is a sign of disease. Coral beauties arent the type of fish to hide imo.
Also 2 -3 weeks is about the length of time I start expecting disease to manifest unless it's velvet.

 

[Hincapiej4]

OH also, to check if it's flukes, just do a fresh water dip. You can do it either on a dead fish if you see it fast enough or one of the alive ones.