I woke up this morning and 75% of my fish were dead :(

[Lemony Lemons]

Hi all, maybe you guys can help since I am getting different answers from each lfs..

I have a 30 gallon with about 2 inches of live sand, 25 lbs LR, a penguin 350 (dual bio wheels, bio wheels arent established as of yet), a Hydor Koralia 600 circulation pump, a heater (dont know which brand, its glass though so I plan on replacing it - it was free), and right now I am using 2 marineland daylight fixtures and a marineland hidden LED (my solarXtreme quad T5 comes in tomorrow, was backordered). My skimmer is in the mail, but I was told with a new-ish tank it wasnt a must-have right away.

My fish are/were - 2 still alive: 1 Lemon chromis & 1 Starry Blenny; 4 Dead: 2 Lemon Chromis, 1 Coral Beauty & 1 Surgeon Blue Hippo. I also have 2 Bumble Bee snails in there somewhere.

My tank is 3 weeks old. I set it up with no fish to let it cycle, after about a week I had an ammonia spike and then everything evened out. I was at my LFS ordering the new fixture and they told me I was ready for fish (I was going to wait 4 weeks as a rule for myself, but figured they know better than me), I wanted 1 clown and they said I should get chromis because when introducing new fish to the tank later on the chromis wont be as territorial. So i bought 2 chromis the next day, different store, where this guy told me they should live in pairs. I then went back to my original lfs and they said they need to be in odd numbers or they pair up etc. So I bought 1 more Chromis.

I noticed i had diatoms on the sand bed so spoke to the lfs about that, and they recommended a blenny. I got the blenny the next day (fish #4).

I waited a few days and ran to the store for some other things (dogs cats etc.) and spoke to the fish guy there who told me if those fish are doing fine I could add more - so I got the coral beauty & a very small hippo and called it a day, figured thats all I need in there as to not overcrowd.

Yesterday morning my air pump came in the mail, I took some water out of the tank and used it to wash the new pump - in case there was dirt or something on it and installed the pump on the top right back of my tank, pointed toward the front middle. It was on, things looked good, that was that.

Last night I noticed the blenny could care less about the diatoms, he eats the mysis and seaweed clips (mostly the mysis), so I called my lfs and they said bumblebee snails will eat diatoms and clean my LR - theyre a dollar come get 2. So I got 2 last night.

At around 1:30am, I went to bed and they were fine, no weird sinking, floating etc, just being their normal fishy selves. At 7am my son went to school (I was asleep) and he said he looked at the tank and he didnt see anything weird but the hippo was laying on the rock breathing very fast - which didnt seem odd him just laying there since they tend to wedge themselves on the LR in strange places... so my son didnt wake me, he just went to school -.-

I woke up a few hours later and as usual, walked straight to my tank - and turned on the lights, and nothing - no ones home.. ***? The I saw the hippo, laying in his spot, not breathing... I netted his body and put him in the *RIP* toilet and I looked for the others.. I found the coral beauty, and 1 chromis behind my LR dead, added them to the toilet. I found 1 more chromis stuck to my filter and when I went near him he took off, upside down, sunk to the bottom, breathed heavily for long enough for me to go get my fish only bucket and he was dead...

My blenny is breathing very fast - I fear he is next. The last chromis, happens to be the 3rd one I bought to add to the pair - he doesnt seem affected. Yet.

I did a 50% water change, and tilted the circulator toward the surface even more and checked the heater for shortages etc. I also replaced the filters in my penguin with new activated carbon ones. Nothing strange.

My levels are: pH 8, ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 5 salinity is good, had it checked yesterday at the store since my refractometer is also in the mail.

I called a few different lfs and this is what they say:

1st Store: O2/cO2 levels arent right and the fish suffocated. My thought: why would this happen after I added the pump?
2nd Store: the heater shorted out and fried my fish
3rd Store: something in my LR died, possibly a sea cucumber and it released toxins. Do a water change and good luck.
4th Store: Your blenny is aggressive and killed them during the night. My thought: WHAT?!

Does anyone have any ideas? I know I added fish somewhat fast - I drip acclimated them all, the levels in their drip bucket and my tank were 100% the same when I put them into the tank so I dont think it was shock from any of that stuff. I am confused because each store is giving me different advice. Has anyone heard of this?? I feel bad for my fish, I dont want to get more for a while - because I dont want to murder them because of ignorance on the subject.

HELP!!

 

[KafudaFish]

I would find a new LFS as my first step.

Second: WC

Third: No more livestock.

Fourth: Research.

 

[LJLKRL]

That is an awful lot of fish to add that quickly. I would run all those tests again and make sure the ammonia and nitrite is zero and the nitrate is very low.
Maybe do a 10% water change every day for a while too.

Do you have an airstone in there? You probably need one for oxygenation.

If the last fish is doing ok I would leave him in there alone and see how he does for a while, like a few more weeks before adding any more fish and then only add one.

I think I would also try to find one good LFS and follow what they say instead of going between four of them.

 

[gone fishin]

That is a huge amount of fish for a 3 week old tank and some of those fish have no business in a 30.

I would suspect you overwhelmed your bio filter and had some ammonia spiking. it is also possible depending on flow in your tank that you may have depleted some O2 as well.

I would give some time for the tank to settle down and research what fish and quantity you want in the tank. I would also suggest QT your fish. Just my 2 cents

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

You have a brand new tank way overstocked. Your fish died from ammonia poisoning.

 

[dmaynard2]

did you calibrate your heater? What's the temp of the tank?

 

[Sacohen]

My first thought when reading this was to many fish at once.
Yes your levels may have been fine when your LFS tested the water and told you it was good, but it was fine for the amount of fish you had in there at that time (which was 0).

From what I can read in the period of 5-7 day you added 6 fish and 2 snails that's an awful lot to add in that short a period of time without letting the bacterial population build up.

The fact that you have nitrate level of 5 even after doing a 50% water change says that it had to be pretty high before the water change.

 

[quantim0]

Stocked way too fast and way too heavy. You had 6 fish in a 30 gal tank that was weeks old. Never mind that a coral beauty is pushing it in a 30 gal, and a hippo tang needs at least an 8' long tank.

To put your stocking in context, I have an 80 gal that is almost 6 months old. I have 3 fish in it with 2 in quarantine.

Those lfs gave you terrible advice. Research and spend time on here before you do anything else. You have a lot to learn and we were all there at one point.

 

[dinger28]

+1 on the ditching your LFS store. They unfortunately set the hook and trapped you for easy money. Also, for a 30 gallon, the coral beauty and hippo are fish that should never be in a tank that small. Not to bash, because I have done the same thing. Simply research and read a whole lot before you start spending money left and right.....because you will. We all love is hobby, and a little research goes a long way! Good luck!

 

[Sacohen]

I think you see your problem here.
Everyone has said the same thing Too much, too soon.
Besides in your entire description of what happened you never mentioned Quarantining any of the fish so any one of them could of had a parasite that killed the rest.

Research the fish you want to get before you buy them.
I hate to say it, but never trust LFS even if they someone else recommended them to you. you don't know who they were dealing with at that store.

A small store may have 5 employees. your friend may have gotten someone who knows what they are doing and is giving good advice, but you don't know if you are talking to that same person or someone else who just started there yesterday.

 

[marietrg]

I've concluded critical keys to this hobby are careful planning and patience. I might have added a single fish but would have waited 6-8 weeks to let the tank get settled. I didn't conclude that overnight I was burned several times at various points and learned the hard way

 

[campos]

I would find a new LFS as my first step.

Second: WC

Third: No more livestock.

Fourth: Research.

agree, +1

 

[gb530]

My advice: (1) get a new heater (2) Read every single sticky in the "New to Hobby" forum, link below and (3) listen to everyone above ^^^

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=104

Nice job commenting on here, you will find everything you need to know about the hobby on RC, good luck :beer:

 

[Badfish_Reefer]

I agree with what everyone has said before. I can say with complete confidence (from personal experience) that you should trust the advice on here before you trust your LFS.

I had a new tank not too long ago so I know how it goes, you want to add a whole bunch of stuff right away. This site is a great resource to learn and do research. You should always do research on your own for any inhabitant you plan to add to a tank. In the future don't hesitate to ask more questions here before you do anything with your tank. Like others have mentioned, we were beginners at one point too. For me personally, this site was the main resource I used to take my knowledge to the next level. And, I still come on every day because there is always something else to learn.

It is important to keep in mind that the fish and corals in your tank are beautiful gifts of nature, and you owe it to them to provide an optimal reef environment to ensure their health and keep them stress free. But, I know that you feel bad about this happening and are on here to learn more so this can be avoided in the future.

Again, don't hesitiate to use this community as a resource and please keep us updated on your progress. Best of luck!

 

[brob22]

my piece of advice for what its worth

i would put a good hob skimmer on the tank or do a sump with a swc 120 skimmer. That would take ur tank to the next level. U would b able to stock heavy but not as heavy as u were before obviously. I been in this hobby for 14 years and when ever i see my buddy at the lfs he tells the employees that they should put me in jail for killing off the entire reefs fish population. Hell always remember my growing pains when i was a begginer and killed off tons of fish. i put a clown trigger in a 65 gallon tank btw i had no idea

 

[Lemony Lemons]

That is an awful lot of fish to add that quickly. I would run all those tests again and make sure the ammonia and nitrite is zero and the nitrate is very low.
Maybe do a 10% water change every day for a while too.

Do you have an airstone in there? You probably need one for oxygenation.

If the last fish is doing ok I would leave him in there alone and see how he does for a while, like a few more weeks before adding any more fish and then only add one.

I think I would also try to find one good LFS and follow what they say instead of going between four of them.

I run my tests daily, or at least every other day - I know thats a lot but its curiosity. I ran them the day before I added them and I ran them again today before the 50% water change and they were all as I stated in the original post. I dont have an airstone, I have my circulation pump at the surface, I turned it more today to stir up the surface more than usual because of this incident - there are plenty of bubbles being swooshed around so I dont think o2 is the problem.

I am going to least the survivors in there and hopefully they will be ok. I found a lfs that has great reviews from forum member near my house, but theyre closed every day except Friday - Tuesday.. theyre out diving during the week. One of the lfs stores I was going to was a 'corporate chain'. The other one was smaller but kind of far away so I jumped to the chain store for convenience. I shouldnt have.

 

[Lemony Lemons]

did you calibrate your heater? What's the temp of the tank?

My heater stays at 75, my tank temp is 79, has been and never fluctuates. Is this normal?

 

[Lemony Lemons]

My first thought when reading this was to many fish at once.
Yes your levels may have been fine when your LFS tested the water and told you it was good, but it was fine for the amount of fish you had in there at that time (which was 0).

From what I can read in the period of 5-7 day you added 6 fish and 2 snails that's an awful lot to add in that short a period of time without letting the bacterial population build up.

The fact that you have nitrate level of 5 even after doing a 50% water change says that it had to be pretty high before the water change.

Sorry, I should've said in the original post, those levels were before the water change - after I removed the dead fish. It was a lot to type at once and I was trying not to leave anything out - thx for your advice, I have had so many responses on forums now and 80% of them say too many fish at once - which I didnt hear one time from the lfs.. SO this is much appreciated.

 

[EllieSuz]

You had more fish in your 30 gallon tank than I have in a 60. We can't put the numbers of fish in saltwater that we did in freshwater. It's just a different kind of situation. Your tank will hold maybe four fish when it's fully stocked and NO tangs ever. Slow down. This is a hobby that develops patience or we run into troubles. You're in the right place. Remember that the LFS profits from their bad advice and research all your purchases before you buy.

 

[LJLKRL]

I run my tests daily, or at least every other day - I know thats a lot but its curiosity. I ran them the day before I added them and I ran them again today before the 50% water change and they were all as I stated in the original post. I dont have an airstone, I have my circulation pump at the surface, I turned it more today to stir up the surface more than usual because of this incident - there are plenty of bubbles being swooshed around so I dont think o2 is the problem.

I am going to least the survivors in there and hopefully they will be ok. I found a lfs that has great reviews from forum member near my house, but theyre closed every day except Friday - Tuesday.. theyre out diving during the week. One of the lfs stores I was going to was a 'corporate chain'. The other one was smaller but kind of far away so I jumped to the chain store for convenience. I shouldnt have.

Just slow down a little and read the stickies on these forums. You will learn a ton.
Slow and steady works best for these systems.