My pair of clown fish didn’t greet me with their playful swim this morning when I came to feed them. What happened? Where were they hiding?
They were found at the bottom of their tank. The bodies of the pair lay rigid, both had their operculae (gill covers) flared open and their gills bleached of their normal red colouration. What could cause not one, but both fish in the tank to die in this manner? I thought about the flared gills and what it could mean.
An infectious disease such as gill parasites? Very unlikely since there have been no new introductions since the tank was setup over a year ago, no live aquatic feeds are given and the seawater is made artificially.
How about water quality issues such as hypoxia and carbon dioxide toxicity? Fish that die from such reasons will usually find it difficult to breathe and may die with their mouths gaping and operculae flared. But the tank has such low stocking density and the pumps are all working fine.
How about nitrite toxicity? Could the biofilter have crashed and now caused the nitrite levels to spike? Nitrite causes methaemoglobin formation, making it difficult for the blood to carry oxygen around the body. Perhaps this is why the fish were found with operculae flared. But the filter has never stopped working, the fish are not overfed, there is a very low stocking density and there was not the tell-tale signs of chocolate brown gills.
As I dipped a jar to collect the water, I noticed the water was exceptionally warm. The water temperature was 36 degrees celsius (this is 10 degrees higher than what is acceptable)! I notice that even at this high temperature, the heater was still in the “ON” position (see picture below, the lit orange light indicates the heater is still on and heating the water). A faulty heater thermostat has caused the demise of Nemo 1 and Nemo 2 😦
High water temperatures will decrease the dissolved oxygen. This, coupled with hyperthermia (having water temperatures above their physiological tolerance) would explain today’s tragic loss.
I will definitely choose a different brand of aquarium heater to prevent this from happening again.
Oh, that is so sad 😦
What brand was the heater?
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I had better not say in this forum, but email me directly and I can tell you. My email address is thefishvet@gmail.com
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Too sad to hear that..:(
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We know how you feel, sorry to read that.
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That’s just terrible. There is nothing worse than a faulty peice of equipment leading to a tragic loss of a pet. 😦
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Do you have any other fish in that tank? What about oodinium? Sometimes it can infect the gills primarily without showing signs on the body.
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There were only these two clownfish in the tank. I gave the two Nemos a good check when I first acquired the fish and there was no evidence of parasites. There had been no subsequent introductions. Water is made using freshwater and sea salt. No live feeds given. So, I believe parasites are not a factor. There is no way of confirming or refuting this because parasites tend to abandon their host when their host have died and the high water temperatures may also cause the parasites’ demise.
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sorry to hear it. My customers often want to use 2 heaters in their tanks in case of failure, my advice to them is all this does is double the chance of one sticking on, which is much worse than just not working. After cooking a tank a few years ago with the best heater on the market (complete with thermo cut out!) I started to use a remote thermostat. I simply plug my heater/s into this, the probe goes into the tank & I set the remote to around 30 deg. If the heater jams on & goes beyond the normal setting (26 deg.) & climbs to 30, then the remote unit will switch it off. These cost from $70 – $100, but well worth the money.
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