Fish dying

[kkiel02]

Ok well my levels are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0-5 phosphates are undetectable ph is 8.0 and salinity is 1.024. Think that covers most of them. Problem is dead fish so far: cleaner wrasse, two black an white occelaris , yellow eye kole tang and one leopard wrasse. The sick fish include a sailfin and my blue hippo tang. The purple tang looks ok and the other fish look unaffected. I will post some pics up when I find the camera but other than that the clowns turned a powdery white color before dying and my sick tangs have that same powdery film. It's not really mucus looking like brook and not ich but don't know what else to try. I'm going to check out some other forums and google away after I load up some pics. Tank specs are: 180 gallon with a 56 gallon fuge. Kalk reactor is currently shut off but I now don't think that was the problem. All inverts and corals are fine.

[kkiel02]

Here are the pics they arent good but hopefully someone will recognize something. It really looks like someone dipped the fish in a white powder. The clown was still breathing but cant swim straight.

One more thing is that the qt tank is only 10 gallon.... Im trying to figure out something out for the tangs although the purple tang doesnt look bad. Also all the living fish, except the clown, are eating well.

[JimD]

Whats the alkalinity? You should really get those fish out of that tank imediately until you find the problem. Beg borrow or steal a large container and some known good water, if you dont, well, I think you know..

[Third Coast Tropical]

if you have 5 gal buckets around, make/put good water in them and place a fish in each bucket, use a bubbler to aerate.....but you should get the fish out like Jim said......and start doing water changes on your system.....

[Gseclipse02]

i was thinking a large water change might help

[Bill S]

Go back to basics: Do some large water changes, make sure you have plenty of O2 in the water, with lots of surface water movement.

[kkiel02]

Yeah I have about 20 gallons made that I will change out. The alk was a little high but it was about 250. With the water change that ought to level out some. Its also weird how my other leopard and damsels arent showing any signs while the sailfin, mccoskers, and purple show small signs. I did a water change this weekend but only about 10 gallons. Anyways if yall think of anything else please post up. Also if you think you know the disease that would be great as if I take them out right now I dont know what to treat them with. I currently have a stock of formalin, quickcure(formalin and malachite green), maracyn and clout. Well off to do water change....

[Neptune@gabesfish]

That clown looks like it has Marine Velvet if that is what it is .. The best thing to do is turn off lights ..this will slow down the parasite . and the only thing I know to take care of this is copper so of course you would have to treat in a QT .. Hope this helps good luck!

[txav8r]

Water change, water change, water change. Put the fish in temporary housing and hope for the best. I know I am just repeating what has already been said but I think they are all spot on. Wish you were closer. I have 20 gal. of salt water made up that I'd be glad to give you.

[kkiel02]

Ok finished a 35 gallon change will do another tomorrow. Gonna go search marine velvet. It's weird as the clowns and blue hippo turned that white color but the sailfin has black spots on it. Everyone is eating great and I've been feeding pretty heavily. Would pazi pro help at all? What sucks the most is that once my mom gets my old 65 gallon setup I could use her 55 gallon as a qt. If it would have been one week earlier or later this would have been alot easier.

[kkiel02]

I think that I could use my ro container as a qt, which is 21 gallons, but from reading about velvet(which I think it is) the life cycle is ~30 days in free swimming mode if no host is present. So as of tomorrow I'm going to setup the qt and transfer the fish to the copper qt. Problem is that I'm going to have about 6 fish in the tank although with copper you can't run carbon correct? Hope this works.

[Bill S]

I think you have something else...

Like I said, go back to basics. Change a whole bunch of water (several 50% changes), run carbon, run the skimmer wet.

I hate taking stressed fish out of the tank - unless you know exactly what the problem is.

[Kristy]

It's amazing how many mysterious maladies can be overcome by providing pristine water conditions (keep doing those water changes), feeding frequently and varied diets to keep them eating, and running some carbon, reducing stress. We have "cured" fish of all kinds of things and had no idea what the problem was.

Keep at it and pm us if you need ANYTHING at all to borrow. We keep back-ups of most everything and always have salt and RO/DI on hand. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Bill S]

We keep back-ups of most everything and always have salt and RO/DI on hand. Good luck and keep us posted!

Dittos here. If you need it, we have it.

[kkiel02]

I hate taking stressed fish out of the tank - unless you know exactly what the problem is.

I feel the same way but I'm settin up the qt in case they look worse tomorrow. I might try to pull my blue hippo but it is soooo skiddish. It looks alot like the clowns and formulin didn't help them so I'm hoping copper may help. Again it's hard for me to pull them when they eat so well but then I know if they stop eating it's too late. I've been going between mysis, prime reef, pellets and mega marine. I will also try to get some better camera shots tomorrow. Agan thank everyone for your help this far this is stressful. I'm gonna bump up the water change percentage as 35 gallons is about 1/3 of what it sounds like I should be doing.

[JimD]

Problem with leaving the effected fish in the tank is if they need to be treated, especially with copper. Personaly, I find it unusual that all seven fish bacame ill at pretty much the same time and at a time when there was a noted Ph issue. . Water changes are a good initial step but if theres an issue with the existing water, the problem will still be present and the fish will continue to deteriorate if the problem isnt corrected.. At this point you have to start thinking powerhead or pump failure.

[kkiel02]

I might try a uv sterilizer. Maybe whatever it is will have a free floating period where I can pick it off with this. I should be good on salt for awhile I just got a 200 gallon box from gabe this last week. I'm going to try to keep my ro running but it's a 75ish gpd so we will see what it can do.

[kkiel02]

Right now my pumps are a vortech mp40 turned up all the way and two koralia 4s with a mag 9.5 return. I was going to get my last mp40 this week but now this came up. I am mainly worried about that blue hippo at this point as it is small and had that white coating that the clowns had. I hope I can catch it tomorrow as it would be ok in my current qt(already cycled) instead of the larger one I'm setting up. A marine fish vet would be great at this point. I agree as it is weird how fast this spread, and how some fish just seem immune.

Also the kalk reactor is turned off now so my ph is at a reasonable level now. I wish I could have seen the kole tang and the cleaner wrasse but both died when I was at work and my girlfriend flushed them.

[allan]

Dude, were there any changes prior to the outbreak? Like a new addition of coral or fish?

Don't think it matters much at this point, was just wondering.

[recoiljpr]

I might try a uv sterilizer. Maybe whatever it is will have a free floating period where I can pick it off with this. I should be good on salt for awhile I just got a 200 gallon box from gabe this last week. I'm going to try to keep my ro running but it's a 75ish gpd so we will see what it can do.

I can make up some saltwater if you need help. I can make about 75 gpd as well. Let me know.

[kkiel02]

I think I will be ok as of now I got quite a bit more than expected. I think with the newer filters it is pushing 100 gpd. Everyone looks ok but my lights are off. Gonna go grab a uv sterilizer...

[kkiel02]

Well I pulled out the fish today. I didn't want to as they aren't getting worse but if it is velvet or another parasite I want it gone so when I add new fish later they won't get it. Everyone is in a 45 gallon tub that I had.

[barderer]

if you can partition your QT so the fish don't have to interact with each other that would be good. Your QT should be bare bottom with some CUT PVC for hiding etc. I have always found it best to remove the fish instantly from the main tank into QT at the first sign of stress and disease. If you wait too long the fish will often be too far along to handle the transition and they will continued to be stressed by the other fish. Fish like picking on stressed fish!! Isolation helps a lot. Also it is easy to do massive water changes on small 10gal QT tanks. Usually, the most pain in the ars, takes the most patience approach is unfortunately the best course of action.

[kkiel02]

Well everyone is still alive. I think once I treat these with copper I am going to put them in my 65 gallon and let the 180 sit fishless for two months. I know that most the fish prolly would have survived the outbreak but I didn't want to risk future additions down the road as I'm sure the existing fish would still be carriers of the parasite. This was the main reason I pulled them. Live and learn, next time everything is getting qtd for a month as now I will have a 55 gallon setup I can use.