I'm gutted, just killed 1/3 of my fish

[Kahuna Tuna]

I'm just heartbroken, never in my 30+ years have I pulled such a boneheaded move. I have my main pump on a seperate powerstrip and shut it down when I feed so the uneaten food doesn't go over the overflow and end up rotting in the filter bag. Last thursday night I forgot to turn the pumps back on and didn't catch it until Friday morning. The tank and the fish looked no worse for wear but by the time I got home my Meridithi and blueline angels and my fairy wrasse and jade filefish were stone dead, not a mark on them. I am assuming it was a drop in oxygen levels and it killed the more delicate fish. All of my other fish and inverts were unaffected. I'm not sure this was the cause but I can't think of another reason. Of course it had to be two of my favorite fish, both raised from small juveniles.

 

[SDguy]

So sorry to hear this!! Did you have any other source of water movement in the tank?

 

[gasman059]

sorry about your loss---

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

I have two tunze's in the tank as well. Heres what gets me, my entire tank has been left without any power for much longer than this during winter storm power outages, but I figured that since this was summer my tank temps stayed higher (Friday morning still had the tank at nearly 76 degrees) and contributed to the lack of oxygen.

 

[geaux xman]

sorry to hear that man.

i recently did the same in a 29g QT with 4 angels(2-4.5"). after 13hrs, my emperor juvie(4.5") was laying on the bottom almost dead. later that day, he did recover completely though. the other fish didnt really show any noticeable ill-affects from no water flow of 13hrs.

my chrysurus is about 4.5" too. so i have a good size bioload up in the 29g.

seems like your fish should've been okay.

 

[EllieSuz]

Another strong case for a controller. My ReefKeeper Lite allows you to program pumps to turn off (standby mode) for any length of time you choose (ten minutes, in my case), then they turn back on. I know I would never remember to turn them back on.

 

[snorvich]

Another strong case for a controller. My ReefKeeper Lite allows you to program pumps to turn off (standby mode) for any length of time you choose (ten minutes, in my case), then they turn back on. I know I would never remember to turn them back on.

My Profilux does so as well. So sorry about your loss!

 

[rehab]

Man I'm sorry for your lost.

 

[Wolverine]

Dang, sorry to here that KT.

 

[ccampbell57]

Sorry to hear that

I know how you feel...keep your head up...you can rebuild

 

[sandwi54]

sorry about your loss. i experienced an all-tank wipeout due to power outage too, and it hurt a lot...

 

[flameangel88]

Kahuna,

Very sorry for your loss. I've left my external filter (FX-5 no media just for circulation) off couple of times a month due to shutting off for feeding as well but I do have 4 powerheads running. Given that ph drops at night may have compounded your problem but if you didn't notice a big issue friday morning and the fishes died when you came home lead me to believe there may be something else. What do you keep in your sump? Anything in there may possibly caused an issue? Meredithi and blueline are tough fish once established and mine have gone through a few rounds of prazi, cupramine and survived velvet twice.

You may be right about the low O2 but I'm just bouncing ideas here.

 

[moonpod]

so sorry. I had a big kill off recently too. I am bouncing around various scenarios, but I think mine was external contaminant. low o2 def can do it.....

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Another strong case for a controller.

My first thought actually, I've been doing this manually for 7 years now since I like to watch them feed and I just switch the pump back on when their done. I'm going to buy a controller for the tank and a big generator for the power outages.

Given that ph drops at night may have compounded your problem

I thought of this as well and think you may be right. Honestly I didn't think I had an issue Friday morning because I saw a few of my fish swimming around behing the LR (the tank was dark) and I switched on the pump, checked temps and found the tank only 1.5 degrees cooler than usual. By the time I got home Friday afternoon the four dead fish looked like they had been dead a while and in fact were already starting to smell when I pulled them out.

The other factor is the last time the tank went without power I didn't have nearly as many corals or shrooms. I also wondered if corals could have stressed and released toxins? Really at a loss as to what actually happened.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Oh and thank all of you for the kind words of encouragement, I have learned over the last thirty years that sometimes it doesn't take much to set yourself up for a very bad day. Hopefully you learn and move on, I'm really glad I didn't kill all my fish (I have a pair of clowns that are almost 10 years in the tank).

And I climbed back on the horse and picked up a pair of juvie bluelines yesterday, going into the QT tomorrow. Hope I dont kill these. :headwally:

 

[kinlayan]

Very sorry, to hear about that, it can happen so easily to any reefer or aquarist it is just one of those things.

 

[copps]

I hate to hear things like this... so sorry... one thing that always keeps me going in moments like this is that while our fish may die, our memories will live forever!

 

[rebelson]

Very sorry to hear the bad news

 

[Stumped]

Sorry to hear about your loss, I've done something similar as well and it took a while to get over the mistake.

 

[jason2459]

Dang, that is aweful what happened. Nothing like getting some new fish to help give you a lift. Do you plan on replacing the lost fish with identical fish or take the oportunity to try a different set of fish?