A friend of mine went to Florida for the weekend and I was to feed his tank and keep an eye on things. Well I went to feed today and there were 2 dead fish, a clown and flame angel. The flame angel was stuck on the vents of a powerhead half eaten. As i was removing it a large piece of him fell behind the rockwork in such a way that I would have to take all the rock out to get it.:sad: I dont want to ruin his vacation so I want to know do I have to get it out no matter what and there is no need to call becuase whats done is done and I have no choice or might it be ok? 90 gal with 30 gal sump with few pieces of coral 2 smallish tangs and 1 clown and cuc. What do you guys think? I am headed back there later to check parameters etc. Thanks P.s. there is at least 100lbs of live rock in there.
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- Thread starter dewkey
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A water change is the best thing you can do for the tank. It sounds like the tank has other problems to have lost 2 fish! Can you test the water in the tank to see if he has a nitrate/phos/ or some other problem? If you do not have the salt water made up you can buy it from a lfs, they could do the testing also. If the tank is older you may not have a problem with a piece of the fish missing but there is a problem of some kind, it could be electrical. Good Luck!
Typically when a fish is stuck to the side of a power head, it's on the way out or is already kicked the bucket and was floating in the water column close enough to the power head.
What's the tank temperature?
Sometimes people turn up the house temp (to warmer in summer, cooler in winter to save on energy costs) when they will be away for an extended period of time, not considering that the tank will be warmer too (unless there's a chiller - but even at that, it can tax what a chiller can do). I'd be looking at that, as well as other parameters.
Barry and Maple are right - it's odd for 2 fish to just drop dead unless there is something going on, and yes, sometimes they get sucked onto intakes when they are weak or already dead.
Jenn
Sometimes people turn up the house temp (to warmer in summer, cooler in winter to save on energy costs) when they will be away for an extended period of time, not considering that the tank will be warmer too (unless there's a chiller - but even at that, it can tax what a chiller can do). I'd be looking at that, as well as other parameters.
Barry and Maple are right - it's odd for 2 fish to just drop dead unless there is something going on, and yes, sometimes they get sucked onto intakes when they are weak or already dead.
Jenn
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Good call Jenn!:up:
I think he lost a fish in his rockwork that started the whole problem. The amonia was high but nitrite was undetectable. All other levels were in acceptable ranges considering it is not my tank. I will check again in the morning and see if they are still elevated. He luckily had some amonia lock or something similar that reduced them to almost 0 with 5ml per 20 gallons. What is the largest % water change that would be safe? Couldn't find his thermometer so I will have to bring some goodies from my house when I return. Also he had what looked like an emerald crab a long time ago but, now was like an off white body with seaweed like things porturding from its legs and descent sized claws. I thought it looked cool but also looked like a potential problem and before I could run to the car and back it was gone. I have a blackberry so you already know what those pictures turned out :yuk:. Anyway iw as wondering if there are color vaiations of emerald crab or they should always atleast be some sort of green as this on was not? Thanks as always I appreciate allthe help and suggestions.
I thought amonia was the first stage of the decay of the body and that there where no nitrites would indicated that something happened rather quickly and the biological processes didnt have time to catch up. The fish died unoticed and produced amonia another fish dies produces more amonia more that can be handled with the present bacteria levels? I have been lucky to have not lost anything or had anything go out of whack thus far so my damage control skills are less developed than my regular newbish marine fish keeping skills. Would 50% water change be too extreme if amonia levels were still elevated this morning?
50% water change would probably be excessive.. but 20% or 30% would be an acceptable response..
once a tank is up and running, the ammonia released when something dies is quickly (very locally) consumed by the bacteria, that's why you hear about a lot of people leaving small dead fish in their tank for the CUC to dispose of..
if you've got ammonia readings in the water column (not just near the carcass) then you've got another problem..
you say nitrites and Nitrates are BOTH negligible?
once a tank is up and running, the ammonia released when something dies is quickly (very locally) consumed by the bacteria, that's why you hear about a lot of people leaving small dead fish in their tank for the CUC to dispose of..
if you've got ammonia readings in the water column (not just near the carcass) then you've got another problem..
you say nitrites and Nitrates are BOTH negligible?
Products like Ammo Lock don't make the ammonia "disappear" (ie it will still register on a test), but it binds it up so it's rendered less toxic. So if you got a lower reading either your method/kit aren't right or something else is going on.
In a system that size, a dead fish or two shouldn't cause a spike (as was mentioned above).
What's the room temp in the house? Did they crank the temp of the house up while they were gone? That's what we see most often in "vacation mortality"... people forget that the tank needs climate control and they turn the heat/air (depending on season) to a lower/higher setting to save energy costs. Unfortunately the tank is often forgotten in this equation and temperature issues come into play.
Jenn
In a system that size, a dead fish or two shouldn't cause a spike (as was mentioned above).
What's the room temp in the house? Did they crank the temp of the house up while they were gone? That's what we see most often in "vacation mortality"... people forget that the tank needs climate control and they turn the heat/air (depending on season) to a lower/higher setting to save energy costs. Unfortunately the tank is often forgotten in this equation and temperature issues come into play.
Jenn
