Everyone died

[freddycervtes]

yesterday morning when I was heading to my tank in the morning like I always do I noticed a horrific site. Everyone was on the sand bed dead and my small yellow tang was wedged between 2 rocks also dead. It was Heart breaking to see as everyone seemed fine on Saturday, swimming and eating. Only fish that survived were the clown fish but now one seems on the verge of death. I’m about to start a no fish in display for at least 3 months as I think velvet entered the system through one of the snails or star fish I got on Friday, but it is heart breaking to see now I can’t even look at my display tank right now. I only had the yellow tang for 6-7 months but man I fell in love with the fish, it was always excited to see me and follow me around. I do believe my clownfish are next to fall they had been with me for over a year now so this is hard but What are some things I should do to get the main system back and ready? Is 3 months no fish long enough?

 

[vetteguy53081]

yesterday morning when I was heading to my tank in the morning like I always do I noticed a horrific site. Everyone was on the sand bed dead and my small yellow tang was wedged between 2 rocks also dead. It was Heart breaking to see as everyone seemed fine on Saturday, swimming and eating. Only fish that survived were the clown fish but now one seems on the verge of death. I’m about to start a no fish in display for at least 3 months as I think velvet entered the system through one of the snails or star fish I got on Friday, but it is heart breaking to see now I can’t even look at my display tank right now. I only had the yellow tang for 6-7 months but man I fell in love with the fish, it was always excited to see me and follow me around. I do believe my clownfish are next to fall they had been with me for over a year now so this is hard but What are some things I should do to get the main system back and ready? Is 3 months no fish long enough?

8-10 weeks of no fish will assure any and all parasites have died off without a host fish. Consider also a UV sterilizer for added protection. Any inverts in the tank and are they still alive?
Velvet or flukes are prime suspects

 

[freddycervtes]

yesterday morning when I was heading to my tank in the morning like I always do I noticed a horrific site. Everyone was on the sand bed dead and my small yellow tang was wedged between 2 rocks also dead. It was Heart breaking to see as everyone seemed fine on Saturday, swimming and eating. Only fish that survived were the clown fish but now one seems on the verge of death. I’m about to start a no fish in display for at least 3 months as I think velvet entered the system through one of the snails or star fish I got on Friday, but it is heart breaking to see now I can’t even look at my display tank right now. I only had the yellow tang for 6-7 months but man I fell in love with the fish, it was always excited to see me and follow me around. I do believe my clownfish are next to fall they had been with me for over a year now so this is hard but What are some things I should do to get the main system back and ready? Is 3 months no fish long enough?

8-10 weeks of no fish will assure any and all parasites have died off without a host fish. Consider also a UV sterilizer for added protection. Any inverts in the tank and are they still alive?
Velvet or flukes are prime suspects

Hello and yes I still have some snails and a starfish in the display along with a some coral. Should they be taken out? But I suspect velvet because everyone was wiped out overnight except the clowns but they were rapid breathing and laying by the rocks.i Didn’t notice anything much when feeding on Saturday afternoon as everyone ate. The next morning everyone was gone except the clowns maybe there still iffy. This is an image I took and a hard learned I now lesson to qt everything back to the display should I do large water changes or normal ones over the next months and there is a uv running 24/7

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello and yes I still have some snails and a starfish in the display along with a some coral. Should they be taken out? But I suspect velvet because everyone was wiped out overnight except the clowns but they were rapid breathing and laying by the rocks.i Didn’t notice anything much when feeding on Saturday afternoon as everyone ate. The next morning everyone was gone except the clowns maybe there still iffy. This is an image I took and a hard learned I now lesson to qt everything back to the display should I do large water changes or normal ones over the next months and there is a uv running 24/7

No. Likely confirms disease and not water if inverts are doing well

 

[W31Olds]

Not likely Velvet killed all your fish from snails and a starfish you put in your Tank on Friday. When did you purchase and add your fish? I assume they weren't QT'd.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello and yes I still have some snails and a starfish in the display along with a some coral. Should they be taken out? But I suspect velvet because everyone was wiped out overnight except the clowns but they were rapid breathing and laying by the rocks.i Didn’t notice anything much when feeding on Saturday afternoon as everyone ate. The next morning everyone was gone except the clowns maybe there still iffy. This is an image I took and a hard learned I now lesson to qt everything back to the display should I do large water changes or normal ones over the next months and there is a uv running 24/7

Welcome to Reef2Reef.

Sorry this happened.

Anything wet coming from an infected tank has the potential for transmitting that disease to a new tank.

It does sound like Amyloodinium/velvet here, but I want to rule out one other issue - transient low oxygen. Does the tank have good aeration, not just circulation? Does the tank have a protein skimmer? Did anything change in the tank that day? It could be something subtle - I’ve seen cases where the only good aeration in the tank was from a filter return. The person topped the tank up an inch or so higher than normal, the bubbles get cut off and the dissolved oxygen crashes.

Assuming that wasn’t the case here - holding the tank fishless for 60+ days will render it non infective for fish parasites. The new fish should be fully quarantined to help keep this from happening again.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

yesterday morning when I was heading to my tank in the morning like I always do I noticed a horrific site. Everyone was on the sand bed dead and my small yellow tang was wedged between 2 rocks also dead. It was Heart breaking to see as everyone seemed fine on Saturday, swimming and eating. Only fish that survived were the clown fish but now one seems on the verge of death. I’m about to start a no fish in display for at least 3 months as I think velvet entered the system through one of the snails or star fish I got on Friday, but it is heart breaking to see now I can’t even look at my display tank right now. I only had the yellow tang for 6-7 months but man I fell in love with the fish, it was always excited to see me and follow me around. I do believe my clownfish are next to fall they had been with me for over a year now so this is hard but What are some things I should do to get the main system back and ready? Is 3 months no fish long enough?

Aww man, I sure sorry to hear this!

 

[freddycervtes]

Hello and yes I still have some snails and a starfish in the display along with a some coral. Should they be taken out? But I suspect velvet because everyone was wiped out overnight except the clowns but they were rapid breathing and laying by the rocks.i Didn’t notice anything much when feeding on Saturday afternoon as everyone ate. The next morning everyone was gone except the clowns maybe there still iffy. This is an image I took and a hard learned I now lesson to qt everything back to the display should I do large water changes or normal ones over the next months and there is a uv running 24/7

Welcome to Reef2Reef.

Sorry this happened.

Anything wet coming from an infected tank has the potential for transmitting that disease to a new tank.

It does sound like Amyloodinium/velvet here, but I want to rule out one other issue - transient low oxygen. Does the tank have good aeration, not just circulation? Does the tank have a protein skimmer? Did anything change in the tank that day? It could be something subtle - I’ve seen cases where the only good aeration in the tank was from a filter return. The person topped the tank up an inch or so higher than normal, the bubbles get cut off and the dissolved oxygen crashes.

Assuming that wasn’t the case here - holding the tank fishless for 60+ days will render it non infective for fish parasites. The new fish should be fully quarantined to help keep this from happening again.

Hello and thank you on Saturday there was nothing changed or added. The week prior though I did do a water change and clean the wave makers. I had a small qt tank next to the sump under my stand and I did have a anthia in there that had died on Friday. There’s a chance when I netted him out drops went into my sump as they side by side. There’s no protein skimmer in there at the moment just a uv.

 

[freddycervtes]

Not likely Velvet killed all your fish from snails and a starfish you put in your Tank on Friday. When did you purchase and add your fish? I assume they weren't QT'd.

Hello there hadn’t been any fish added this year just inverts and some coals. Under my aquarium I have a sump and next to it I have a small qt tank where there had been a anthia in qt but it ended up dying. I think he could’ve been the culprit and when I pulled him out with the next I probably spilled some drops in the the sump.

 

[Jared Bryant]

It is good practice to setup your QT away from the main display.

 

[W31Olds]

FYI, many inverts can carry Pathogens so unless you know the source, they should QT'd. LFS's will tell you that you don't need to, but don't trust them. My LFS keeps some fish in their Coral Systems and their Invert Tanks which in my opinion is a very bad practice and does a disservice to unknowledgeable new aquarists.
Cross contamination is also very possible, and Qt Tanks should be located away from Dt's. I don't doubt you have Velvet but unless the contamination is massive, it would take more than a day to ramp up. It's faster than Ich but the cycle is still I believe about 4 days.

 

[Treefer32]

It could very well be velvet, based on the death pictures I didn't see the typical signs of velvet, not saying it's not there though.

I was wondering if it was stray voltage? That usually doesn't affect corals, might not even affect snails and other inverts. Definitely affects fish though and depending on the amount of electricity, could kill them rapidly. I had intermittent stray voltage from a bad heater. When it kicked on fish would die, when it kicked off, the remaining fish would be fine. It took 3-4 weeks for 17 fish to die but they died in groups of 3 or 4. I had one fish survive out of that, and 7 years later, that fish is still alive and well!

 

[B&CinB.C.]

Hello and yes I still have some snails and a starfish in the display along with a some coral. Should they be taken out? But I suspect velvet because everyone was wiped out overnight except the clowns but they were rapid breathing and laying by the rocks.i Didn’t notice anything much when feeding on Saturday afternoon as everyone ate. The next morning everyone was gone except the clowns maybe there still iffy. This is an image I took and a hard learned I now lesson to qt everything back to the display should I do large water changes or normal ones over the next months and there is a uv running 24/7

So sorry to hear about this . You must have been heartbroken

 

[MikeReefs]

Sorry for your losses. Seen this happen usually when a pump goes out. Velvet can usually be seen on the fish before they all kick the bucket. Low oxygen is very sudden

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Sorry for your loss…. Good advice Here from Jay Hemdal Vette guy and W31Olds they’re your medics here

 

[Flame2hawk]

Sorry to hear and for your loss. Hobby can be painful at times. Did you check for ammonia spike. Only velvet and/or ammonia spike can kill that quickly…

 

[Hans-Werner]

I am sorry for your losses.

everyone seemed fine on Saturday, swimming and eating. Only fish that survived were the clown fish but now one seems on the verge of death. I’m about to start a no fish in display for at least 3 months as I think velvet entered the system through one of the snails or star fish I got on Friday,

No parasites like Amyloodinium will grow that fast and kill that fast, in just a few days.

Either it was bacteria like some Vibrio strain or the disease developed for more than just a few days.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I am sorry for your losses.


No parasites like Amyloodinium will grow that fast and kill that fast, in just a few days.

Either it was bacteria like some Vibrio strain or the disease developed for more than just a few days.

Amyloodinium has subtle symptoms at first, and those are often missed. You may just see an increase in respiration rate, and either not notice it, or write it off as the fish being extra active. Death can begin about 24 to 36 hours after that point, with no real external symptoms.

I've never seen Vibrio or any other bacteria take out a whole tank of fish in that short of a period of time.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Amyloodinium has subtle symptoms at first, and those are often missed. You may just see an increase in respiration rate, and either not notice it, or write it off as the fish being extra active. Death can begin about 24 to 36 hours after that point, with no real external symptoms.

I've never seen Vibrio or any other bacteria take out a whole tank of fish in that short of a period of time.

I haven't excluded this, but the Amyloodinium has not been introduced on Friday and on Monday everyone is dead.

I think also the rapid and synchronous death of all fish doesn't really point to a parasite, however it may not exclude it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I haven't excluded this, but the Amyloodinium has not been introduced on Friday and on Monday everyone is dead.

I think also the rapid and synchronous death of all fish doesn't really point to a parasite, however it may not exclude it.

The OP had an anthias that died a day before everything else. To me, that rules out a transient low oxygen condition, plus the clownfish surviving until the next day, but then dying also rules that out.