Dead fish

[gr8white]

I hope some one here to can tell me what went wrong....i cant stop pulling my hair out.

I added 1 chromis to my new 45 gallon saltwater tank after 3 weeks of cycling...the fish looked healthy for 24 hours in the tank and then died :bye2: :cry: :bye2:

before it died the fish was swimming around the surface before finally deciding to settle on the sand bed slowly moving its fins and as if gasping for air. next morning when i woke up it was dead.

I have 45 lbs of live rock and 40lbs of live sand with almost 30x water circulation.

I have been using seachem stability as well.

I checked all the parameters and they were fine e.g. ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, salinity 1.023, pH 8.2 and temp 78 degrees.

Can any one please tell me what could have been the reason for pioneer to depart?

 

[Homer]

sometimes it just happens ...

 

[FishyReef]

When you cycled the tank, how did you cycle it?

When you acclimated the chromis, how did you acclimate it? Did you dump any of the water from the bag into your tank?

You mention 30x water circulation - does your circulation give you a nice ripple effect across the top of the water?

And by the way, Welcome!!

 

[chichimom79]

Welcome aboard! Sorry to hear about your fish. Tell us more about your setup and post a few pics if you can. What are you using for flow? How was the tank cycled? How was the fish acclimated?

 

[fastrd400]

Guessing oxygen starving. As well as what everyone else has asked, are you running power heads? If so, what, and how many. As stated before, is the surface rippling. It sounds as though you are not getting the gas exchange that you need.

 

[little_fish]

I would guess oxygen starvation too

 

[gr8white]

When you cycled the tank, how did you cycle it?

When you acclimated the chromis, how did you acclimate it? Did you dump any of the water from the bag into your tank?

You mention 30x water circulation - does your circulation give you a nice ripple effect across the top of the water?

And by the way, Welcome!!

i floatied the bag for 45 minutes then I acclimated them by adding and removing the tank water to the LFS water 1 cup at a time and waiting 10 minutes in between. I dumped all the water into the tank including the LFS one.

i am using Hydor Koralia Evolution Powerhead (550 GPH) and get riple effect on the top but i dont really know what it should resemble..do you have a video?

 

[gr8white]

Welcome aboard! Sorry to hear about your fish. Tell us more about your setup and post a few pics if you can. What are you using for flow? How was the tank cycled? How was the fish acclimated?

I cycled the tank with LFS live rock and carib sea live sand...didnt add any food or raw shrimp as some people do.

one power head is on the back wall, 3 inches below the water line and facing up on a 45 degree angel.

second power head is on the opposite side wall so perpendicular to it, three inches below the water line facing 45 degrees up.

 

[gr8white]

I would guess oxygen starvation too

my wife kept saying that there is probably no oxygen in the tank but how can i measure that? i couldn't believe it after so much water movement.

the water from the HOB filter falls into the water like a 2 inch water wall and i can see bubbles being created and going all the way to the bottom of the tank.

If not acclimated properly how long does it take for the fish to die?

 

[Kelz88]

I would strongly advise you not to empty the bag water into your tank. When I did that the same thing happened to my fish :( Including the one that was there already.

When you finish acclimatizing just net the fish out of the bag.

 

[fastrd400]

my wife kept saying that there is probably no oxygen in the tank but how can i measure that? i couldn't believe it after so much water movement.
If your water surface is not rippling, I doubt you have sufficient gas exchange

the water from the HOB filter falls into the water like a 2 inch water wall and i can see bubbles being created and going all the way to the bottom of the tank.
That is super minimal though IMO

If not acclimated properly how long does it take for the fish to die?
It can happen as quickly as over night.

Now, with that answered, how exactly did you cycle your tank if you did not use a fish or 2 (not recommended this way anymore), or a piece of table shrip, or food?

Live rock, and water with live sand are not enough to cycle a tank, especially in a 3 week time period.

Did you test your water during these 3 weeks? If so, what did you see change if anything?

 

[gr8white]

I didn't use a fish or shrimp or food to cycle the tank...only live rock and live sand.

i did check the water levels but once after 3 days and later after almost 2 weeks so I might have missed the spike...

how can i ensure there is proper gas exchange?

 

[fastrd400]

I think you should start by ensuring the tank has in deed cycled. You should have seen the Ammonia spike, and then move on through the Nitrites and Nitrates. If you didn't, your tank never cycled.

 

[FishyReef]

If you see a ripple across the top of your water then you have enough oxygenation.

I think that the tank never cycled and the cycle probably started when you added the fish. Even if you add live rock and sand, if you don't add some waste to the tank then the tank will never actually cycle. This is why people add a piece of table shrimp or (old school) add a fish to start the cycle. Do you have some test kits at home? If so, I'd test your water now. If you see the presence of ammonia or nitrite then you are in the cycle. If not, then I'd recommend adding a piece of raw shrimp and then testing your levels daily. Once you get an ammonia spike you can take the shrimp out and throw it away.

 

[sen5241b]

IF the rock had been out of the water for a short while some stuff on it (algae, bacteria, etc.) died and that can be enough to cause a cycle.

The water from some LFSs can be laden with copper and that is, at least, one reason why you don't want it in your tank. The LFSs add copper to help kill parasites.

To acclimate: pour more than half the LFS water out of the bag, then slowly add your tank water, repeat. If you know anything about dilution factors, you can see you don't have to repeat this too many times before little or no LFS water is left in the bag.

PLEASE READ THIS. I guarantee it will prevent another disaster with your fish or tank: https://www.livingreefs.com/marine-aquarium-disasters-and-prevent-them-t20514.html

 

[gr8white]

Well now I am not sure if it cycled or not. From what I have read online live rock should be enough to start the cycle. I have a test kits and the only thing above sea room was nitrate. Around 5 ppm.

So tell consensus seems to be that I should restart the cycle by introducing a shrimp?

 

[gr8white]

Now, with that answered, how exactly did you cycle your tank if you did not use a fish or 2 (not recommended this way anymore), or a piece of table shrip, or food?

Live rock, and water with live sand are not enough to cycle a tank, especially in a 3 week time period.

Did you test your water during these 3 weeks? If so, what did you see change if anything?

After three weeks the nitrates were higher than they were when started the tank.

 

[Ted]

Well....if your trates are higher now then 2 weeks ago then my thinking is you have cycled. It wouldnt hurt to test it though. Ghost feed the tank and test it for ammonia tomorrow and then again the next day. If you see a big spike you need to cycle if you dont then the fish just didnt like the move and died. Feed a small amount to the tank but dont get all crazy on it.

 

[Civicdemon]

I think you might have Floated the fish to long with out adding water from your DT. 45 minutes with it in a bad and no water movement might have depleated its oxigen in the Bag, unless your LFS use pure oxigen when they fill the bags with air. Other than that you usually just float them for 10 to 15 min to get the temps the same then start adding tank water every 5 to 10 minutes till it doubles then remove half and repeat. then remove water with a net to catch the fish and place him in the tank. No water from the bad should enter your DT.

 

[gr8white]

i bought a KH test kit and the dKh came at 15. is that too high?

i am hesitant to add any fish now. I am going to add a shrimp and do the cycle again and test every day to see how the readings come in.