help me with my marine tank please! need help!!!

[mads4]

Hi everyone, i really need some help with my marine fish. i’m a new fish keeper but i’ve had this tank for about a year now and have never had any issues. i have no corals in my tank. everything seemed fine until saturday night, when my cleaner shrimp passed away on the rock. i removed him but still couldn’t understand how he could have died as i had only brought him around 2 months ago. i checked my tanks temperature and water levels and everything was fine.
Then today (wednesday) i woke up and checked on my tank and my Benggai Cardinal had died. she was lay at the bottom and unfortunately had passed. i was very confused and didn’t understand how my shrimp and fish had now died. I checked the temperature again and everything else. nitrate and ammonia levels were 0 and the only thing that was slightly off was the pH level which was 8. i don’t think this could be the cause of death because it was only off by a tiny bit and nothing that could of hurt the fish too much to the point of causing it to die?
ive had my black ice clownfish since april last year and he is doing fine, and i had my Benggai Cardinal since may last year. they’ve all been fine. i also have 2 hermit crabs and 2 snails and they also seem to be doing fine. i have no clue how this could of happened. i’ve tried to find the cause of it and i really don’t have any clue. please someone help!! thank you so much!

 

[T-J]

Do you have any pics of the dead fish? Did they look "normal"? No spots, white stuff or missing scales?
Have you checked for stray voltage? Take a water sample to a LFS and see what their tests say. What are you doing for filtration? Are you getting oxygen into the water?

 

[Jubei2006]

Picture of tank, and affected animals. More complete parameters (salinity, temp, Nitrate, Nitrite, and ammonia) than just fine. Any recent changes to the tank. What kind of flow. More information is helpful for us to help you.

 

[mads4]

Picture of tank, and affected animals. More complete parameters (salinity, temp, Nitrate, Nitrite, and ammonia) than just fine. Any recent changes to the tank. What kind of flow. More information is helpful for us to help you.

thank you so much! I do a 10% water change each week.
My tank is 60 litres large. my tank has three filter chambers. in chamber one is the skimmer, in chamber 2 has a net bag containing lots of bits of broken live rock and a separate net bag containing some carbon, chamber three has a filter come pump. I have a separate circulation pump inside the tank, plus large live rock pieces forming features and lots of places for the fish to hide in. I brought a full set up and all recommendations of tank supplier. I have live sand in my tank to make a substrate. I have no photos of the dead fish but they looked normal, no spots or anything, no missing scales.

 

[T-J]

Water looks a little cloudy. Could just be the pic. Could be a bloom, which could deplete O2, but you have a skimmer going, which should be sufficient.
What is your tank temp?
What is your salinity? How are you measuring it?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

water surface looks very still, which leads to oxygen problems.

 

[mads4]

Do you have any pics of the dead fish? Did they look "normal"? No spots, white stuff or missing scales?
Have you checked for stray voltage? Take a water sample to a LFS and see what their tests say. What are you doing for filtration? Are you getting oxygen into the water?

My tank is 60 litres large. my tank has three filter chambers. in chamber one is the skimmer, in chamber 2 has a net bag containing lots of bits of broken live rock and a separate net bag containing some carbon, chamber three has a filter come pump. I have a separate circulation pump inside the tank, plus large live rock pieces forming features and lots of places for the fish to hide in. I brought a full set up and all recommendations of tank supplier. I have live sand in my tank to make a substrate. No spots or missing scales on any of the dead animals. i’ve done many tests on all my tank and everything is normal. i have no clue how any of this could of happened. The tank is getting enough oxygen. nitrate ammonia tests all came back 0, the only test which was SLIGHTLY off was the pH and that was 8. thank you so much for your response.

Water looks a little cloudy. Could just be the pic. Could be a bloom, which could deplete O2, but you have a skimmer going, which should be sufficient.
What is your tank temp?
What is your salinity? How are you measuring it?

sorry, water looked cloudy because of the pic, will attach some more pics now. the temperature is normal. i will attach some more pics of my shrimp and cardinal! thank you! the picture of the shrimp and you can see he was doing fine, the video of the clown is the day that the shrimp died and the pictures of my cardinal were about a month ago. the other pictures are of my tank.

 

[T-J]

What is your "normal" temperature?
Also, you didn't state what your salinity is and how you measure it.
I agree that the surface looks incredibly still. I did notice that the fish were at the surface, which CAN be an indication of low O2.

 

[Crazeh]

What (and how often) have you been feeding? Did you observe them feeding recently?

That's a pretty deep sand bed, have you disturbed it recently? I understand deep beds can be dangerous.

Also suggest moving the power head slightly higher/pointing at the surface. More surface agitation will improve gas exchange. Doubt that's the issue here given you've been ok for a few months, and are running the skimmer.

 

[flyfisher2]

Ammonia?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I had a similar problem with lysemata shrimps. I’m pretty sure it may be due to an iodide deficiency causing bad molts. Lasted about a month then dropped dead. I haven’t tried one in a year though.
Any potential fights between the clown and cardinal? They can be quite nasty.

 

[mads4]

What is your "normal" temperature?
Also, you didn't state what your salinity is and how you measure it.
I agree that the surface looks incredibly still. I did notice that the fish were at the surface, which CAN be an indication of low O2.

i’m not sure what i use as the box is downstairs, but will check in the morning. we use sticks and the colours appear on the end & we check the guide to see what we need to do and what the levels are. i did multiple tests to make sure it was correct. the tests are what we got told to buy at the shop, as well as everything else. i only brought the best and what was recommended by the seller. will tell you the brands tomorrow as well as everything else i use. the fish do look like they are appearing only on the surface in the pictures, but they do roam all around the tank and mike (my clown) is under the rocks at the bottom right now. it’s getting late where i am now so will check the temperature again and tell you all of the readings from my test tomorrow morning. thank you so much for all of your help because i really do have an emotional attatchment to the fish (i know it sounds stupid but they’re just so cute!) and had a funeral for my shrimp and cardinal! once again thank you so much!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Test strips are known to not be too accurate, especially in saltwater, so it may not be showing properly.

 

[mads4]

I had a similar problem with lysemata shrimps. I’m pretty sure it may be due to an iodide deficiency causing bad molts. Lasted about a month then dropped dead. I haven’t tried one in a year though.
Any potential fights between the clown and cardinal? They can be quite nasty.

yes my clown would attack my cardinal quite a lot, but i only brought the cardinal because the seller said they would get on well together as the cardinal is very tame. my clown fish would sometimes bite her fins and but they would always grow back. there was nothing bad on her dead body, no loss in skin, no loss in scales, no spots or anything like that. thank you so much for your feedback i really do appreciate it <33

 

[mads4]

Test strips are known to not be too accurate, especially in saltwater, so it

Ammonia?

ammonia levels were 0

 

[T-J]

Salinity test strips??? I was not expecting that.
Please get yourself a refractometer or salinity probe (Like the Hannah) for a more accurate measurement.
Like mentioned before, take a sample of your water to a LFS and see what their numbers test at.
Where are you getting your water from? RODI? Store?
What about your salt?

 

[mads4]

Salinity test strips??? I was not expecting that.
Please get yourself a refractometer or salinity probe (Like the Hannah) for a more accurate measurement.
Like mentioned before, take a sample of your water to a LFS and see what their numbers test at.
Where are you getting your water from? RODI? Store?
What about your salt?

i’m so sorry, everything i’ve brought has been recommended to me, also took a water sample from my tank and gave it into the store and waited around 30 mins while they tested and that came back all okay as well. we get our water from the store and it comes in gallons. the store is webbs aquatic centre. like i said will check everything in the morning and get back to you. thank you so much for your feedback.

 

[Sharkbait19]

yes my clown would attack my cardinal quite a lot, but i only brought the cardinal because the seller said they would get on well together as the cardinal is very tame. my clown fish would sometimes bite her fins and but they would always grow back. there was nothing bad on her dead body, no loss in skin, no loss in scales, no spots or anything like that. thank you so much for your feedback i really do appreciate it <33

May have eventually become too much for the cardinal. Often it’s a lot of nips and then the clown decides it doesn’t like the fish around anymore. There isn’t always a mark, sometimes the stress is just too much.
All fish are different, and clowns have an enormous spectrum, some are harmless and others are evil, so what works with some didn’t with others. I remember seeing that black clowns are meaner, my mocha certainly fits the bill.

 

[jcdeng]

To answer your question briefly, if nothing has change and all your parameter are stable, the shrimp might have bought in some kind of bacteria with it, or in the water it was in, and it killed the shrimp and then the cardinal.

 

[Idech]

As someone else said, you do have a deep sand bed. With those, it’s either you disturb it regularly, or you don’t. If you wait many months and suddenly disturb it, it might kill your fish.

As was also said, you need more water agitation. Aim the powerhead at the surface and aim one of the two nozzles so it also disturbs the surface.

Try to think about what you have done in the past few days. Did you forget to rinse your hands before putting them in the tank, or put hand lotion ? Use chemicals close to the tank ?

If I were you I would do a WC today and add carbon to one of the chambers, as a precaution.

Maybe even do another one tomorrow.

(if you could please insert paragraphs when you write, it would be easier to read your posts).