Clownfish death

[Nikolaj_Romanov]

I setup a nano. Using established rock and sand. Didn’t have a cycle at all. I dosed 5PPM liquid clear ammonia and it ate it over night. 

left it alone for 10 days. My nitrates were 80 I dropped it to 20. Waited another 5 days Did a water change and got the nitrates to 5. and added two juvi clownfish. I monitored salinity temp ph ammonia nitrite nitrates. Everything seemed stable. 4 days they swam and ate normally. 5th day they refused food and gasped at the surface. Did water checks everything was normal. Few hours later they died.  
 

I did not have much surface agitation do you think that’s what killed them? Carbon dioxide poisoning? They were pale I didn’t notice any spots on them I googled marine diseases they didn’t look like anything shown in photos.  Few days later my 3 hermits all died. 
 

Tank is 10G. 8lb rock 20lbs of live sand. salinity I keep at 1.025 temp 78° Ph 8.0. I kept all of them stable. I have an ATO. Ammonia and trite 0. Nitrates 5 at the time they died. I checked the wiring no electricity shorts or anything. I’m puzzled. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Interesting.  Sounds like all your numbers are good.  I am not sure why they would of died.

[ECLS Reefer]

I'm so sorry for your clowns!! I lost all of my fish within hours of each other when doing a tank transfer- the ph bottomed out and then the KH went thru the roof and they couldn't take it. I had a few inverts and corals make it through that crash period. Do you test your KH? 

[Nikolaj_Romanov]

I do not have a Kh test, My only guess is they suffocated or got carbon dioxide poisoning. 
 

wasn’t a fish disease because the hermits died too. I added a nano power head and have it hitting the surface and walls making oxygen now but I’m afraid to try more fish/inverts. 

[Nikolaj_Romanov]

If the hermits didn’t die I would’ve said velvet or brook because they died so quickly. And the reef shop I go to will not sell a fish without medicating and QTing it because they don’t want their name to go down in forums. 

[ECLS Reefer]

2 minutes ago, Nikolaj_Romanov said:

I do not have a Kh test, My only guess is they suffocated or got carbon dioxide poisoning. 
 

wasn’t a fish disease because the hermits died too. I added a nano power head and have it hitting the surface and walls making oxygen now but I’m afraid to try more fish/inverts. 

I've only been at this hobby since January, but while my rock, sand and water were already cycled, something about putting them in a new tank blew the lid off the parameters causing it to crash initially. For me, the ph dropped precipitously for reasons I'm not smart enough to know, and then like I said, the KH shot up when I tried to fix the ph problems because water changes didn't help. I like to test religiously because I'm a nerd and a nurse, so that kind of stuff makes me happy. But not everyone wants to play in their chemistry sets. I've never heard of a new tank having a carbon dioxide problem, unless the pumps are completely off. The new powerhead will help. But too high carbonite hardness can kill the whole tank too. It might be worth it to test your KH levels to see where you are.

[Nikolaj_Romanov]

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

I've only been at this hobby since January, but while my rock, sand and water were already cycled, something about putting them in a new tank blew the lid off the parameters causing it to crash initially. For me, the ph dropped precipitously for reasons I'm not smart enough to know, and then like I said, the KH shot up when I tried to fix the ph problems because water changes didn't help. I like to test religiously because I'm a nerd and a nurse, so that kind of stuff makes me happy. But not everyone wants to play in their chemistry sets. I've never heard of a new tank having a carbon dioxide problem, unless the pumps are completely off. The new powerhead will help. But too high carbonite hardness can kill the whole tank too. It might be worth it to test your KH levels to see where you are.

My return pump was barely a trickle. Remembering now hitch hiker pods we’re staying at the top of the tank corners. I’m guessing their wasn’t any oxygen. Or like I said carbon dioxide. Who knows. It’s been 10 days. I’ll take a water sample to the reef shop tomorrow and have them check the kh. If it’s normal I’ll buy a hermit and see if it survives more than 5 days lol. Thanks

[banasophia]

Yeah someone just mentioned something about checking dissolved oxygen content recently... I would like to know more about this issue myself, will do some research... also @mcarroll, I think that my have been you that mentioned it... wondering if you have some insights on this? 

[j.falk]

Sounds like a chemical got in the water...especially considering it wiped out the hermits which are almost impossible to kill. 

 

Aerosol sprays, cleaning sprays, perfume, hand soap, dish soap, lotions...all of this stuff can wipe out a tank very quickly.  

[Nikolaj_Romanov]

A chemical? Hm I’ll run some carbon and do a WC.l just in case. Thanks 

[Clown79]

If there was only a trickle of water flow, it would lead me to believe that lack of oxygen is the cause, especially since it wasn't just the fish that died.

 

Gasping is usually a sign of ammonia or lack of oxygen. Since no ammonia is present, could be lack of oxygen.

 

Lack of flow can cause this, even when power goes out, life in the filter, back chambers of an aio, or sump can start dying off and when the power comes back on it can cause issues.

 

So gas exchange is very important, tanks need flow.

 

 

[BioCube Newb]

On 9/21/2019 at 10:35 PM, Nikolaj_Romanov said:

I do not have a Kh test, My only guess is they suffocated or got carbon dioxide poisoning. 
 

wasn’t a fish disease because the hermits died too. I added a nano power head and have it hitting the surface and walls making oxygen now but I’m afraid to try more fish/inverts. 

ph would have been really low if you had a carbon dioxide problem, did you test soon after death?