Fish suddenly died!

Question
I have had my 12 gallon aquapod for about a year. It has about 15 lbs of live rock and seems well adjusted.
In the tank there was a clown fish, a mandarin goby, fire shrimp, algae eater blenny, some coral and two
bubble-tip anemones in addition to a few aptasia that I have let live because I feel bad about killing them.
All have seemed healthy, are eating well, and get along. I do regular water changes and test the water
frequently as well- nothing seemed unusual. Yesterday I bought some new salt and did another water
change (about 10%). All the animals ate dinner per usual and went to bed. During the night I heard some
odd clicking sounds coming from the aquarium but didn't think anything of it. When I woke up this
morning and looked at the tank, the water was gray and cloudy and the fish and shrimp were all dead.
When I opened the tank it smelled funny, almost like something was burning- but the temperature of the
water was normal. I was (am) unbelievably sad and frustrated, but thought to rescue the live rock. I've
heard of anenomes releasing a toxin into the water at death- but when I pulled out the live rock it appears
as though the bubble tip anemones are the only things still alive (though contracted and hiding)! What
happened???? And what do I do now?

Answer
hello Gretchen,.

I am so ssorry to hear about your troubles.  I hate it when sudden things happen, as they are harder to understand...

But, you did give me some possible clues..

Teh 'clicking'... is that more 'mechanical/electrical' sounding, or do you think it soundd more like a snap,     snap...

If it was the 'latter' then it might be a mantis shrimp... But ,unless you added rock or something for it to hide in, then he must have been there before, and should have made the snapping before too.

If it sounded more elctrical or mechanical, i would ask you to check your heater... sometimes they break and short out the tank.. Which is what i am thinking happened here...  

Please be careful when checking and make sure you arent grounded when putting your hand in the water, cause if you are, and there is electricity in your tank you will feel it...

If the heater is cracked or broken there might have been 'stray' voltage in your tank... It is best to use a multi-meter, a cheap one will do from radio shack, and turn the device onto AC votage, and touch one probe to the metal screw on your electrical outlet or switch plate, and the other probe into the water... if hte meter moves, you have voltage leak...

If you dont then I am not sure... (sorry)


cheap heaters usually last a year... it is worth while to get the metal heaters, Titanium brand???

Please let me kno whwat you find out...


As for your tank, the other options i thought about was the salt that you bbough yesterday, then apparently mixed up and put into tyouer tank......  I usally mix my salt a day before i use it, to make sure it settles down and is not too rich/salty..

When salt is mixed, it may not dissolve all the way, and will over time...

Anyways,m please let me know what you find...


Bill