please help! wrasse and clown fish just died overnight!!

[jokelly61]

Hi, I have a 48 gal nano marine, with 8 kilo of live rock and sand, temp is 70 72, the bloke i bought it from said it had been running for a year, came with blue wrasse, blue hermit crab and have a few snails too, everything was fine, I bought some live algae to lower nitrates and put it in the tank, it was in for two days and my new clown fish and wrasse has died....what did i do wrong? I done a 10% water change with RO water, as the bloke said he had done it a week before. On the hydrometer it said salinity was too low @ 1.020 so I added some salt mix and now it is reading 1.024, Power heads are fine, skimmer is fine, heater and everything is ok....snails and crabs seem fine just fish perished overnight?? Any suggestions please?

 

[bang guy]

How much algae did you add?
What was the PH of the water when you discovered your fish were dead?

 

[jokelly61]

hi, below is the link of what algae it is and i put in the whole bunch which said 150mls of Chaetomorpha Chaeto which reduces the Nitrates naturally.....I didnt test the PH level when I took the dead fish out as I was somewhat distraught but am taking a sample to my local Aquatics later today to see what they can come up with...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150590808480?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[osprey440]

If you moved the tank it may have gone through a mini cycle. I would check the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels immediately. Also post the levels when you find out.

 

[jokelly61]

Thankyou I have taken the sample to my local Aquatics and he tested for all of them....he said everything seemed fine apart from the Nitrite is up by 2 ?? I wouldn't have thought just a minor thing like that could kill my fish?? I bought some bacteria balls to place in my filter to see how it goes, not trusting putting anymore fish in there yet though just in case....hermits and turbos are still all fine touch wood

 

[jstdv8]

If I'm reading this right you did a water change with RO water? Is that to mean you didn't add any salt to the water when you changed it out? If so, that's why your salinity is so low and they might have died from shock of such a drastic change.
Also, when you say you added salt mix did you put the salt directly into the display tank?

 

[jokelly61]

Hi, I was told to replace 10 % of the salt water (marine tank water) with RO water to reduce salt levels so that is what I did, after which the salt level was at 1.020, therefore i started mixing salt in a container with some of the tank water first, adding it gradually over the period of two days to bring it up now is reading 1.023 to 24. I am now thinking that the bloke i purchased the tank from has changed over some of the LR as there is only one small rock with purple corolline on it and the rest is clean....I am now trying to promote more growth of Corolline too as there surely should be more in a tank that has been up and running for a year? I am currently still doing research on this as I want to get this right asap!
all of your opinions and replies are very much appreciated

 

[jstdv8]

Fwiw my tank is over 3 years inks and I don't have a bit of coralline in there.
What was the salinity at before the water change?

 

[bang guy]

Quote:Originally Posted by jokelly61 http:///t/395259/please-help-wrasse-and-clown-fish-just-died-overnight#post_3518802
Thankyou I have taken the sample to my local Aquatics and he tested for all of them....he said everything seemed fine apart from the Nitrite is up by 2 ?? I wouldn't have thought just a minor thing like that could kill my fish?? I bought some bacteria balls to place in my filter to see how it goes, not trusting putting anymore fish in there yet though just in case....hermits and turbos are still all fine touch wood

A nitrite level of 2.0ppm is not going to harm a Clownfish. Measureable Nitrite does mean that you had an incident which overwhelmed yoour system though and if Nitrite was still 2.0ppm days after the incident then it must have been a whopper. Something caused an ammonia spike and it was the ammonia that killed your fish. I would not think a ball of algae would cause an ammonia spike, if fack it should have helped. There is a piece of information missing. If you can determine what caused the ammonia then you have your suspect.

 

[jay0705]

In my option. It was your water change that did it. 1.024 isn't too high. Its a normal salinity for many people. Myself I keep my tank at 1.022-1.023. Its a fowlr. Regardless when you drop your salinity most fish can handle that,its easier for them to go from high to low. But when u where at 1.020. Which again is a fine level you mixed new water and added it. So now the fishes system was all over first going low then back up. Also you should mix and areate your mix for awhile b4 you add it to the tank.the Chemical make up of salt water has to stabilize b4 u should add it too your tank.

 

[jay0705]

Also all chemical levels would still test ok ammonia,nitrate and such. So that's why id say it was that water change