help all fish died overnight

[jay917]

All my fish died overnight and i do not know why... My parameters are good becuase i checked it that night. Could adding a clean sponge kill the fish? I put a couple spouges in the overflow box to catch the water so it will be less quiet. Other then that i did not change anything. They were all swimming healthy earlier that day.

 

[jay917]

o yea i looked at night and the fish looked like they were breathing pretty hard...

 

[revhtree]

What are your water parimeters?

Nitrite?
Ammonia?
PH?
Salinity?
Temprature?
Size of Tank?
How long has the tank been set up?
How many fish died?

Sorry about your loss..

 

[jay917]

nitrites 0
nitrates 20
ammonia .25
ph 8.2
salinity 1.024
temprature 83
tank size 55
tank been set up for 5 months but most stuff was taking from existing tank
5 fish died

 

[revhtree]

What kind of filtration do you have on this tank?

How much LR if any?

Did you loose power or anything?

Sorry for all the questions, but its hard to tell at this point.

When did you test your ammonia? It is possible you had a spike and thus your readings are coming down from it.

What kind of fish did you loose?

 

[jay917]

cpr bak pak wet dry filter with protein skimmer hooked up to a 10 gallon refugium

 

[jay917]

i ahve about 80 pounds of live rock, no power loss, i tested the ammonia the same night taht they all died cause i noticed they were breathing abnormal. I lost 2 damsels, 2 clowns, and a tang

 

[clowninround]

Did they show any signs of disease possibly?

 

[MarineFlake]

Ammonia should be 0.

"Ammonia occurs in two states depending on the pH of the water. The unionized state, NH3, is more toxic than the ionized state, NH3+4,. The unionized state can invade the body tissue of marine animals much easier. Almost all free ammonia in sea water with a normal pH is in the ionized state, thus less toxic. As pH rises, the less toxic ionized state decreases and the more toxic unionized state increases. For example, a toxic level of ammonia as NH3 may be present with a pH of 8.4 being lethal , but the same level of ammonia as NH3+4 with a pH of 7.8 may be tolerated. Higher tank temperatures can also effect the toxicity of ammonia..

Testing for ammonia is extremely important. Ammonia will be elevated during a new tank cycle, but can also be elevated in established aquariums if the aquarium maintenance is not maintained. If water is not changed regularly, filters are not kept clean, if the tank is overstocked, or if medication is used that disrupts the biological cycle ammonia levels can increase. Test immediately anytime you have sick fish, or a fish death. Ammonia is measured at parts per million (ppm). Aquarium water quality is critical to the health of tank inhabitants. Lethal levels of ammonia can accumulate very rapidly in the absence of true nitrifying bacteria. The ideal ammonia reading should register at "0"

If ammonia is present, fish may exhibit the following symptoms:

Rapid gill movement
Clamped fins
Bacterial infections
Mortality
"

 

[jay917]

I woudnt think its the ammonia or a disease tho because during the day time they were swimming normally and eating. Could it be possible that the sponges i put in the overflow box cut off the fishes oxygen or something like that?

 

[MarineFlake]

In short, no. However, something caused the Ammonia to rise. If you measured at .25 before bedtime and they were dead in the morning, then it stands to reason the ammonia probably go tworse as the night went on. Ammonia is very toxic to life in a closed system. It may be moot now, but it would have been interesting to get a measure of ammonia that morning you found everything floating. This is assuming of course that these sponges did not contain something toxic. Either way, a cycled tank should show 0.

GL!

 

[jay917]

for some sorta reason my ammonia is always at .25 even tho i had a small bioload so i dont believe thats the problem either. I had the tank for about 5 months running and it never got bellow .25

 

[lando]

Interesting. How old is this tank? How did you cycle? From what you describe I am thinking it was NH3 poisioning.

 

[Pghjeff71]

Is it possible it was some external source of contamination? Did you spray any chemicals, do any painting, etc? Did you have your hands in the tank that day?

 

[jay917]

the only thing i did was dose it with the chemicals i ususally dose it with every week... calcium, iodine, and essential elements. Then i put a sponge in the overflow box to quiet the sound. Other then that i did nothing else. I empty the tank out and redid the water and nows theres a clear slimey substance all over the tank and i am not sure what it is.... Any ideas?

 

[lando]

How old is this tank? How did you cycle?

This info would help.

empty the tank out and redid the water and nows theres a clear slimey substance all over the tank and i am not sure what it is.... Any ideas?

What does this mean? Did you empty the tank out completely and add new water? Did you clean the substrate during this large water change?

 

[jay917]

the tank is about 5 months old but everything thats in it was transfered from an existing tank. the tank was cycled using live sand from another tank and also a shrimp. I emptyed out like 98% of the water out of the tank, couldnt get the rest out, and changed it with new water. I did not clean the substrate.

 

[Poolrad]

You did a 98% water change? Kind of extreme don't you think?

.25 ammonia is a footprint of a problem, no matter what you need to get this resolved. It is probably a key to what happened.

 

[sdellin]

Isn't it key that 98% of the water was changed? I would think that would be critical.

Did you dechlorinate the new water before adding it?

 

[revhtree]

What kind of test kits are you using?

How much do you feed?

With that bio load and filtration, I would not think that you should have any ammonia elevation at all. 2 Things: Bad test kit? Overfeeding?