What happened?

zepplin48138

zepplin48138

Member
I came home from work today and noticed that my fish were acting strange. So I started testing the water and nothing looked out of the norm. Within a 1/2 an hour I noticed that my perc was dying and that my orange spotted goby had died. I quikley changed about 20 percent of the water and an hour and a half later i am watching my juv emporer angel die.
I am new to the hobby, I have a 40 gal tank with about 20 lbs of live rock and about 20 lbs of LS. I run a lifeguard fluidized bed filter and a whisper filter. I also have a blood shrimp, a coral banded shrimp, a emerald crab, 2 sea slugs, a condy anenome, and a host anenome.
I am not running a qt tank but will be in the future.
I just bought the goby on sunday and put him in the tank and now all the fish are dead, I am guessing that the fish was diseased.
What should I do now, I need help.
Also I have a shark egg, hopefully he will survive, I was planning on starting a 180 by summer time to accomadate the fast growing fish. also everybody seemed fine yesterday and even this morning.
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
OH my.
Questions for you:
What kind of sea slugs?
Did the fish show any signs of ich or velvet?
Were the fish breathing heavy?
How old is the tank?
What are the water readings?
Are the inverts still OK?
 
zepplin48138

zepplin48138

Member
the tank is only about two mo old. I don't know what kind of slugs but the one is ok, but I can't find the other one. All the inverts are ok, The fish were ich free but I did notice that the angel did look velvety but I thought that was how they looked, besides his color was still good. All the fish were fine and normal yesterday. Everything seemed fine until the goby was put in the tank. He went in on sunday and today all fish dead. All the shrimp and crab are fine but the anemones look like they are dying. The Nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia looked fine the ph changed a little but nothing to dramatic. I didn't notice if the fish were breathing heavy. I changed the water every week (15%) and cleaned all filters weekly.????????????????????
 
S

sebae0

Guest
imo to much to fast, also some of the things missing like the slug could cause a spike which inturn would kill stuff. also not recommended to have anemones in such a young tank, or at all. when you say ammo trite and trates were ok what did they test at?
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
Think you might have had a slug die and go toxic in your tank? Some of them can be quite nasty.
Not good about the anemones, suggest water problems, or lighting issues...are they getting mushy-looking?
The velvety look on the angel is not a good sign. Does it look like a light colored powder? You need a Q tank. Really you do!
I'd be worried about the shark egg...
(You need a bigger tank, honey! Good you're planning that 180--why not set that thing up now?!)
Your tank is also very young. New tank syndrome! A 2 month old tank is probably not established yet. Don't add any more fish you want to keep alive until your tank is established. (that juvi emperor was a pricey fellow to lose) IF that slug died and is toxic, you may have to do a full tank cleaning.
ANyone else with suggestions?
 
zepplin48138

zepplin48138

Member
the slug was light blue with darker blue stripes and blotches, he also has feathery things on his head and tail area. Do you think that it would be the orange spotted goby that I put in the tank, he could have been deseased afterall everyone was fine and healthy until he was put in.
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
Oh no...say you don't have a sea apple! Expert care only! They are beautiful, but when they die, they release horrible toxins. Thankfully my favorite LFS guy talked me out of one that mystified me in the store!
Get rid of those slugs. I'm very anti-slug.
If it is the slugs, clean the tank...substrate and all. I've read posts here about how the toxins of (some, not all...) of these diabolical creatures can leech into LR and substrate for quite a while. You need expert advice on slugs...I stay away from them, no matter how supposedly safe they are...
As for the goby...unless he was sick with ich or something, I am doubting he is your problem.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member

Originally posted by zepplin48138
test results
Nitrite- .2 or lower
Nitrate-10
Ph-a little above 7.8 a liitle drop from nov 11th @8-8.1
ammonia- .1
first of all i feel your pain. the non zero nitrItes indicates you were haveing a mini cycle with the niew fish. My ph also dropped at about the two month point. When that happend I also would lose some added fish very quickly. and they would look healthy and then just be dead in the morning.
I agree you probably added a little too much too fast just as I did at first. I also think you may have done a water change on sunday or around that time. If so that water change may have contributed.
First things first. Stop all feeding until the nitrItes are 0.0. Then allow the system to run until the ph gets back up.
finally and most importantly, add more plant life to the system.
And hang in there. After about 4-5 months and with the addition of plant life, mini cycles, dead fish, low ph, and ugly algaes were only a memory in my system. It just takes time.
 
temple2101

temple2101

Member
I have to agree with the slug theory as well. I just watched my LFS tanks go to crap this past weekend cause one of theirs died, let out a horrible toxin, and basically killed thousands worth of fish and coral. They have been working non stop to clean out their tanks ... not a pretty sight. I won't be buyin from that place anytime soon!
 
zepplin48138

zepplin48138

Member
I went through my entire tank, including the lr and ls and all decorations and can't find the slug, I have another big slug that looks nothing like the one in the picture and I am going to get rid of it, But what happened to the sea apple, where did it go???????also any chance of the shark egg surviving??????
 
S

sebae0

Guest
reagarding your test results was that b4 the wipeout or after? if b4 than thats what killed everything any trite or ammo will kill fish and inverts exspecially. if after the wipeout then i would go with the slug theory also. slow down get things back to normal and it'll save you time and money in the future.
 
tiencvu

tiencvu

Member
The toxic might get in the water by cleaning the external of the tank... Has anyone thought this might be the problem?
Just curious......
 
zepplin48138

zepplin48138

Member
there are two hoods, so I doubt that cleaning the exterior would do it. The tests were done when i Noticed the fish were acting strange and on was already dead (goby), a 1/2 our later the clown was dead and the angel was on his way out.
 
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