HELP! Tank crashed over night...

[bmb4516]

Went to bed at 2:00 AM this morning and my tank was great. Got up this morning at 8:00 AM and every fish in my tank except my GS Maroon Clown was dead. I've had this group of fish for about 6 months no problem. I ran to the fish store and got 5 gallons of their water and set up my QT and got my clown in it.

Parameters (which matched up at the pet store):

Size: 65g
Ammonia: <.25
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.025

All inverts are doing fine including my serpent star

Fish in the tank that died:

Naso Tang
Yellow Tang
Yellow Eye Tang
Cubicus Boxfish
Green Angler

The only external sign on the fish that looked out of the ordinary was my Naso Tang had black blotches all over it.

I added carbon to my sump. Any other ideas before I do a massive water change?

 

[blorkiemom]

I don't really have any thoughts--just that I'm sorry about your fish. That's devestating. I hope the clown makes it . . . well, one thing--in FW black spots can be an indication of an ammonia spike, but the black is actually when the fish starts to heal. --So if you've been testing your water and know there hasn't been a spike that can't be it.

 

[bmb4516]

Update:

I've just noticed that there is a small collection of bubbles around the edges of the tank at the top of the water. I've never seen this before. Could that be an indication of what the problem is?

 

[seafan]

Wait, your ammonia is greater than .25. That was probably the cause. Did you add anything new? How much LR do you have? That happened to me with my ugf. It got clogged and ammonia spiked. Check the lines and filtration in your sump. hmm... all inverts are okay, sounds like a disease or parasite to me and the ammonia spike may be caused by the die-off. All I can say is do 20% water changes over the next week.

 

[fishfreek]

The ammonia is probably a result of the deaths although prolonged exposure to even low levels of ammonia can cause health issues.

What was teh temperature of the tank? Feeding habits. How long has the tank been setup? Was their visable agression with the tangs earlier? Where there any signs of a power outage?

 

[bmb4516]

Sorry, ammonia was less than .25. I'm a senior in college. I've been doing higher math for too long to know the difference between "greater than" and "less than." Coloring of the drop test was somewhere between 0 and .25. No clogs anywhere. I have a built in sump on the back of my tank and water is flowing in into just fine and the pump is pumping through the filter and back in the tank.

 

[fishfreek]

The bubbles proably represent some excessive DOC's in the water. DO you have a skimmer and if so whens the last ime you cleaned it?

 

[quarryshark]

Also, any new additions lately? Flashing, lethargic behavior?

 

[bmb4516]

Tank has been running since last October. Temp is at 75 deg. I feed them twice a day and they ate greedily as usual last night. The Tangs didn't mess with each other because the Yellow Tang tried to step up to the Naso Tang when I first added the Yellow and Yellow Eye Tang (about 3 months ago) and the Naso kicked his fins all around the tank (sigh she had great personality). No power outages through the night (my tank is on APC battery back-up anyway).

 

[quarryshark]

What is the PH?

 

[bmb4516]

I have a skimmer, I have to empty it about every three days. This morning was the first time I've ever noticed the bubbles. I added a hermits about 3 weeks ago, but no other fish since the Yellow Tang and Yellow-eye Tang. Oh, I have 90lbs of this rock. The fish showed no signs of stress last night when I went to bed, I always check on them being that the tank is next to my bed.

 

[bmb4516]

PH: 8.2

 

[XXFirefighter]

Maybe the boxfish died and released toxins in the water and the clowns just made it?

 

[bmb4516]

Yeah, that's the only thing I can come up with, that or something startled him and he did it. All the dead fish were around him, and my clown is in love with powerhead on the other side of the tank so the toxin might not have made it up there yet.

*sigh*

 

[Brad]

Temperature? You didn't have a heater stick on, did you?

 

[austinsdad]

That 65g in your profile kinda concerns me if it's up to date. 3 tangs? Have you had trouble with ammonia before? Seems like there'd be some serious water quality issues that could figure into the diagnosis - not sure how, but they could.

 

[Guest]

I would go with the Boxfish theory also, Clowns are very hardy and less likely to be harmed by the toxins as fast, good thing you got him out of there when you did.

I do know after my carpet anemone explosion, the tangs were the first to go... they are not tollerable at all to bad water conditions..

Sorry to hear of your loss though, I have been through it as well.

 

[blorkiemom]

How is the clown today?

 

[bmb4516]

Update:

My clown fish has successfully made it through two nights in his QT. He's eating just fine and not showing any signs of stress, so I think he's going to be OK. As far as water quality issues in the past, the only issues I've had were nitrates, but after purchasing some nitra sponge and adding it to my sump (15gal built into the tank) it's been sitting at zero. I can't get an exact ammonia reading because the first interval in my test is .25, so it has always been slightly higher than zero, but it's never been the same color as .25. The owner of my LFS (who is totally awesome) used the high quality water test kits that they use at the store and said there was nothing wrong as far as SG, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, or PH, that would contribute to an overnight tank wipeout. He also is giving me a few free damsels (being that i flushed $200 worth of fish i bought from him) today to check to make sure everything is OK in my tank. I've done essentially an 80% water change using the water from the LFS. The owner did say bubbles on the surface were and indication of Ostratoxin poisoning.

 

[specialk]

65G
Naso Tang
Yellow Tang
Yellow Eye Tang
Cubicus Boxfish
Green Angler
Maroon Clown

The only external sign on the fish that looked out of the ordinary was my Naso Tang had black blotches all over it.

Maybe the Bio Load caught Up with you. You had 6 fish that get large in a small tank. The naso was sick. I would also say the ammonia was a result in deaths.

Kaye