Disease wiped out most of my tank...can we identify it

[robbym89]

Well...the last week has sucked. Fish have been dying off slowly, with only a rabbit fish and foxface remaining...along with 2 eels who are not affected.

So it is a 300 gallon FOWLR, had it probably overstocked with some tangs, lion fish, angel fish, etc...but didnt have any issues. I had the opportunity to get another angel fish from a guy who services tanks. He said he saved the fish from someones tank that crashed, i assumed it was something to do with the water or something, not from a disease as the fish looked fine.

Big mistake...as it was not fine. and now I have lost all but the aforementioned fish. So heres some pics of a naso tang the day before he died and probably an hour after he died. Can we ID this disease? the fish showed signs of skin peeling before they died

Yes I should quarantine, etc etc....please have mercy on me, im already heartbroken, i dont need salt in the wound

 

[vetteguy53081]

Well...the last week has sucked. Fish have been dying off slowly, with only a rabbit fish and foxface remaining...along with 2 eels who are not affected.

So it is a 300 gallon FOWLR, had it probably overstocked with some tangs, lion fish, angel fish, etc...but didnt have any issues. I had the opportunity to get another angel fish from a guy who services tanks. He said he saved the fish from someones tank that crashed, i assumed it was something to do with the water or something, not from a disease as the fish looked fine.

Big mistake...as it was not fine. and now I have lost all but the aforementioned fish. So heres some pics of a naso tang the day before he died and probably an hour after he died. Can we ID this disease? the fish showed signs of skin peeling before they died

Yes I should quarantine, etc etc....please have mercy on me, im already heartbroken, i dont need salt in the wound

Sorry to hear. Tang was thin and may be associatedwith an ongoing Blonde naso tang issue in which for about 9 months now- this has been a trend. An influx of these fish are coming from Sri Lanka and it is suspected that a method of capture is contributing to this trend in which the fish appears healthy the first few days and then weakens quickly with loss of appetite and strength and as you found laying on its side, thin body and breathing heavy until death. It may be due to cyanide capture but unconfirmed.
Sorry to hear of this and being the bearer of bad news. Often in this state of health , recovery is very low as they are moribund and adding air stone may or may not help, but there is no additive that can be recommended for this when it happens

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well...the last week has sucked. Fish have been dying off slowly, with only a rabbit fish and foxface remaining...along with 2 eels who are not affected.

So it is a 300 gallon FOWLR, had it probably overstocked with some tangs, lion fish, angel fish, etc...but didnt have any issues. I had the opportunity to get another angel fish from a guy who services tanks. He said he saved the fish from someones tank that crashed, i assumed it was something to do with the water or something, not from a disease as the fish looked fine.

Big mistake...as it was not fine. and now I have lost all but the aforementioned fish. So heres some pics of a naso tang the day before he died and probably an hour after he died. Can we ID this disease? the fish showed signs of skin peeling before they died

Yes I should quarantine, etc etc....please have mercy on me, im already heartbroken, i dont need salt in the wound

Did you see rapid breathing in the fish before they died? The naso seems to have an open mouth in two of the photos and that can be a sign that it was gasping.

Can you post a video of the remaining foxface?

The two eels being unaffected may be an important sign - there are some diseases that effect regular fish, but not eels.... protozoan as well as flukes.

Does the tank have any invertebrates in it? They can complicate any treatments you might be able to use.

Jay

 

[piranhaman00]

Man it ircks me that people still throw un quarantined fish into their displays with large beautiful fish, just a disaster waiting to happen.

Most likely velvet or crypto with the eels unaffected

 

[robbym89]

Did you see rapid breathing in the fish before they died? The naso seems to have an open mouth in two of the photos and that can be a sign that it was gasping.

Can you post a video of the remaining foxface?

The two eels being unaffected may be an important sign - there are some diseases that effect regular fish, but not eels.... protozoan as well as flukes.

Does the tank have any invertebrates in it? They can complicate any treatments you might be able to use.

Jay

Well the foxface died overnight without showing signs for the last week of anything. He and the rabbit fish I thought were immune because they were seemingly not effected by the disease while everyone else was…except the eels. But yes there was noticeable breathing changes in all the fish. Here’s a video of the last fish, seemingly healthy for now. No inverts.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well the foxface died overnight without showing signs for the last week of anything. He and the rabbit fish I thought were immune because they were seemingly not effected by the disease while everyone else was…except the eels. But yes there was noticeable breathing changes in all the fish. Here’s a video of the last fish, seemingly healthy for now. No inverts.

Not much of note in the video - breathing slightly deeply and has night/fright/stress coloration to some degree.

In this case, I still can't tell if it could be flukes or velvet. Those require different treatments. Eels are not 100% immune from velvet, but they are usually the last to die from it. Flukes are slower to kill a group of fish and eels may be immune to the flukes that regular fish can get (and vice versa).

Copper is the standard treatment for velvet, but that is tough to do in a tank with lots of calcareous rocks/gravel like this. Hyposalinity works well against flukes.

Jay

 

[piranhaman00]

Not much of note in the video - breathing slightly deeply and has night/fright/stress coloration to some degree.

In this case, I still can't tell if it could be flukes or velvet. Those require different treatments. Eels are not 100% immune from velvet, but they are usually the last to die from it. Flukes are slower to kill a group of fish and eels may be immune to the flukes that regular fish can get (and vice versa).

Copper is the standard treatment for velvet, but that is tough to do in a tank with lots of calcareous rocks/gravel like this. Hyposalinity works well against flukes.

Jay

Are flukes always lethal eventually to the entire tank?

 

[robbym89]

Not much of note in the video - breathing slightly deeply and has night/fright/stress coloration to some degree.

In this case, I still can't tell if it could be flukes or velvet. Those require different treatments. Eels are not 100% immune from velvet, but they are usually the last to die from it. Flukes are slower to kill a group of fish and eels may be immune to the flukes that regular fish can get (and vice versa).

Copper is the standard treatment for velvet, but that is tough to do in a tank with lots of calcareous rocks/gravel like this. Hyposalinity works well against flukes.

Jay

Well at this point, should i pull the eels and start a little quarantine tank and let the tank be fallow for a couple months? eels dont handle copper well, right?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well at this point, should i pull the eels and start a little quarantine tank and let the tank be fallow for a couple months? eels dont handle copper well, right?

If you use coppersafe or copper power on morays, you should expect them to go off feed during the treatment. Eels can usually survive that time if they were in good shape going into the issue. My fear is that they could "carry" some infection, not getting acutely sick, but still being able to pass the issue on to other fish....

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Are flukes always lethal eventually to the entire tank?

No - not always. Some flukes are pretty specific to the type of fish they can infect. Even then, it is possible for fish in a tank to "manage" a fluke infection for quite some time without fish loss. The one example I can give firsthand was a group of Midas cichlids I had - they were problem free and reproducing in the system for years. I then sent some to another aquarium, and they developed an acute infection and began to die off. They contacted me to say my fish were sick, and I was dubious, but I did some gill clips and found flukes!

Jay

 

[robbym89]

If you use coppersafe or copper power on morays, you should expect them to go off feed during the treatment. Eels can usually survive that time if they were in good shape going into the issue. My fear is that they could "carry" some infection, not getting acutely sick, but still being able to pass the issue on to other fish....

Jay

Ok. So if you were to give me step by step instructions that could get my tank back up and running, what would they be?

pull eels and rabbitfish, quarantine with copper
leave tank fallow for 90 days
?

 

[robbym89]

No - not always. Some flukes are pretty specific to the type of fish they can infect. Even then, it is possible for fish in a tank to "manage" a fluke infection for quite some time without fish loss. The one example I can give firsthand was a group of Midas cichlids I had - they were problem free and reproducing in the system for years. I then sent some to another aquarium, and they developed an acute infection and began to die off. They contacted me to say my fish were sick, and I was dubious, but I did some gill clips and found flukes!

Jay

Jay?? Need your professional guidance

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Jay?? Need your professional guidance

Sorry - I thought I responded. Sometimes I forget to hit "post reply", other times I'm not sure what happens....

To recap - the rabbitfish is still alive, but breathing a bit fast and the eels are seemingly unaffected?

If so, I guess I would try dosing with praziquantel for flukes. The drawn out fish loss (over a week or more) is not seen with velvet, but is common with flukes.

You would dose the display tank with praziquantel or prazipro, with good aeration. Continue a protein skimmer, but don't collect any skimmate. Add extra aeration to the tank. After 8 days, changes 25% of the water and dose again.

Jay