Fish Rapidly Dying -- Is It Velvet? Something else?

[Fish Fan]

If my parameters were all stable and “within range” (detailed in original post), does it make ich less probable?

At this point the likeliest culprit seemed like velvet from the inverts (or accidental water from the bag) added a week or so before the deaths.

Unfortunately, your water parameters are not a great indicator of fish parasites in your tank. Obviously, if you have really poor parameters fish will be at a higher risk of contracting disease (which is often latent, meaning, laying in wait for a stress event), but parameters alone are not a good way to diagnose this.

@vetteguy53081 is one of the R2R Fish Medic crew members, I would defer to him here

 

[vetteguy53081]

No change in water or salt.

Mentioned this stuff above but — fish purchased at local LFS, TSM, Dr Reefs. All allegedly quarantined first. I did not quarantine. However no fish added for a few weeks prior to the deaths.

Only change/livestock added was the snails and conchs from LiveAquaria and TopShelfAquatics. Everything (other than yellow tang) dead within 1.5 weeks.

Disease is your responsibility- not the fish's. You want to quarantine especially shipped fish regardless of the source as you now see the results of not doing so. I wont sit here and shred live aquaria but you likely or should know what you get from them.
At this point, I suggest to quarantine remaining fish and leave the display tank fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off

 

[tulsadad]

No change in water or salt.

Mentioned this stuff above but — fish purchased at local LFS, TSM, Dr Reefs. All allegedly quarantined first. I did not quarantine. However no fish added for a few weeks prior to the deaths.

Only change/livestock added was the snails and conchs from LiveAquaria and TopShelfAquatics. Everything (other than yellow tang) dead within 1.5 weeks.

Disease is your responsibility- not the fish's. You want to quarantine especially shipped fish regardless of the source as you now see the results of not doing so. I wont sit here and shred live aquaria but you likely or should know what you get from them.
At this point, I suggest to quarantine remaining fish and leave the display tank fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off

Noted. Lesson learned the very hard way. I’ll take the L and move on.

I’d thought LiveAquaria was reputable but I’m now seeing a lot of recent discussion suggesting otherwise.

Looks like I’m going fallow for 6-8 weeks and will QT from here on.

 

[Fish Fan]

Noted. Lesson learned the very hard way. I’ll take the L and move on.

I’d thought LiveAquaria was reputable but I’m now seeing a lot of recent discussion suggesting otherwise.

Looks like I’m going fallow for 6-8 weeks and will QT from here on.

It's unfortunate, but it sounds like the best course of action going forward. Again, don't be too hard on yourself or the vendors, nothing is 100% effective at preventing fish parasites.

Best of luck!

 

[bluemon]

Noted. Lesson learned the very hard way. I’ll take the L and move on.

I’d thought LiveAquaria was reputable but I’m now seeing a lot of recent discussion suggesting otherwise.

Looks like I’m going fallow for 6-8 weeks and will QT from here on.

“reputable” doesn’t go a whole lot when it comes to fish.

Unless one is advertised as going through the full QT process, and have had independent parties verify their methods, along with enough reviews to show that they do it consistently, you have to assume they don’t QT.

Liveaquaria, even before the takeover, never QTd fish.

They were “reputable” as in they would give you the fish you ordered (most of the time), in good enough health.

 

[tulsadad]

“reputable” doesn’t go a whole lot when it comes to fish.

Unless one is advertised as going through the full QT process, and have had independent parties verify their methods, along with enough reviews to show that they do it consistently, you have to assume they don’t QT.

Liveaquaria, even before the takeover, never QTd fish.

They were “reputable” as in they would give you the fish you ordered (most of the time), in good enough health.

Fair.

To clarify though, I only ordered snails from them. All fish were from alleged pre-quarantined vendors.

Do people quarantine even inverts?

 

[bluemon]

Fair.

To clarify though, I only ordered snails from them. All fish were from alleged pre-quarantined vendors.

Do people quarantine even inverts?

In a perfect world, to practice the best biosecurity, you should, some people do,

But I personally don’t.

The risk is SUPER low, although it is there, so I just resort to a bit of scrubbing of shells and a rinse in tank water. Or ordering from a source that held them in a dish less tank.

I just can’t do a QT for not just CUC for corals as well, just for fish disease (coral QT for coral disease is a different beast altogether). Too much space and work and stress involved in keeping multiple sets up tanks and equipment as they can’t even handle copper (so it’s three sets)

 

[Fish Fan]

Fair.

To clarify though, I only ordered snails from them. All fish were from alleged pre-quarantined vendors.

Do people quarantine even inverts?

I do. I try my best to QT everything "wet" including fish, as well as corals and CUC critters. I'm not saying I'm correct or even that I know what I'm doing, but I personally do my best to take biosecurity quite seriously. Yes, this involves "extra" tanks and setups, which is not for everyone, but I kind of enjoy the extra tanks. This may well be me overthinking things, but I have had problems in the past, and I have seen horrible stories here on R2R, similar to this one, no offense @tulsadad; I feel for you, I do.

 

[GSnake]

it would be helpful if you had pictures.
were any of the fish swimming into current of powerhead?
i had velvet in my new tank as well. maybe a new tank is a more suitable environment for the parasite?..hm
my tank improved a lot after a fallow period, it seemed overrun with velvet beforehand, and adding a UV sterilizer really sealed the deal for me. new fish didnt have many issues. they looked uncomfortable maybe at the beginning, but i have all of those same fish today.
all is well now

 

[Sharkbait19]

Pics and videos of the yellow tang would help to figure out what may have happened.
Velvet is certainly a possibility, but at least some behavioral symptoms should have shown up.

Do you have a deep sandbed? It’s possible the new conches unearthed a H2S pocket and that killed your fish (but that should be much more acute if they did).

Like others have mentioned, fallow is your safest bet just to cover all potential diseases. I wouldn’t add anything during the time. Even though there is a low risk to non-fish additions, it’s still not a risk worth taking during the fishless period.

 

[Fish Fan]

Pics and videos of the yellow tang would help to figure out what may have happened.
Velvet is certainly a possibility, but at least some behavioral symptoms should have shown up.

Do you have a deep sandbed? It’s possible the new conches unearthed a H2S pocket and that killed your fish (but that should be much more acute if they did).

Like others have mentioned, fallow is your safest bet just to cover all potential diseases. I wouldn’t add anything during the time. Even though there is a low risk to non-fish additions, it’s still not a risk worth taking during the fishless period.

Thank you for your help here!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Fair.

To clarify though, I only ordered snails from them. All fish were from alleged pre-quarantined vendors.

Do people quarantine even inverts?

Yes - I hold invertebrates that may have been exposed to un quarantined fish for 30 to 45 days in a fishless system.

Given the timeline here, I can’t rule out velvet, but flukes seems more likely.

A video of the YT would help with the diagnosis.

 

[tulsadad]

Well I guess my wrasse is also still alive.

My YT definitely has this dusty looking stuff all over him. Is it velvet?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Could you attach the video as a YouTube link? Vids don’t play for iPhone users.

 

[tulsadad]

Could you attach the video as a YouTube link? Vids don’t play for iPhone users.

Edited my comment above to include a YouTube link.

The video embedded directly is easier to see the dusty coating. I can only get it to play properly on the reef2reef app though.

 

[W31Olds]

YT looks rough but hard to see without adjusting your lights (white). Can you post another video? You may have more than one thing going on. I wouldn't think Velvet based on your Timeline.

 

[tulsadad]

YT looks rough but hard to see without adjusting your lights (white). Can you post another video? You may have more than one thing going on. I wouldn't think Velvet based on your Timeline.

I’m not sure if you can see any better. He was a bit more shy.

 

[W31Olds]

Tulsa, if I were you I would setup a Hospital Tank (20 Gallon long) ASAP and treat for flukes or Ich or both based on the final evaluation by the Fish Medics. I recommend that as you only have 2 fish left and sounds like you plan on QTing going forward. Since you have no coral, you could remove the inverts and treat in tank, but you would still need to setup something. Catching the fish is the hard part. I would probably remove most of the rock temporarily since your Tank is new and QT all new purchases and go slower. I only have 9 fish in my 1 year old 180 and haven't lost one yet but have lost fish during the QT process.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Hi
We are in Tulsa, we are willing to cure the fish for you at no charge.
We will hold them till your tank is cured and ready to accommodate these fish back. Let us know

 

[tulsadad]

Hi
We are in Tulsa, we are willing to cure the fish for you at no charge.
We will hold them till your tank is cured and ready to accommodate these fish back. Let us know

Arranged via email. Thank you again.

Thank you everyone for the helpful feedback and suggestions.

Lesson learned. Quarantine is king. Now we wait 8 weeks fishless and stare at a 200 gallon empty tank.