Moorish Idol Died Out of the Blue

[Averhoeven]

Has anyone ever had fluconazole kill a fish? I have been fighting/gardening large amounts of Bryopsis that had sprung up in my tank so I decided to try the fluconazole thing on Fri. I haven't changed anything other than dosing fluconazole (4000mg total guesstimated 20mg/gal Reef Flux though might be slightly higher than 20 depending on actual water volume which is a Red Sea 750 that has a total volume of 200g and a co-plumbed 25g lagoon) Friday afternoon and a 50g water change with my normal Red Sea blue bucket before the fluconazole. My Moorish idol that I've had for approx. 9 months suddenly appeared dead today. He has otherwise appeared healthy. He was definitely eating yesterday afternoon (I can't remember if I saw him at this morning's feed, though I think I did), his color looked great, he was active and swimming normally and briskly. Everything that goes into the tank goes through quarantine (TTM +prazi +metro or a 60+ day invert quarantine). Yet here we are mid Sat approx. 24hrs after the fluconazole and the idol was sucked up against the powerhead dead. Other fish look fine, corals look fine. It just came as a huge shock as he has looked super healthy and eats great, then bam.... Any other thoughts than the fluconazole? I wondered if maybe this was unusual enough of a fish that people hadn't tested one.

Other parameters:
SG: 1.026 (calibrated refractometer)
pH: 8.26 (Apex probe)
Alk: 8.0 (Hannah)
Phos: 0.03 (Hannah)
Ammonia: 0 (API, yes, I know. I won't buy more when it's empty)
Nitrate: 0 or super close to it (API)
Ca: 350 (Red Sea, lower than I'd anticipated)
Mg: 1120 (Red Sea)

 

[puffy127]

I've had a moorish idol die out of the blue after one year and did not use fluco. All my fish have gone through QT, no diseases, etc. The idol was fat and seemed healthy, and was the most aggressive eater out of all my fish. Then one day, it was behaving and eating normally and 20 minutes later, dead. I think this happens sometimes, but others have reported that theirs all of a sudden stopped eating for no apparent reason and then slowly waste away. Hard to say if fluco was the cause for you, but for me, I had a sudden MI death w/o fluco.

 

[Mjrenz]

Fish can die suddenly of heart attacks , strokes, etc. Just like us but I do have one question; I saw you said that you treat in qt with Prazi, have you ever done a freshwater dip on any of your fish just to verify that you don't have flukes? Prazi resistant strains are becoming much more common now. I'm sorry for your loss

 

[theMeat]

If you get a moorish that eats you’re ahead of the game. If you don’t feed it well, with lotsa sponge it won’t be long lived, ime
Wouldn’t say it the was bad, but didn’t help

 

[Averhoeven]

Your description of your idol sounds just like mine. Fat, healthy appearing, active, often told the purple tang to F off during feeding, etc. And he was DEFINITELY like that yesterday when I just sat and watched the tank for about half an hour with my daughter. I wish I could remember if /what I saw him doing this morning.

Fish can die suddenly of heart attacks , strokes, etc. Just like us but I do have one question; I saw you said that you treat in qt with Prazi, have you ever done a freshwater dip on any of your fish just to verify that you don't have flukes? Prazi resistant strains are becoming much more common now. I'm sorry for your loss

Ironically, the idol was my first and only ever case of flukes when I first got him. I had a confirmatory negative dip after 2 rounds of Prazi.

However, I didn't realize that about the Prazi resistant strains. Great, 1 more thing to worry about....

 

[Mjrenz]

Your description of your idol sounds just like mine. Fat, healthy appearing, active, often told the purple tang to F off during feeding, etc. And he was DEFINITELY like that yesterday when I just sat and watched the tank for about half an hour with my daughter. I wish I could remember if /what I saw him doing this morning.


Ironically, the idol was my first and only ever case of flukes when I first got him. I had a confirmatory negative dip after 2 rounds of Prazi.

However, I didn't realize that about the Prazi resistant strains. Great, 1 more thing to worry about....

Luckily there are other options for prazi resistant flukes that are effective. I'm glad you verified they were gone

 

[ScottR]

@puffy127 - For what it’s worth, API ammonia kit is actually one of the better ones. It tests for NH3 and NH4 while other kits only test NH3. All of your other test kits are pretty much spot on.

Sorry for your loss. Wish I could help you but not my area of expertise. It’s never fun to lose a fish.

 

[puffy127]

@puffy127 - For what it’s worth, API ammonia kit is actually one of the better ones. It tests for NH3 and NH4 while other kits only test NH3. All of your other test kits are pretty much spot on.

Sorry for your loss. Wish I could help you but not my area of expertise. It’s never fun to lose a fish.

I think you meant to tag the OP, not me.

 

[ScottR]

I think you meant to tag the OP, not me.

Yes Please forgive me for my loss of brain ;Hilarious

 

[bkreitler]

very interesting. I have a Moorish Idol in a 310 gallon tank. The tank is about 8+ months old, all parameters are ideal, MI has been in the tank for a little over 2 months. He was obtained through a quarantined fish site and has been doing great since he arrived. Always eats a ton, very active, gets along with all of the other fish and then this afternoon I noticed that he did not eat anything when I fed the fish. This is the fish time he has not eaten. He is swimming but only stays in one corner of the tank swimming up and down and around in the corner, but won't leave that area. He looks fine, but I am worried that he did not eat anything... very unusual. All of the fish, inverts, etc in the tank were obtained through a quarantined fish site, all are doing great, no sign of illness. I have a huge UV system, skimmer, algae scrubber, chaeto, and parameters are fine. The rest of the fish ate very well and are all doing fine, except for the idol. Any thoughts? Thanks!!