Four fish died and not sure why...

[sharky1707]

Hi

First time posting in the forum so apologies if this is not the right thread. I have been running my aquarium for just over a year and it's all been going well. I had an early shift today and when I come home I noticed that some of the fish were nowhere to be seen (usually they swim up to the front of the tank when I get in). Some of the other fish were underneath rocks and not coming out. I could see all of the fish except for four. I've then looked in the tank and found the following fish dead:

Midas blenny - had for about 10 months. Parts of it had clearly been eaten (unsure if that's why it's dead or if my cuc had taken a few bites after it died).
Algae blenny - had for about 10 months. No sign of injury.
Cardinal fish - had for just over 10 months. No sign of injury.
Cleaner Wrasse - had for about 3 weeks. No sign of injury.

I have immediately checked all of my water parameters (I have a 400 litre tank) and they read as follows:

Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia - 0.1
Nitrite - 0.05
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0.4
PH - 8
Alkalinity - 9
Calcium - 435
Magnesium - 1300
Temp - 27c

My current stock is: blue/yellow tang, 2 x clownfish, 4 x green chromis, royal grammar basslet and a Mandarin. I've had most of these for over 8 to 9 months. I also have a toadstool, xenia, green star polyp and frogspawn. I have a sump with protein skimmer and filter for my rowa phos.

To lose four in quick succession is really not right but can't see anything from my parameters that jumps out. My wife thinks maybe the Wrasse has got aggressive towards the Midas blenny (hence the injuries) but that doesn't explain the algae blenny and cardinal dying.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[scuzy]

Did the fish have any parasites on it? White cloudy film on your current fish? Was the new fish quarantine before introduction?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[sharky1707]

Did the fish have any parasites on it? White cloudy film on your current fish? Was the new fish quarantine before introduction?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thank you scuzy. I did notice what could have been a white film on the side of the Midas blenny yesterday but put this down to maybe it caught it's self on a rock as it liked the squeeze into a hole in the rock to sleep. I'm a bit of an amateur in all honesty. Didn't quarantine my Wrasse and have never been advised to by lfs.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[sharky1707]

Thank you scuzy. I did notice what could have been a white film on the side of the Midas blenny yesterday but put this down to maybe it caught it's self on a rock as it liked the squeeze into a hole in the rock to sleep. I'm a bit of an amateur in all honesty. Didn't quarantine my Wrasse and have never been advised to by lfs.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

All other fish look clear of parasites and white cloudy film too.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[scuzy]

Any heavy breathing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[sharky1707]

Any heavy breathing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Wife has said she noticed clown fish being high in tank and almost putting their heads above water. Tang has shown signs of what could be breathing heavily. What are you thinking?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[scuzy]

Four fish died and not sure why...

Probably velvet or flukes. You don't see any white powdery film on fishes? Velvet is a rapid killer. But I'll have to see how the fishes look.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[sharky1707]

Probably velvet or flukes. You don't see any white powdery film on fishes? Velvet is a rapid killer. But I'll have to see how the fishes look.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Read up on velvet... doesn't sound too good at all. Haven't noticed any brown or gold markets on any of the fish. Early start at work this morning but had a look in tank and haven't lost any others. Will get photos and post them later.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[sharky1707]

Tried taking pics but they're aren't coming out very well. Have got one of the clown fish. Cannot see any cloudy film on any of the fish. The chromis are all moving their mouths quite fast and my tang is hanging around the return pipe from the pump. It's almost as if there isn't enough oxygen for them maybe or that's how they are behaving. They are all eating through when I feed them.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[mike61289]

Tried taking pics but they're aren't coming out very well. Have got one of the clown fish. Cannot see any cloudy film on any of the fish. The chromis are all moving their mouths quite fast and my tang is hanging around the return pipe from the pump. It's almost as if there isn't enough oxygen for them maybe or that's how they are behaving. They are all eating through when I feed them.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

It's possible that they're low on O2, as you suggested. What's the powerhead situation like in your tank? How much turnover is there?

Another recommendation is that you lower your temperature a bit. It's at 27 C. Bring it down to maybe 25 C if you can. Warm saltwater holds less dissolved oxygen than warm freshwater. Lowering the temperature might help increase the amount of dissolved O2 in the water at the very least.

 

[sharky1707]

It's possible that they're low on O2, as you suggested. What's the powerhead situation like in your tank? How much turnover is there?

Another recommendation is that you lower your temperature a bit. It's at 27 C. Bring it down to maybe 25 C if you can. Warm saltwater holds less dissolved oxygen than warm freshwater. Lowering the temperature might help increase the amount of dissolved O2 in the water at the very least.

Hi Mike. I've always had my temp about 27. Is that too high then? I have 2 x wave machines that are 5000 and they alternate one at a time every 15mins. Then I have two smaller ones that are 2000 and are on constantly (added these in the last month to improve flow for corals). And also found a clown fish just now dead being eaten by a nassarius snail. The white markings in the photo is sand. Any ideas?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[mike61289]

Hi Mike. I've always had my temp about 27. Is that too high then? I have 2 x wave machines that are 5000 and they alternate one at a time every 15mins. Then I have two smaller ones that are 2000 and are on constantly (added these in the last month to improve flow for corals). And also found a clown fish just now dead being eaten by a nassarius snail. The white markings in the photo is sand. Any ideas?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Sorry for your losses. This is definitely strange and I'm not sure how else to help you in all honesty.

As for the temperature, it is on the high side, but people have kept them at that temperature before. The standard temperature that people keep their tanks at ranges from 22-25 C (72-78 F). I would still recommend lowering it to 25 C.

 

[sharky1707]

Sorry for your losses. This is definitely strange and I'm not sure how else to help you in all honesty.

As for the temperature, it is on the high side, but people have kept them at that temperature before. The standard temperature that people keep their tanks at ranges from 22-25 C (72-78 F). I would still recommend lowering it to 25 C.

Thank you Mike. It is incredibly frustrating and everything seemed to be going so well. I have lowered the temp to 25°c as suggested. I can only assume it has to be linked to the new Wrasse as all was good and healthy. If I do end up losing all of them I will just run it as a coral tank for a few months and then slowly add fish back. Frustrating hobby at times.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[scuzy]

Four fish died and not sure why...

Breathing hard and hanging in flow area definitely sounds like velvet. It's a fast killer
Only way is to catch them and treat in a separate tank as copper/cp will kill your inverts as well as corals.


Always quarantine new fish and watch for diseases for awhile before introducing to main display.

I put all me fish through a very strict quarantine protocol because of the amount of expensive fishes I have.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[sharky1707]

Breathing hard and hanging in flow area definitely sounds like velvet. It's a fast killer
Only way is to catch them and treat in a separate tank as copper/cp will kill your inverts as well as corals.


Always quarantine new fish and watch for diseases for awhile before introducing to main display.

I put all me fish through a very strict quarantine protocol because of the amount of expensive fishes I have.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for the advice mate [emoji1360]

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[humaguy]

sorry for the loss, it always stings.
is there proper flow in the tank? the surface should really be broken up, choppy, and moving a lot. the gulping leans to possibly low o2. their bodies seem pretty clean in the pics
I agree with a long and slow qt.

best of luck going forward.

ted

 

[Joe0813]

What do you have for water circulation

 

[McPuff]

I'm thinking the new wrasse brought something in to your tank. Agree with the others about QT. I've done it the hard way (not QT) and it can absolutely destroy your tank in a heartbeat. Over the last few years I've been really strict about new additions and have followed a QT protocol that is pretty strict. I always thought that QT was too hard and took too many resources but have since learned that you don't need a lot to run an effective QT protocol. Buckets and 10g tanks will work just fine. It's just patience that we need. Just keep in mind that you're QTing the new fish for the sake of your current fish and the system they inhabit. That always puts things in perspective for me. Good luck moving forward!

 

[sharky1707]

Thank you for the last three replies, sorry for my delayed reply as had a busy couple of days at work. I've got four wave machines in there at the moment. Two of them are 5000 and alternate with one on and one off every 15 mins. The other two are smaller 2000 and on permanently. I've adjusted those both two now aim higher to give more water movement at the surface. I think unfortunately the Wrasse had something and the lack of my QT procedure has learned me a hard lesson. Thanks for all the input, it's appreciated [emoji1360]

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Borntrippn]

Id guess disease