Mysterious Fish Deaths

[KMP]

A buddy and I have a tank at work that's been set up since Sep 06. It was fish only and we had regular rock in it. In Dec we got rid of that and got live rock - went through a small cycle - and lost a few corals - but the fish (Kole Tang, Clown, Yellow Wrasse, Fire Angel, and Coral Beauty) did fine.

About 3 wks ago, my buddy started adding some corals (zoa's and shroom), clam, and an anenome. Since then we've lost 3 fish. One day they look fine, next morning they're floating.

All water parameters are good and corals are fine. Clown fish is a happy camper.

Could it be the anenome killing them?

No pics yet on the anenome, but will try to get some for an ID.

 

[kevin95695]

Gorilla crab. Big honkin' gorilla crab.

 

[MrMikeB]

So you cycled the tank with the fish IN it?

 

[KMP]

yes, but that was in Dec. don't beat me up over that one - i only had 25% input on that issue.

 

[KMP]

no crabs in the tank other than the 1 cm one that came off my biocube live rock.

 

[MrMikeB]

Not trying to beat you up, just wondering if the stress of that cycling is possibly catching up with them. Sometimes the effects of long term stress do not result in immediate reactions but happen more over the long term. Just a thought...

Do you dose anything? Did you dip those corals in iodine, and if so did a lot of it make it into the tank? Do you have any snails or other inverts, and if so how are they doing?

 

[KMP]

corals were not dipped. and yes, we have snails - doing fine. just dose w/buffer every now and again. not since deaths have been happening.

as a matter of fact, we actually lost 4 fish over the last few weeks. the kole tang, fire angel, coral beauty, and another tang (don't know what kind) that he just bought sunday. the new tank was looking good and eating - this morning - dead.

 

[kevin95695]

I'm seeing tang a lot here...

 

[MrMikeB]

Hmm... definitely an interesting puzzle. Can you post your water params and do you keep a regular log to see if there was any unusual spikes in anything recently?

On the dead fish, any marks, damage, signs of asphyxiation, etc. that you noticed?

 

[KMP]

Not trying to beat you up

i know mike, and trust me, i appreciate the brain storming/help. just threw that out to head it off at the pass. i know some will start zooming in on that and ask for water parameters, etc. we've explored all that and are stumped. at this point the attention is on the anenome. curious if anyone has had like experiences or may throw out something we have not considered.

what made me think of the anenome is seeing john's post where he was selling the anenome for $10 because it was a turd and then i realized none of this was happening until the anenome arrived. coincidence - who knows?

 

[KMP]

Can you post your water params

Told you

We've been doing it every couple days and everything is good. After the second death we added a CPR hangon fuge w/cheato and live sand. Thought that may help as nitrates were 10ppm. I really don't think that's the issue.

I did not check the fish, but that's a good idea if it should happen again. I'll check to see if my buddy did as he's been pulling them out since I work in another office.

Again, we've been doing all the routine trouble shooting, just truly stumped on this one.

 

[kevin95695]

Have you guys checked for the odd stuff like copper, etc.?

 

[KMP]

no we have not checked for copper. tank was bought new, skimmer and fuge came off a salt water set up; however, we started loosing them before the fuge.

water is bought at fish store. water that comes with critters is not put in the tank after acclimation. dont' see where copper would have been introduced - however - we've not tested for copper. do you have a copper kit?

 

[MrMikeB]

do you have a copper kit?

I do, I can bring it to the meeting if you like. (or if you want it done sooner come on by with some water to play with).

 

[KMP]

you know that's another thought to run down. perhaps tomorrow at lunch we can take some water to the lfs to have them test it.

another test - for surity - would not hurt.

mike, if kevin doesn't have one (going to his place tomorrow), then i'll take you up on that. thanks.

 

[MrMikeB]

As far as an anemones go, anything exotic? IME fish will stay away from them because they know what they can do, but that is just what I have borne witness to.

How about food? Do you feed them frozen stuff, any way it could have got tainted?

 

[KMP]

been feeding flake, pellet, and zooplankton. varied diet. we thought of that early on. maybe we can toss it all and start w/fresh food. no frozen stuff that got tainted.

 

[kevin95695]

No copper kit here, but that is just one less variable to isolate if you can nail that down.

 

[KMP]

10-4

 

[airinhere]

Was it a tube anem you put in the tank? Those will put a serious hurtin on a fish if it strays too close. Sometimes you can avoid incidents by leaving moonlights on so the fish can see the anem, sometimes...