Dying fish. Please help identify why they are dying

[nano reef]

This maybe a long post but I have no clue whats going on in my tank.

I have a 7 month old reef tank and early last Monday my clownfish died. Sunday she was gasping for air and had a very mottled appearance on her body with very cloudy eyes. Tiny spots but only noticed with a magnifying glass, not typical looking pin point ick spots that I saw on image search. The days prior I dint notice anything really odd but looking back maybe not as hungry and was trying to host or be hosted lol on a rough lobo coral. She had also recently been run out of her spot with her and her mate in the back of the tank by a flame hawk fish so maybe why she started doing that or was trying to scratch herself! I was very happy because they were out swimming that crazy loppy clownfish swim and I got to see much more of them. I got this pair about 8 or 9 months ago as babies.

Anyway, I was reading up and trying to figure out what was wrong. Kind of figured it was ick so I was deciding whether to try to quarantine the rest, which I knew was going to be very difficult to catch them. I saw a youtube that showed a fish dying with velvet and looked just like she did with the cloudy eyes and mottled appearance, so then I thought I was dealing with velvet.

Yesterday my flame hawkfish starts gasping as well. This has been a very peculiar fish my hubby bought me. He always hid and never acted like what I read these fish are like. I heard they hang out on rocks searching for food. It hid in the back and only came out at feeding time but would still hide under a rock and dart out real quick and grab a piece and swim back to hiding and 10 pieces would hit the sand in front of his hiding spot them maybe come out for another. Once my hubby brought him live shrimp so maybe that spoiled him but he was also purchased about 3 inches long so probably captured as an adult so I thought maybe that was why he was so scared. I only had 2 small clowns and a damsel so he had no reason to be so fearful. He also had bad coloring. Top half was red and not much color on bottom half. All big warning signals and lesson learned! Never buy adult fish and never accept a fish even if you ordered with bad coloration!

After the fish died I examined his body and he looks like he did before except dead! I could never get a good look at this fish because of the hiding even when dying. Its hard to tell if eyes are cloudy but I dont think so and he looks to be less colored but then again he is dead! I wish I could have got him out of hiding while he was dying to see his eyes ect...

I have a damsel remaining and a clown and i have no idea how to treat them since I have no idea what they died from. Makes me wonder if they died from different things.. Maybe stress from the hawk being he never adjusted well or maybe he was sick for the last 5 weeks and thats why he didint ea t much or had bad color. I wish I had taken a pic of the clown before I disposed of him. My hawk is refrigerated because I think I will take him to my vet when I take my dog today. I know that sounds crazy butt maybe he can tell. I will try to get hubby to add a pic because I dont know how! LOL


I dont know if I should treat the other two in quarantine with copper as my LFs sold me some today and said thats what I should do and I read it treats ich and velvet, but not even convinced its either of those! I read that when dying of velvet they will hang out by a powerhead, neither did that

Do fish with Ick get cloudy eyes? I never read that as a symptom for ich but did for velvet.

One other thing is I started dosing with no pox as I recently bought a lot of frags, way to many at once and uped my nitrates like crazy. I have heard stories of fish dying from that. I have stated dosing very slowly and gradual and its been weeks so not likely. I also got an alert from my new seneye my ph was low. Its 78 now and light still on. It was 76 earlier which is lowest I have seen it but rarely check ph. i have zero ammonia. Alk a little low at 7.6. Plan to up my ph and alk soon with 2 part dosing.

If anyone can help me diagnose this. I would be so grateful. I heard copper is poison and hate to subject my fish if not needed. Oh, and a big reason I thought it might not be velvet is a youtuber said the whole tank will die within 24 to 48 hours and first died on monday, so thats been more than that time frame. The other two ate well today and look fine and are swimming around!

Sorry this was so long. I probably wrote a lot of unnecessary stuff but like to be very clear!
Thanks again!

 

[725196]

By the description it sounds like brooklynella.

Symptoms include turbidity of the skin, sometimes with dark slimy layers hanging like strings, eye cloudiness, breathing difficulties with gill cover spreaded. The infected fish becomes listless, lose their appetite, lie on the bottom or near the surface gasping for air.

 

[725196]

Treatment options:

There are varying suggestions on how to treat an aquarium that has been infested with Brooklynella. They range from adding copper, malachite green, and other remedies, with some of those recommended being used in conjunction with formaldehyde. The consensus is that the best and most effective treatment for Brooklynella is formaldehyde alone.

Formalin is a 37 percent solution of formaldehyde gas dissolved in water with methanol added as a stabilizer. It has been found to be an effective treatment for Brooklynella as well as other parasitic diseases.1 However, formalin is a very powerful chemical and should be used very carefully. Make sure you fully know how to treat ich diseased fish with formalin so that you follow the proper instructions and take the correct safety measures. Typically a standard formalin solution is mixed with either fresh or saltwater in a separate treatment container. Initially, all fish are given a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration, followed by continued treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. Of course, the longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this disease

If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief may be provided by giving fish a freshwater dip or bath. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems. Once the initial dip or bath is done, place the fish into a QT under hyposalinity treatment to help keep any possible new free-swimming protists from infecting the fish again, and then obtain a formalin medication as soon as possible to begin treatment.

 

[nano reef]

Thanks for the reply. Right after the hawk died the damsel died very quicky and the other two held on a long time while dying. It was so sad to see them die slowly. The damsel was out swimming one minute then the next he swam by and had something wierd on his body. I couldnt tell if it was color loss or what because he literally swam by once and I went to get camera then next thing he is laying in back of tank dying. I couldnt get him out untill hours later and he has totally vanished from tank! So now I am left with one that I was going to guaratine with copper and couldnt catch her. My hubby was going to try to help me now but I think I am going to wait and get her a mate and quarantine then both together and treat with copper and I read there was another medication that treats flukes and brook. THis other clown is showing no symtoms and its been a week since first died. I feel If I dont quarantine her with another clown she will be very unhappy by herself. Actually she is a he now LOL. I believe i read if spent time alone he will turn she! Also If I waited and got the other fish later after the clown I still have treatment period is over than that fish will be alone in quarantine and turn female so I will have two females and that totally wont work.!

I am also wondering if the nopox didint kill them! At least two of them because the hawk always had little color and I read these fish require more oxygen than most and the fish just didint act like a hawk should. I have been treating nopox for weeks and cant get nitrates below 10 so a few days I upped the dose to 6 and 7 ml. I have a 36 gallon plus sump so just a slight bit more but maybe the accumulation of it. I just now read on their website if water gets cloudy to half the dose! If livestock acts wierd to change water! I really didint think this was the problem since the one had the very faint dots. Now after reading that and cutting back dose and other fish is fine I am thinking that more than likely was what happened to the hawk. I really dont know. All so mysterious. One thing I know is I will always quaratine!

Thanks so much for your help and quite probable it is brook so will treat for that as well. I am thinking maybe just therapeutic dose though. I was watching reef dudes youtube with an disease expert and will follow his program that he recommends that treats for all those main diseases. But as of now the last clown is doing well just acts very depressesd. Dosnt swim much but think she is terrified after I tried to catch her the other night with a net! LOL Plus not to mention the loss of her mate. They were inseparable!