HELP! Did my pistol shrimp kill my fish?

[fishnpups]

I woke up from an hour nap (3:00 pm) and my black clownfish, female clownfish, and my court jester ( my 3 favorites) were all stunned, trying to swim around, for approximately 20 minutes before perishing

All the fish that were ORIGINALLY a part of this tank, through all my noob mistakes, have perished.

My Firefish is MIA

2 days ago i added a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp

When I woke up from my nap the pistol shrimp was wandering around the tank (for the first time), his watchman and him are the only 2 in the tank still alive.

Only new things in the tank are a SMALL bubbletip anemone and zoanthids, which had closed up magically after my nap. other than these two.
When I left the house to go to work after scooping out the clowns (I had to go to work, court jester was pulled into the pistol shrimp burrow, couldn't get to around the rock work to get him, i was already late)

I did a 25% water change this morning at 9:00 am. All fish were fine until at least 2:00 pm when i took my nap

20 gallon half moon, hang on filter, internal filter, 4- 240 mph wave pumps
Parameters last night(before wc): Ph- 8.1
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 80 ppm
Ammonia- .25 ppm
Salinity- 1.025

I have not had time to check the params since the water change but my tank is a year old and stable usually at 0 levels for everything but nitrates which usually stay at 20 ppm.

(Nitrates were spiked from a failed bta id recieved from saltwaterfish.com which was shooting out "cottage cheese" was in tank for the day to watch for recovery and promptly removed.)

Also I was wondering if I should get more fish in a week or so? or are they doomed to the same fate?

[ROB2005]

Check your parameters again before adding new fish. It would suck just to add more fish only to lose them. Try to look into setting up a quarantine tank to house your new purchases to check for diseases and abnormal behavior before releasing them into the DT

[fishnpups]

I was planning on checking that as soon as I got back home, I just am scared of putting any new fish in for them to reach the same demise.

They didn't die due to the parameters, they died not even after the waterchange, so I know it isn't my RO/DI water.

I'm scared it's the inch long pistol. He was running around the tank when ALL of them deceased.

[fishnpups]

Originally Posted by ROB2005

Check your parameters again before adding new fish. It would suck just to add more fish only to lose them. Try to look into setting up a quarantine tank to house your new purchases to check for diseases and abnormal behavior before releasing them into the DT

Like I said, my parameters are generally stable at 0 levels on ammonia and nitrite, with nitrate at a constant 10-20 ppm

Ph always within 8.1-8.4

The spike was from the sick BTA I'd added.

[kyliesreef]

I would be inclined to blame the pistol shrimp......although I've never owned one I know for a fact that their "clicking" can stun most fish within their vicinity and pistols are not known for being the most friendly aquarium inmates

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[J2T]

I don't know...I've had a tiger pistol in my tank (even had 2 tigers for a while) and they have never bothered any of my fish. The only time I saw him do anything was when I first put him in and my clown charged him, he popped at her and she just moved on without any harm. Even if he did manage to stun them I can't see a 1 in pistol shrimp taking out multiple fish that quickly. I would honestly look somewhere else first IMO.

[hypermikie]

I've owned a few pistols over my 17 years, and currently have one in my 24g with a YWG, 2 Ocellaris, and a Carpenters. Always had clowns in the tanks in the past as well. I've never had a pistol harm any fish, maybe some snails or small hermits that has ventured into its den, but never a fish.


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