Completely bizarre fish death - help!

[LMSquire]

I have two tanks, one 240 display and one 25 gal Lagooon aio.

Last night I fed everyone their evening music cubes and everyone was happy in both tanks.

Today I come home and go to feed and none of my 4 anthias are to be found. Then I see a couple of crabs eating the corpse of one of them and find another one being eaten in the other side. The other 2 are mia. All my other fish, 4 tangs, two fire fish, a royal gramma, leopard wrasse, fox face, and two big clowns are all eating and look fine in this big tank.

THEN, I go to feed my two clowns in my lagoon that were my first two fish 5 years ago, and instead of jumping at the food like they always do, they are now laying on the bottom of the tank with labored breathing. The watchman pistol combo are fine. I did a water change.

I am baffled. Can anyone figure this out? It is a crazy coincidence that all four anthias in one tank and two clowns in another both went to hell in 24 hours.

* as an aside, I got some new corals for my big tank on Friday, but all corals look stellar. Acros growing, maxima clam etc all look very healthy.

See levels below. Yes Po4 is higher than I’d like it but no different than it’s been for months.

 

[Idech]

Food gone (really) bad, some type of chemicals in the air…

 

[LMSquire]

Food gone (really) bad, some type of chemicals in the air…

They were frozen mysis I bought last week, but if it was the food, wouldn’t my other fish (especially the gobies) be sick or dead also? No chemicals in the air here I’m pretty confident in that.

 

[winxp_man]

My Coral Beauty... (so ticked it was a really pretty one, dark orange red color) died over night. I think it got startled, and ran into the glass of the tank. The night before it ate, pooped and was swimming around just fine. Hard to say.

What is the history of the tank and fish? As in how long have you owned the fish, how old is the tank and so on. What QT have the been put into before going into DT's.

Discussions about how some disease kill before you realize that the fish are sick have taken place among the medics on this forum and us regular members Interesting subject for sure. Depending on the fish. Some can take a beating others not so much.

I'm going to tag some of the medics to see if they have been through such craziness. But They will ask for more info, possibly along the lines of what I asked.


@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 @MnFish1

 

[LMSquire]

My Coral Beauty... (so ticked it was a really pretty one, dark orange red color) died over night. I think it got startled, and ran into the glass of the tank. The night before it ate, pooped and was swimming around just fine. Hard to say.

What is the history of the tank and fish? As in how long have you owned the fish, how old is the tank and so on.

The 240 where 4 anthias are gone is about a year old. Very healthy tank. Covered in corraline. The anthias I’ve had about 5 months. Maybe more.

The 25 lagoon I’ve had for two years, the clowns inside I’ve had for 5.

I have to figure out what the commonality is bc there’s no way I lose 6 fish in two different tanks inside 24 hours without something tying it together

 

[winxp_man]

The 240 where 4 anthias are gone is about a year old. Very healthy tank. Covered in corraline. The anthias I’ve had about 5 months. Maybe more.

The 25 lagoon I’ve had for two years, the clowns inside I’ve had for 5.

I have to figure out what the commonality is bc there’s no way I lose 6 fish in two different tanks inside 24 hours without something tying it together

Re check my post. I added a few more questions.

 

[LMSquire]

Re check my post. I added a few more questions.

Cheers, appreciate that.

 

[Fish Fan]

What *may* have happened is that the corals you recently added could have had some kind of fish parasite attached to their frag plugs, which introduced a parasite to one of your tanks, that was then transferred to your other tank by anything from using the same siphon or net, etc.

Maybe the R2R #fishmedic guys will have some better advice.

Good luck!

 

[LMSquire]

What *may* have happened is that the corals you recently added could have had some kind of fish parasite attached to their frag plugs, which introduced a parasite to one of your tanks, that was then transferred to your other tank by anything from using the same siphon or net, etc.

Maybe the R2R #fishmedic guys will have some better advice.

Good luck!

Hi, how do I bump this? I’m completely stumped as to how this happened. All the fish in my big tank are doing fine as is the goby in the lagoon where the clowns are dead (I assume) didn’t see them all day. I’m totally paranoid and anxious over this big tank now.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hi, how do I bump this? I’m completely stumped as to how this happened. All the fish in my big tank are doing fine as is the goby in the lagoon where the clowns are dead (I assume) didn’t see them all day. I’m totally paranoid and anxious over this big tank now.

You can "bump" this thread just by replying to it, so it should now be back up near the top of the sub-forum.

I'm sorry you're still having some issues. Let's see if we can get you some help:
@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081
@MnFish1

I thought I saw all of you on tonight? Can you take a look at the OP's issues please?

 

[W31Olds]

LM, a common factor would be a power outage while you were away.

 

[winxp_man]

LM, a common factor would be a power outage while you were away.

Other fish would have been dead to in that case.

 

[LMSquire]

LM, a common factor would be a power outage while you were away.

Yeah, and I have a generator that kicks on immediately in the event of an outage.

Just so bizarre that only one species (anthias) die in one tank, and only one species (clowns) die in the other. RIP Shaq and Kobe. We had a good run.

 

[Idech]

They were frozen mysis I bought last week, but if it was the food, wouldn’t my other fish (especially the gobies) be sick or dead also? No chemicals in the air here I’m pretty confident in that.

Yeah, it’s a long shot.

 

[W31Olds]

Worth a shot. If you suspect the food, thaw some out and smell it. Would smell off if it was thawed previously and went bad.

 

[W31Olds]

The Anthias may have been victims of aggression. Your clownfish are more of a puzzle. Disease, not likely. Environmental factor likely. Have you tested your Generator to make sure it's coming on? Another thought would be others in your Houshold and could something have gotten in your small Tank? Also, did you check the Temp (stuck heater)?

 

[Fish Fan]

Anything is possible, but I don't think this was spoiled food like as in food poisoning for fish. Animals have a much more rugged GI system than we mere humans do. Animals can typically eat half rotten foods and do just fine. I have a dog that can eat three day old cat poo, and that's entirely gross, but she's fine

 

[LMSquire]

The Anthias may have been victims of aggression. Your clownfish are more of a puzzle. Disease, not likely. Environmental factor likely. Have you tested your Generator to make sure it's coming on? Another thought would be others in your Houshold and could something have gotten in your small Tank? Also, did you check the Temp (stuck heater)?

Nothing got into my tanks. My lagoon still has the watchman and pistol eating fine tonight. I live in central California and there were no power outages.

For 4 anthias I’ve had for 6+ months to all die in the same 24 hours as my two clowns I’ve had for 4 years in a different tank…the odds of a coincidence are astronomical.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have two tanks, one 240 display and one 25 gal Lagooon aio.

Last night I fed everyone their evening music cubes and everyone was happy in both tanks.

Today I come home and go to feed and none of my 4 anthias are to be found. Then I see a couple of crabs eating the corpse of one of them and find another one being eaten in the other side. The other 2 are mia. All my other fish, 4 tangs, two fire fish, a royal gramma, leopard wrasse, fox face, and two big clowns are all eating and look fine in this big tank.

THEN, I go to feed my two clowns in my lagoon that were my first two fish 5 years ago, and instead of jumping at the food like they always do, they are now laying on the bottom of the tank with labored breathing. The watchman pistol combo are fine. I did a water change.

I am baffled. Can anyone figure this out? It is a crazy coincidence that all four anthias in one tank and two clowns in another both went to hell in 24 hours.

* as an aside, I got some new corals for my big tank on Friday, but all corals look stellar. Acros growing, maxima clam etc all look very healthy.

See levels below. Yes Po4 is higher than I’d like it but no different than it’s been for months.

With inverts doing well, points to disease in lieu of water quality issue.
Any unusual behavior with remaining fish such as:
Heavy breathing - low oxygen
Sudden darting
Twitching?
Swimming in path of water flow?
Loss of appetite?

 

[LMSquire]

With inverts doing well, points to disease in lieu of water quality issue.
Any unusual behavior with remaining fish such as:
Heavy breathing - low oxygen
Sudden darting
Twitching?
Swimming in path of water flow?
Loss of appetite?

Hey buddy, good to hear from you on this. I was out playing golf yesterday and came home to 4 missing anthias in my big tank, two of which I found getting eaten by crabs later. They were happy and eating the night before.

My clowns were just laying on the bottom of the smaller tank with labored breathing, wouldn’t eat. The watchman just ate tonight with his pistol.

Absolutely no signs leading up to this.