Sudden Fish Dying

[lionfish]

Experts please help me identify what has happened?

Last Thursday night I Installed 2 new powerheads for wave maker. I did not wash it first but just put it in my tank out of its box. Fed all my fishes and they are normal naman with tangs eating a lot just as usual and my 2 inches koran also normal.
Friday morning when I was going to feed it I noticed that all my tangs is rapid breathing and also the koran angelfish. Clownfish seems to be normal and eating just as usual except for the maroon clown which I bought just barely 1inch and got bigger na for about 2.5" finding him on the floor. My tangs and angelfish did not eat that morning. They are not active anymore and that they are having difficulties. 4 Cleaner Shrimps and 1 harlequin shrimps is doing fine. After a few hours my brown tang died and blue tang also died which I also bought roughly around 1" and after 2years in my tank it has grown to 5". Lipstick tang, kole tang (ka-family lang) and koran is still rapid breathing. I checked for ammonia using tetra it reads 0 naman. Nitrates also using tetra it reads 100mg/l. Eto ang mataas but my inverts are normal. Using SERA testkits PH=normal and nitrites=0 naman. I do not know if this is accurate for SERA testkits. Pink skunk clownfish and kole tang saw them lightly rubbing on the rocks and glass. Koran has 4 pinhead whitespots on the tail but not rubbing. I guess that ich is tolerable pa so I did not open my UV. Cleaner shrimps are not active cleaning.
Saturday morning is still the same. Still rapid breathing. Changed 20% water. By the way I changed my water 2x a week for 15% for 2 weeks na but my nitrates still not going down. Conditions still the same by night even by water change. Decided to open my UV that night.
Sunday morning, Lipstick Tang, kole tang and koran have normal breathing na. Lipstick tang started to eat na din.

My question is. What has happened? Is it the ICH? The nitrates? Got this reading 3weeks before pa and they are all doing fine naman until last Friday. Or is it the powerheads? May mga lubricant kasi but minimal lang naman. NO CORALS.

Sorry kung nobela just want you guys to get the picture. I know kulang pa yan. Ask na lang if may questions. Thanks in advance.

[jolt26]

oh no, sorry for your loss...

based on your story, IMO, yung nitrates. 50 and above is intolerable for fishes. i guess its the denitrator that stopped working?

that is wht, i think it is still best to use a natural denitrator, like a sump with macroalgae. do you have one ba?

i dont have a denitrator. si fugu at chonglai wala rin. si apol, meron, pero still uses the macroalgae on sump. si art, dati canister filter, pero ngayon, may sump na rin. kagandahan kasi ng may macroalgae, although hindi siguro magze-zero yung nitrates, at least it wont go high. ngayon, kung may macroalgae ka tapos may denitrator pa, the best na yun, kahit biglang di magwork yung denitrator, may macroalgae ka pa rin

IME, cleaner shrimps are hardy, basta gradual yung deterioration ng tank, nakaka-adopt sila. i have a 75g tank dba. nilipat ko inhabitants sa 90g. di ko mahuli yung cleaner shrimps. mga 2 months sya dun, aerator lang, no filtration, nag evaporate na nga yung tubig ng 1/4, buhay pa.

tingin ko yan. could be any other reason...

[art]

[lionfish]

[Fugu]

[seriousreefer911]

[kags]

sir tanong ko lang mamatay rin ba ang isda pag nag evaporate yun tubig sa tank mo tpos di mo nalagyan ng FW yun salinity tumaas ng konti pero nsa greenmark parin sya ng hydrometer. Yun sa akin kasi namatay yun 3 domino ko sabay pa sila namatay di ko alam bakit namatay eh kumakain pa yun bago namatay tumagal narin sa akin yun isda ok naman yun water parameters ko. Hindi kaya yun ang cause kaya namatay yun isda di ko kasi nalagyan ng FW yun nagevaporate yun tubig sa tank ko.

[seriousreefer911]

dipende kung gaano kataas salinity,kasi nakakastress sa kanila pag mas maalat tubig.kaya pagtubig mo mga 18 yung salinity mas hindi sila mastrestress and wala masyado white spot pero patay ang corals dyan.

[kags]

yun cnsabi mo hypsalinity yta patay talaga corals dyan.

[Fugu]

[seriousreefer911]

[Fugu]

What's the name of the book and what's the copyright date? This is a misconception, read

Salinity

There are a variety of different ways to measure and report salinity, including conductivity probes, refractometers, and hydrometers. They typically report values for specific gravity (which is unitless) or salinity (in units of ppt or parts per thousand, roughly corresponding to the number of grams of dry salt in 1 kg of the water), although conductivity (in units of mS/cm, milliSiemens per centimeter) is sometimes used.

Somewhat surprisingly, aquarists do not always use units that naturally follow from their measurement technique (specific gravity for hydrometers, refractive index for refractometers, and conductivity for conductivity probes) but rather use the units interchangeably.

For reference, natural ocean water has a salinity of about 35 ppt, corresponding to a specific gravity of about 1.0264 and a conductivity of 53 mS/cm.

As far as I know, there is little real evidence that keeping a coral reef aquarium at anything other than natural levels is preferable. It appears to be common practice to keep marine fish, and in many cases reef aquaria, at somewhat lower than natural salinity levels. This practice stems, at least in part, from the belief that fish are less stressed at reduced salinity. Substantial misunderstandings also arise among aquarists as to how specific gravity really relates to salinity, especially considering temperature effects.

Ron Shimek has discussed salinity on natural reefs in a previous article. His recommendation, and mine as well, is to maintain salinity at a natural level. If the organisms in the aquarium are from brackish environments with lower salinity, or from the Red Sea with higher salinity, selecting something other than 35 ppt may make good sense. Otherwise, I suggest targeting a salinity of 35 ppt (specific gravity = 1.0264; conductivity = 53 mS/cm).


Taken from: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

[jackryan]

May I ask what is the usual salinity ratings of most reefers here?

I having the line between 1.020 and 1.030 very high and stressful to livestock?