Help!!!! All clownfish died out of nowhere- other fish ok but now I’m not sure about my Orchid’s fin?! What’s happening?!

Twalker791

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Hello! So I have had a Fowlr tank since August of 20 and it has gone really well! I got a pair of young clowns as soon as the tank cycled. I also have a coral beauty and an orchid basslet. So about 3 weeks ago, one of my clowns suddenly died.
I couldn’t see any injuries or sign of disease when I looked at him, so I figured it must have just been one of those mysterious deaths. My other fish all seemed fine. Well I decided to buy a new baby clown, and he seemed to be happy and healthy when I put him in the tank. After about a week, the other clown started to be slower moving and his face seemed pale. He was also breathing rapidly. The next morning he was dead. THEN the baby clown started acting funny and his fins seemed slightly ragged. I wasn’t sure if the other fish were nipping at him since he was new- but they never seemed to pay him any attention. After a few more days and me noticing more rapid breathing- he disappeared. His body was tiny so I’m not sure where he went but I’m trying to figure out why all of the sudden my pair of clowns and then the new baby clown died. My coral beauty and orchid seemed totally fine. Tested my water multiple times- ZERO issue. No sign of
Ich or velvet or anything else I could see-
Other than possible fin rot. I take good care of my tank and don’t overfeed.
So today- I noticed my orchid’s tail looks a bit ratty. What in the world?! Does this look like fin rot? I never see my CB act aggressive in any way so I don’t think it’s that. And neither of them are breathing rapidly or showing any signs of any other issue so I’m really at a loss for words. I’m not buying anything new for at least a month or two to see what happens but I figured maybe someone had some insight.

22C5C095-0C0F-472C-988E-8DA7A46D7611.png
 
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Twalker791

Twalker791

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Funny enough I just checked my water AGAIN for ***** and giggles- ammonia for the first time seems like it’s at .25, 0 nitrites, and nitrates pretty high- gonna do a big huge water change then because idk what else to do or why that’s happening- maybe from the dead fish I never found but it’s been a week
 

Jay Hemdal

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Just spitballing, but with the clowns dying and showing rapid breathing, but the other fish doing o.k., makes me wonder if the issue was Brooklynella.
The tail on the dottyback doesn’t look awful, just watch it for now. Follow your instincts and don’t add any new fish for a month. I would strongly urge you to invest in a small quarantine tank.
Jay
 
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Twalker791

Twalker791

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Just spitballing, but with the clowns dying and showing rapid breathing, but the other fish doing o.k., makes me wonder if the issue was Brooklynella.
The tail on the dottyback doesn’t look awful, just watch it for now. Follow your instincts and don’t add any new fish for a month. I would strongly urge you to invest in a small quarantine tank.
Jay
Yeah I was like obsessively looking over the remaining clownfish because I saw that it’s the “clownfish disease”- I
Just spitballing, but with the clowns dying and showing rapid breathing, but the other fish doing o.k., makes me wonder if the issue was Brooklynella.
The tail on the dottyback doesn’t look awful, just watch it for now. Follow your instincts and don’t add any new fish for a month. I would strongly urge you to invest in a small quarantine tank.
Jay
Yeah I was wondering about the Brooklynella since I saw it is “clownfish disease”- I just thought it wasn’t because I saw ZERO white film/spots/stringy stuff/etc on any of them. And I had t introduces anything new to the tank in quite some time so I wouldn’t be sure how it even got into the tank without any new fish. But who knows-I’ll wait at least a month or two before I think about adding anything new just so I can watch and see what happens with my CB and Orchid- and hopefully with the 15 gallon water change (tank is 40 gallons) that can help with the nitrates and slight ammonia. Strange :( but thank you!
 

brandon429

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TWalker we discussed and predicted fish disease in our messages last year. the predictions and the timing offered were very specific indeed. only missed it by a couple months...



you have no ammonia issues here. all reefs post-cycle control ammonia.

time to fallow and quarantine.
 
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Twalker791

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TWalker we discussed and predicted fish disease in our messages last year. the predictions and the timing offered were very specific indeed. only missed it by a couple months...



you have no ammonia issues here. all reefs post-cycle control ammonia.

time to fallow and quarantine.
Yeah I’m not sure what’s going on with them- it actually seems I’m having a bit of a nitrate issue so I’m working on regulating that better. What do you suggest? I remember our discussion somewhat but it’s been a while so I’m not really remembering what exactly you said the course of action should be
 
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Twalker791

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TWalker we discussed and predicted fish disease in our messages last year. the predictions and the timing offered were very specific indeed. only missed it by a couple months...



you have no ammonia issues here. all reefs post-cycle control ammonia.

time to fallow and quarantine.
Nevermind I found the messages- my ammonia and nitrite is fine- and my nitrates were up a bit high so I changed out 15 gallons of water which is about half of it. I realized I had never tested my tap water for nitrates- and it appears to have about 10 ppm in it naturally. I do water changes every week and vacuum, but I think now I need to start at least topping off with zero nitrate water and get some more nitrate reducing media. I think maybe the clowns got nitrate positing based on everything I read about the symptoms, especially since they didn’t have any obvious sign of parasitic or fungal infections. Should I maybe also go ahead and do a disassembly cleaning? I’m not sure I feel running it fallow is necessary since nitrate levels can be fixed and there doesn’t SEEM to be any obvious parasite or anything in there. Maybe? Lol
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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no your tank is new enough no rip cleaning needed. the best approach so far is to remove all current fish and go fallow for 80 days, then reintroduce fish pre treated for the range of diseases we see.

crumby options I know :( ugg its why I don't keep marine fish. corals don't require this song and dance!

but, in the end, if you tough it out you'll have a sharp nano reef of mixed fish for sure, doing well.

*not everyone agrees on fallow and qt though, but as you can see it rules the optioned procedures here in the fish disease forum bc its the best practice we have, the others aren't ordered enough to repeat and get a higher compliance rate.

your other fish are currently strong enough to resist issues, this is my opinion knowing the history of the tank. the dry rock starts although able to handle cycling just fine are prone to disease issues around the ~8 month mark we see in post patterns we think because the system isn't mature enough yet to outcompete the disease components. those with decades-old systems can get away with less qt and fallow it seems.
 
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Twalker791

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no your tank is new enough no rip cleaning needed. the best approach so far is to remove all current fish and go fallow for 80 days, then reintroduce fish pre treated for the range of diseases we see.

crumby options I know :( ugg its why I don't keep marine fish. corals don't require this song and dance!

but, in the end, if you tough it out you'll have a sharp nano reef of mixed fish for sure, doing well.
no your tank is new enough no rip cleaning needed. the best approach so far is to remove all current fish and go fallow for 80 days, then reintroduce fish pre treated for the range of diseases we see.

crumby options I know :( ugg its why I don't keep marine fish. corals don't require this song and dance!

but, in the end, if you tough it out you'll have a sharp nano reef of mixed fish for sure, doing well.

*not everyone agrees on fallow and qt though, but as you can see it rules the optioned procedures here in the fish disease forum bc its the best practice we have, the others aren't ordered enough to repeat and get a higher compliance rate.

your other fish are strong enough to resist issues, this is my opinion knowing the history of the tank. the dry rock starts although able to handle cycling just fine are prone to disease issues around the ~8 month mark we see in post patterns we think because the system isn't mature enough yet to outcompete the disease components. those with decades-old systems can get away with less qt and fallow it seems.
so you still think it’s a disease issue even though it’s only seeming like I had a high nitrate issue?
 
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Twalker791

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no your tank is new enough no rip cleaning needed. the best approach so far is to remove all current fish and go fallow for 80 days, then reintroduce fish pre treated for the range of diseases we see.

crumby options I know :( ugg its why I don't keep marine fish. corals don't require this song and dance!

but, in the end, if you tough it out you'll have a sharp nano reef of mixed fish for sure, doing well.

*not everyone agrees on fallow and qt though, but as you can see it rules the optioned procedures here in the fish disease forum bc its the best practice we have, the others aren't ordered enough to repeat and get a higher compliance rate.

your other fish are currently strong enough to resist issues, this is my opinion knowing the history of the tank. the dry rock starts although able to handle cycling just fine are prone to disease issues around the ~8 month mark we see in post patterns we think because the system isn't mature enough yet to outcompete the disease components. those with decades-old systems can get away with less qt and fallow it seems.
And what does running fallow do to help the rock?
 

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are you using tap water and conditioner? if so I would stop and move to rodi immediately
 

dedragon

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that is probably one of the bigger issues, tap water and conditioner arent suited for marine aquariums in 99% of cases. It can cause build up of metals and toxins over time and then cause death to the inhabitants, i would switch water to rodi water from now on. Then probably do a test in a month to make sure copper hasnt built up too much in the rock
 

dedragon

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10ppm nitrate in tap water shows that your tap water definitely isnt suited for use in aquariums and probably has worse stuff in it that arent nitrates
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Lots of reefs use tap, if her corals last this long it’s likely not a big issue beyond algae control. I estimate from prior posts that about 50 reefs or so that post here use tap or well water, same thing.

if you’re having problems with corals, algae, keeping shrimp and snails then getting cleaner water can’t hurt but the report seems to be fish specific / brook susceptible fish group losses


the consideration for fallow prep is also for your current fish as prevention before anything overtakes them. Per this forum, any new tanks skipping fallow endure high losses. this angle has your current unaffected fish in mind as much as the lost ones+ replacements
 
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Twalker791

Twalker791

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Lots of reefs use tap, if her corals last this long it’s likely not a big issue beyond algae control. I estimate from prior posts that about 50 reefs or so that post here use tap or well water, same thing.

if you’re having problems with corals, algae, keeping shrimp and snails then getting cleaner water can’t hurt but the report seems to be fish specific / brook susceptible fish group losses


the consideration for fallow prep is also for your current fish as prevention before anything overtakes them. Per this forum, any new tanks skipping fallow endure high losses. this angle has your current unaffected fish in mind as much as the lost ones+ replacements
I have a fowlr tank, so I don’t have any corals. Inverts have never done well in my tank for whatever reason
 

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