Seizing fish

[curlysearcher]

Arrived home today after an absence of 3 hours to find my powder blue tang of 8 years lying on the bottom of the tank with respirations looking like about a hundred a minute. Immediately netted him but when I got him to the top, he jumped out of the net landing on the floor. I scooped him up and dumped him into a 10 gallon tank that I had set up for some corals but he appeared like he was seizing with his body extremely rigid. He sank to the bottom so I grabbed him and angled his gills and head into a air stream with minimal flow but his respirations slowed and minutes later stopped completely. The tank parameters were “normal” - ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, copper, phosphate all zero, calcium 400, KH 179, salinity 1.024 and PH 8. Got grounding probes in all my tanks including sump. I have no idea what is happening here but my chromis of 4 years is starting to show the same signs as we speak. Weirdly, last week my maroon clownfish couple of 7 years was found dead in their anemone. No discoloration, signs of illness, nothing. The parameters were also normal in that tank. I have RODI water. I am starting to worry that I have some kind of poisoning or contamination but I have no clue where or how. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So sorry to hear!
Do you have a deep sand bed?
Do you run bio pellets?

How old is the tank right now?
Are there corals ? Are they ok?

Lets tag the rest of the #reefsquad.
My first though is sulfur, dsb , a bad sand bed , old rock , bio pellets.

 

[Dsnakes]

Sounds like you have established fish, but have you added any fish/inverts/coral/rocks recently?

 

[ndrwater]

I'm with @saltyfilmfolks ... Sounds like something got disturbed in something like DSB, bio pellets or something..

Or perhaps choloramine? When was the last time the carbon blocks were replace in the RODI? Or, worse yet, did your local municipality recently add Choliramine to the water supply that you possibly weren't prepared for? Im not sure if cities make this kind of announcement available easily.

 

[4FordFamily]

I’ve seen powder blue tangs and other acanthurus do this, especially during feeding time. I’ve witnessed two powder blue tangs do this and die on two occasions. What they share in common though was that they were new additions (less than a month or two in my care). I’ve always wondered if that’s just how they die or if it was poor collection methods. It’s been during feeding time for all three I’ve witnessed, another was an Achilles. This is over several years at LFS and quarantining at home dozens of them.

 

[curlysearcher]

So sorry to hear!
Do you have a deep sand bed?
Do you run bio pellets?

How old is the tank right now?
Are there corals ? Are they ok?

Lets tag the rest of the #reefsquad.
My first though is sulfur, dsb , a bad sand bed , old rock , bio pellets.

1. The sand bed is only about 1 1/2” deep in the 50 gallon and “new”, i.e., straight from the bag with live cultures but the 30 gallon has about 5” deep of sand from the 125 gallon which was set up 8 years previously.
2. I don’t have biopellets. I was outfitting a new sump so the only thing running was some penguins with floss and carbon. I hadn’t any rock in yet as my 125 gallon had some aptasia and I didn’t want that in the new tank. Same thing with the 30 gallon. Both were pretty spartan and both had protein skimmers.
3. I had a 125 gallon at my office which I broke down because we closed. I started a 50 gallon tank and a 30 gallon tank, the latter for my anemone and clown family.
4. My leather corals, mushrooms are okay. My anemone is a rose bubble tip but the coloration has turned brownish with the tips still pink. It won’t eat for me now. It has great turgor still with no mushyness, no mouth parts hanging out but it doesn’t take the fish into its mouth, just clutches onto it and eventually letting it go. It’s about 7 years old. It’s split about 3 times over that period.

Thank you.

 

[Big G]

Has anything happened in the room where the tank is located? Carpets cleaned, painting, cleaners of any kind sprayed in the room? Any neighbors spraying pesticides, etc.?

 

[curlysearcher]

I'm with @saltyfilmfolks ... Sounds like something got disturbed in something like DSB, bio pellets or something..

Or perhaps choloramine? When was the last time the carbon blocks were replace in the RODI? Or, worse yet, did your local municipality recently add Choliramine to the water supply that you possibly weren't prepared for? Im not sure if cities make this kind of announcement available easily.

The carbon was replaced along with everything else in the RODI about a month ago. I don’t know about the chloramine. Many years ago, I would call the city before mixing dialysate to check for these kind of things but I am in a new city and different job now so I don’t know.

 

[ndrwater]

The carbon was replaced along with everything else in the RODI about a month ago. I don’t know about the chloramine. Many years ago, I would call the city before mixing dialysate to check for these kind of things but I am in a new city and different job now so I don’t know.

A quick phone call to your utilities provider will answer the question. Most regular RO carbon blocks aren't capable of removing Choliramine. A specialty, or "Universal" carbon blocks designed to remove Choliramine is required.
Even if this doesn't happen to be the source of your troubles, it's good to know that to prevent any further issues.

 

[curlysearcher]

Has anything happened in the room where the tank is located? Carpets cleaned, painting, cleaners of any kind sprayed in the room? Any neighbors spraying pesticides, etc.?

I just found out that Orkin came in and sprayed for ants about a week ago. Little did we know that when we bought this house 1 1/2 yrs ago, it was located on an ant hellmouth.

 

[ndrwater]

Ouch.........

 

[curlysearcher]

A quick phone call to your utilities provider will answer the question. Most regular RO carbon blocks aren't capable of removing Choliramine. A specialty, or "Universal" carbon blocks designed to remove Choliramine is required.
Even if this doesn't happen to be the source of your troubles, it's good to know that to prevent any further issues.

Wow! Good advice. I will check on that tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[Big G]

I just found out that Orkin came in and sprayed for ants about a week ago. Little did we know that when we bought this house 1 1/2 yrs ago, it was located on an ant hellmouth.

Well, heck. Sorry for you losses.
Anyone got any ideas how to deal with this poisoning? #Reefsquad

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

For safety and general good measure ,
Run a bit more carbon agreessivly like a reactor or Bag on the sump.
Increase surface agitation.
Run gfo the same as the carbon.

 

[ndrwater]

Carbon.... Lots...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Well, heck. Sorry for you losses.
Anyone got any ideas how to deal with this poisoning? #Reefsquad

Aggressive carbon , purigen , gfo , added oxygen.

 

[curlysearcher]

Sounds like you have established fish, but have you added any fish/inverts/coral/rocks recently?

Actually, I got a watchman goby about a week ago. He was placed in the 50 gallon and yesterday I noticed under his jaw it looks like there is a black spot that wasn’t there before. He is still eating like a pig as everyone was. But he never was exposed to the clowns or 30 gallon so not sure what to think.

 

[Big G]

I'd consider some decent sized water changes asap, especially after checking on the possible chloramine situation as well.

 

[Big G]

Wow! Good advice. I will check on that tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[curlysearcher]

I want to thank everyone for their concern and great input. After going through this mental walk through with everyone and finding out about Orkin, I am leaning more towards poisoning of my clowns. But I wonder if this could still be a factor with my Tang? I will check the chloramine situation tomorrow. Possibly, this could be multi-causal but makes me sick all the same.