R.I.P bye my poor buddies...

[ryangrieder]

Today was a total crap day. I wake up, find out about the snow coming tonight and tomorrow, wonderful. Then to make things better, I look at my tank today, dead clown trigger who was the first fish in this tank and my absolute favorite. He also looked like he has been dead for like a few days because he had a film over him and looked gross. and also, dead burrfish who i have had for a few months. and finally, my miniatus grouper looks like crap but still fighting. Fins are badly damaged overnight and showing all his stress colors. I took the dead fish out, which killed me because I loved that clown trigger, bye buddy, and tested the everything. Water was perfect. Temp was a little low, around 76, and for some reason my sal was at .28. I have no idea why. How could that have changed so much over night? I usually run it at .24. So I did a 50% water changed, fixed the temp and sal. and crossed my fingers...

Ugh...this sucks...a lot. That Clown trigger was my buddy. He grew at least 2 inches since I had him, battled ick and lived, and now this... Sorry buddy.

 

[fishman1069]

That sux man!! Sorry for your loss!!

 

[Jkedra]

Hope it gets better for ya

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

sorry 2 hear that bro...but it at on the other hand u kan always buy another trigger fish =)

 

[ryangrieder]

sorry 2 hear that bro...but it at on the other hand u kan always buy another trigger fish =)

I could, but I'm not fond of replacing fish. I'd like to keep them for as long as I could. Sadly, i failed. Have not lost a fish in almost a year... And today I got two...

 

[prattreef]

Something is not right. I am very skeptical that a minor temp. drop and salinity spike would kill such robust fish over night. Is it possible you lost power during the night?

 

[Josh]

Highly unlikely that he was dead for more than a day. Most tanks that are lightly stocked will break down a dead fish in under a day. If you could even tell it was a fish it was probably a very recent death.

Got a photo of the tank? Any recent changes?

 

[Arati]

i looked at my .sg the other day and it was .030 and everyone was fine and must have been for along time. I doubt it was the salt.

sorry for your loss

 

[ryangrieder]

Honestly no changes Josh, only thing I could say was I slowed down feeding and just done done doing my magnesium doses to kill algae. My mag is now at 1630. And yes tank only had my trig, burr and grouper. Nothing else. Really, lightly filled tanks could do that to a fish if it died? It looked like a dead fish, but had the look like its been dead for a few days ya know. And no hermits or inverts to be picking on it either. My tank pics are in my thread in my signature under the first link.

 

[ryangrieder]

And pattreef, no power loss. I'm really confused as well. I'm very anal when it comes to my tanks. I test 2-3 times a week, always clean them, ect... For two fish to die in ONE NIGHT?! Like I said I NEVER have dead fish. Last fish that died was a jumper last year. And the trigger and burr were getting so thick and hardy as all can be! Ugh...

 

[James]

This may be a very stupid question but you noted your salinity was .24 and .28 but you mean 1.024 and 1.028 right?

 

[ryangrieder]

This may be a very stupid question but you noted your salinity was .24 and .28 but you mean 1.024 and 1.028 right?

Not a stupid question buddy, my bad for not specifying correctly. Yes you are correct

 

[James]

I was 99% sure it was just an oversite due to your tank being fine up until last night (sorry btw, that sucks) but for some of our newer members who may try to get get their salinity down to .26 or up to 1.26 it is good to clear that up.

 

[KathyC]

Very sorry for your losses Ryan. These guys are truly wet pets for us, no less heartbreaking than losing a fur covered pet

A few questions...the Grouper that is still alive - were his fins damaged prior to your seeing them that way this morning? When was the last time you looked closely at his fins.
How is he acting at this point?

The 2 fish you lost - was there any damage to their fins, if you could tell?

Was it unusual for the temp to be down at 76? Do you know why it was at 76?
When was the last water change you did to the tank?
Are you running a canister filter as part of your set up?
Did you test pH today?
When was your last dose of Mg to maintain the level at 1630 (I don't think the Mg level killed the fish but am wondering if you used the last bit in the bottle lately)


One more thing...I'd get a poly-pad asap and get it into a high flow area and see if you get any color changes that might indicate the presence of something you aren't testing for.

 

[ryangrieder]

Thanks Kathy. For your answers...

The fins were never damaged. Now they are almost looking like they were bit and have a hazy white look to them. He is showing stress color. I just looked at him. He is being active a bit more now. Hiding, but always hides. Breathing kinda slower then usual.

The trigger honestly I could not tell nor remember about his f'in, I'd make a guess and say no. The other fishes fins were fine though. I remember because the reason why o liked him because he had those neon yellow colored fins. They were intact and fine. Although like i said the trigger looked like crap with that white film on it, the puffer seemed to look fine, jut dead.

My temp is ALWAYS 79.0-79.5. Never higher, never lower. Although last night the heat in the house was not that high. I was a bit cold sleeping but ignored it. Was not real cold, but usually when I sleep i get hot and use light covers because the heat is usually high, last night it was turned down...

I do a water change every week or other week about 25-30%. Lately every week.

No canister. Sump i made. Filter sock which i replaced every 2-4 days. Bubble magus nac 7 skimmer, live rock, 3 gallon canister filter filled with carbon and phos remover. return pump.

Ph is 8.3. Tested several times weekly.

Last dose of mag was about a week ago. Was at 1800, now 1630.

My filter sock i changed today, was a tad bit more brown/black today, but it was 4 days ago put in, usually i change it 2-4 days. This was 4.

I today did a 50% change. I use esv salt and ro.

Water pars when I tested today after finding death...

Ph 8.3
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5-10 (thats usual for it)
Phos .5-.7
Calcium 500
Mag. 1630
Hardness 10

 

[NL146]

I'm sorry for your loss buddy.

 

[KathyC]

Thanks for your patience in answering all of those questions!

Can you possibly get a pic posted of the grouper without stressing him too much?

Will you have the opportunity to buy/try the poly pad?

 

[ryangrieder]

I do have that coralife blue/white pads. I threw a sheet in there about 6 hours ago, just checked it, and no color so far. if you recommend another type, i will go out tomorrow if not a lot of snow and get it asap. Anything to help.

And tomorrow I will get a pic of the grouper for you, right now lights are out and he is hiding, stress color had gone down a tad. I tried but he never comes out at night. He has his special spot he always hides in all day. Today he never went in it, just sat in front of the tank resting against a rock. But within the past two hours he has been more active, not back to normal though.

Anything else you think would help? I don't care how much it is, i hate losing fish, its worth it.

 

[KathyC]

This Poly Pad
http://home-and-garden.become.com/polybiomarine-poly-filter-pad-4-x-8--compare-prices--c205164694
Whatever you have is fine if it does pretty much the same thing.

Sure, tomorrow is fine for the pic, just glad he is hanging in there for you.

 

[ryangrieder]

Yeah I'm dealing with it, its just that trigger was awesome, everyone who came over and saw him loved him. The most personality I've ever had in a fish. You put your finger against the tank and he would follow everywhere you went, and try to bite it lol. When i put my hand in the tank the burrfish would try and bite me, but the trigger would go after the puffer to protect me. The trigger would eat krill right out of my hand, or I'd hold the krill over the tank an inch and he would shoot water out of my hand and knock the krill into the tank. He was awesome! I just feel bad i killed such an awesome fish. He was just about to go into 135g in about a month too...

I'm going to go out tomorrow if i can make it and find something to use for the pad for back up. Plus im going to russ's house again in few days, ill stock up there if i don't find anything I feel would work.