Fish dead...?

May have been oxygen depletion from the power outage, if you didn't do anything to at least circulate the water, the fish were using up the oxygen. I run my house on a generator when the power goes out, too much money and time and love invested to allow the tank to crash.

 

So the power being out from approximately 9pm - 3am could have cause a delay in the fish dying? I have never dealt with a power outage like this with my tank and don't know how to deal with it.

 

Update 6:36am cst. The coral beauty didn't make it through the night. Now, in the span of 24 hours, 3 fish are gone and the only thing that seems to be the culprit is the power outage on Friday evening.

All I have now are 2 crabs and 2 snails...what is a good course of action next? I am thinking taking a water sample to the fish store and let them test too.

 

The power outage would have been more immediate in my opinion. I would have someone test your water, or test it yourself, but you may have something parasitic in nature going on.

 

Guy at the fish store said since the storm came through on Friday a bunch of people have been in there with the same story...he is certain this is what caused it.

 

That seems *really* odd that a power outage would cause that delayed of an effect.

 

After reading your post, I can only make some guesses at the possible cause.

guess 1: Do you have a grounding probe? Possible stray voltages in your tank may be stressing your fish - possibly before, during, and after the power outage. A grounding probe would help eliminate any stray voltages

guess 2: Did anyone use any cleaning chemicals on your tank or buckets? Soap, glass cleaner, bleach, etc? Maybe on the buckets you use for water changes?

guess 3: Possible parasite

 

Answer to Q1: No, I do not have a grounding probe.

Q2: Not that I am aware of, no.

Q3: Don't know. I have seen a new small white looking snail that has recently appeared in the tank...I assume a hitch-hiker from the LR.

The guy at the Reef store told since Friday a lot of people have come in with the same story, power went out for 6-8 hours, fish died. He also said a lot of those people have come in asking their water be tested, just as I did today...he also said he sold out of the battery powered air pumps. I would have to assume given the timing of things, that mine cause is the same as theirs.

 

How soon after the power outage did your fish start dieing? It would make sense for him to have customers with dead fish, but for it to happen to you 2 days after seems a little off.

 

Power went out Friday evening around 9:30, came on sometime around 3:30 or 4am. Next day (Saturday), fish seemed stressed, acting a little different than normal, Sunday the coral beauty was not looking good, the 2 YT damsels seemed kind of ok, Monday the YT's are dead, this morning the Coral Beauty is dead.