What happened?

[fishtank]

I know I did the wrong think here but im just trying to learn what exactly happened so I know for future reference. Here is what happened.

Timeline is over 2 weeks.

Bought a flame angel and clown fairy wrasse, brought them home and put them in quarantine.

3 days later bought a nice frogspawn, 2 acans, a small birds nest cut and a leather. I thought I did good on using the epoxy on the leather but a few days later my stupid snail had knocked it down onto the sand. At that point I just uprighted it and left it alone. 1 week later the frogspawn has opened nicely, the acans are maybe ok at best but the leather has been knocked over again.

Meanwhile in QT Flame and Wrasse are eating great doing good.

So 2 days ago the leather has been knocked over again and due to my lack of time and coral abilities I decided to stick it in my qt tank for a couple of days so my snails would not keep knocking it over.

Fast forward to today and my flame angel is dead and the wrasse is pretty bad off and probably wont make it either.

I know I wont do this again but what exactly happen?

 

[fishtank]

I checked ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and salinity and everything is good. I feel like this happened today as yesterday they were eating and seemed fine.

 

[ralph atl]

fishtank;964131 wrote: I know I did the wrong think here but im just trying to learn what exactly happened so I know for future reference. Here is what happened.

Timeline is over 2 weeks.

Bought a flame angel and clown fairy wrasse, brought them home and put them in quarantine.

3 days later bought a nice frogspawn, 2 acans, a small birds nest cut and a leather. I thought I did good on using the epoxy on the leather but a few days later my stupid snail had knocked it down onto the sand. At that point I just uprighted it and left it alone. 1 week later the frogspawn has opened nicely, the acans are maybe ok at best but the leather has been knocked over again.

Meanwhile in QT Flame and Wrasse are eating great doing good.

So 2 days ago the leather has been knocked over again and due to my lack of time and coral abilities I decided to stick it in my qt tank for a couple of days so my snails would not keep knocking it over.

Fast forward to today and my flame angel is dead and the wrasse is pretty bad off and probably wont make it either.

I know I wont do this again but what exactly happen?

Obviously, your QT tank wasn't cycled or you were not doing major water changes daily? or monitoring illness? or Alk? or O2? or anything?

 

[fishtank]

my qt tank has been cycled for close to 4 months thank you. every fish in my DT has gone through qt. i have been doing weekly water changes and have been staring at these guys for extended periods of time for the last two weeks. They were eating well until yesterday. But thanks I guess.

 

[berje]

Maybe the leather was cut or torn somewhere and it released a toxin? or just released the toxin from being stressed and you weren't able to get the toxin out of the water column fast enough?

Are you running carbon or anything?

 

[fishtank]

no carbon. pretty basic filter system. matrix, sponge etc. now releasing a toxin im interested in. Can that happen?

 

[berje]

Alot of the leathers are very toxic, and carbon and WC would help remove some of the toxin.

 

[ralph atl]

fishtank;964144 wrote: no carbon. pretty basic filter system. matrix, sponge etc. now releasing a toxin im interested in. Can that happen?

not enough to kill fish....in your case, anyways...

 

[berje]

mysterybox;964146 wrote: not enough to kill fish....in your case, anyways...

I didn't think it was enough to kill a fish, but what if the leather is dead? Wouldn't that nuke the whole tank? and maybe raise ammonia/trites/trates. then by the time he checked everything the levels could have stabilized?

 

[raz0945]

I have a leather that is 12" across when I frag it it is too big to take out so I cut in the tank. No problems with the fish. Some illnesses don't show up right away. Sorry for your loss! Holley

 

[jennm]

I seriously doubt the corals killed the fish.

What about something else accidentally introduced to the tank? Hand lotion, bug spray, air freshener?

If you had hands in the display with the same contaminant it might do damage there but with a larger (presumably) water volume it might not have had such a dire effect.

What else was going on around the same time you moved the corals?

 

[mcphock]

I don't have near the experience that Jenn does, so take my analysis with a grain of salt...

From my perspective, I'd be willing to the bet the leather is cause. Their allelopathy can be quite virulent, although mostly aimed at corals. In a small, enclosed volume though, toxins can overwhelm other life.

 

[jennm]

It would have to be one seriously ticked-off coral.

How large is the coral? How large is the QT?

 

[fishtank]

20g QT and the coral was probably 3" inches in diameter and 4" tall. The QT is away from any chances of over spray from anything etc etc so I know there was nothing spilled. Now im trying to think back on what I was doing right before I decided to move it and I just cannot remember. I am good about rinsing my hands under tap water only and dry off good before doing anything fishy.

 

[fishtank]

definitely has left me scratching my head. The wrasse didnt make it either. Naturally this would happen to the most expensive fish right. All others have gone through QT just fine. Well except the two diamond gobies that just wanted out!

What would you guys do now with the media and filtration? replace and cycle from scratch? Or just do a couple of large water changes of the next few days? I obviously dont want to put anything in there if it is going to kill them.

 

[whistl3r]

I would make the assumption the tank is contaminated and sterilize it, dry it out for a day and then refill it and cycle again.

 

[myreefclub0070]

Just a bit of humor but have you checked for poltergeist?
Lol.
Try some saltwater mollies, the lost hits the pocket less.

 

[fishtank]

lol, I thought about doing a 100% water change and rinse off the media etc etc and let it run for a week do something similar but just not sure yet.

 

[jennm]

Did the fish have any physical symptoms?

Hard to make a recommendation about what to do next when the cause is unknown - and if it's a toxin, it could be repeated.

Safe to say that there's either a toxin or a pathogen in that QT. I'd probably strip it and start again.

I hate an unsolved mystery though - you can benefit from figuring out what went wrong to help avoid a repeat.

Jenn

 

[fishtank]

the tank is still running though nothing is in it. I have had a sick lab to look after so other then staying on top of my DT I have not had the chance of doing anything. I might pick up some new matrix and put it in my DT's sump. How long should I leave it in there before starting the process over again in my qt? 2 weeks or so?