Help with fish disease - 3 dead fish

[grillinwithdad]

Not even sure where to start here. I have a newer tank - wet for 3 months, and 3 of my fish just died. We were gone for 3 nights and came back to my yellow tang, white tail bristle tooth tang and coral beauty, all dead. I have 4 more fish in the tank that seem to be doing just fine - 2 clown fish, 1 wrasse and 1 fox face.

The tangs and coral beauty were all doing great before. Swimming fine, eating great, just being really good fish. The white tail and coral beauty have been in the tank for about a month. The yellow tang for about a week.

With this being a new tank, i check my parameters weekly (all seem fine) and do a 25G weekly water change. The system is about 200G (accounting for water displacement) - 170G display and 75G sump.

Salinity: 35 ppt
Amonia/Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 3.7
Phosphates: 0.2
Ph: 8.3
Alk: 10.2

I'm thinking it was some sort of disease that got them. But i'm not sure. See pics below. I only had the fish and clean up crew in the tank. No corals yet. Was taking it slow before adding anything else.

The fish have not been quarantined. I know, i know, i will start quarantining with my next fish. A hard lesson has been learned.

What do you think caused this?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Not even sure where to start here. I have a newer tank - wet for 3 months, and 3 of my fish just died. We were gone for 3 nights and came back to my yellow tang, white tail bristle tooth tang and coral beauty, all dead. I have 4 more fish in the tank that seem to be doing just fine - 2 clown fish, 1 wrasse and 1 fox face.

The tangs and coral beauty were all doing great before. Swimming fine, eating great, just being really good fish. The white tail and coral beauty have been in the tank for about a month. The yellow tang for about a week.

With this being a new tank, i check my parameters weekly (all seem fine) and do a 25G weekly water change. The system is about 200G (accounting for water displacement) - 170G display and 75G sump.

Salinity: 35 ppt
Amonia/Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 3.7
Phosphates: 0.2
Ph: 8.3
Alk: 10.2

I'm thinking it was some sort of disease that got them. But i'm not sure. See pics below. I only had the fish and clean up crew in the tank. No corals yet. Was taking it slow before adding anything else.

The fish have not been quarantined. I know, i know, i will start quarantining with my next fish. A hard lesson has been learned.

What do you think caused this?

All three fish have chewed up fins. That could be from post mortem decomposition, or feeding by CUC, however, the damage seems confined to the trailing edges of the fins- and that implies that these fish were swimming away from an attacker.

Can you post a video of the remaining fish under white lights? Hosting on YouTube often works well.

 

[grillinwithdad]

Not even sure where to start here. I have a newer tank - wet for 3 months, and 3 of my fish just died. We were gone for 3 nights and came back to my yellow tang, white tail bristle tooth tang and coral beauty, all dead. I have 4 more fish in the tank that seem to be doing just fine - 2 clown fish, 1 wrasse and 1 fox face.

The tangs and coral beauty were all doing great before. Swimming fine, eating great, just being really good fish. The white tail and coral beauty have been in the tank for about a month. The yellow tang for about a week.

With this being a new tank, i check my parameters weekly (all seem fine) and do a 25G weekly water change. The system is about 200G (accounting for water displacement) - 170G display and 75G sump.

Salinity: 35 ppt
Amonia/Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 3.7
Phosphates: 0.2
Ph: 8.3
Alk: 10.2

I'm thinking it was some sort of disease that got them. But i'm not sure. See pics below. I only had the fish and clean up crew in the tank. No corals yet. Was taking it slow before adding anything else.

The fish have not been quarantined. I know, i know, i will start quarantining with my next fish. A hard lesson has been learned.

What do you think caused this?

All three fish have chewed up fins. That could be from post mortem decomposition, or feeding by CUC, however, the damage seems confined to the trailing edges of the fins- and that implies that these fish were swimming away from an attacker.

Can you post a video of the remaining fish under white lights? Hosting on YouTube often works well.

Here you go. I couldn’t get the wrasse, it was hiding in the rocks. It’s a malanurus wrasse, same size as the fox face. Super chill and been in the tank for about a month. The coral beauty was the largest fish in the tank. Followed by the white tail and then the yellow tang.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here you go. I couldn’t get the wrasse, it was hiding in the rocks. It’s a malanurus wrasse, same size as the fox face. Super chill and been in the tank for about a month. The coral beauty was the largest fish in the tank. Followed by the white tail and then the yellow tang.

YOUR CLOWNFISH MAY BE YOUR CULPRITS AS THEY CAN BE VERY TERRITORIAL.

 

[helmsreef]

Possibly brook? I believe with Brooklynella the fins can become damaged from the parasite and show tattered fins.

Do you clowns show any signs of sickness? I have seen it come from Clowns and spread to others and then a couple days later the Clowns will fall ill and die

 

[grillinwithdad]

Possibly brook? I believe with Brooklynella the fins can become damaged from the parasite and show tattered fins.

Do you clowns show any signs of sickness? I have seen it come from Clowns and spread to others and then a couple days later the Clowns will fall ill and die

Clowns are looking really good. Ill keep a closer eye on them the next few days. They were first in the tank and have been getting along with all the fish.

Im just not sure if i should add any medication to the tank.

 

[W31Olds]

I don't see this as aggression as your dead fish are decomposing. See if you can get some closer pics and videos of the Foxface and the Clowns. I would suspect Ich or Flukes. The clowns would be running off the Foxface if it was aggression and he looks like a Juvenile.

 

[grillinwithdad]

I don't see this as aggression as your dead fish are decomposing. See if you can get some closer pics and videos of the Foxface and the Clowns. I would suspect Ich or Flukes. The clowns would be running off the Foxface if it was aggression and he looks like a Juvenile.

After observing the foxface further, I can see a few white spots on one side only. Sorry for the crappy pic, he keeps hanging in the back of the tank. Ill try to get better ones tomorrow when I feed them

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Here you go. I couldn’t get the wrasse, it was hiding in the rocks. It’s a malanurus wrasse, same size as the fox face. Super chill and been in the tank for about a month. The coral beauty was the largest fish in the tank. Followed by the white tail and then the yellow tang.

Sorry for the delay in my response, your message wasn't flagged for some reason and I just saw it now.

The clownfish are breathing too fast, so something is going on tank-wide. First thing I would do is add a strong air stone. I don't see a lot of surface agitation and you need that for good gas exchange (If your tank has a protein skimmer, that will suffice).

This isn't Brooklynella, the symptoms are wrong, and that would have killed the clownfish first.
Those clownfish are too small to have killed those three fish overnight.

I think you either have a gas exchange problem, or a gill parasite called Amyloodinium (velvet)

 

[W31Olds]

Gas exchange problem seems unlikely. OP had 6 fish (now 3) in a 200 Gallon System in in the video and it looks like there is quite a bit of water movement.

 

[grillinwithdad]

Thank you for all the replies.

I do have a large protein skimmer going so the gas exchange might not be it. The gill parasite seems more likely.

Should i pull the remaining fish and setup a QT to treat for velvet? I'm not that familiar with it so i'll start researching it now.

 

[grillinwithdad]

Here you go. I couldn’t get the wrasse, it was hiding in the rocks. It’s a malanurus wrasse, same size as the fox face. Super chill and been in the tank for about a month. The coral beauty was the largest fish in the tank. Followed by the white tail and then the yellow tang.

Sorry for the delay in my response, your message wasn't flagged for some reason and I just saw it now.

The clownfish are breathing too fast, so something is going on tank-wide. First thing I would do is add a strong air stone. I don't see a lot of surface agitation and you need that for good gas exchange (If your tank has a protein skimmer, that will suffice).

This isn't Brooklynella, the symptoms are wrong, and that would have killed the clownfish first.
Those clownfish are too small to have killed those three fish overnight.

I think you either have a gas exchange problem, or a gill parasite called Amyloodinium (velvet)

One more clip of all remaining fish. The clowns are usually swimming into the current against the back wall. The foxface and wrasse are swimming all over the tank.

 

[MnFish1]

One more clip of all remaining fish. The clowns are usually swimming into the current against the back wall. The foxface and wrasse are swimming all over the tank.

Have the clowns done that since you added them - or is it something new? agree oxygen probably not playing a role. How large are the fish - it's hard to tell with the pictures. Smaller fish in general tend to do less well. Were they shipped to you or did you buy them locally

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

One more clip of all remaining fish. The clowns are usually swimming into the current against the back wall. The foxface and wrasse are swimming all over the tank.

I don’t see signs of velvet in this video - if 3 fish had died from that, these fish would be near death, and they just don’t look that bad. Sorry I’m stumped…..

 

[grillinwithdad]

I don’t see signs of velvet in this video - if 3 fish had died from that, these fish would be near death, and they just don’t look that bad. Sorry I’m stumped…..

I appreciate the help. I'll leave these in the DT for now and will keep a closer eye on them. I also purchased a DNA kit to test the water for any parasites. Hopefully that will answer some questions next week.

 

[grillinwithdad]

I don’t see signs of velvet in this video - if 3 fish had died from that, these fish would be near death, and they just don’t look that bad. Sorry I’m stumped…..

I did also get more CUC over the last 2 weeks. Mostly snails and a few hermit crabs. I got them online from reefcleaners.org Is it possible that they brought it in?

 

[W31Olds]

Reefcleaners has a good reputation for clean inverts so I would say unlikely. I have ordered from them and was satisfied.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I did also get more CUC over the last 2 weeks. Mostly snails and a few hermit crabs. I got them online from reefcleaners.org Is it possible that they brought it in?

Unlikely to have been from them.

Reefcleaners say they don’t keep any fish in their systems. I buy my CUC from them and have never had an issue.

Now, they do buy animals from importers. It is possible that some freshly purchased animals they just got in were carrying some disease, but that is more a theoretical chance…..

 

[grillinwithdad]

Unlikely to have been from them.

Reefcleaners say they don’t keep any fish in their systems. I buy my CUC from them and have never had an issue.

Now, they do buy animals from importers. It is possible that some freshly purchased animals they just got in were carrying some disease, but that is more a theoretical chance…..

Well, looks like one of the clown fish is covered with a fine, white powder. It's hiding behind the rocks and not coming out. it's hard to see because the fish is mostly white, but i can see very clearly on the fins. So velvet it is....

I'm heading out now to buy and setup a QT. I will be following the full protocol for the remaining 4 fish. Since I can see the fish is covered, should I do anything different from the protocol or just start with copper?

 

[Uncle99]

Sounds like you describe Velvet.
It’s a fast killer….under 48hours.