Mystery Disaster!

[k8b114]

Hi all! Looking for a good mystery to solve? I have one for you!


I am looking for any ideas on what may have happened to my tank this week. within 2 days I lost 3/4 fish in my tank. All 3 clowns, only my watchman goby survived. I did "adopt" a fish from my lfs (that only made it a few days in the DT) and also installed a new skimmer, since mine died. I was out of town for a few days, all was well and all levels were fine. I got back and had an ammonia spike and quickly did a water change. I have several ideas on factors, but the spacing of the timing, doesn't point to anything conclusive in my opinion.

Here is the timeline of events:

Tuesday 10/26 - Added "adopted" frostbite clown to DT
Friday 10/29 (AM) - Frostbite was DOA when I checked the tank that morning - (levels were still ok did 25% water change)
Same Day (PM) - Received new in sump skimmer and installed
Sunday 10/31 - checked levels - all good
Thursday 11/4 - Tomato clown acting strange so checked and ammonia was spiked. Did a large water change, added ammonia detox (which I have used many times before). Problem solved
Friday 11/5 - Tomato clown DOA when I woke (which I thought was understandable). Other fish, inverts and corals all seemed perfectly fine. All levels good. 25% water change
Saturday 11/6 - Levels good inhabitants acting and looking normal
Sunday 11/7 - Everything ok in the morning and 2 hours later both remaining clowns were dead. No abrasions or spots that I could see on them. Just POOF! All levels still perfectly fine.

I am perplexed at the quickness of losing my clowns, and while there are factors like the adopted clown and possibly even the new skimmer that could contribute, there was nothing that happened immediately after either of those two things. My watchman and his pistol shrimp buddy seem fine (other than coming out and looking confused, wondering "where did everyone go?"). I have a long tentacle nem, some zoas, feather duster, duncans and trumpets, and they have never looked better, never seemed affected. And aside from that random ammonia spike, all levels were and have been perfect.

Could the skimmer have done something wonky even though it was there a week before the series of horrible events? It's running like a champ. The frostbite clown (and 2 other fish) were surrendered to the lfs because the owner tore down his tank. So the possibility that he was fighting something, gave up, and those were the only survivors did cross my mind. But, is there something that it could have carried that would take that long to transmit to mine and them take them out that fast? I have never dealt with any fishy diseases in my tank before so I have no idea. If there was something I could have "seen" to diagnose, I might have figured it out, but there were no signs.

Lastly, I am terrified to add fish in for a while. It will be weeks, for sure, but how do I know nothing is still "there" and not risk more lives lost?

Sorry for the long rant, but thanks in advance for any help. I have been in the hobby for 3 years and have never experienced anything like this so hoping this amazing community can help!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all! Looking for a good mystery to solve? I have one for you!


I am looking for any ideas on what may have happened to my tank this week. within 2 days I lost 3/4 fish in my tank. All 3 clowns, only my watchman goby survived. I did "adopt" a fish from my lfs (that only made it a few days in the DT) and also installed a new skimmer, since mine died. I was out of town for a few days, all was well and all levels were fine. I got back and had an ammonia spike and quickly did a water change. I have several ideas on factors, but the spacing of the timing, doesn't point to anything conclusive in my opinion.

Here is the timeline of events:

Tuesday 10/26 - Added "adopted" frostbite clown to DT
Friday 10/29 (AM) - Frostbite was DOA when I checked the tank that morning - (levels were still ok did 25% water change)
Same Day (PM) - Received new in sump skimmer and installed
Sunday 10/31 - checked levels - all good
Thursday 11/4 - Tomato clown acting strange so checked and ammonia was spiked. Did a large water change, added ammonia detox (which I have used many times before). Problem solved
Friday 11/5 - Tomato clown DOA when I woke (which I thought was understandable). Other fish, inverts and corals all seemed perfectly fine. All levels good. 25% water change
Saturday 11/6 - Levels good inhabitants acting and looking normal
Sunday 11/7 - Everything ok in the morning and 2 hours later both remaining clowns were dead. No abrasions or spots that I could see on them. Just POOF! All levels still perfectly fine.

I am perplexed at the quickness of losing my clowns, and while there are factors like the adopted clown and possibly even the new skimmer that could contribute, there was nothing that happened immediately after either of those two things. My watchman and his pistol shrimp buddy seem fine (other than coming out and looking confused, wondering "where did everyone go?"). I have a long tentacle nem, some zoas, feather duster, duncans and trumpets, and they have never looked better, never seemed affected. And aside from that random ammonia spike, all levels were and have been perfect.

Could the skimmer have done something wonky even though it was there a week before the series of horrible events? It's running like a champ. The frostbite clown (and 2 other fish) were surrendered to the lfs because the owner tore down his tank. So the possibility that he was fighting something, gave up, and those were the only survivors did cross my mind. But, is there something that it could have carried that would take that long to transmit to mine and them take them out that fast? I have never dealt with any fishy diseases in my tank before so I have no idea. If there was something I could have "seen" to diagnose, I might have figured it out, but there were no signs.

Lastly, I am terrified to add fish in for a while. It will be weeks, for sure, but how do I know nothing is still "there" and not risk more lives lost?

Sorry for the long rant, but thanks in advance for any help. I have been in the hobby for 3 years and have never experienced anything like this so hoping this amazing community can help!

Hi,

When you say the fish was acting strange, what was it doing?
Did you see rapid breathing in any of the fish?

When I hear a case where a new fish was added, and it died, and then other fish in the tank died later, I immediately go to the idea that it brought a disease into the tank. The invertebrates still doing well tends to rule out any water quality/toxin issues. The goby still doing o.k., makes me lean towards a disease clownfish get - so possibly Brooklynella?

Jay

 

[arking_mark]

Hi,

When you say the fish was acting strange, what was it doing?
Did you see rapid breathing in any of the fish?

When I hear a case where a new fish was added, and it died, and then other fish in the tank died later, I immediately go to the idea that it brought a disease into the tank. The invertebrates still doing well tends to rule out any water quality/toxin issues. The goby still doing o.k., makes me lean towards a disease clownfish get - so possibly Brooklynella?

Jay

I'm with Jay on this. However, the ammonia spike may point to something else.

A mature cycled tank should not have an ammonia spike. Especially, if the dead fish were not left to rot in the tank.

What test kit were you using for ammonia? How old is the tank? How did you cycle the tank? What filtration are you using?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I'm with Jay on this. However, the ammonia spike may point to something else.

A mature cycled tank should not have an ammonia spike. Especially, if the dead fish were not left to rot in the tank.

What test kit were you using for ammonia? How old is the tank? How did you cycle the tank? What filtration are you using?

Thanks, I was going to mention that, and then I got distracted and hit send.

Ammonia readings in an established tank are often a result of test kit error. If the ammonia was indeed high enough to kill fish, I would expect it to harm some of the invertebrates as well (snails would close up, etc.).

Jay

 

[k8b114]

Hi,

When you say the fish was acting strange, what was it doing?
Did you see rapid breathing in any of the fish?

When I hear a case where a new fish was added, and it died, and then other fish in the tank died later, I immediately go to the idea that it brought a disease into the tank. The invertebrates still doing well tends to rule out any water quality/toxin issues. The goby still doing o.k., makes me lean towards a disease clownfish get - so possibly Brooklynella?

Jay

Just swimming at the bottom towards the back. It was a small clown and hosted my duncan cluster so it was odd for him to not be in them. I thought the same thing, but is that something that could take that long to “do it’s damage”? And I didn’t know there was something specific to clowns! Thanks so much!

 

[k8b114]

Just swimming at the bottom towards the back. It was a small clown and hosted my duncan cluster so it was odd for him to not be in them. I thought the same thing, but is that something that could take that long to “do it’s damage”? And I didn’t know there was something specific to clowns! Thanks so much!

Oh and no rapid breathing or anything to cause panic

 

[k8b114]

I'm with Jay on this. However, the ammonia spike may point to something else.

A mature cycled tank should not have an ammonia spike. Especially, if the dead fish were not left to rot in the tank.

What test kit were you using for ammonia? How old is the tank? How did you cycle the tank? What filtration are you using?

The tank is going on 2 years old. The dead fish were all taken out rather quickly. To the point they did have some hermits on them but still at least 95% in tack when I found them. I use all API to test and my filtration is a sump with a canister filter and the new skimmer. I use chemi-pure elite monthly. Nothing has changed in at least a year.

 

[moz71]

Agree on brooklynella I had it wipe out a tank so quickly I was shocked. Fish look fine one hour then dead. New clownfish brought it in and this was only one that showed a sign of skin coat shedding. All other fish had no signs. One chromis and sailfin tang survived though treatment and all ok after 76 day fallow period on DT

 

[arking_mark]

The tank is going on 2 years old. The dead fish were all taken out rather quickly. To the point they did have some hermits on them but still at least 95% in tack when I found them. I use all API to test and my filtration is a sump with a canister filter and the new skimmer. I use chemi-pure elite monthly. Nothing has changed in at least a year.

I'm going with Jay then. API tests = highly inaccurate. So it could very well have been a false positive.

Something that kills that quick and seems to target clowns is probably a disease...

 

[arking_mark]

Agree on brooklynella I had it wipe out a tank so quickly I was shocked. Fish look fine one hour then dead. New clownfish brought it in and this was only one that showed a sign of skin coat shedding. All other fish had no signs. One chromis and sailfin tang survived though treatment and all ok after 76 day fallow period on DT

Brooklynella

Brooklynella hostilis (updated 6-9-2023) What You Need To Know: * This is most often seen with clownfish, but it can afflict other fish (usually in the gills) as well. When a clownfish has Brook, the skin will appear to be peeling or sloughing off. Which is actually excess white mucous coming...

humble.fish

 

[k8b114]

Agree on brooklynella I had it wipe out a tank so quickly I was shocked. Fish look fine one hour then dead. New clownfish brought it in and this was only one that showed a sign of skin coat shedding. All other fish had no signs. One chromis and sailfin tang survived though treatment and all ok after 76 day fallow period on DT

Thank you! There were no signs at all. I keep wondering if the adopted frostbite had some shedding that I just didnt notice because he was white. I just really hope that someone didn't knowingly risk other's tanks. Did you treat during the fallow period?

 

[k8b114]

Thanks, I was going to mention that, and then I got distracted and hit send.

Ammonia readings in an established tank are often a result of test kit error. If the ammonia was indeed high enough to kill fish, I would expect it to harm some of the invertebrates as well (snails would close up, etc.).

Jay

Thanks Jay!

 

[k8b114]

I'm going with Jay then. API tests = highly inaccurate. So it could very well have been a false positive.

Something that kills that quick and seems to target clowns is probably a disease...

Thank you! Any recommendation on test kits? I had no idea what something would target just clowns. It certainly is frustrating and heartbreaking and I really hope that someone didn't knowingly risk other peoples (and the lfs) tanks.

 

[arking_mark]

Thank you! Any recommendation on test kits? I had no idea what something would target just clowns. It certainly is frustrating and heartbreaking and I really hope that someone didn't knowingly risk other peoples (and the lfs) tanks.

I don't test for ammonia after tank has cycled...

 

[moz71]

Thank you! There were no signs at all. I keep wondering if the adopted frostbite had some shedding that I just didnt notice because he was white. I just really hope that someone didn't knowingly risk other's tanks. Did you treat during the fallow period?

Yes with the frostbite you probably would be extremely hard to see because he was white! I took my two remaining fish out and treated in a seperate QT tank. I didn't have formalin so I used I believe reef ruby, I need to go back and check. At same time I left the display tank empty of fish but kept all my corals and inverts in it for 76 days and feed lightly for the inverts. The good thing the tank exploded with copepods and amphipods which was cool! When I put fish back in all was good and now i will quarantine all fish for now on. Just not going though that again.