Ugh something is wrong

moonpod

moonpod

Premium Member
I basically had a massive fish die off. The funny thing is that the corals look better than ever. Parameters actually seem better than ever too. I don't know *** is going on. I've been doing this for a long time and I have not seen anything like this. Temp steady around 76. ph around 8. phosphates low, low low. nitrates around 10-15 (elos). The tank is fully cycled and I don't see what would could cause an ammonia spike, granted I don't have a test kit for that. I didn't really do anything new AFAIK. The only thing would be maybe my nitrates finally started dropping after dosing the Instant Ocean Natural Denitrifier, but I've been dosing for a month. This started about 1.5 days ago. That's when I noticed my flame angel dissapeared. All fish were HEALTHY. All I have left now is my pair of clowns, a kole tang, lawnmower blenny (that one looks TOTALLY fine), a STRESSED hippo tang, and my pair of arcuate filefish (they don't look so happy). Maybe a couple pj cards too. I lost 3 rhomboids, flame, hippo, pair of orange spotted filefish, multiple pj cards, etc.... The hippo that died was dark around the bottom of it's head and neck area. Only clue. HELP
 
I am so very sorry. Of course Ocean Natural Denitrifier is the only thing different. (Your corals may look better because of lower nitrates (especially SPS)). Any other changes?
 
hi, moon!

hi, moon!

long time no see. Wish I could help here but it sounds strange. I highly doubt the denitrifier caused this fish kill...
 
No. I am riding it out at this point. The hippo tang looks better as do the arcuate filefish. The kole, the lawnmower blenny and the clownfish pair never really acted stressed. Bummer. Well. Water change water ready so here goes too little too late
 
Did you use an hand-sanitizers before doing something in the tank? I've seen this happen in a few tanks where the only common finding was that all of the people had used alcohol-based hand sanitizers before working in the tank the day before it happened. I think there's something in those that causes problems.
 
Well possibly. I dont use those at home but I use them like crazy at work. I usually try to remember to wash w soap and water before sticking hands in
 
It sounds like some sort of external cleaner or other chemical causing problems (no one sprayed bug spray or something else in the air or cleaned the tank or near it??) or your sand bed getting disturbed.
 
No spraying that I know of. Refugium did get really stirred around. Sand bed isn't really all that thick. Maybe an inch
 
On the parasite front they don't usually suddenly drop dead. The fish literally were fat healthy and swimming one day. Dead the next. Anyways running uv just in case. Ozone is online but because orp is high is never on
 
I was just hit with what I suspect was oodinium. Everyone was eating fine, then in a 48hr period, I had 5 dead fish. It could easily happen, I wouldnt rule it out.
 
Moonpod, that stinks. It sounds to me like a contaminant to me, too.

Geaux xman, oodinium certainly acts fast, but I don't think it can "sleep" in a system like crypt, can it? Doesn't sound like the OP added anything new recently.
 
What kills me is that this is the first tank ever in my life that I set up and ran with full QT of fish. I NEVER did that in the past. I was always a bit laissez faire and ran uv and ozone. Albeit the ozone is pretty much never on because of high orp. Stupid
 
Yeah, this hobby is frustrating sometimes.

It seems like the longer you do this, the more bizarre random-seeming stuff can happen to you.
 
The law of bad luck, eh? Once you get good enough so that your fish aren't dying from the common causes, then the less common things come into play. It still sounds like something external to me. You did everything right, and then something comes out of the blue.
 
Sorry for your loss. It does sound like a contaminate, but have you added any new snails or hermits? About a year ago, I had several fish die a couple days after adding some new snails. It was oodinium.

Now I am the most aggressive quarantiner I know. All inverts should get a three week quarantine too. Just a thought.
 
I know very little, but can't some denitrifiers cause a sudden drop in dissolved oxygen? Also stirring up the fuge if you're talking a DSB could do nasty things too.

Continually or suddenly dropping oxygen could have killed your fish that quickly.
 
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