This is terrible

[hops523]

So one day I came home and I found that a peppermint shrimp I had for a little over a week was dead. I didnt realy know why. The next morning I found my royal gramma was on his way dying. I tested the water,everything was fine. I didnt know the problem, I thought it could be some parasite or something. So this morning one of my occellaris clowns died. My clowns were acting very funny on the same day that my gramma died,they wouldnt eat and they just kind of looked sick (skinny and stuff like that). My gramma was also acting funny the day when the shrimp died,but in a different way. Again I checked the parameters and everything was fine,also I have a few coral and they are doing perfect,they are even growing. Today I went to the lfs to get my water checked to make sure my tests werent faulty,and te water was fine. I then mentioned to the guy that I founf a hitchhiker crab two weeks ago,and he told me that was probably the problem. And that he was probably killing them at night while they were sleeping. What do you all think?

By the way one of my ocellaris clowns is still alive.

[edwing206]

Post your parameters. I know you said they are fine but you can never be too sure.
The crab could be the problem. Do you have good gas exchange going on in your tank? Lots of surface movement?

[chrismunn]

how old is the tank?

[hops523]

My parameters are:
salinity:1.025
pH:8.2
ammonia:0
nitrate:0.1
nitrite:0
phosphate:0

Yes, there is lots of surface movement. Except for right now. I put in a glass jar with some brine and mysis shrimp, so they crab will go down, and wont be able to get out. So I had to turn off my maxi jet, so the food wouldnt come out of the jar, but I still have two power filters going right now.

The tank is about 2-3 months old.

[chrismunn]

maybe its the thin air up there in colorado?

[chrismunn]

when did you add each fish, and in which order?

[chrismunn]

what the tempurature?

[hops523]

Lets see I got the royal gramma first about 4 weeks ago, then it was two clowns at the same time 2 weeks after that, then it was the peppermint shrimp 1 week after that

the temperature is 76

[chrismunn]

being a fairly new tank i would say that adding thoes fish that fast might overload your biological filtration, but your parameter test disproves that theory.

did you test the water as the fish were dying, or after the fish were dead and gone?

if you added the fish too soon then ammonia nitrates and nitrites could have briefly spiked just enough to kill the fish and shrimp, only to lower by the time you took the water tests. i dont know if that would happen 3 days in a row like what happend to you, but rather it would happen all at once. the thing with that is your biological filtration has to be built up a certain amount before it can handle a bioload that large.

[chrismunn]

come to think of it, that same thing happend to me over the course of 2 days. i lost 2 fish in 2 days, and the whole time my corals never looked phased...

my parameter test all showed good water conditions like yours did.

i retract my previous statement and agree with myself

[Aerowen]

did you spray something in the air? cleaning agents- or perhaphs paint? i had a friends tank crash a couple days after she painted her nails in the room where the tank was.

[hops523]

Well I tested when the shrimp died, then when the royal gramma died, and then again today when the clown died. So I guess you could say I tested while they were dying, and when they were dead and gone.

Its really funny that you asked if I painted. Two rooms were painted, but it was upstairs, and the tank is down stairs, so I doubt that had anything to do with it.

[Tito79]

Checked for electricity from a bad pump or something getting into the tank?

[FB]

Originally posted by hops523
Well I tested when the shrimp died, then when the royal gramma died, and then again today when the clown died. So I guess you could say I tested while they were dying, and when they were dead and gone.

Its really funny that you asked if I painted. Two rooms were painted, but it was upstairs, and the tank is down stairs, so I doubt that had anything to do with it.

Can you smell the fumes where the tank is.

[tbittner]

Do you have a sump? Are you running a skimmer? Calc reactor? Ozone? Kalc?

It really probably was the crab. What kind is it? Is it hairy?

[hops523]

Tank doesnt smell at all. Yes, it is hairy and has pointy claws.

[tbittner]

Gorilla crab. Vicious critters.

[widmer]

Originally posted by Aerowen
did you spray something in the air? cleaning agents- or perhaphs paint? i had a friends tank crash a couple days after she painted her nails in the room where the tank was.

I gotta wonder how many people have a tank crash and can't figure out why, because somehow some synthetic chemical was introduced into the tank (ie from being on their hands) and it proved to be toxic to the inhabitants. An example would be the way using a teflon pan in the kitchen can cause vapors that kill pet birds even though we find them harmless.

[DonSh]

It could be the paint still, I think he meant were you able to smell paint downstairs.

I know a clients house recently, the painters almost killed the whole tank...

[Aquarist007]

hmmm--I am wondering if it is fllukes

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...heir+treatment

[vanmo92]

It is not very likely, but is possible that it is some stray voltage. That is what came to mind right away.

[Ritten]

Find the biggest empty snail shell you can. Shove a coctail shrimp down in there and put it by the last place you saw that blankity blank crab, once the crab goes in the shell after the shrimp, bye bye