Fish dying - HELP

[reeferericb]

My fish are finishing up quarantine this week. I’ve had 7 fish

Yellow Tang
Hepatus Tang
One Spot Foxface
Yellow Tail Damsel
Two clownfish
Watchman Goby

in a 20 gallon tank. I dosed a teaspoon of PraziPro last Tuesday. Today the yellow tail damsel and yellow tang are both dead. The hippo tang is breathing heavily.
I transferred the hippo tang and Foxface to the DT (they’re pooping fine).

The clownfish and goby seem fine in the QT.

any help or suggestions appreciated. I do want to lose the Hippo if I can help it.

The DT has been fallow for 70 days.

I did a 5 gallon water change last Sunday in the QT. I did 10 gallon change today in the QT after moving the fish.

Ammonia is fine in QT but the water is cloudy. I’ve read that cloudy water is normal after PraziPro, is that right?

 

[R33fDaddy]

My fish are finishing up quarantine this week. I’ve had 7 fish

Yellow Tang
Hepatus Tang
One Spot Foxface
Yellow Tail Damsel
Two clownfish
Watchman Goby

in a 20 gallon tank. I dosed a teaspoon of PraziPro last Tuesday. Today the yellow tail damsel and yellow tang are both dead. The hippo tang is breathing heavily.
I transferred the hippo tang and Foxface to the DT (they’re pooping fine).

The clownfish and goby seem fine in the QT.

any help or suggestions appreciated. I do want to lose the Hippo if I can help it.

The DT has been fallow for 70 days.

I did a 5 gallon water change last Sunday in the QT. I did 10 gallon change today in the QT after moving the fish.

Ammonia is fine in QT but the water is cloudy. I’ve read that cloudy water is normal after PraziPro, is that right?

Did you treat them for Ich yet? If not do that asap. If your hippo tang is breathing heavy you may need to try a fresh water deep in a bucket of RO. If you have pictures of the fish that would help.

 

[reeferericb]

Did you treat them for Ich yet? If not do that asap. If your hippo tang is breathing heavy you may need to try a fresh water deep in a bucket of RO. If you have pictures of the fish that would help.

They finished copper treatment two weeks ago. I just don’t know what happened that caused two fish to die. I don’t have a controller for the QT but I’m not seeing anything abnormal.

 

[Maritimer]

Is it possible that the PraziPro reduced the oxygen content of the water?

Have you got some filtration / aeration churning it up?

@Jay Hemdal might have more insight . . .

~B.

 

[reeferericb]

I’m running an over the back filter and an air stone. I would have thought that if PraziPro was the culprit the fish would have died yesterday. I haven’t been as attentive to the QT lately, but I’m sure everyone was eating good yesterday. I just dropped the food in this morning and didn’t really have a good look before work.

 

[reeferericb]

Here’s a video I took of her.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Oh no- sorry to hear. The issue is. . . . You have Many fish in that tank already consuming oxygen and waste will build up quickly with that number of fish.
PraziPro is known to curb appetite of fish and reduce oxygen. I generally suggest when administering Any treatment- Increase oxygen (simply with pump and airstone)
The HOB filter is not adequate enough t remove the waste and keep ammonia and nitrate at bay without frequent water changes.

 

[reeferericb]

Oh no- sorry to hear. The issue is. . . . You have Many fish in that tank already consuming oxygen and waste will build up quickly with that number of fish.
PraziPro is known to curb appetite of fish and reduce oxygen. I generally suggest when administering Any treatment- Increase oxygen (simply with pump and airstone)
The HOB filter is not adequate enough t remove the waste and keep ammonia and nitrate at bay without frequent water changes.

I’m running both a HOB and an air stone. 25% water changes every other week. The fish have been doing great until today (possibly yesterday). Ammonia levels were only slightly elevated at the beginning, they’ve remained 0 since. I had to build up nitrifying bacteria early on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m running both a HOB and an air stone. 25% water changes every other week. The fish have been doing great until today (possibly yesterday). Ammonia levels were only slightly elevated at the beginning, they’ve remained 0 since. I had to build up nitrifying bacteria early on.

What test kits are you using ?

 

[reeferericb]

Ammonia badge

I also have API, but I’m not really sold on its accuracy, so I stopped using it.

 

[Tamberav]

I’m running an over the back filter and an air stone. I would have thought that if PraziPro was the culprit the fish would have died yesterday. I haven’t been as attentive to the QT lately, but I’m sure everyone was eating good yesterday. I just dropped the food in this morning and didn’t really have a good look before work.

actually I believe when fish die from asphyxiation.. they actually don’t go right away.

likey just too many fish in a small tank and prazi caused a bacterial bloom evidenced by the cloudy water and they suffocated.

Cloudy water is not normal with prazi.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My fish are finishing up quarantine this week. I’ve had 7 fish

Yellow Tang
Hepatus Tang
One Spot Foxface
Yellow Tail Damsel
Two clownfish
Watchman Goby

in a 20 gallon tank. I dosed a teaspoon of PraziPro last Tuesday. Today the yellow tail damsel and yellow tang are both dead. The hippo tang is breathing heavily.
I transferred the hippo tang and Foxface to the DT (they’re pooping fine).

The clownfish and goby seem fine in the QT.

any help or suggestions appreciated. I do want to lose the Hippo if I can help it.

The DT has been fallow for 70 days.

I did a 5 gallon water change last Sunday in the QT. I did 10 gallon change today in the QT after moving the fish.

Ammonia is fine in QT but the water is cloudy. I’ve read that cloudy water is normal after PraziPro, is that right?

Did you dose copper during your quarantine? The rapid breathing on the hepatus tang can be a sign of gill parasites such as Amyloodinium (velvet). Are the foxface breathing hard/fast as well?

Here is a link to my current quarantine protocol:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[reeferericb]

Did you dose copper during your quarantine? The rapid breathing on the hepatus tang can be a sign of gill parasites such as Amyloodinium (velvet). Are the foxface breathing hard/fast as well?

Here is a link to my current quarantine protocol:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

They finished 30 days of copper (45 actually) two weeks ago. I’ve done 10 gallons of water changes since then. I didn’t measure the remaining copper before dosing PraziPro, perhaps I should have. I was running about 2.15 with Copper Power so I should be under 1.0 now.

I know my levels are low now since I changed an additional 10 gallons out yesterday.

The fish have been very active and seemed fine. It was a total shock to see dead fish yesterday. The Hippo and Foxface appear fully recovered in the display tank today. I’ll see for myself in an hour when I get home. Both were swimming normally when I fed this morning. The remaining fish in QT also were active and doing fine as well.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well, sorry I couldn’t tell you what this is....
Jay

 

[BiggestE222]

Is it possible that the PraziPro reduced the oxygen content of the water?
To

Have you got some filtration / aeration churning it up?

@Jay Hemdal might have more insight . . .

~B.

100% guaranteed. The bacterial bloom after adding Praziquantel uses a lot of oxygen. First time I dosed my Cinnamin clown immediately started gasping for air. I then exposed a power head to the outside air which seemed to resolve the issue

 

[artieg1]

Having been in this precise situation, more or less, I will tell you this: that is too many fish in a 20 gallon QT. I now limit myself to 1-2 fish in my 20 gallon, and have had no more issues. Prazi is the culprit here. Its impact on oxygen is well known, and in a small closed environment with that many fish (even with an airstone) this is the result.

Going forward, personally, based on my experience, I would make the following changes to your protocol: (1) Add a powerhead, pointed at surface, to maximize oxygenation of water. A HOB is just not enough. You want lively water flow. (2) Ammonia badge is junk. API tests also junk. (3) Assume you have an ammonia issue, even with 1-2 fish. Do 25% water changes 2-3x per week, not every other week. Keep several HOB filters sponges in your sump, and use one of those whenever you start up the QT.

The killers in QT are ammonia and low oxygen. I would recommend going overboard in addressing those issues. Particularly when using prazi.