Loosing fish HELP

[Pier Pressure]

I lost five fish and three shrimp overnight in a nine hour period so I know how you feel. Everyone was looking good and eating when the lights went out at eleven, and by nine the next morning all those creatures were dead. Kicked it around on here and on Alberta Aquatica but never really came up with a solution. The only fish that lived is a firefish, and all shrimp died. Corals were all fine and so were hermits, snails, anemones, sea apples and an emerald crab.

I have since started to restock and have not run into any problems with my new fish or cleaner shrimp. Alive and well and healthy. I will let you know if we ever come up with the reason it happened.

Suggestions I received: Hitchhiker, oxygen issue, water quality issue or contaminant getting into the tank. We found some bristle worms but only small ones, oxygen issue would have taken out the corals and crabs too I believe, water quality was tested and appeared fine, and as for a contaminant I cannot think of anything that was sprayed near the tank.

Yours are dying slower so I think you can eliminate oxygen as an issue. Water quality I have heard corals and inverts feel it first. How about a hitchhiker? Even if you have not added any new live rock recently, some hitchhikers have to teach themselves to catch a fish and that takes time.

Really sorry for your loss.