Oxygen Levels and Deaths

[Squado]

I got up this morning to find my mandarin and royal gramma dead. I can not figure out why and thats why I am posting this. Two days ago I took off my HOB filter because I had gotten a refuge. Now, there were two powerheads connected to filter that created surface agitation that were removed. My current ph setup is one at the surface and two 3/4 up the tank. How do you know if there is enough oxygen in the tank to sustain life? Thats is the only thing that I can think of that could have killed the fish. All corals and inverts and my remaining tang look fine though. My water parameters are as follows:

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 30-50, Temp 78, sal 1.25, phos 0, ph 8.4.

Is there an oxygen test for the tank? This is killing me, the royal gramma was given to me with the tank and I feel bad as hell right now. I just threw in some macro to help with trates as I know they are a problem, but I did not think that they could kill the fish in their range. The Mandarin shows signs of weakness for the past couple of weeks and the gramma looked fine last night but is dead today. Does any one else know what could have happened?????

 

[Scoot]

If O2 levels are low, I think pH would be dropping big-time. The PH's 3/4 up the sides, are they causing water turbulence at the surface? They won't do anything for dissolved oxygen if they're not rippling the surface.

I have 3 in my tank, and pretty much the entire surfaceof the water is ripply.

30-50ppm of Nitrate is high, I think some fish are more sensitive to it than others.

 

[Squado]

Scoot Im glad you replied. I went to Berlin method because I heard that you had good results and the fact that my refuge can only fit with my filter off. Is the ripple on the water surface more important than water movement in the general area of the tank? If so I probably need to adjust my ph's. Also, when I moved the fish out of the tank I could tell that the madarin probably starved to death due to lack of color, but it appeared like the gramma had been caught under a rock slide. Half of his body was under a rock when I found him in the back of the tank. I think I just need to chill out with my tank and work on easier fish and a stronger rock structure. What a bad day........

 

[Scoot]

I'm no SW guru, but I know that the water surface has to be disturbed to promote gas exhcange, and get oxygen into the water. The more the better. Just moving water around doesn't dissolve air into the water. Moving water around under the surface is more for providing current to sessile invertebrates that need constant or turbulent water flow.

I still think if your dissolved O2 was low, your pH would have been dropping dramatically.

Anyone else feel free to correct me.

 

[FishFrik]

Also, when I moved the fish out of the tank I could tell that the madarin probably starved to death due to lack of color, but it appeared like the gramma had been caught under a rock slide.

Fish will turn pale when they die. I doubt that ur mandarin died from starvation at the same time that your gramma died. Also your gramma didn't get caved in and died. Fish are smarter than that. Its dead body might have been pushed around by the PH's and got stuck in the LR. Something else is causing your fish to die. Find it before it's too late.

 

[ntswift]

I agree with FishFrik. Yes your mandarin could have died of starvation, but not in such a short period. At least I don't think so. I had a scooter blenny in my 29 gal for about 4-5 months with out putting any pods in the tank. However, I am fighting an ongoing battle with fish dieing for no reason. I had three lion fish die and it seems like every fish I put in my tank just up and dies. I only have 2 clowns now and a neon goby that actually survived whatever it was that killed all my fish. All of my water perameters look good but I just dont get it. I'm a little afraid to buy any more fish to put in my tank because I don't know if they are going to make it or not. I think you should look a little deeper at your water and see if you can't find anything out of the ordinary. Also do you have any mantis shrimp in your tank? It might be worth it one night to stay up when the lights go out and see what you can see. I will do the same and post if I ever find anything. HTH

 

[Squado]

I was thinking about how it could have been a coincidence, I guess just wishful thinking. You def make a good point, the thing is that the mandarin was white and the gramma was full clolor. The mandarin was white for the past couple fo days and the gramma never lost color (I made sure he was dead before I took him out too). I had ich previous to that in the tank but the Mandarin showed no signs of it and the gramma had no signs of it either. Could this have been it with no spots on either fish? Im just gonna work on getting those nitrates down with my fuge and pwc's cause I cant think of anything else...

 

[Scoot]

Some fish will lose color as an indication of poor water quality. Gramma's are famous for that, but you've got a pale mandarin, so I'm not sure.

 

[FishFrik]

Mandarin will not get infected by ich. Some fish turn pale when they die, some don't. It depends on how or from what they died

 

[melosu58]

One thing I do know is that it could not be oxygen as your PH would be out of whack. Hopefully you`ll find out why

 

[roka64]

I think I read, if they are not getting enough O2, you will see them swimming at the top of the water, breathing hard. Your trates could be the culprit. It is toxic to fish over time. How long have they been that high?

 

[Squado]

Trates have sat around 20 for the past month, cant get rid of them. Iv'e tried everything from Amquel to a lot of PWC's. Is there anything else that can be done?

 

[roka64]

Do you have any sponges/biowheel?

 

[Squado]

I just removed my filter pad and bio wheel about a week and a half ago. I just also installed a fuge with some feather caulepra and chaeto and have been doing wpc's every week of about 15%. No idea how to lower them.

 

[boardsurfer]

I just removed my filter pad and bio wheel about a week and a half ago. I just also installed a fuge with some feather caulepra and chaeto and have been doing wpc's every week of about 15%. No idea how to lower them.

This will definitely help. I had biowheels and a filter pad in my tank once upon a time. It took longer than a week and a half to get the nitrates down (so give it time), but they did come down to zero.

HTH

 

[Squado]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Hopefully I will be able to see no nitrates within time. I mean know I only have one fish in there and it mainly eats algae, so feeding shouldnt be as much.