Help! Fish dying

[tvasi]

I use a dropper to do my tests.

And use TWP with Kalk for my top off water. Same as always.

One more thing, I had the skimmer cranked up a notch (I tend to increase the airflow when scrubbing). So there were a lot of air bubbles in the tank. Is it possible that the air bubbles, or levels of O2 got soo funky that the fish couldnt breath? I dont have a O2 test kit, maybe I will get one tom.

Yes, it seems to have affected only the damsel family. (Are firefish in the damsel family as well?)

 

[Mabu]

I've heard if the cuke dies, it can take out many fish. If you can't find the cucumber, that may be what happened. He died and released toxins upon death.

 

[naesco]

Sorry about the fish. Hope things are stable.

 

[Mouse]

When you said Charcoal you did mean Carbon yea!

 

[tvasi]

I have a mostly fish tank, and after my routine cleaning and testing, I went out, only to come back and notice my yellowtail damsel, being eating by my hermies. Also noticed that my firefish were dead, and my other damsel and sargent major were breathing very heavily.

These fish have been in my tank for over 2 years, w/o any problem. My clowns and anemone, and other inverts seem to be unaffected. My ph and nitrates are fine.

Something seems to have happened suddenly, these fish were healthy. I put some activated charcoal for now. Cant think of what else to do.

I did have a sea cucumber once, but hadnt seen him around for a few months now. (I heard of them poisoning the tank)

 

[naesco]

Have you checked for ich?
Have you checked for ammonia? Your salinity?
Stick an air diffuser in the corner of the tank.
I take it you have a filter and have placed charcoal in the filter to clean the water of any toxins, right?

 

[tvasi]

no ich. Fish are/were healthy otherwise.

1.025 is the salinity. Tank is at 80 deg or so.

Yes I have carbon running now, I think most of the damage is done, hopefully I can save the rest.

Whats curious to me is it seems to have affected only a few fish, inverts and coral doing fine.

Only thing I can think of is me introducing some toxin, when I was scrubbing algae. (Am careful about washing hands first though.)

I feel a loss... I have had these fish for almost 3 years now and seen them grow.

Sigh.

 

[davelin315]

When you did your testing, did you dip your vials into the tank or did you use a dropper to fill the vials and keep the tank water separate from anything touching the vials? Maybe there was some chemical introduced through the testing. Other than that, there's no reason that 2 fish would die suddenly without any previous signs of stress. Ich doesn't work that fast, and there really aren't any diseases out there that I know of that will take affect in a few hours without any warning. Only other thing I can think of due to the huffing and puffing of your fish is that maybe you didn't dechlorinate your water supply when you added it (although I was told once that saltwater will bind the free chlorine molecules and immobilize it, keeping it from affecting your inhabitants). Can't really think of anything else, and it's very odd that the damsel family fish were affected since they are usually the toughest out there.

 

[tvasi]

Well 24 hours later, I am down 4 fish, tnk seems stable, but remaining fish down feel happy to me , still breathing heavy. I am going to remove them into my 5 gal mini. I was going to do that yesterday, but the 5 gal runs at least 6-7 degrees warmer, and I have it cooled down to about the same temp.

Still wondering what happened. One thing, did come to me, I used a new sponge that day, and while I did rinse it out before use, it posible that some chemical got in thru that?

oh well...thanx for the responses.

P.S. Yes I did mean carbon.

 

[jmosmc]

when doing a visual inspection of your fish you havn't noticed anykind abnormlities that would suggest a parasite? I have been told that when you have more than one fish affected at the same time it is probable that you may parasite.

 

[Goldmoon]

I do not think parasite would kill fishes that fast.he would surely have noticed something before. Maybe some kind of bacteria but then all the fishes should have been touched. The sponge could be the responsable, or did someone use a cleaning product near the tank? like some windex? Just a wild guess......

 

[ging]

"Stick an air diffuser in the corner of the tank."
Naesco,
I have see you put that in several of your post's when fish have problems. I have been reading about them and several sites say to have them in the all of the time. Is this something that I should get for my tank or is this something that will help when you are having problems. What exactly does this do ??

ging

 

[davelin315]

Not naesco, but the concept is like giving a patient in a hospital Oxygen. You increase the oxygen level in the water, promoting healthier water quality, and making it easier for your fish to breathe, and also aid in surface agitation that way, which also helps the gas exchange.

 

[naesco]

Ging
I always use an air diffuser in a quarantine tank (QT)full time to assist fish that appear to be breathing too rapidly or with difficulty.
Some medications affect the oxygen level in the water once they are added.
The only time I would recommend it in the reef would be to assist fish which could not be removed to a QT tank or if apparent toxins were there ( air plus carbon).
I would recommend it full time in a fish only (FO) setup or fish only with live rock (FOWLR) setup.

 

[ging]

thanks dave and naesco

ging

 

[naesco]

Dave you are 100% correct. I should have stated the reason in my post.