Dead clown... fish

[TonyR]

So my tank is now empty. My first and only marine fish moved on to the next life after I had him for about three months. Taking it really slow, making sure everything was perfect before adding anything and between adding anything. I started with a clown (of course) because I gathered that they're fairly easy, friendly and my 2 year old was insistent. Can't imagine why. Then she quickly named him after the Indian Prince-Captain of the Nautilus without even consulting me. Of course naming it only makes the transition that much more difficult.

I did my weekly change and measured everything shortly after. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates all zero. Ph 8.4, SG 1.025, and it has been a steady 78 degrees since inception. My ocellaris was happy as can be, riding the currents and being all cute and friendly. After his initial couple days of uncertainty he was always all cute and friendly and always a good eater.

I found him a bit later in my skimmer intake. Now my ammonia is up slightly, (~0.25) measurable for the first time since cycling, and my trates are at about 10 ppm, trites still zero. I'm guessing the hilariously colored (clown hahaha) carcass poisoned the system for a short bit as the bacteriums were ravaging him for parts. I removed the poor bastard immediately after finding him, not sure how long it had been, a couple hours maybe. Is my assessment likely?

As crappy as it is to lose a fish, the situation is compounded by the fact that I have another (fire fin) on the way which was ordered after everything had checked out and I was confident it was safe to increase the bio load ever so slightly. Now everything does not check out and the FNG is due to arrive today.

Is it possible the wee Nemo was just pulled into the intake? I assumed cause of death was something else and is body was claimed by the pump thereafter. I've ordered some strainers to attach to the intake to stem this problem. I'm kinda hoping this is it, if it is something else I can't see it to fix.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

 

[Northstar24]

Its possible that getting sucked into the filtration was enough to kill the clowfish. Its always hard when you lose a fish, especially when everything checks out. Where is your ammonia at currently? If you're showing ammonia you really should add a fish to the tank. If its coming via mail order you dont really have a choice. In that case, I would make up extra saltwater in order to do emergency water changes as necessary to keep the ammonia concentration as low as possible.

If there is ammonia in the tank water and you add a fish to it, it is very possible that the fish wont survive the mini cycle

 

[wontonflip]

+1 north. was the clownfish on the smaller side? Next time, get a larger one since they'll handle the stress better. I've had stupid fish get sucked into the overflow a few times. They did fine, but they were older and more established.

Do a water change to lower the ammonia before the other fish gets there.

Yes it does suck to lose any fish. I hate it when that happens.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for the assist guys. The ammonia's gone down a bit, it's between 0 and 0.25 ppm, the tester fluid is yellower than before but there's still some green. Still gonna do a change before putting the other in. Nemo was pretty small, maybe an inch.

Sucks.