Blindness and fish kill after soft coral placement

[jpwebb5]

I placed a long branched soft leather coral in a well established tank with good water parameters, last week. I had a fish kill in 4 days and have lost fish daily and now have only 2 fish left. My Fox Faced Rabbit fish is now blind and has clouded eyes and not eating. Is this possibly from the introduction of the coral? I am going to make a 1/2 tank water change (45 gallons) as soon as I get my R/O filter to give me 45 gallons. Has anyone else experienced this? How can I keep the blind fish alive? He doesn't find food.

 

[mfinn]

I seriously doubt the coral had anything to do with your fish loss.
I can't explain the fish loss, but I do know a blind fish probably won't survive.

 

[mfinn]

Water change and carbon. Maybe a couple 25-30 gallon changes.

 

[joshkirkland83]

It may have been the leather, they can be toxic. But a quality carbon and water change and you should be good. They are like palys, they release toxin when stressed.

 

[joshkirkland83]

@Humblefish

 

[Humblefish]

^^ Agree with @joshkirkland83 above. However, I've never lost any fish due to a softy spitting, and I do keep quite a few different leather corals. But I also run carbon 24/7 to mitigate any ill effects from this exact scenario happening.

When was the last fish/coral/invert added to your tank? Do you QT? Did any of the fish act reclusive or swim into the flow of a powerhead before dying? Also, Rabbitfish do naturally have sorta hazy looking eyes (see pic below.)

 

[mfinn]

I too have never lost a fish because of a leather in my tank, even after fragging multiple pieces at the same time in the tank.
Can't say if your leather was more toxic than the ones I have.