Fish Dying off, no clue why

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

I can't figure this one out. In the last two weeks I lost 2 clownfish, Tiger Goby, Yellow Tang and I think I lost one of my Cardinals today. My levels were good and I did a 20% water change anyway after losing the Clowns.

My readings are:
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate -0
nitirie 0
PH 8.2
Phosphate 0
Calcium 440
Alkalinity 12
Magnesium 1350
Temp 77.4

I have two Vortech MP40's so the flow is good.and an APEX with a Current Marine Pro LED

I have a 68 Gallon with a sump running a Tunze Skimmer and a refugium with some carbon.

I feed them brine or mysis either once a day or every other.

The only changes that I have made recently are that I added some reef rock and have also been getting some red cyno

All of my corals are doing great, except for maybe one of my bubble tip anemones.

One possible reason could be that I'm using Purified Water by RO instead of RO/DI water in my ATO?

I also have a Cleaner Shrimp and a Blood Shrimp along with two green chromis and one remaining Cardinal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

Oh and on the fish that died... No spots or discoloration, no rubbing against objects, no loss of appetite but possibly a lack of movement.

eatbreakfast · Jan 5, 2016

How long has the tank been setup? How long have you had each of the fish? Which type of cardinals?

Try uping your feeding frequency. While it is likely unrelated to your fish losses, most reef fish are designed to eat small frequent meals throughout the day, rather than a meal once a day or every other day, and infrequent feedings can contribute to increased stress, which lowers immunity.

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

The tank has been up for 3 months. The fish were all drip acclimated ( I forgot to mention that). The Cardinals are Banggai. I'll try to up the feeding as suggested. Thank you. I tried cutting back to starve out the Cyano.

joshkirkland83 · Jan 5, 2016

where did the live rock come from?

eatbreakfast · Jan 5, 2016

CoachRDB said:
The tank has been up for 3 months. The fish were all drip acclimated ( I forgot to mention that). The Cardinals are Banggai. I'll try to up the feeding as suggested. Thank you. I tried cutting back to starve out the Cyano.

Cyano in a 3 month old tank is pretty normal, so let the tank balance on it's own.

Bangaii cardinals are intolerante of consexuals, so if you had two males or two females, one killing the other is not unusual.

Drip acclimation can be dangerous if it is too long, as ammonia build up can be dangerous in the acclimation container.

Were all the fish added simultaneously and recently?

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

joshkirkland83 said:
where did the live rock come from?

A local store that I trust.

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
Cyano in a 3 month old tank is pretty normal, so let the tank balance on it's own.

Bangaii cardinals are intolerante of consexuals, so if you had two males or two females, one killing the other is not unusual.

Drip acclimation can be dangerous if it is too long, as ammonia build up can be dangerous in the acclimation container.

Were all the fish added simultaneously and recently?

The drip definitely wasn't too long. The cardinals swam together the entire time and I never noticed any aggression. The fish were added all at different times The yellow tang last,

eatbreakfast · Jan 5, 2016

CoachRDB said:
The drip definitely wasn't too long. The cardinals swam together the entire time and I never noticed any aggression. The fish were added all at different times The yellow tang last,

If the drip acclimation was longer than 20min, it was too long.

Bangaiis swimming together when first introduced doesn't mean they weren't consexuals. When scared their instinct is to school, once they start getting used to things their animosity to each other will increase if not a pr.

Tiger wardi gobies are a delicate species.

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

20 minutes was about right. If I hadn't lost all the other fish I would buy into the cardinal theory lol

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

Correction on the 2nd Cardinal, He's hiding in a cave but didn't come out to eat so I expect him to be next on the list.

Salty1962 · Jan 5, 2016

Was the new lr cured?

Humblefish · Jan 5, 2016

Salty1962 said:
Was the new lr cured?

^^This. Also, was it live rock or dry rock that you added? How many lbs?

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

It was reef rock with heavy purple coralline on it.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 5, 2016

CoachRDB said:
One possible reason could be that I'm using Purified Water by RO instead of RO/DI water in my ATO?

I had a big problem earlier this year with bad water. Switch if you can. Once I did it was night and day on my reef. well May and June actually.

bairdimusprime · Jan 5, 2016

Sounds like an ammonia spike in the tank, Just cause the Rock had coraline on it doesn't mean it was pre cured.
i'm really sorry for your losses... also with the Cyano there are gasses trapped underneath it that can harm the fish.. being that they're trapped they don't necessarily show up on test readings. unfortunate situation and hoping it gets straightened out real soon for you. i personally had a similar crash i removed ALL sand and replaced it with crushed aragonite. you may want to give that a shot. it will help give you more space for helpful bacteria to cultivate.

best of luck in this whole situation

Humblefish · Jan 5, 2016

CoachRDB said:
It was reef rock with heavy purple coralline on it.

It was in a vat with SW, right? It could have been an ammonia spike/mini-cycle from the rock (no telling how well seeded it was or if it was even cured), or possibly something in the RO water causing problems.

Disease is also possible. Flukes will typically not kill this fast, but they do mainly harbor in the gills out of sight. Velvet will not always show visible physical symptoms but any one of the following behavioral symptoms should have been observed: heavy breathing, seek relief by swimming into the flow of a powerhead and act reclusive (velvet makes fish sensitive to light).

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
I had a big problem earlier this year with bad water. Switch if you can. Once I did it was night and day on my reef. well May and June actually.

Just bought 5 gallons of RODI.

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

bairdimusprime said:
Sounds like an ammonia spike in the tank, Just cause the Rock had coraline on it doesn't mean it was pre cured.
i'm really sorry for your losses... also with the Cyano there are gasses trapped underneath it that can harm the fish.. being that they're trapped they don't necessarily show up on test readings. unfortunate situation and hoping it gets straightened out real soon for you. i personally had a similar crash i removed ALL sand and replaced it with crushed aragonite. you may want to give that a shot. it will help give you more space for helpful bacteria to cultivate.

best of luck in this whole situation

Thank you! You're probably right about the rock not being pre-cured. I doubt the ammonia spike because I tested for that and did a water change prior to losing my goby and tang.

CoachRDB · Jan 5, 2016

Humblefish said:
It was in a vat with SW, right? It could have been an ammonia spike/mini-cycle from the rock (no telling how well seeded it was or if it was even cured), or possibly something in the RO water causing problems.

Disease is also possible. Flukes will typically not kill this fast, but they do mainly harbor in the gills out of sight. Velvet will not always show visible physical symptoms but any one of the following behavioral symptoms should have been observed: heavy breathing, seek relief by swimming into the flow of a powerhead and act reclusive (velvet makes fish sensitive to light).

I'm bringing the next casualty in for a fish autopsy!