Help Losing many fish

[DrH]

Hello..my tank been established for 6 months without any issues, but this week started losing fish. Water is tested frequently and all is perfect. I had a four stripe damsel that developed redish skin then it died. A week later two white tail tangs died at the same time. A couple of days ago a trigger fish started to have peeling mucous from its skin and today found him laying motionless on the sand. What’s left is four blue damsels and one looks sick..not eating and swimming in one spot. I had those fish for two months and seems something happened suddenly made them die one after the other!

Need help finding a solution. Thanks in advance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello..my tank been established for 6 months without any issues, but this week started losing fish. Water is tested frequently and all is perfect. I had a four stripe damsel that developed redish skin then it died. A week later two white tail tangs died at the same time. A couple of days ago a trigger fish started to have peeling mucous from its skin and today found him laying motionless on the sand. What’s left is four blue damsels and one looks sick..not eating and swimming in one spot. I had those fish for two months and seems something happened suddenly made them die one after the other!

Need help finding a solution. Thanks in advance.

Sounds like a water quality issue including but not limited to bacterial.
Were fish breathing normal or labored?
You mentioned testing. . . . how were you testing and what readings are you getting?
Any changes to type of water used, type of salt ?

 

[DrH]

Breathing normally..using test strips and all on the safe zone. Been always using the same salt and no change in water used.
I forgot to mention that the trigger fish had white spots on fins but they went away then few days later the peeling started.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Breathing normally..using test strips and all on the safe zone. Been always using the same salt and no change in water used.
I forgot to mention that the trigger fish had white spots on fins but they went away then few days later the peeling started.

That looks like ich, but not an advanced enough case to cause morbidity/mortality. Do you have a picture of what it looks like today? Ich has a distinct life cycle, and the spots will come and go at first. It also produces different symptoms after it's been infecting the fish for awhile, and some people call it "mucus flakes".

Can you post a current video? Hosting on Youtube works well.

 

[DrH]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, the fish on previous posts are gone. Today a damsel got all red skin and lost some of it’s tail and fins then it passed away. This one on the pic I quarantined and it’s fins messed up. Two damsels are left that are different kind and seem resistant to whatever bug in the water.

All were wild cught and it took a lot if time and effort. Any suggestions on how to fix the tank? I got snails, hermit crabs, sand, rocks, and no corals.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, the fish on previous posts are gone. Today a damsel got all red skin and lost some of it’s tail and fins then it passed away. This one on the pic I quarantined and it’s fins messed up. Two damsels are left that are different kind and seem resistant to whatever bug in the water.

All were wild cught and it took a lot if time and effort. Any suggestions on how to fix the tank? I got snails, hermit crabs, sand, rocks, and no corals.

Pics dark but I see one dot which does not suggest ich outbreak. I do see torn up fins and tail showing damage from aggression and in turn stress on the fish.

 

[DrH]

I doubt it’s aggression as they’ve been together for months. This started in two weeks and killed almost all the fish. They’re skin will get red like something is eating it then fins and tail starts to get torn. It takes a couple of days after infection then they’re gone. Two damsels and the cleaning crew surviving whatever infected the tank.

How do I treat this before adding new fish.. dump the water and sand and start from zero or any suggestions?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I doubt it’s aggression as they’ve been together for months. This started in two weeks and killed almost all the fish. They’re skin will get red like something is eating it then fins and tail starts to get torn. It takes a couple of days after infection then they’re gone. Two damsels and the cleaning crew surviving whatever infected the tank.

How do I treat this before adding new fish.. dump the water and sand and start from zero or any suggestions?

The tail does look like aggression, fish dynamics change over time, so it could be that, but this sort of damage almost always starts out with some damage, not from a disease that isn't there as a secondary infection.

Does the tank have invertebrates other than the cleaning crew? What types of CUC do you have?
Are the two damsels totally symptom free? It always makes me suspicious when there are damselfish that are fine and other fish dying - damsels can be so mean. What species do you have?

Generally, it is not easy to eliminate an active disease from a tank that still has fish in it, as they can act as carriers for the new fish added to the tank. However, if you wait 60 days, the chance of that happening is much less.

 

[DrH]

The tail does look like aggression, fish dynamics change over time, so it could be that, but this sort of damage almost always starts out with some damage, not from a disease that isn't there as a secondary infection.

Does the tank have invertebrates other than the cleaning crew? What types of CUC do you have?
Are the two damsels totally symptom free? It always makes me suspicious when there are damselfish that are fine and other fish dying - damsels can be so mean. What species do you have?

Generally, it is not easy to eliminate an active disease from a tank that still has fish in it, as they can act as carriers for the new fish added to the tank. However, if you wait 60 days, the chance of that happening is much less.

Unfortunately one of the damsels got infected and it’s getting worse very rapidly. I have one crab, 3 star fish, and 3 sea urchins..that’s it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Unfortunately one of the damsels got infected and it’s getting worse very rapidly. I have one crab, 3 star fish, and 3 sea urchins..that’s it.

That may have a secondary bacterial infection, but the primary issue is damage from another fish. You can't treat for a secondary infection until you isolate the fish - a tank divider works well for that.

Then, you would want to dose the tank with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic like Neoplex or Kanaplex.

 

[DrH]

That may have a secondary bacterial infection, but the primary issue is damage from another fish. You can't treat for a secondary infection until you isolate the fish - a tank divider works well for that.

Then, you would want to dose the tank with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic like Neoplex or Kanaplex.

Thanks a lot for your help ..will do that