Fish distress or low O2??

Bluecrabber

Bluecrabber

Member
Hi everyone. Haven’t been on the new forums since they updated so apologies if this is the wrong area.

I have a new 125 gallon that I have had setup with livestock for about 3.5 weeks now. Little bit of uglies but overall not so bad so far. Thing that worried me today was a lot of the fish were hiding and my wife texted me while I was at work that she couldn’t find some of them and they were all swimming funny and and hanging out on side of tank near top of the water. First thought was that the oxygen was low for some reason but not sure why that would be. I got home shortly after and ran some tests. All was good except nitrates which are around 40ppm but I’m working on knocking those down with WC’s. Any idea what the issue might be? I have the following fish

1 Tomini tang (he was the really only cool guy through this fish stress episode)
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 Royal gramma
1 orchid dottyback
1 male lyretail anthias
3 female lyretails
 
So day zero was 3.5 weeks ago or the tank has been running longer and the fish were added 3.5 weeks ago?

If the former I dare say the fish have experienced a cycle and water changing is a good idea. Did you check ammonia in your tests?

@Dr. Fish , @HumbleFish @Timfish @Habib
 
Sorry I can see how that was confusing. The tank had been cycled and running longer to Day 0 which was 3.5 weeks ago.I say running but all it had was the base rock and sand with saltwater going. No fish or coral. I didn’t register any ammonia when I did the tests after I got home today.

I’m thinking the fish were just super hungry and were kinda weird about eating today. I did my last feeding about an hour ago and everyone was out and eating really well. Last week we kind switched up the diet to where we now do the half cube frozen mysis for breakfast some mysis pellets sprinkled throughout the afternoon and then other half of frozen cube mysis shortly before lights out. It seemed to be doing well but maybe my wife didn’t put enough pellets out. I just thought it was weird some of the fish were swimming at the top like they were gasping for air….
 
Just FYI but for those fish I'd have an autofeeder dropping in pellets 4-8 times a day (small amounts each time but about 1/2 teaspoon total daily) as well as a whole cube twice a day.
 
Thank you that’s a good idea! Honestly had not thought of that because I’m trying to balance not feeding too much and having some go to waste. I do realize this means increasing the frequency of feedings and not necessarily the quantity. Those anthias are crazy little buggers for being hungry!

Any ideas why pretty much all the fish are crowding up on right side of the tank during the day? That’s where the return comes into the display but wasn’t sure if that factored into it.
 
That sounds like a low oxygen issue. Was it a one time event or does it happen regularly? (Was anything sprayed in the room?)
 
Wednesday afternoon was first time my wife noticed it. To my knowledge nothing has been sprayed.

The only other thing that possibly coincides is I have seen a ton (understatement here) of little white critters all over the glass. I assumed those were copepods. Would a sudden boom in their population drag on the oxygen? They are everywhere. Sump too.
 
I suspect it's possible, but I'd suspect unlikely also. Are the fish still hanging out in hte same place or has it been just a one time event?
 
Yesterday they were. Today they seem to be swimming all over more like normal. They have been a little pickier with food. Only clowns will peck at the pellets now. Went to doing more mysis feeding but even a little picky with that too. They’re still eating though.
 
Hopefully. One unlikely possibility is something spawned in your sump and they were waiting to catch stuff. Could also be something spawned and it caused a drop in oxygen as the excess nutrients released in the system were processed by microbes. But I want to emphasize these are guessing and need something to corraborate them.
 
Or small rotifer, isopod, amphipod or worm. I've had one instance where hundreds of tiny ~1mm crabs showed up for a couple day. But I want to emphasisze it's just a guess a spawning of something might have happened.
 
I am sad to say I found my orchid dottyback dead behind a rock earlier today. I really don’t know if it has anything to do with what what I was noticing in the tank though. She was very skittish and didn’t eat a lot when I would feed. She would take small nibbles so I thought she was getting enough but maybe not. She was also swimming right next to my two emerald crabs I have. I’m wondering if she was sickly one of them just went for the easy meal.
 
Ugh now I am really stressing. The Royal Gramma didn’t come out for feeding last night. I was a little concerned but didn’t think anything of it because occasionally she would skip a meal and stay hidden. This morning my wife was checking the tank for her when she didn’t show up for breakfast. She saw her tail up sticking out of the rockwork. Had to move a piece up to get at her. She almost seemed stuck.
 
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