Need help. Fish dying

Bugzin

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So I'm at a loss. All the fish in my tank died except for one scooter blenny I got when I first set up the tank. Tank was running smooth for the first 6 - 7 months. I had no issues and it housed a pair of clowns, midas blenny, goby and the last man standing the scooter blenny. The goby died first about a month ago and then the Midas 3 days after , one clown 3 days after the second clown about 2 days after that. I was expecting the scooter blenny to follow but he hasn't seemed to be affected at all. No changes in behavior or eating habits. He just hops around the tank like his family wasn't wiped out. I have corals in my tank and they are honestly prospering. So whatever is happening is only affecting fish, but not the blenny. I put in another pair of clowns after 2 weeks to just see if the tank had settled because I did a major water change and they died within 2 days of entering the tank.... But the blenny. Still hopping around. Happy and healthy. Anyone have any ideas as to what is going on?
 

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Post water parameters, and has anything new been added? Did you notice any flashing, scratching, white spots ect? This video will help fish medics figure it out. @vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal @MnFish1
 

MnFish1

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Death like this assuming that you do not see spots are other lesions - especially if you noticed fast breathing - are likely velvet. Did you happen to do any QT protocol?
 

vetteguy53081

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So I'm at a loss. All the fish in my tank died except for one scooter blenny I got when I first set up the tank. Tank was running smooth for the first 6 - 7 months. I had no issues and it housed a pair of clowns, midas blenny, goby and the last man standing the scooter blenny. The goby died first about a month ago and then the Midas 3 days after , one clown 3 days after the second clown about 2 days after that. I was expecting the scooter blenny to follow but he hasn't seemed to be affected at all. No changes in behavior or eating habits. He just hops around the tank like his family wasn't wiped out. I have corals in my tank and they are honestly prospering. So whatever is happening is only affecting fish, but not the blenny. I put in another pair of clowns after 2 weeks to just see if the tank had settled because I did a major water change and they died within 2 days of entering the tank.... But the blenny. Still hopping around. Happy and healthy. Anyone have any ideas as to what is going on?
Videos would be helpful
This rapid loss suggests disease of some sort
Normal or heavy breathing?
Any grasping at surface
Those found dead- were mouths open or closed?
 
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Bugzin

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Post water parameters, and has anything new been added? Did you notice any flashing, scratching, white spots ect? This video will help fish medics figure it out. @vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal @MnFish1


My Parameters:

Temp- 79 - 80 F
PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0 ppm
Salinity- 1.026
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- According to the test kit Saltwater master test kit somewhere between 0 and 5.0 ppm
Mag- 1480 ppm ( Heavy on the LPS corals )
Alk- 7.0 dkh
Cal- 430 ppm
 
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Bugzin

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Death like this assuming that you do not see spots are other lesions - especially if you noticed fast breathing - are likely velvet. Did you happen to do any QT protocol?

I didn't see any white spots or anything. The Midas blenny did start to do this odd thing where she would dart to the sand head first and then go back to the top of the tank to perch. In her last days she avoided any of her cave spots and perched in the corner of the tank a couple inches below the water line. It was really odd and that's when i assumed something was wrong. The 2 clowns looked like they were breathing heavy at the end. No visual marks or white dots on the body.

If it is velvet shouldn't my scooter blenny be dead? It been a month since the first death and he is just chilling. Could he be the assassin?

When I saw the clowns start to act weird I pulled them both out and put them in a hospital tank and added some copper, one died that night and the second passed 2 days later. Might have been too late. After that its just been the blenny in the main tank.

After that I won't I added a clownfish to test the water after 2 weeks.... and the clown died less than 24hrs later(that was yesterday).


Blenny... still fine.
 

vetteguy53081

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I didn't see any white spots or anything. The Midas blenny did start to do this odd thing where she would dart to the sand head first and then go back to the top of the tank to perch. In her last days she avoided any of her cave spots and perched in the corner of the tank a couple inches below the water line. It was really odd and that's when i assumed something was wrong. The 2 clowns looked like they were breathing heavy at the end. No visual marks or white dots on the body.

If it is velvet shouldn't my scooter blenny be dead? It been a month since the first death and he is just chilling. Could he be the assassin?

When I saw the clowns start to act weird I pulled them both out and put them in a hospital tank and added some copper, one died that night and the second passed 2 days later. Might have been too late. After that its just been the blenny in the main tank.

After that I won't I added a clownfish to test the water after 2 weeks.... and the clown died less than 24hrs later(that was yesterday).


Blenny... still fine.
Scooter is one of the more resistant and while some signs you mentioned suggest flukes, its hard to tell without video and more history and will be educated guesses
 
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Bugzin

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Videos would be helpful
This rapid loss suggests disease of some sort
Normal or heavy breathing?
Any grasping at surface
Those found dead- were mouths open or closed?
Goby mouth was open but his mouth was always open, midas blenny and 2 clowns were doing some rapid breathing on their final days but no signs leading up. The clownfish I put in yesterday did do something weird. He swam vertically the entire time he was in my tank, he stood by the waterline and occasionally look like he poked his mouth out. He was dead in less than 24hrs. He was also the only fish that acted like that

Scooter blenny... Still unaffected by whatever is killing any fish that enters my tank.
 

vetteguy53081

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Goby mouth was open but his mouth was always open, midas blenny and 2 clowns were doing some rapid breathing on their final days but no signs leading up. The clownfish I put in yesterday did do something weird. He swam vertically the entire time he was in my tank, he stood by the waterline and occasionally look like he poked his mouth out. He was dead in less than 24hrs. He was also the only fish that acted like that

Scooter blenny... Still unaffected by whatever is killing any fish that enters my tank.
vertical swimming by clown not abnormal but with others - Suspect is flukes. With flukes, you may have also noticed swollen or red gills, loss of appetite, scratching or darting, yawning effect and lethargic behavior
 
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Bugzin

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Scooter is one of the more resistant and while some signs you mentioned suggest flukes, its hard to tell without video and more history and will be educated guesses
Going forward what should I do? Because I would like to once again have fish and Im a bit lost.
 

vetteguy53081

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Going forward what should I do? Because I would like to once again have fish and Im a bit lost.
Flukes are an assumption. Will need more signs and symptoms to best determine course of treatment
If flukes, will be praziPro. Did you notice any of the signs I mentioned?
 
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Bugzin

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vertical swimming by clown not abnormal but with others - Suspect is flukes. With flukes, you may have also noticed swollen or red gills, loss of appetite, scratching or darting, yawning effect and lethargic behavior
No red gill, The midas blenny was very lethargic at the end. she would rest on the sand and wouldn't move even if i poked her. the fish all had heavy breathing. They all ate normally and then one moment later they just looked like they lost all their energy. The blenny was the only one who did anything remotely close to darting. It would dash to the sand head first and turn back up and swim to the top of the tank. it was weird but i thought maybe it was just it playing it didn't look violent. Never seen a fish yawn before.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I didn't see any white spots or anything. The Midas blenny did start to do this odd thing where she would dart to the sand head first and then go back to the top of the tank to perch. In her last days she avoided any of her cave spots and perched in the corner of the tank a couple inches below the water line. It was really odd and that's when i assumed something was wrong. The 2 clowns looked like they were breathing heavy at the end. No visual marks or white dots on the body.

If it is velvet shouldn't my scooter blenny be dead? It been a month since the first death and he is just chilling. Could he be the assassin?

When I saw the clowns start to act weird I pulled them both out and put them in a hospital tank and added some copper, one died that night and the second passed 2 days later. Might have been too late. After that its just been the blenny in the main tank.

After that I won't I added a clownfish to test the water after 2 weeks.... and the clown died less than 24hrs later(that was yesterday).


Blenny... still fine.
Off the cuff, this sounds like gill flukes. Velvet would kill all fish in a few days. Flukes kill slowly over weeks and some fish are resistant to them depending on the species involved, but gobies often are exempt from some fluke infections. However, the clown dying in 24 hours is from something else, flukes do not kill that quickly.

Jay
 
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Bugzin

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Off the cuff, this sounds like gill flukes. Velvet would kill all fish in a few days. Flukes kill slowly over weeks and some fish are resistant to them depending on the species involved, but gobies often are exempt from some fluke infections. However, the clown dying in 24 hours is from something else, flukes do not kill that quickly.

Jay
So say it is flukes. Could that survive in my tank with just the one blenny? Like would the blenny just be carrying the flukes permanently killing anything that enters the tank.
 

Jay Hemdal

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So say it is flukes. Could that survive in my tank with just the one blenny? Like would the blenny just be carrying the flukes permanently killing anything that enters the tank.
Possibly, I’ve had fish that manage fluke infections well and don’t die from them, but other fish in the same tank die.

You could dose the whole tank with Prazipro, twice, 8 days apart with good aeration. Of course, you would need to quarantine all new fish to avoid them bringing new flukes into the tank.

Jay
 

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