Live stock dead, parameters in check?

[MarcJell]

Hi all,

New to the forum so I hope I enjoy my stay.

Was hoping to get a bit of advice from some more experienced hobbyists.

I have a Superfish IQ13 setup.
13L
1.5KG Live Rock
Mechanical Filteration with Carbon.
Fully cycled
Crushed Coral Substrate
Temperature: 24.5C
Salinity: 1.026.
RO Water
Salt: H2Ocean

LED lighting that came as standard mix of white and blue max output I believe is 3Watts

So with the specs over I believe it's time for my problem.
Around a week and a half ago after the tank had finished cycling I decided to purchase the following:
1 X Cleaner Shrimp
2 X Yellow Coral Gobbys (nano Gobbys) most people say.

Acclimatised them and they all seemed happy.
A couple of days later one of the Coral Gobbys died. So I checked my water parameters and all was in check so I discarded it and done a water change as normal to be on the safe side.

Today I have a phone call saying I need to get home quick as the remaining yellow gobby is dead and the cleaner shrimp is on its way out too!

I get home I fish the gobby out, and then acclimatise the cleaner to the other fully cycled tank with a clown and a fire shrimp in it, in hoping it would bring it back.

Tested my tank that the gobby and cleaner was in and had the following results:
Ammonia: 0.2 (assuming it was from the gobby being in there, unsure of exact T.O.D)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-30
PH: 8.2-8.4
Alkalinity: 9dKh

Testing using Red Sea Reef kit.
Immediately done a water changed with matched salinity and temperature.
Currently have nothin. In the tank at the moment apart from the substrate the live rock and some serpent stars in the live rock.

Got home tonight and the cleaner shrimp had sadly died in the other tank, I was too late.

Any suggestions on what could of happened?
All equipment working as should, electric didn't go off, heater working, pump working, skimmer working. Parameters in check. Lighting working as all tanks on timers.

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Marc :)

[joshbrookkate]

Ammonia from adding too many fish at the same time in a small, newly cycled tank, would be my guess.
Sorry for your loss....

[MarcJell]

Ammonia from adding too many fish at the same time in a small, newly cycled tank, would be my guess.
Sorry for your loss....

I checked my water parameters after my first loss and Ammonia was 0, Nitrite 0.1 and Nitrate was 20-30.

The remaining two had seemed fine untill earlier.

[OrQidz]

Sorry about losing your shrimp and fish, that is always a downer. You may have had a small ammonia spike, but it was already changed to nitrite (since you had nitrite showing) by the time you tested it. On the other hand, it could be something totally different. Is your salinity staying pretty stable? I only ask since your SG is 1.026 which is ok, but the top end of ok and tiny tanks tend to get out of whack pretty quickly. Your nitrates are a bit high, but I don't know if 20-30 would bother fish and shrimp.

I would try again but only introduce one new inhabitant at a time and see how it goes. Of course it is best to QT as well, if you possibly can.

Good luck to you!

[MarcJell]

Sorry about losing your shrimp and fish, that is always a downer. You may have had a small ammonia spike, but it was already changed to nitrite (since you had nitrite showing) by the time you tested it. On the other hand, it could be something totally different. Is your salinity staying pretty stable? I only ask since your SG is 1.026 which is ok, but the top end of ok and tiny tanks tend to get out of whack pretty quickly. Your nitrates are a bit high, but I don't know if 20-30 would bother fish and shrimp.

I would try again but only introduce one new inhabitant at a time and see how it goes. Of course it is best to QT as well, if you possibly can.

Good luck to you!

Possibly, at the moment I've done a water change in the tank and leaving it untill the ammonia is completely converted back into nitrite and then nitrate. A bit strange though considering in my other tank same specs as above, there is a fire shrimp and a tiny clownfish for now. Sometimes have nitrate as high as 50 and they both seem content. But
Ofcourse Ammonia is always more deadly

SG is always consistent everytime I check, using a refractometer.

Which Leeds me to possibly think that some how this tank has managed to crash？

[Sk8r]

How is your aeration? Oxygen gets scarcer as water gets warmer. If weather is warmer, if sun reaches the tank, sufficiency can head for disaster pretty fast. If the weakest fish dies, it only makes it worse, as now the nitrite-nitrate-ammonia thing gets to work. It's real hard to say, but keep that tank around 78 degrees, maybe a shade less, be VERY sure you have high aeration: (whole tank volume circulating 17x an hour is not outrageous---low circulation is one of the problems of small tanks: you're between a rock and a hard place on circulating enough and blowing your critters sideways against the wall.) If you can manage a nano skimmer on that tank it will greatly increase available oxygen...don't know the tank type, so not sure whether you have one.

[gone fishin]

Since the tank is only 13L or about 3.5gal, then oxygen levels could have been an issue. Another possibility is the 2 gobies fought in the small tank, when one died they set off a chain reaction of instability.

[MarcJell]

How is your aeration? Oxygen gets scarcer as water gets warmer. If weather is warmer, if sun reaches the tank, sufficiency can head for disaster pretty fast. If the weakest fish dies, it only makes it worse, as now the nitrite-nitrate-ammonia thing gets to work. It's real hard to say, but keep that tank around 78 degrees, maybe a shade less, be VERY sure you have high aeration: (whole tank volume circulating 17x an hour is not outrageous---low circulation is one of the problems of small tanks: you're between a rock and a hard place on circulating enough and blowing your critters sideways against the wall.) If you can manage a nano skimmer on that tank it will greatly increase available oxygen...don't know the tank type, so not sure whether you have one.

Hi,

Sorry forgot to post that it does have a slimmer on. It's built into the back and is powered by a strong air pump attached to the wooden block aerator!
Plenty of holes through the rocks for circulation and the water doesn't seem to ripple as much on top but more gently swirly when I feed flake on my other tank (exactly the same)

Since the tank is only 13L or about 3.5gal, then oxygen levels could have been an issue. Another possibility is the 2 gobies fought in the small tank, when one died they set off a chain reaction of instability.

I think oxygen should be in check, and never saw them near each other one would sit up the top on the side of the tank and the other would chill on the rocks. I'm just stumped aha.


Never the less letting all the levels idle out before doing a water change again and stocking.

Also checked that I didn't have any Aiptasia etc and none present that could of stung them or something.