December massacre

[wsoldier]

Hey guys, 5 months into my first tank so please bare with me.

Here's my timeline for fish:
- 2 juvenile clowns after cycle (month 2)
- 1 bicolor blenny at (month 3)
- flame angel and coral beauty (month 4)

7 days after adding the dwarf angels, the blenny was looking pale/scratching himself on rocks...died a few days later after bouncing between looking healthy/pale. Didn't see any visible skin anomalies that I noticed (could have missed something).

The very next day, the flame angel was showing poor color and hiding under the rocks. That worried me but for 5 straight days after he was back to his normal color and behavior before biting the dust exactly one week from the blenny's death.

The very next morning after I pulled the flame out, both of my clowns were dead (one went missing and the other was dead on the sand bed). I didn't look close enough (he was also pretty small) but again didn't see anything obviously bad on his skin.

At the time of all this I thought the fish died because my ALK dipped too low (5.34dKH), so I was trying to gradually get it up to the 8-9 dKH range with kalk. It took a little while to stabilize and thought maybe that stressed it out, but Randy seemed to think my params were reasonable.

Anyway, from the stickies it seems like this might either be ich or velvet, but I'm really not sure since the symptoms seem to overlap with some and not visible at all with the others. Meanwhile, it's been 2.5 weeks since the last death and my coral beauty (last remaining fish) is still alive. He's showing signs of scratching but I'm having a hard time seeing any specs/salt-like dots on his body. My inverts (skunk cleaner shrimp, bristle star, 4 trochus snails, tuxedo urchin, nem) are all alive and well.

Any thoughts are welcome, and suggestions for course of action. Thanks for reading!

 

[Billldg]

Sorry for you losses.

#reefsquad

 

[KJ]

Sound like marine velvet https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/
@HotRocks @4FordFamily @Brew12 @Big G

 

[Big G]

So just to be clear, none of the fish were quarantined and treated prophylactically?

 

[wsoldier]

So just to be clear, none of the fish were quarantined and treated prophylactically?

Correct.

 

[Hella_Reef]

+1 on it possibly being Velvet.

If it is velvet, keep tank fallow(fishless) for 2 months.

Try to QT ur new fish if u can to avoid any more anomalies.

Sorry for ur headache. Learn from it.

Best of luck.

 

[Fastpitch]

Lousy break. If you decide to start a QT regimen, at least you will be able to rule some possibilities out when things turn south.

 

[Big G]

There may have been a couple of things going on in your tank. Did you notice any aggression between the two dwarf angels? You mentioned the Flame was hiding. It can be difficult to keep more than one dwarf angel in a tank. What is the size of your tank?

 

[Fastpitch]

There may have been a couple of things going on in your tank. Did you notice any aggression between the two dwarf angels? You mentioned the Flame was hiding. It can be difficult to keep more than one dwarf angel in a tank. What is the size of your tank?

G - dont crush my dreams. I am planning on a bicolor and coral beauty for my 55. Just dont.;Stop

 

[Big G]

G - dont crush my dreams. I am planning on a bicolor and coral beauty for my 55. Just dont.;Stop

Sorry but it can be real hit and miss when combining dwarf angels. Sometimes they go at each other from the get go; other times they get along for a long time and then suddenly start fighting. Territoriality comes into play in small tanks (under 100 gal). Sometimes fighting is attributed to similar coloration or similar size. Large tank, lots of hiding places, lots of grazing materials on rocks can help. But I hear your pain. It would be so cool to have a tank full of dwarf angels of all colors. :D

 

[Fastpitch]

Sorry but it can be real hit and miss when combining dwarf angels. Sometimes they go at each other from the get go; other times they get along for a long time and then suddenly start fighting. Territoriality comes into play in small tanks (under 100 gal). Sometimes fighting is attributed to similar coloration or similar size. Large tank, lots of hiding places, lots of grazing materials on rocks can help. But I hear your pain. It would be so cool to have a tank full of dwarf angels of all colors. :D

LA LA LA LA LA - I cant hear you! ;Singing

 

[wsoldier]

There may have been a couple of things going on in your tank. Did you notice any aggression between the two dwarf angels? You mentioned the Flame was hiding. It can be difficult to keep more than one dwarf angel in a tank. What is the size of your tank?

The flame chased the coral beauty around once in a while and was definitely the dominant of the two. I guess the coral beauty got the last laugh though. I have a 73G.

 

[Big G]

Meanwhile, it's been 2.5 weeks since the last death and my coral beauty (last remaining fish) is still alive. He's showing signs of scratching but I'm having a hard time seeing any specs/salt-like dots on his body.

OK. So if it was my fish, based on your posting, I'd do a freshwater dip to first confirm or eliminate flukes as a problem. There's been an up surge in the fluke infestation lately with stunningly deadly consequences lately. Works best if you use a dark colored container to look for the white little sesame seed like bodies of the flukes in the bottom of the container when done: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/video-how-to-do-a-freshwater-dip.286639/#post-3487082

 

[wsoldier]

OK. So if it was my fish, based on your posting, I'd do a freshwater dip to first confirm or eliminate flukes as a problem.

Thanks, I'll try the freshwater dip for good measure.

Assuming it was velvet, wouldn't there have been more visible signs/specs on the skin? The CB looks perfectly healthy and while there was a period where he was hiding out a bit, he's swimming around like he's king of the castle (which he is now).

 

[Big G]

Velvet usually first attacks unseen in the gills of the fish. Sometimes this initial attack overwhelms the fish's immune system and the fish dies without any of the usual visible symptoms of white spots, dusting, etc. So we look for the other behaviors: hiding from light, swimming into powerhead/flow, reduction of eating/stopping eating, twitching, scratching, erratic swimming. By the time we see the "white spots" that is after the parasites have attacked and released from the fish forming mucous spots on the skin of the fish. Beginning the cycle again. Sometimes this is very difficult to see on fish with thick mucous coats or light colored skin. And then some build an immunity temporarily and act as carriers of the parasites.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499399

 

[wsoldier]

@Big G I performed the fresh water dip but didn't see any particulate matter of any sort. Just before the CB was still swimming around and was active as ever, but I was still seeing the scratching behavior.

 

[Big G]

Well heck. If not there's a good chance that the fish's gills are being attacked by parasites like Ich or Velvet. The treatment is the same. Just with Velvet time is ultra important to move quickly. @Humblefish posting on this is right on the money for treatment.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437

 

[wsoldier]

Hey guys, just to update... I bought 4 green chromis back in March and added them since I hadn't seen any visible symptoms from the CB for approximately 6-8 weeks. Sure enough, they all died one by one after about a week of being in the tank (all within a few days of each other). Fast forward to now it's June, and the CB is still alive and seemingly as healthy as ever.

What on earth type of disease can this be? I really don't know how to proceed since even going fishless and a QT tank would leave me with questions of what I'm actually treating for. Thanks for any insight.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Your coral beauty could have a resistance built up to whatever disease is in your tank. It could also be the Chromis had something already and the stress of moving got them. The former seems more likely. You would have to take the coral beauty out of DT and put him in a QT and let the DT go fish less for 76 days. Personally, I would follow the velvet treatment that was posted before but go fallow for 76 days rather than 60ish, just for good measure.