Fish dead within 48 hours

[MarineKyle]

Hello I was hoping someone could help me determine what might have happened to my fish. New to Saltwater aquarium but have had freshwater for 20 years. I have a 75 gallon FOWLR tank and within 48 hours almost all of my fish perished. The tank is around 6 months old. My parameters were good salinity 1.025, PH 8.0, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Nitrates: 20. They were doing fine swimming around with no problems. Then my Flame fin tang started losing color and looked really pale and Butterfly fish looked milky white, like a film on scales. Wasnt sure is it was ich then they both perieshed.. Changed 20% of my water after and dosed with Ich Attack. Then today all of fish started perishing 2 wrasse, Coral Beauty, Springer Damsel, and now a percula clown, bubble tip anenome. Some showed signs of white specs or growths near mouth and some had fin damage. I only have one clownfish, lawnmower blenny and firefish (maybe) all not doing great. I lost my entire tank. I also have hermits, a sally foot crab, Saron shrimp, cleaner shrimp and Porcelain crab... who seem to be thriving. So i feel its some sort of fish disease... But seems to be extremely rapid development. Any advice would help... And what should i do before restocking my tank and how long should i wait. Also I did have a Cyano outbreak before, and dosed with Vibrant. a week ago. Thanks for the advice.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello I was hoping someone could help me determine what might have happened to my fish. New to Saltwater aquarium but have had freshwater for 20 years. I have a 75 gallon FOWLR tank and within 48 hours almost all of my fish perished. The tank is around 6 months old. My parameters were good salinity 1.025, PH 8.0, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Nitrates: 20. They were doing fine swimming around with no problems. Then my Flame fin tang started losing color and looked really pale and Butterfly fish looked milky white, like a film on scales. Wasnt sure is it was ich then they both perieshed.. Changed 20% of my water after and dosed with Ich Attack. Then today all of fish started perishing 2 wrasse, Coral Beauty, Springer Damsel, and now a percula clown, bubble tip anenome. Some showed signs of white specs or growths near mouth and some had fin damage. I only have one clownfish, lawnmower blenny and firefish (maybe) all not doing great. I lost my entire tank. I also have hermits, a sally foot crab, Saron shrimp, cleaner shrimp and Porcelain crab... who seem to be thriving. So i feel its some sort of fish disease... But seems to be extremely rapid development. Any advice would help... And what should i do before restocking my tank and how long should i wait. Also I did have a Cyano outbreak before, and dosed with Vibrant. a week ago. Thanks for the advice.

Sorry to hear.
what is age of tank?
How long cycled?
What test kits are you using?

Did you acclimate/introduce fish and for how long?
We’re fish breathing rapidly the last you saw them? May be parasitical with white spots mentioned

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you have pics?
Sounds like it could be brook based on the “white film” description.

 

[MarineKyle]

Sorry to hear.
what is age of tank?
How long cycled?
What test kits are you using?

Did you acclimate/introduce fish and for how long?
We’re fish breathing rapidly the last you saw them? May be parasitical with white spots mentioned

Thanks... Fish have been doing well for almost 2 months now. The tank was cycled using ATM bacteria and its been almost 6 months since first introduced my clowns (first fish). I use API test kits (because they are way cheaper. Using strips and the Master kit... know its not the best, but nothing alarming before deaths. I acclimated all my fish for about 1-2 hours (drip method). Last fish introduced was 3 weeks ago. (Flame Fin Tang) He/She was doing great. Didnt see any rapid breathing but got very lethargic and wouldnt eat. Did see a few scraping rocks but nothing major. Figured it might be parasitic, biut never seen it happen so rapidly in over 6-7 fish... Hope that helps. I'm sick that happened. Was trying to do everything right. Read up on saltwater tanks/fish/equip for months before starting.

 

[Garf]

Thanks... Fish have been doing well for almost 2 months now. The tank was cycled using ATM bacteria and its been almost 6 months since first introduced my clowns (first fish). I use API test kits (because they are way cheaper. Using strips and the Master kit... know its not the best, but nothing alarming before deaths. I acclimated all my fish for about 1-2 hours (drip method). Last fish introduced was 3 weeks ago. (Flame Fin Tang) He/She was doing great. Didnt see any rapid breathing but got very lethargic and wouldnt eat. Did see a few scraping rocks but nothing major. Figured it might be parasitic, biut never seen it happen so rapidly in over 6-7 fish... Hope that helps. I'm sick that happened. Was trying to do everything right. Read up on saltwater tanks/fish/equip for months before starting.

So the last fish was the first to be sick?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks... Fish have been doing well for almost 2 months now. The tank was cycled using ATM bacteria and its been almost 6 months since first introduced my clowns (first fish). I use API test kits (because they are way cheaper. Using strips and the Master kit... know its not the best, but nothing alarming before deaths. I acclimated all my fish for about 1-2 hours (drip method). Last fish introduced was 3 weeks ago. (Flame Fin Tang) He/She was doing great. Didnt see any rapid breathing but got very lethargic and wouldnt eat. Did see a few scraping rocks but nothing major. Figured it might be parasitic, biut never seen it happen so rapidly in over 6-7 fish... Hope that helps. I'm sick that happened. Was trying to do everything right. Read up on saltwater tanks/fish/equip for months before starting.

Sounds like an Ill fish may have been brought in
API and strips notorious for false readings
Take a water sample to a Trusted LFS that does not use API test kits and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours
Focus on ammonia-ph-nitrate

 

[MarineKyle]

Do you have pics?
Sounds like it could be brook based on the “white film” description.

Only Dead pics....a few of my remaining clown

 

[MarineKyle]

So the last fish was the first to be sick?

no actually it was a springer that was first sick. and died suddenly

 

[Sharkbait19]

Based on the clown’s appearance alone I’d say brook.
#fishmedic

 

[MarineKyle]

Based on the clown alone I’d say brook.
#fishmedic

Thanks for helping me identify it. How long can should i leave the tank fishless (heaven forbid if they all die) or medicate before I can restock? Also what is best to medicate with? Guess i can try to start a quarantine tank in the future.

 

[jfoahs04]

Based on the clown alone I’d say brook.
#fishmedic

This. There are experts on here that know better than I do, but this looks very much like brookynella. Here's some info on identification, treatment, and fallow period (6 weeks): https://humble.fish/brooklynella/

 

[Sharkbait19]

IF it’s brook, treatment of choice is formalin in a separate qt tank. Freshwater dips can provide relief.
Tank needs to be fishless for 6 weeks.

 

[MarineKyle]

IF it’s brook, treatment of choice is formalin in a separate qt tank. Freshwater dips can provide relief.
Tank needs to be fishless for 6 weeks.

Forgot to mention that the eyes were cloudy also before they perished, could that be a sign of Brooks also?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Forgot to mention that the eyes were cloudy also before they perished, could that be a sign of Brooks also?

Brook is known to cause cloudy eyes, yes.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for helping me identify it. How long can should i leave the tank fishless (heaven forbid if they all die) or medicate before I can restock? Also what is best to medicate with? Guess i can try to start a quarantine tank in the future.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

This is unlikely to be a water quality issue since as you pointed out, the inverts are all fine. It came on pretty fast to be Brooklynella. I didn’t see any mention of respiration rates, but if the fish were breathing fast, I would say this is velvet, Amyloodinium.
Jay

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s also possible you could be dealing with more than one illness. That happened to me once. One fish came in with ich, the others got brook and velvet. To be safe, I did a 90 day fallow to eliminate anything. So it could be in your best interest to treat and fallow for general protozoan sicknesses, that way you don’t find yourself with an unfortunate surprise.

 

[Dbichler]

Based on the pictures I would say a severe case of ich.

 

[MarineKyle]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

This is unlikely to be a water quality issue since as you pointed out, the inverts are all fine. It came on pretty fast to be Brooklynella. I didn’t see any mention of respiration rates, but if the fish were breathing fast, I would say this is velvet, Amyloodinium.
Jay

The fish didn't seem to be gasping for air or breathing fast, until they were within like 20 min of death. Then went through the death throws. But they did have loss of appetite and very lethargic.

 

[MarineKyle]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

This is unlikely to be a water quality issue since as you pointed out, the inverts are all fine. It came on pretty fast to be Brooklynella. I didn’t see any mention of respiration rates, but if the fish were breathing fast, I would say this is velvet, Amyloodinium.
Jay

Also didnt really notice any gold or brown coloring on fish... just like a mucous film over them and the eyes of some.

 

[jayman19]

Based on the clown’s appearance alone I’d say brook.
#fishmedic

Definitely brooks. Just lost a fish to it and it’s happens so fast. Am currently QT’ing my other clown in a tank with copper after a formalin dip . Tank will be fallow for next 8 weeks