4 of 5 Fish Died in 2 Weeks, Without Markings

[Cheeze]

(Edited re-post from the main forum page onto the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis, as recommended)

Hi all,
My 38 gallon breeder has been up and running since late February. In the past 2 weeks, I've lost 4 out of my 5 fish.

I've had all 4 for at the least 1 month and a couple even 2-3 months. All were looking healthy, no markings on the body or fins, and eating hardy:
1) Tailspot Blenny that disappeared overnight, remains never found (assuming CuC got to it or it's wedged under a rock)
2) McCosker Wrasse that was swimming and eating but found dead the next morning, straddled by my PomPom Crab
3) Royal Gramma that was never shy or timid, but one day was hiding a lot (but still eating) and found dead two days later
4) FireFish, about 4 days after my Gramma it didn't come out from under a rock for a day and disappeared next morning, remains also not found.

My 5th and final fish is a PJ Cardinal that is still swimming about and looks like it has no issues (fingers crossed it stays that way)

I have no corals yet, and cycled with all dry rock and sand. I run my skimmer 24/7 and do weekly water changes with RODI. Past 2 weeks I've done 25% changes (vs. 10%) as I've been manually trying to remove brown hair algae. My parameters have been constant each week at the numbers below, unless there is something I should be testing for that may be the cause of these string of deaths?

Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Phos: .03
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alk: 7.0
Magnesium: 1200
Calcium: 400

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m going to take a hunch and say you had an ammonia spike and are getting false readings and are using API TEST KITS?
Generally water quality and disease are common causes and if disease is not present- points to
Ammonia
Nitrate
Ph
Salinity
Temperature

 

[blaxsun]

I’ve never had any success with Royal Grammas. They just disappear into the dang rock never to be seen again. It’s rare for crabs to kill fish (usually a dead fish is just an opportunity for a free meal), so unless it’s a really small fish and a good-sized crab that’s unlikely.

All the fish you lost can either be overly dramatic or recluses (usually to their detriment). I still have my Pajama Cardinal - and he’s survived every fish apocalypse that I’ve endured.

If you haven’t already, perhaps have your LFS test your water (sometimes it reveals something). If and when you do introduce a new fish, i might suggest something really cheap and noticeable - like a Green Chromis. That way you can keep an eye on how it’s doing without having to figure out which rock it last crawled under.

 

[Cheeze]

Thanks all, I'm really baffled and upset of course at these loses, given all these fish seemed fine for weeks and even the day prior.

I am wondering now if it could have been a sudden ammonia spike and quick decline back to zero before I tested, given I did blow a lot of "junk" and algae off my rocks to siphon when doing a 25% water change.

I'll definitely take a water sample to my LFS, tho I have been testing with a mix of (non-expired) RedSea and Salifert test kits.

 

[brandon429]

No, ammonia can’t rise up to kill them

cycles are trustworthy is why

list your fallow and quarantine approach

you did well posting here, disease is the most likely culprit

 

[Brew12]

I am sorry for your loses, it's tough.

I would agree that ammonia is unlikely since there is algae in the tank.

Do you see any signs of rapid breathing on the Cardinal? Did the others exhibit any? If you don't know what rapid breathing would be you can post a video. Any discoloration of the fish like a red tinge? Were they still brightly colored up until they died?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

(Edited re-post from the main forum page onto the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis, as recommended)

Hi all,
My 38 gallon breeder has been up and running since late February. In the past 2 weeks, I've lost 4 out of my 5 fish.

I've had all 4 for at the least 1 month and a couple even 2-3 months. All were looking healthy, no markings on the body or fins, and eating hardy:
1) Tailspot Blenny that disappeared overnight, remains never found (assuming CuC got to it or it's wedged under a rock)
2) McCosker Wrasse that was swimming and eating but found dead the next morning, straddled by my PomPom Crab
3) Royal Gramma that was never shy or timid, but one day was hiding a lot (but still eating) and found dead two days later
4) FireFish, about 4 days after my Gramma it didn't come out from under a rock for a day and disappeared next morning, remains also not found.

My 5th and final fish is a PJ Cardinal that is still swimming about and looks like it has no issues (fingers crossed it stays that way)

I have no corals yet, and cycled with all dry rock and sand. I run my skimmer 24/7 and do weekly water changes with RODI. Past 2 weeks I've done 25% changes (vs. 10%) as I've been manually trying to remove brown hair algae. My parameters have been constant each week at the numbers below, unless there is something I should be testing for that may be the cause of these string of deaths?

Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Phos: .03
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alk: 7.0
Magnesium: 1200
Calcium: 400

Did you see any rapid/deep breathing in the fis prior to dying?

It is possible/probable that the 3 losses weren’t directly related. Generally, when a disease goes through a system untreated, it doesn’t stop at 75% of the fish dying, it keeps going until all the fish are taken out.

One of the diagnostics I use is to ask if the corals look ok, if they do, but the fish are dying, it usually points to a fish disease over water quality issues. Since you don’t have corals yet, that won’t work though.
Jay

 

[SaltwaterGuruNeeded]

It could be from the brown algae...If they are dinoflagellates, when they die, they release a toxin into the water which can affect the fish. Are you running carbon? If not, or you haven't changed it in a while please do. Secondly if you do have dinoflagellates don't do so many large water changes if nitrates aren't high and your levels don't get too low like cal,alk,mg. But try to raise your nitrates...again if they are dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates from what I've heard, like change, eg stirring the sandbed will make them explode in numbers. Also some diseases can only be seen on the gills of the fish, located under the gill Cover, it could be that too. I just recently had a mystery death with a Sailfin Tang. The symptoms were fast breathing for 2 days and staying near the bottom of the tank. Thought it may be velvet. But didn't see much under a microscope. Also could be flukes, the small ones that you can't see on the gills and body of the fish. But they rarely kill fish I've heard. But hey maybe you have a uncommon species of fluke in your tank that is lethal to fish. 1 more thing which is what I would try first. Increase surface movement of the water, it may be from lack of oxygen in the water. It will help the fish breathe better.

I'm not an expert(yet) but here are my thoughts. Sorry, it could be alot of things.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Do you run a protein skimmer? How is your tank oxygenated? I lost alot of fish years back due to dissolved o2 dropping overnight.

 

[Cheeze]

Thank you everyone for these replies!! I really appreciate the wisdom, expertise and advice in this group!

@Brew12 and @Jay Hemdal - only saw rapid breathing with the Firefish, but all the others were breathing normally. And no discoloration either. The Cardinal is still looking healthy (knock on wood), given I lost the last fish about 4-5 days ago.

@SaltwaterGuruNeeded - I run Chemipure Blue, which I rinse at least weekly and have been changing monthly. I'll work on trying to raise my nitrates a bit, hopefully that helps to kill off the brown hair algae. And my return nozzle agitates the water surface a good amount, but I can try adding an air stone if it will help!

@N.Sreefer - Yup, I run my protein skimmer 24/7 and empty/clean the cup weekly. I'll look into ways to check oxygen in the water, if that's possible, but will see if I get any improvements with an air stone.