Do clowns get SIDS?

saltydude

New member
I woke up this morning to dead clown fish. They are in a 20 gallon with a 15 gallon sump with 20 lbs of live rock. Everything and I mean every thing as far as water quality is up to par. They have no bite marks as if a bristle worm attacked them so that is a no go there. The only thing is that they were in the process of breeding, can they die from wild clown breeding? It is odd that they died in the same night. PLEASE HELP ME!!!:confused:
 
are there any other fish in your tank? Any other inhabitants in there? (hermits, corals etc?) how do they lloK? are u sure your water is ok? what did u test for? do u use a refractometer or a hydrometer?
What brand of test kits do u have?
How long have the fish been in your tank?
 
Their are no other fish in there, I have snails and a few crabs but nothing harmful, I tested for nitrites, nitrates, amonia, ph etc..., my temp is fine and I use a refractometer, I use one on my reef as well so no problems there. No corals, I used red sea test kit and I had my lfs check as well and they gave me the thumbs up. There are no bite marks on the fish either, They are just dead. Its a mystery.
 
I dont buy it. (not trying to be rude) but theres gotta be somthing your missing.

how long have u had them? did u do anything strange? like a water change with non aged water? tap water? lower salinity to fast? lack of oxygen? temp swings? did you vacuume the sand? uh.... boy i hate mysterys. dont know if your gonna repeat them.

Can you tell me your exact perameters? cal, alk, ph, trate, trite, ammonia, salinity, phosphate?
 
Could it be low O2 levels in the water? If they sleep on the bottom and you have poor flow in the area they sleep...

You didn't mention how long you had the clowns.

When you say in the process of breeding do you mean the were laying eggs the night they died? Or do you mean they we pairing and deciding dominance? Not sure if this matters.

Simon
 
It is a mystery to me. I have decent flow in the tank. I dont feel up to posting exact water parimeters but if you look in a reef book or mag and see what "Ideal" conditions are, that is what I have. We do not smoke or spray airfreshners in the same room as the tank (we dont smoke period). I have had the clowns for about 2 months. The were paired up and were fanning out a spot for eggs. We are pretty good at washing our hands before we feed them but maybe it has something to do with that, good suggestion! Maybe it is just a freak thing that happened. I also feed them at the same time as I feed my reef so I would expect to see a casualty in the reef tank if my hands were contaminated.
 
Im at a loss. after two months the only disease i can think of that wouldent be visual is internal parasites, but that takes longer than 2 months. I find it fishy you wont list your perameters, but to each his own i guess. maybe a fast ammonia spike from moving around sand, or somthing big dieing... removing a big biological filter or bioballs... i donno. you need to make a time line
 
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