Help Please, Unknow Disease/Parasite wiped out tank

[esquare]

I have an 8 month old tank and have been slowly adding fish to the point of
Pair of Mocha Gladiator Clowns
1 McCoskers Flasher Wrase
1 Falso Hawkfish
1 Royal Gramma
3 Carpenters Wrasses
3 Ruby long Fin Wrasses

I did quarentine all but did not treat with any medication

With the addition of the Carpenters and Ruby's I started losing fish to the point that all of my fish have died except 2 of the Crapenters. I suspect Brook as the Clowns looked like they had something on them that looked like pics of Brook. I plan on pulling the last 2 Carpenters out and running them through Copper and API GC and leaving the DT fallow for 6 weeks or so.

My questions are
Is Copper Power and API GC suficent?

I wasn't able to find 2 of the bodies so will that impact the fallow period with 2 dead fish present?

I have snails in the DT so will the impact the fallow period?

There are no corals in the tank yet (will add when the DT is more mature) just snails, is there a medication i can add to the DT to help?

Thank you for any assistance

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you have any pics or videos of the affected fish? Did they act off at all?
Putting them through a quarantine with copper and prazi would cover most issues, but not brook. That would require formalin treatment.
Most likely the cuc already took care of the bodies or soon will.
Fallowing for 60+ days will cover most issues, no meds required in the dt.

 

[esquare]

 

[esquare]

Pics were tough to get. No etremely "off" behavior noticed except

Royal Gramma hid for a day then died
Hawkfish didn't eat for a day then died
Male clown died first the female seemed to "play" in the flow of the vortech for a couple of days then died.

Since API GC has metronidazole would that not work for Brook or would I also need to dose formalin?

My CUC is all snails, i assume snails do not transmit disease/parasites?

Thank you very much for the assistance. I have been in the hobby for a long time but have dodged the disease/parasite bullet till now.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

Did they all die in a quick period of time? Pics are a little blurry, but the fact that they hid and/or were swimming in the flow of the power head makes me think have velvet. My fish showed the same symptoms when I had velvet. Wiped out most of my tank in 2 days.

"I have been in the hobby for a long time but have dodged the disease/parasite bullet till now." - I said the exact same thing and unfortunately this statement is all too common. I didn't make that mistake again with my recent tanks.

 

[esquare]

All died fairly quickly (3 week span from start to finish for all of them). If Velvet, API GC will take care of that, correct? Since I have no coral and only snails, can API GC be dosed directly in the DT to cut down on the fallow period?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Swimming into the current does usually indicate velvet, which is also much more common than brook (and brook is seen primarily in clowns), though the mucus coat could indicate brook here.
How fast were the fish breathing?
Inverts can transmit parasites during their benthic stage, but they cannot survive off of them and will starve out without a fish host.
Velvet requires copper to treat for it.
Dosing to the display is pretty much useless, the dosage to be reef safe renders meds to also be disease safe, and not do anything to combat it. A proper fallow is the only control.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This clown is showing brooklynella which commonly affects clowns especially wild caught versions.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.

 

[esquare]

This clown is showing brooklynella which commonly affects clowns especially wild caught versions.
The most significant sign is the amount of slime on its body. The thick mucus on its body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective but now harder to find) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.
With the advanced stage of this- I recommend immediate quarantine of all inhabitants and leaving display without fish for 4-6 weeks.

Thanks for the response, sounds like i won't be able to avoid the fallow period so I might as well do it right. Will 6 weeks cover everything? Also, I plan on doing copper in qt first by starting at 1 ppm adding the 2 fish then taking it slowly up to 2.25 and keep it there for 2 weeks. Then I plan on going to new qt and sw and dosing the API GC. Does this sound like a good approach?

 

[esquare]

Swimming into the current does usually indicate velvet, which is also much more common than brook (and brook is seen primarily in clowns), though the mucus coat could indicate brook here.
How fast were the fish breathing?
Inverts can transmit parasites during their benthic stage, but they cannot survive off of them and will starve out without a fish host.
Velvet requires copper to treat for it.
Dosing to the display is pretty much useless, the dosage to be reef safe renders meds to also be disease safe, and not do anything to combat it. A proper fallow is the only control.

Thanks for the response. To be safe, i plan on the qt protocol outlined above and a 6 week fallow period for the DT. Will the Copper Power and GC cover all the possibilities?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the response, sounds like i won't be able to avoid the fallow period so I might as well do it right. Will 6 weeks cover everything? Also, I plan on doing copper in qt first by starting at 1 ppm adding the 2 fish then taking it slowly up to 2.25 and keep it there for 2 weeks. Then I plan on going to new qt and sw and dosing the API GC. Does this sound like a good approach?

6 weeks should be sufficient. GC may be iffy- Ruby Rally Pro should be more effective

 

[Jay Hemdal]

All died fairly quickly (3 week span from start to finish for all of them). If Velvet, API GC will take care of that, correct? Since I have no coral and only snails, can API GC be dosed directly in the DT to cut down on the fallow period?

Velvet typically kills fish in a few days, not weeks. General Cure does NOT work for velvet.

The pictures weren't very clear, but I'd be leaning towards Brooklynella in this case.

Jay

 

[esquare]

Velvet typically kills fish in a few days, not weeks. General Cure does NOT work for velvet.

The pictures weren't very clear, but I'd be leaning towards Brooklynella in this case.

Jay

Thank you

 

[esquare]

I was getting ready to add corals when this happened. Would it be alright to add a few coral during the fallow period?

 

[brandon429]

Every coral you will add in the future plus all additions like clean up crews in the future must be fallow prepped as well, are you going to run a second receiver tank for items destined for the display? Asking because if you don't, you'll just reinfect again

 

[esquare]

Every coral you will add in the future plus all additions like clean up crews in the future must be fallow prepped as well, are you going to run a second receiver tank for items destined for the display? Asking because if you don't, you'll just reinfect again

I have been quarantining without medication but plant on qt'ing with copper, API GC and Rally Pro for fish moving forward. My 2 remaining fish have been removed from DT and are in a copper qt now. The only thing in the tank is snails and I have begun a 6 week fallow period for the dt with snails. I was just wondering if adding coral would affect the fallow period.

I am not sure what you mean but "Fallow prepped".

 

[brandon429]

adding anything wet from a pet store can for sure bring in disease, corals and cuc and anything wet to be added needs to be fallowed per sticky definitions at the top of the forum here. since your tank was new and destined to be stocked with corals, each wet entrant you add undoes all this work you're planning if you haven't taken steps to starve out disease components on those frags/cuc shells etc.

you have chosen to stock oppositely of what this thread shows (no fault, we're all being trained to do fish first which is a great problem you can now see)

Has anyone done coral/inverts only and no fish at first?

Fish seem to be the main cause of disruption in a display tank, given the current circumstances in the hobby with pests (ich, velvet, parasites, etc.). I have been in this hobby for 18 years, and the amount of pests that are showing up lately is much more (could also be the fact that we have...

www.reef2reef.com

that's why you need a separate fallow receiving tank now as this tank builds. where you are sourcing items in your area is a disease risk/it's like that for pretty much everyone nowadays.

if you rid this tank of disease

then add six new corals unprepped, they can bring in disease all over again.

anything wet added should go into a 3 month fallow holding tank first. when those pass to the display, clean and resterilize the holding tank and repeat with each new group you add. this is the price to pay for stocking fish first, vs last.

 

[esquare]

Ok, thanks for the advice. Never thought of qt'ing coral but I guess I will have to as I don't want to take chances after this issue. Do the coral need to be kept in a fish free receiving tank for 6 weeks?

I guess I need to go through all the stickies here as well

 

[Sharkbait19]

If you are looking to add coral and inverts, I would just add them straight in and start the fallow clock from there.
Bringing disease in from inverts isn’t incredibly common, but it is possible so something to be wary of. Best way to get them in without qt’ing inverts is by getting inverts from fishless systems so there is no avenue for infection.

 

[brandon429]

I wouldn't do six weeks I'd do three months, who has room for error in this game $

but yes any fallow prep is better than none for sure.