sudden fish deaths

[jasonh]

So...I hooked up my sump (finally) a yesterday morning. In a nutshell I added about 14g of water to the system. I'll get back to the sump in a bit.

After starting up the sump, my small piece of xenia went south. Looked practically dead. I figured I'd give it a couple days.

Today, I noticed that my bi-color blenny and fairy wrasse were nowhere to be seen. After some searching, it appeared that they were hiding, but still alive. I fed the tank, but they didn't come out. My coris wrasse and 2 ocelaris clowns were happily swimming about and eating though.

Checked all my params, they all look good. (0,0,5 ammonia nitrite nitrate)

Took the xenia out today, fearing that maybe it was releasing some sort of toxin or something (a dying toadstool nearly killed some xenia a few months back).

Anyway, I just found the blenny dead. Seems to have decomposed very quickly...the skin was transparent and shed off readily.

The fairy wrasse isn't doing too great. It's just been hanging out at the bottom of the tank not moving all day. I don't have any water ready for a QT (it's mixing currently) so I put the wrasse in the sump, just in case it dies it won't be behind a rock or something. I really don't have high hopes of it being alive in the morning, the way it looks now Sucks, I really really really liked that fish.

Back to the sump install. I've had the plumbing for the sump in place since mid-November, just capped off waiting for the rest to be set up. Some water got into the overflow plumbing though. Anyway, the smell coming from the plumbing was pretty awful. My guess would be sulfur hydroxide. Sound right? We flushed the pipe really well with hot water and vinegar until there was no smell in the rinse water. Once that was done and we were convinced it was clean, we set everything up.

So my guess is the smelly plumbing has something to do with these 2 fish (and the xenia). The only thing troubling me is the fact that all my inverts are alive and well, as are the coris wrasse and two clowns. All corals (besides the xenia) are open and look great.

Any ideas?

[badfish]

Did you check the PH, Temp, and salinity of the 14gallons of new water before adding it to your system?

[jasonh]

Temp was ok. Didn't check Ph or salinity though. Tank's Ph didn't change, so I'm sure it was ok. I know the salinity was a little higher, as it bumped up the systems salinity by a point or so (to somewhere between 1.027-1.028 on my crappy hydrometer). After a topoff with fresh water last night and today, the system is at the usual 1.026 (verified via refractometer)

[badfish]

How long did you leave the water to mix before adding it to the system?

[Kentanner11]

if you added baffles what silicone did you use? (the only thing I could think of)

[jasonh]

Water was mixed for about 2 days.

Silicone was GE Silicone I. Have used it plenty before with no issues.

[Kentanner11]

hmmm weird, yea that silicone is fine.....

[dvlax40]

did you cure the silicone for at LEAST 24 hours, any sonner and it can be deadly as it releases acid as it cures

[jasonh]

I'm well aware, and yes. It cured for more like 48+ hours.

[JMCAquarium]

??? do you have any other critters or fish that remain at the bottom of the tank ?? the two that died stay at the bottom 99% of the time correct ??? Maybe what ever was in the sump when you fired it whet straight to the bottom of the tank making the two fish ill before what ever it was spread into the main water and was doluted to the point it is no longer harmful.......or those two were ill to begin with and whatever is messing with your tank took them out irst and will slowly siicken the rest of your tank. I hate to sound gloomy but I can't think of anything else. Sorry Bro

[jasonh]

Yeah idunno. Both fish were usually mid-level fish. Everything but these 2 fish and the xenia is fine.

maybe these 2 were just the least hardy or something.

The fairy wrasse is still alive, but still not moving at the bottom of my refuge, last I checked. We'll see how it is in the morning.

[jasonh]

Originally posted by jasonh
My guess would be sulfur hydroxide.

Ugh, brain fart. I think I meant hydrogen sulfide.

Anyway, the wrasse is still alive, but still not moving. If I can I will set up a 10g today for it. Any suggestions as far as treatments? All I currently have is Pimafix that I had used for my FW tank.

[GustavoAZ]

Not sure if it would make a diff but the newer ge silicones are coming with a bacterial gaurd, ck the packaging. I was going to use some but after I read not to use anything with the bacterial/mildew gaurd I just used the kind from petstores made for aquariums. Wonder if that had to anything to do with it.

[jasonh]

I know the Silicone II has that BioSeal crap. Silicone I doesn't. Unless of course they started putting it in the mix and just didn't tell anyone Package has no mention of it.

[MelloYellow]

Sounds like it could be a lack of oxygen issue. If no other corals had issue but xenia then that's my guess. Xenia is one of the corals with an increased sensitivity to oxygen deprivation. Whats your flow like in the tank? Lots of vigorous surface movement and ripples on the waterline?

[KRASHPD]

Where did you get the new Sump Jason? Is it a new tank and do you know its history? I read a thread similar to this once and it turned out the sump was a used tank that he got for free from a LFS but had copper and other disease treatment chemicals used in it in the past. Once it was added to a reef tank, the corals began dying and started the chain reaction killing the fish as well. Just something to think about.

[jasonh]

Tank flow..I have about 250gph from the return, a koralia 1, and a 200gph powerhead. I had a maxijet-stream mod, but took it out for use elsewhere...but that was about a week before the sump went in.

Speaking of surface movement though, I just noticed my return isn't ....


oh crap. Hang on a sec...

[Kentanner11]

return pump issues?

[jasonh]

The skimmer decided to go nuts and decided to flood a good 2 gallons of water all over the floor. >.<

[Kentanner11]

nice well at least you were home.

[jasonh]

Yeah, we looked over and noticed there was no surface movement from the return. Skimmer went nuts and filled the bucket I have the collection cup drain in, then that overflowed. Return chamber got too low for the pump to pump any more. Think I lost 1-2g.

What sucks is the tank is on carpet. At first I thought hardly any got on the carpet, but then I noticed it soaked into one spot and spread on the pad. Just spent a bit of time with the blow dryer. Hopefully the stuff under the stand is ok. I think when we move, the tank will be on tile if possible. If not, I will build a platform for it to sit on that has a trough around it

Anyway...as I was saying, the return gives surface movement. I will have a downsized maxistream in place today.

Might see if I can get some carbon to run in the tank, depending on how much it costs (bank is holding a check still...not much avail )...just in case something is in the water.

Would it be wise to set up a small hospital tank for the wrasse? Any meds I could dose that might help out?

[JMCAquarium]

If ya need help bro let me know.

[jasonh]

Thanks for the offer.

I actually found a bag of carbon I've had sitting around for quite some time (came with my XP1 a couple years ago)...I hope that stuff doesn't go bad