Fish dying one after another !

[reefyjoe]

I have a Red Sea reefer and it has been set up for around 6 month . Everything has been going well , parameters stable and coral and refugium seem to be thriving.

For 2 weeks now my fish have been dying all of a sudden one after another . So far I have lost 2 clowns , a sailfin tang, a drawf fuzzy lion fish , a regal tang and as of this morning a fox face.

All these fish have been bought from the same store and have been in there for many months apart from the regal tang. None of them shown signs of disease except before they’d die I’d find them at the top of the tank or on the sand bed gasping for air.

I have done almost a full water change when the first fish died and I do 25% a week as maintenance .

My parameters are still stable other than a spike in nitrate after a fish dies.

Any help would be appreciated there is only a blenny left and cuc however they still don’t show any signs of stress or disease .

 

[Timfish]

Sorry for your loss. It could be anything but I'm going to guess some kind of paraiste. I'm also guessing you don't have a quaritine procedure in place. If not, you're probably best off setting one up and moving the surviving fish to it then leaving your DT fallow for 3 months.

 

[rennjidk]

I have a Red Sea reefer and it has been set up for around 6 month . Everything has been going well , parameters stable and coral and refugium seem to be thriving.

What size is the tank?

My parameters are still stable other than a spike in nitrate after a fish dies.

What are your parameters?

 

[reefyjoe]

Sorry for your loss. It could be anything but I'm going to guess some kind of paraiste. I'm also guessing you don't have a quaritine procedure in place. If not, you're probably best off setting one up and moving the surviving fish to it then leaving your DT fallow for 3 months

Thankyou , I quarantined at first but “trusted” the shop after 2 or so so just acclimated and then put in the tank. Silly I know !
Will the cuc and coral be okay being left in the display for the 3 month or will the parasite feed on them?

 

[reefyjoe]

What size is the tank?

What are your parameters?

250L

and

Nitrates 11.5 ppm

the rest I only have colour charts for but are well within safe zone
Salinity I keep at 1.025 and temp 25.5

 

[rennjidk]

250L

That's insanely small for 2 tangs and a foxface

Nitrates 11.5 ppm

the rest I only have colour charts for but are well within safe zone
Salinity I keep at 1.025 and temp 25.5

Fish don't care about nitrates. What is your ammonia level? There isn't a "safe zone" even with color charts. What are the tests telling you?

 

[Tamberav]

This is likely a problem with disease but I can not tell you which one, there isn't enough information. As long as the blenny stays in there, it can infect new fish you add. I would catch it and QT it and follow the protocol stickied in the disease forums as I believe it treats for most everything.

Your corals/cuc will be fine but you need to not put any fish in the tank for minimum 45 days at 81 degrees. Longer is safer. If there is a parasite, it needs to starve/die out without a fish host. You can not cross contaminate any water on your hands or tools or anything between your QT and your display.

I am not sure if that was posted right but if your tank is around 250 liters, a sailfin and regal should not be in there. Crowding fish into small tanks causes stress which further leads to disease. If you need a tang, something like a small tomini would be a safer bet.

 

[reefyjoe]

That's insanely small for 2 tangs and a foxface

Fish don't care about nitrates. What is your ammonia level? There isn't a "safe zone" even with color charts. What are the tests telling you?

I use Nt labs multi test kit ammonia is normally around 0.2-0.4 according to the colours going to pretty much undetectable after a water change .

 

[reefyjoe]

This is likely a problem with disease but I can not tell you which one, there isn't enough information. As long as the blenny stays in there, it can infect new fish you add. I would catch it and QT it and follow the protocol stickied in the disease forums as I believe it treats for most everything.

Your corals/cuc will be fine but you need to not put any fish in the tank for minimum 45 days at 81 degrees. Longer is safer. If there is a parasite, it needs to starve/die out without a fish host. You can not cross contaminate any water on your hands or tools or anything between your QT and your display.

I am not sure if that was posted right but if your tank is around 250 liters, a sailfin and regal should not be in there. Crowding fish into small tanks causes stress which further leads to disease. If you need a tang, something like a small tomini would be a safer bet.

Thankyou for your reply! Is there any information I can add to help determine the disease?

 

[brandon429]

Rule out ammonia in your issues when working in a display reef, ammonia isn't a problem for anyone in display reefing. Your readings are fine, ammonia isn't zero in running reefs and whatever a non digital test kit says about it doesn't matter

 

[brandon429]

Eliminating cycle issues right off the bat helps you focus on disease and preps

 

[DanTheReefer]

The new tang brought in something, probably ich or velvet. I was formerly in your camp of “dump and pray” as well. I never had a tank crash like yours but after a while I started getting concerned that one new addition would wipe out my tank, so I started QT

 

[Tamberav]

Thankyou for your reply! Is there any information I can add to help determine the disease?

The fish would have to show something physical or have some specific symptoms like heavy breathing or swimming into a powerhead. Unfortunately it is not uncommon to have fish not show tell tail signs.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a Red Sea reefer and it has been set up for around 6 month . Everything has been going well , parameters stable and coral and refugium seem to be thriving.

For 2 weeks now my fish have been dying all of a sudden one after another . So far I have lost 2 clowns , a sailfin tang, a drawf fuzzy lion fish , a regal tang and as of this morning a fox face.

All these fish have been bought from the same store and have been in there for many months apart from the regal tang. None of them shown signs of disease except before they’d die I’d find them at the top of the tank or on the sand bed gasping for air.

I have done almost a full water change when the first fish died and I do 25% a week as maintenance .

My parameters are still stable other than a spike in nitrate after a fish dies.

Any help would be appreciated there is only a blenny left and cuc however they still don’t show any signs of stress or disease .

Sudden death like yours id often associated with water quality, oxygen or protozoan
How long has tank been running?
Are you acclimating them first and how are you doing it and for how long?
Any signs of rapid breathing prior to death or lethargic behavior?

Gasping for air is often a sign of velvet and suggests gill issues either protozoan or fluke like. When this is happening, pics and videos are often valuable with assessment

 

[DanTheReefer]

Thankyou for your reply! Is there any information I can add to help determine the disease?

Since it’s been over course of two weeks my guess is ich. Look for the appearance of salt on the fins and body.

velvet would be appearance of powdered sugar, but I’d expect tank to be wiped out a lot faster than two weeks

 

[Dkmoo]

For your next round of restocking, please choose tank size appropriate fish and quantity. Overcrowding and stress is likely a cause here as well. These fish have not been healthy and could have succumb to any bacteria in your tank that a healthy fish would have been able to fight off. Even if you follow strict quarantine there is no way to have an 100% sterile environment, so if you repeat the same crowded condition they will die off again

 

[Dkmoo]

If you need a tang, something like a small tomini would be a safer bet.

OP said he has a RS reefer so im assuming 250L is the RS250 thats total volume. DT volume on that is roughly 50gallons and thats really pushing it for tomini too

 

[reefyjoe]

Sudden death like yours id often associated with water quality, oxygen or protozoan
How long has tank been running?
Are you acclimating them first and how are you doing it and for how long?
Any signs of rapid breathing prior to death or lethargic behavior?

Gasping for air is often a sign of velvet and suggests gill issues either protozoan or fluke like. When this is happening, pics and videos are often valuable with assessment

The tank has been up and running around 6 month .
When getting the fish I first temperature acclimate by floating the bag and then drip acclimate in a bucket for around 30/40 mins.

Before the fish died I would notice them at the top of the tank breathing heavy. Sadly I have no videos .

 

[reefyjoe]

Thanks for the replies of everyone. Been very helpful and really a great community.

Can I just confirm my next steps before I close this thread . So I leave the tank dormant for 2/3 months . Will my clean up crew (shrimp, hermits and snails ) and coral (mainly lps and softies) be okay staying in during this time ? Also would my chaeto be okay or is there a way to “sterilise” this and ensure no parasites on it ?

 

[Tamberav]

Thanks for the replies of everyone. Been very helpful and really a great community.

Can I just confirm my next steps before I close this thread . So I leave the tank dormant for 2/3 months . Will my clean up crew (shrimp, hermits and snails ) and coral (mainly lps and softies) be okay staying in during this time ? Also would my chaeto be okay or is there a way to “sterilise” this and ensure no parasites on it ?

It will all be okay. You may need to feed the tank Coral food since no fish. Leave the cheato in there as well.