massive fish die off

[hessfish125]

I have a 125 gal that is about 3 mos old with mature live rock. I received an order of fish from LiveAquaria this week.

Sleeper Banded Goby (Amblygobius phalaena)
Sailfin/Algae Blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
Spotted Puffer (Canthigaster jactator)
Kaudern's Cardinal - Banggai (Pterapogon kauderni)
Christmas Wrasse (Halichoeres claudia )
2 Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
True Bubble Tip Rose Anenome (Entacmaea Quadricolor)
Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus)
One Spot Foxface (Siganus unimaculatus)

Diamond Watchman Goby (Valenciennea puellaris)
Blue Gudgeon Dartfish Goby (Indonesia)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Caribbean)
3 Dispar Anthias (Fiji)
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Cebu)
Flame Angelfish (Christmas/Marshalls)

Since Tuesday I have lost 8 fish (the list below the break) and my anemone looks really bad. I posted elsewhere about it. My pH is is 8.2, ammonia is 0, nitrate is 0, nitrite is 0, phosphate is 0, water temp is 79.1, and salinity is 1.024. No ich on any fish including the dead ones. No aggression at all. I was told by LiveAquaria that I overloaded the bio of the tank.

Any help great.
John

 

[Mrscribbled]

You added all this at once, to a new tank, no quarantine?? 0 nitrate with this bio load is a huge red flag.

 

[jcdeng]

how many fish did you order and I assume you add them all to the tank once you open the bag?

 

[g-reef]

i think live aquaria is correct. test your water now you should have some nitrate reading.
was the tank cycled. what did you use?

 

[hessfish125]

I only added the following this week from LiveAquaria:
3 Dispar Anthias (Fiji)
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Cebu)
Flame Angelfish (Christmas/Marshalls)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Caribbean)

All others I had in my 125 gal for 3 mos and in my 55 gal prior to this for 2 mos.

I drip acclimated them for 4+ hours.

What is meant by: " 0 nitrate with this bio load is a huge red flag. "
What should I look for?

 

[MrTuskfish]

I agree with about everything said above, just adding another voice. It should take months to add all of this to a new tank. Digging a little deeper: Don't take this wrong; but the fact that you wouldn't know this outcome indicates a serious need for a lot of reading and research on your part. This hobby need to progress slowly. Learn from mistakes, when in doubt, ask. I'd read a few good books on the hobby before even attempting to add anything new.

 

[hessfish125]

I appreciate the help. I am asking b/c I want to learn- and not at the cost of fish dying. So not only no offense, thank you. I have found this site to be a great resource.

 

[dinger28]

Welcome hessfish125 to the hobby! Smoochies!

 

[humaguy]

hey there, sorry about the loss...was the tank properly cycled? how long was it running before any livestock was added? keep asking questions...

 

[jamesbaur13]

Diamond Watchman Goby (Valenciennea puellaris)
Blue Gudgeon Dartfish Goby (Indonesia)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Caribbean)
3 Dispar Anthias (Fiji)
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Cebu)
Flame Angelfish (Christmas/Marshalls)

These are the fish you've lost... the red ones being the ones which you purchased from LA. All of the LA fish died including 2 of your established fish.

First and foremost, take a sample of your water to a fish store and have it tested. You could be dealing with a faulty test kit. With that big of a loss you should have either ammonia or nitrate readings... you're saying you have neither. There's something out of whack there.

IMO it's an acclimation issue and a coincidence. You lost those 2 existing fish for whatever reason (dartfish have a low survival rate and watchmen gobies either need to accept prepared foods or need an established tank with a sufficient amount of microfauna to support them). IMO You lost the LA fish because of a problem in acclimation. The only instance you would need to acclimate a fish for 5 hrs is if it were coming out of hypo. If you know what you are doing and if acclimation takes longer than 2hrs then whatever fish store you purchased them from is not doing their job.

Your goal during acclimation is to match temp, PH and salinity gradually over time. If you have a fish which is coming from 1.023 salinity to 1.026 then I recommend 2hr acclimation. Anything sold to you below 1.023 is unacceptable. This is one suspect.

Was the container you were acclimating then in insulated and/or did you float them prior to putting them into your tank? It might be that a cold floor was lowering the temp faster than the drips could warm the water up. I personally had this happen to me on one occasion, but I caught it.

As others mentioned, read up on the nitrate cycle... make sure you understand this. Just also understand, the readings you posted don't make sense with the issue you have... it really needs to be tested by another source.

 

[ca1ore]

The only instance you would need to acclimate a fish for 5 hrs is if it were coming out of hypo. If you know what you are doing and if acclimation takes longer than 2hrs then whatever fish store you purchased them from is not doing their job.

I am generally of the opinion that drip acclimating fish that have been in the bag for a while is a bad idea. OK for fish from the LFS, but ammonia toxicity in a 'travel bag' is a big problem. If you are putting the fish directly into the DT, then good luck, but if you have a QT, adjust the salinity to match the newcomers and just float the sealed bag to match temperature. Then you can gradually bring the salinity in the QT up to match the DT. Place you are getting the fish from can tell you what they run their water at.

 

[jamesbaur13]

I am generally of the opinion that drip acclimating fish that have been in the bag for a while is a bad idea. OK for fish from the LFS, but ammonia toxicity in a 'travel bag' is a big problem. If you are putting the fish directly into the DT, then good luck, but if you have a QT, adjust the salinity to match the newcomers and just float the sealed bag to match temperature. Then you can gradually bring the salinity in the QT up to match the DT. Place you are getting the fish from can tell you what they run their water at.

+1 great point, I forgot about that

Ammonia is less toxic at a low pH. This is a mechanic all ammonia detoxifiers work by... they all instantly drop pH.

In simple terms, pH is basically how oxygenated the water is. The act of opening up the bag (in extreme cases with high ammonia) is enough to kill the fish.

It all depends on the amount of ammonia and salinity of the water that determines what is your best approach. What ca1ore said is 100% dead on. You can't acclimate a new arrival for salinity if there is a high ammonia reading... the higher (normal) pH will make the ammonia more toxic and kill em during the acclimation. It's more lethal than the sudden shift in salinity. But neither are good, that's why (as he suggested) match the QT tank (temporary holding tank) to the salinity of the bag to alleviate that obstacle, when you open the bag the water from the QT immediately dilutes the ammonia to non lethal levels.