Fish in QT 1 Week Doing Great, Dead in the Morning.

[dotcommer]

I have had a copperband butterfly, potters angel, and two firefish in QT for a week. All of them were doing great eating very well. Did two water changes during the week, Ammonia at .25 via API test kit. I wake up this morning and the potters and the copperband are dead. Firefish are still alive

No sign of any disease, parasites etc...
I did not treat with any medication, since I wanted it to be an observation tank at first. The LFS store I purchased from has a QT facility as well.

Tank Set Up.
20 Gallon Long with HOB filter, two power heads, 3 pieces of live rock from an established system. Bio-media bag in the HOB filter that was in my DT sump for 3 months. Salinity at 1.024, temp 78.

What could cause a sudden death like that? Any suggestions. I don't want the death of these two beautiful fish to go with learning something.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Ammonia of .25ppm itself will kill fish.

 

[fijisrfr]

Ammonia = Death

 

[dotcommer]

That is what the water tested at this morning. I did a water change about 25% about 36 hours ago and the ammonia tested lower. I think it could have been the uneaten food that spiked it up.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Something is missing. The filter media and cycled LR should have taken care of the ammonia in your QT. If it were just one fish, I'd say " it just happens, sometimes"; but two fish probably mean something went wrong somewhere. FWIW, the two fish you lost are both difficult fish to acclimate. Do you know the origin of the CBB? CBBs from The Philippines or Indonesia are still often caught using cyanide and the time-table fits.

 

[metasinapsis]

Have. PRIME. On hand for the spikes. And well Does áre delicadeza fish.

 

[xanthurum]

Ammonia is bad but that is a very minute level and most fish can survive at much higher levels than that. As for why they died I am not sure were they eating, how was their behavior prior. There are many problems that only damage non visible areas like gills. Sometimes you just get dead fish with no reason it could be cyanide collection like was said before.

 

[SDguy]

Those are notoriously difficult and sensitive fish. The ammonia was probably just one part of the problem...