HELP. WOKE UP TO ALL OF MY FISH DEAD

[MasterBacon]

On Sept. 5th you came on saying hi and on the 7th you said you started the tank and ordered fish. 16 days later your fish are dead. Problem is Ammonia killed your fish cause your tank never finished or started cycling. Sorry for your loss. Your fish started your cycle and paid the price. Good luck in the future.

 

[Chrispaul]

On Sept. 5th you came on saying hi and on the 7th you said you started the tank and ordered fish. 16 days later your fish are dead. Problem is Ammonia killed your fish cause your tank never finished or started cycling. Sorry for your loss. Your fish started your cycle and paid the price. Good luck in the future.

You can tell the tank is brand new and isn't more than a couple of weeks old!

 

[Anja]

You know your Basic tests..... phostphate, nitrate, KH, etc.... check them.... once a day....what about your coralls??? They still alive? No prbobs? Most time i see coralles dying before fishes.... so i would check all of your Basic Parameters of your tank...

 

[MasterBacon]

He had not been monitoring ammonia to see WHEN or IF his cycle had started. A scoop of another tank water and food would not have him over the cycle that fast. Everyone always harps on it and it's the truth! Don't rush! Lack of proper testing and rushing lead to the demise of those beautiful fish.

 

[sbazain]

Wow really sorry yes it could be an ammonia spike

 

[JP79]

I'm guessing it's ammonia and or nitrites. Your nitrates are really high. Almost unsafe for fish unless they are hardy fish. Like someone else said too your dkh is almost to high too. Test for ammonia and nitrites. Is there anything else alive in the tank? Clean up grew? Coral? It may not be fully cycled or its doing a mini cycle. pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates are the biggest things to watch when it's a new tank. I would even say it's to early for coral. But others might say other wise. Keep us updated on what's going on.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I had that happen once

I turned off all flow to feed some chalices

It was late at night and I fell asleep watching tv

I forget to turn the flow back on

When I got up all the fish were dead

That is the only time I have seem all fish drop dead like that so I am leaning toward lack of oxygen not ammonia

Tank didn't look cloudy either

Usually tanks with ammonia are cloudy not clear like that

Make sure you have a couple strong power heads and a skimmer or hang on the back filter

I prefer hang on the back filters and have one on every tank I own

They cascade water into the tank giving it lots of oxygen

Remember saltwater has a lot less oxygen than freshwater

 

[Scarybo]

Sorry for your loss.

IMO.. the most likely culprit is Ammonia. Fish from Petco are treated terribly. The tank wasnt fully cycled. The fish were already weak from being kept in terrible conditions. There may have been some underlying parasite and it became opportunistic when the fish were weaken by the ammonia. I would go slow now. Focus on getting your parameters in-line. Remember the golden rule with this hobby. "Only bad things happen fast"

 

[4FordFamily]

I had that happen once

I turned off all flow to feed some chalices

It was late at night and I fell asleep watching tv

I forget to turn the flow back on

When I got up all the fish were dead

That is the only time I have seem all fish drop dead like that so I am leaning toward lack of oxygen not ammonia

Tank didn't look cloudy either

Usually tanks with ammonia are cloudy not clear like that

Make sure you have a couple strong power heads and a skimmer or hang on the back filter

I prefer hang on the back filters and have one on every tank I own

They cascade water into the tank giving it lots of oxygen

Remember saltwater has a lot less oxygen than freshwater

What you describe is 02 depletion. I forgot to turn mine on after a water change and lost 9/10 of my fish the same way years ago.

 

[van7271]

Ammonia

 

[that Reef Guy]

Slot if people are saying ammonia. There's a acro next to that dead tang that looks fine. High ammonia would melt it. Has to be some sort if infection

His ammonia was 0.25 after the fish died

But that doesn't mean it wasn't higher before he tested

Also it might have been zero before the fish died

There is no way of knowing at this point

My ammonia was 0.25 once and acros were fine

Chalices and favia were a mess though

All my fish were fine as well

Nothing died but it took a month for most of the chalices to make a full recovery and the favia took longer

 

[Goldcoastreef]

I woke up this morning to find this in my tank. Why are all of my fish dead

Have you checked your heater ? Is the heater new and what's the temperature in your tank? Heaters can get stuck On and "cook" fish

 

[that Reef Guy]

What you describe is 02 depletion. I forgot to turn mine on after a water change and lost 9/10 of my fish the same way years ago.

Right everyone keeps saying ammonia (not saying it isn't)

But I see nothing in that tank producing water flow

I think it is most likely that the fish suffocated

If people don't make that known others might listen to the advice here and cycle a tank and still have their fish die like that again

Water flow is very important in reef tanks for many reasons

Everyone seems to focus on lighting and water parameters meanwhile 9 out of 10 people have too little water flow even though flow is more important than the other two

 

[GHsaltie]

Sorry for your loss. I would take the coral out and put them in your other tank you mention you had. And I would suggest never buying anything live from petco!

This wouldn't be a very wise action until it's determined whether the fish had velvet, which is highly likely being that nearly all Petco fish have velvet and/or ich.

 

[Salty1962]

I just tested my tank. New levels are ammonia .25 nitrates 0 ph 8.4 calcium 460 phosphate 0 kh 214. The kh didn't budge one bit but I don't want to shock my coral by don't another water change

I'm sorry for your losses. You should have 0 ammonia While fish disease may have killed your fish, the high ammonia would stress them so they are more prone to diseases. Take a breath, re-group. Get some quality test kits, this will save you allot of money down the road. Look into more flow for your tank, your water surface should be broken unless your using a protein skimmer for oxygenation of your tank. Don't add anything to your tank until your confident that levels are where they should be and you've given your tank enough time to eradicate any potential diseases. Then start off very slowly to make sure your ready for a successful reef tank. Look at some quality vendors for your next livestock, PETCO isn't known for quality livestock. You may pay a little more but you'll have healthy livestock. Good Luck!

 

[Fishboy96]

Right everyone keeps saying ammonia (not saying it isn't)

But I see nothing in that tank producing water flow

I think it is most likely that the fish suffocated

If people don't make that known others might listen to the advice here and cycle a tank and still have their fish die like that again

Water flow is very important in reef tanks for many reasons

Everyone seems to focus on lighting and water parameters meanwhile 9 out of 10 people have too little water flow even though flow is more important than the other two

I have one power head but what it means to me what ur saying is adding another one is a good idea. I mean it would add flow. And isn't opposite currents supposed to be good for coral

 

[Ginu]

Sorry to hear about your loss, waking up to dead fish is the worst possible scenario...


A couple of things i have noticed:
1. You joined R2R on the 5th
2. Tank was cycling on the 7th based on your posts
3. In a different post, you mentioned the tank has been cycling since Sept 7 but in this thread you mentioned the tank has been setup for 2 going on 3 months... something doesn't add up here, so which is it? When you mention setup (does this mean since starting the cycle, or since starting the tank, aka tank sitting empty being setup waiting for equipment)
4. Today is Sept 23, meaning the tank has been setup for 16 days (unless you used some substantial bacteria, this tank has not finished cycling)... without even looking at the parameters we can say this tank is new and still in the diatom stage

I'm sorry to say, but your fish died due to high levels of ammonia and possibly ich/velvet due to stress - this is due to jumping the gun and not understanding the cycling process in a sw tank... You are still in the cycle process, hence the presence of ammonia in the tank (the ammonia levels were even higher, but dropped due to water changes).

Now, you have two problems on your hands, 1st ammonia is high, which will drop with time and sadly... this doesn't mean its OK to add fish as you stressed the now dead fish which could have caused them to stress causing velvet or ich and it could now be present in the tank, this is your second and more major problem than the first as there is no way to test for the presence of a virus in the tank... you need to wait the cycle of this virus and then start slow, do lots and lots of research and when you think you got it all, i suggest reading some more...

You really need to go back to the basics and read quite a bit on starting a SW tank... each tank cycles at a different rate and to be sure the cycle is complete, always, always measure ammonia, it needs to be zero otherwise it stresses the fish which will most likely end up badly and costly. Also read on velvet and ich cycles and wait this out, if you add more fish after the ammonia cycle is complete, you will just fuel the disease cycle which will take that much longer to fully get rid of and will most likely end up in more fish losses. Also i suggest QT the fish as they will be that much easier to treat than in the main tank, but you need to read lots on how to setup a QT tank and how to QT the fish.

Also nobody mentioned this, but nothing good happens fast in his hobby, be patient and read 10 times before making any drastic changes. On top of it, start a calendar and write everything down as it is much easier to go back and check when you started/added/water change/run tests etc instead of guessing...

 

[Ginu]

Also forgot to mention, but I recommend taking the coral out and placing in a healthy tank, however coral can carry ich/velvet, so it would be best placed in a a fish-less tank and waiting out the disease cycle as well.

 

[Humblefish]

This thread makes my head hurt. So many possibilities for what could have gone wrong. It was probably a combination of factors: Velvet, ammonia spike from an uncycled tank, etc.

 

[Jewels2484]

Sorry for your loss! Can't add much more than what everyone else is saying except in my opinion a little more live rock would be a good idea. Keep your chin up and just take it slow next time.