Corals thrive, fish die???

[LTrain]

I'll try to keep a long story short: 10+ yrs in hobby, longtime lurker, infrequent poster. 75g FOWLR, some shrooms. Tank has been doing great for 3+ years with current livestock...I set up a 10 gallon for temporary residence of a jawfish I tried to add to the main tank but that was just getting harrassed to much by my cherub angel...jawfish got settled in and was doing fine and then about 2 weeks later he jumped. (he found the one open spot). I was familiar with this behavior in that species, but it made me sick anyway. I decided to turn the tank into a nano with 30w NO to keep some softies, lps. 3 inch sandbed, A frogspawn frag has been growing, xenia is spreading, ricordia flourishing. I added a small maroon clown (not intending it to be a permanent residence). He never would go below the top inch of the water column, swimming in circles like a shark, even with his dorsal fin out of the water. He ate some, not great. Water params were fine, corals were fine. After 4 days he jumped.
Hardware: one old 150w visitherm heater and an old Whisper power filter, mainly for circulation, but I put some CC in for a makeshift refugium.
I can't figure out what would cause this...thriving corals, dead fish.
Could a stray current from the heater or power filter do it?
The only other idea I have is Oxygen, but the current is moving pretty good throughout the tank. I opened up the top for circulation more after the jawfish was gone. Any ideas? pH 8.0, everything else at 0.
SG 1.024. ????
I use tapwater, inhabitants of my 75g (one yellow tang, one psuedochromis, one cherub angel) have been fine for more than 3 years.
Sorry for the length....

 

[Len]

Hey LT,

Stray current came right to my mind before you suggested it. I think you should try a grounding probe and see if that prevents fish from acting funny and jumping. Clowns rarely jump, so yours must've had a compelling reason to. Enough stray voltage will do that (I've seen it when a Rio fried on me).

You weren't kidding about lurking

 

[Anonymous]

Hey LT,

Stray current came right to my mind before you suggested it. I think you should try a grounding probe and see if that prevents fish from acting funny and jumping. Clowns rarely jump, so yours must've had a compelling reason to. Enough stray voltage will do that (I've seen it when a Rio fried on me).

You weren't kidding about lurking

I'm thinking the same thing also. keyword old :wink:
_________________
Tippmann C-3

 

[LTrain]

Thanks for the replies. I know a grounding probe can prevent the problem, but what is the best way to detect the problem? Is there a good way in the context of an aquarium?