unknown cause of death

[aussienoob]

I CHECKED ALL MY PARAMETERS AND THEY WERE FINE BUT I JUST HAVE NO IDEA WHY MY FISH ARE DYING/UNHEALTHY

my tank has been doing quite alright for the past month aside from some KH issues and then recently in the morning when my lights are off the corals have been closing alot more than they usually do, i also noticed some bleaching on one of them. Then yesterday my foxface lo was swimming crazily and really fast too and this morning i found one of my clownfish dead.

[BIG_KAHUNA]

If it's affecting fish one by one I would look toward poisoning rather than disease. Check the tank for copper, check the heater make sure its working and not busted, do you dose the tank? we need more info! Need all parameters and all info on your setup.

[ReachTheSky]

The Foxface has venomous dorsal and pectoral fins so I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he may have ran into and accidentally stung your Clownfish in his craze.

How big is your tank? Size constraints would be my first guess as to his behavior. A large Foxface needs a 70+ gallon tank. I would also check for stray voltage in the tank as well.

[bnumair]

r u using an denitrators like sulfur or coil etc. sometimes this will result in hydrogen sulphide gas and that would cause fish to have a drunk effect and kill.

[coralsnaked]

If you have low Alk problems and notice more of a problem early morning w/ lights off. You may be having bigger pH swings due to low Alk. Corals irritated because of low Alk and closing and fish suffering from the PH swings and possible de-oxygenation. I would buffer w/ a product that raises pH and Alk together (SeaChem Reef BUFFER) and try to get better a better gas exchange. IE turn up the skimmer to a very wet skim full air and water flkow. Point return nozzles or powerhead to break the surface of the water...

Good Luck and make that Skerry Merry

[bertoni]

What are the actual parameters? Most likely, they are fine, but it might be useful to see what they are. It's unlikely that low pH will kill fish, but other issues, like a very bad SG level, might. I'd expect the corals to go first, if the problem were water quality.

[aussienoob]

for more more information the parameters are
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrate: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
phosphate: 0ppm
ph: 8.2
calcium: 500ppm
kh: 9dkh
temperature stays around 25 degrees celcius (im australian)

[aussienoob]

im suspecting poisoning how would i check for that?

[yrema]

Have you checked for stray voltage?

[keithhays]

Do you have a picture of the dead fish? Also, your parameters seem a little too good. How long has your tank been setup? What type of test kit are you using?

[bertoni]

The temperature seems on the low side to me, but probably is okay. I targeted 28, but a little lower is fine. Electrical leakage might be one possibility. I think this type of problem typically is hard to diagnose.

[ReachTheSky]

You still haven't given us the size of the tank. Could you please let us know?

Your Foxface's behavior might be a result of it feeling "claustrophobic". Fish do at times tend to behave erratically when they're placed in a tank that is far too small to house them.

[coralsnaked]

Originally Posted by aussienoob

for more more information the parameters are
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrate: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
phosphate: 0ppm
ph: 8.2
calcium: 500ppm
kh: 9dkh
temperature stays around 25 degrees celcius (im australian)

These params do not indicate a low Alk problem as you suggested, therefore the idea of wild pH swings are really not very likely. I would suspect some type of contamination and would do the easy things first. A poly filter is slow but would indicate what it is absorbing and carbon will pull some toxins from the water. Prime for Ammonia but your testing indicsates 0.0 in fact your testing shows 0.0 on everything ? Conditioners if your water source has chlorine in it. I mention these because chlorine (amine) and ammonia will cause fish to suffer first. Do you have shrimp that are unaffected, if so you can think ammonia. If shrimp are dead as well then I would look to chlorine.

And as Bertoni says your salinity could be way off, you did not present those params but surely you have checked w/ a well calibrated refractometer.

[crabbyjoe]

i had somethng similar happen 6 months ago. dying fish, corals dying or looking like hell. just an overall look of not good in the tank. LFS asked about possible contaminates and i rememembered a subtle smell of chlorine in my RO water. thought i was crazy becase RO should remove that. turned out local water bumped chlorine treatment beyond what my RO would remove and put a hurting on my tank. some big water changes and added carbon back into my mix and things settled back down quickly.

[aussienoob]

the clownfish was really pale when i found it and a couple of my fish are really pale now as well.

my tank is about 55 gallons
also i did a retest on my params and it seems that my ammonia is about 0.5 ppm is that was too high?

[keithhays]

Yes, that is too high, but it also indicates a tank without a fully functioning biofilter i.e. you are still cycling and there shouldn't be any fish in there. I would dose with a dechlorinator such as prime to keep the ammonia in check until you can find a place to put the fish, such as back at the LFS until your tank cycles. What you haven't told us is how long this tank has been setup?

[Kyle918]

The ammonia jump from 0 to .5 leads me to believe that the ammonia is from the clown fish dying, not necessarily because his tank is still cycling. How long has this tank been running for? How many fish have you added and how soon after starting the tank?

Also, might be worth trying a different test kit. If you tested the water after the clown died and you had an ammonia reading of 0.0, then retested later and got 0.5 then your test kits might be innaccuate.

Also, any ammonia is harmful to fish. It can kill most healthy fish at 0.25 ppm. Even as low as 0.1 you will start to see visual signs that something is toxifying your fish.

[bertoni]

0.5 ppm is high enough to kill. I'd start dosing Amquel or Prime, and keep them going. Some water changes might help, too. Stop all feeding, too.