Two days two deaths

[hkgar]

Sadly I have lost my Red Head Wrasse (yesterday) and my Spot breast Angel (today). Nothing visible on the fish to give any indication of what may have caused the deaths. My Atlantic Blue Tang, is now staying in a back corner behind the rocks and not moving much. I first noticed this yesterday when reviewing the tank after finding the angel.

Parameters
Nitrate 4
Phosphates .13
Calcium 445
Alkalinity 8.1
Mag 1250
Ammonia 0

Nothing has been added to the tank in close to a year, and that would have been a coral. No new fish in about 2 years and every fish went through TTM and PraziPro.

Should I consider treating the tank with PraziPro? I also have, in my cabinet, Furan (expired 12/2016) and KanaPlex (expired 6/2017)

 

[hkgar]

I just took an inventory and my Cherub Angel is nowhere to be found.

Death #3

 

[hkgar]

Just observed the Atlantic Blue is now coming out to the front but when he does he watches the back corner and if another fish gets in that area he chases them out. He seems to have a spot in front that he stays in and watches the back corner.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sg6Fa0pxXd728t8L2

 

[sde1500]

Hmm, dang that is weird. Could it be possible something is leaching into the tank? A rusting magnet perhaps?

 

[hkgar]

Just thought of a possibility:

I feed home made frozen and I thaw it in a plastic cup than stir it up and add to the tank.

I think, but an not positive, that I may have thawed the food in a cup that I had used to add kalk to the ATO storage tank.

 

[mako61]

Wow! is a little Kalk residue really that poisonous .

I have a dedicated shot glass / beaker and small net I use for frozen food.

 

[hkgar]

That's what I do not know and tossed out here as a possibility and someone smarter than me might know.

High alkalinity, i believe, can be just as dangerous as high acidity.

 

[Spunky Bob]

What is the temp and salinity level

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[hkgar]

Salinity 1.023
Temp 79

 

[lagatbezan]

Any other symptoms like flashing, yawning or rapid breathing? How is the tank circulation? Good oxygen exchange?
If you suspect flukes you can catch one of the fish and do a 5 min fresh water dip and see if any flukes fall off. They would look like clear sesame seeds that usually fall off around 3-5 minutes.
Also wouldn't be a bad idea to do a large water change and then run carbon just in case anything contaminated the tank.
Here is a great video on fw dip
https://youtu.be/Po_dvEr5DL0

 

[hkgar]

I did some reading about Flukes and it seems they need to be brought into the tank on a fish?Is it possible that they could exist in the tank for over a year and than within two days cause 3 deaths? Doesn't seem likely to me, but I could be wrong.

Circulation is provided by two Gyre XF250's (set at 60%) and a return of about 630 GPH.

 

[lagatbezan]

flukes is usually not that rapid of a killer and there is usually some tell tell signs associated with it. They are usually brought in with a fish but if you are adding coral and some of the water gets into the tank, then any sort of parasite "might" find its way into your tank unfortunately.
any chemicals or cleaning products used around the tank lately that could have gotten in there somehow? just throwing some stuff out there to help.
how are the rest of the fish behaving today? Atlantic blue tang doing better?

 

[hkgar]

Nothing out of the ordinary used in or around the tank

The Atlantic Blue seems to be doing just find and no other fish found or missing.

There was an "event" that I have discounted but I'll through it out here.

The return pump was shut down as the result of some unexpected water tripping a sensor. This has happened before. since the heaters are in the sump the tank temp dropped from 78 to 73 from midnight till 6 AM when I found the problem and corrected it.
The sump flooded because the ATO stuck on (my mistake, not the controller) and flooded. The sump is in the basement. As a result of the excess top off the salinity dropped from 1.024 to 1.023, shouldn't be an issue.

 

[hkgar]

Could my Two Barred Rabbit fish be responsible?

 

[Tripod1404]

Could my Two Barred Rabbit fish be responsible?

I doubt that, I had my tangs get stung by a foxface several times. Then never died. Once my tomini tangs lips got swollen but thats it

Do you have circulation inside your your sump to provide aeration when return pump turns? I am wondering if return pump turning off caused it to get anoxic and killed bacteria and other microorganisms. When return pump turned back on, it might have pumped ammonia rich water to DT. If you have sponges in sump, they might have released more toxic compounds than ammonia once dead.

Also, if you have a lot of sponges inside the return pipes, pump turning off might have caused them to die due to air going into the pipes and once water returned, it might have pushed the toxin released by dead sponges to the DT.

I also doubt kalk can be a problem. It is used as an food additive for human consumption.

 

[lagatbezan]

I also doubt the foxface could have anything to do with it specially i they have been in there for a year and out of no where 3 deaths seems unlikely.
a few degrees fluctuation is normal and usually doesnt effect the fish that much. same for a small change in salinity specially going down. both temp and salinity were also probably changed slowly so that would rule out fast fluctuations causing shock.
toxins being released is a good theory as mentioned above.
I don't know anything about corals either, but any in your tank that can cause any issue if temp/circulation or SG is changed?

 

[hkgar]

It is an SPS tank and one large staghorn did perish.