One death and one sick fish!

[frostie18]

Hi,
Bought a couple of these guys about four weeks ago. they were both feeding and swimming really happily until last week.
Had done a clean up and water change on Monday.
On Thursday I noticed one of the fish starting swim on its side slightly and stayed near the filter drain. It died on Thursday night.
The second one has not been swimming about at all, and either hides or sits on the top of the rock.
Today I have noticed the bits on his side. Is this a disease or a sign this too, is going to die ? The other one had something similar but not to this extent.
When the first one was sick, I tested the parameters and found the ammonia levels to be high up to 50 (might not have been that high, but definitely between 25 and 50) Have since done two large water changes and adjusted the jet flow to create more oxygen.
I have never lost a single fish yet in all the years I have had a tank.
Gutted to say the least !
what can I do to help it ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Can you post a video of the fish?
Are there other fish in the tank, how do they look?
Any rapid breathing seen?
What test kit did you use for the ammonia test? I wouldn't think you should have any ammonia in a long term aquarium like this.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,
Bought a couple of these guys about four weeks ago. they were both feeding and swimming really happily until last week.
Had done a clean up and water change on Monday.
On Thursday I noticed one of the fish starting swim on its side slightly and stayed near the filter drain. It died on Thursday night.
The second one has not been swimming about at all, and either hides or sits on the top of the rock.
Today I have noticed the bits on his side. Is this a disease or a sign this too, is going to die ? The other one had something similar but not to this extent.
When the first one was sick, I tested the parameters and found the ammonia levels to be high up to 50 (might not have been that high, but definitely between 25 and 50) Have since done two large water changes and adjusted the jet flow to create more oxygen.
I have never lost a single fish yet in all the years I have had a tank.
Gutted to say the least !
what can I do to help it ?

Thanks in advance.

Agree- need clearer side pics as scales seem to be raised or missing.
Any chasing or aggression that youve noticed?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can you post a video of the fish?
Are there other fish in the tank, how do they look?
Any rapid breathing seen?
What test kit did you use for the ammonia test? I wouldn't think you should have any ammonia in a long term aquarium like this.

Jay

Blown up pic:

 

[MnFish1]

There are white dots throughout the picture - so its hard to say - it could be sand, etc. I guess I would wonder about uronema. I can't see the video

 

[frostie18]

Can you post a video of the fish?
Are there other fish in the tank, how do they look?
Any rapid breathing seen?
What test kit did you use for the ammonia test? I wouldn't think you should have any ammonia in a long term aquarium like this.

Jay

Hi Jay,
This particular tank has only been set up for between three to four months, had moved my other fish from an aquarium I had for 9 years.
All the other fish seem fine in the tank.
The first fish that died, did have rapid breathing towards the end, but this one is not.
The test kit I’ve used is an API Marine Saltwater Master test kit, high range one.
I am unable to send a video just now as it’s gone 10pm and the lights are off. Don’t want to upset the fish.
The other fish are feeding and seem ok, although I don’t see much of them. I have a black and white clown fish, a fire fish, green goby and royal gramma basslet.
I will try and upload a video tomorrow and send it over if that’s ok.
Thanks

 

[frostie18]

Agree- need clearer side pics as scales seem to be raised or missing.
Any chasing or aggression that youve noticed?

Hi,
There was no aggression from any of the fish, in fact this one was bossy to the other one that died. The clown seemed to just follow them at first, but that soon wore off.

Thanks
ps will try and get a video of the tank and fish tomorrow

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,
There was no aggression from any of the fish, in fact this one was bossy to the other one that died. The clown seemed to just follow them at first, but that soon wore off.

Thanks
ps will try and get a video of the tank and fish tomorrow

This may be associated with water and bacterial as the white nodules look larger than sand. Have these dots increased over the last 72 hours or remained the same since noticed. The dots and pattern inconsistent with uronema which generally occurs in lower salinity and fish will display rapid breathing, flashing and loss of color as well as weight loss and dehydration. To rule the chance of it out, the parasite will be ovel and follow a row of scales downward then become red.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi Jay,
This particular tank has only been set up for between three to four months, had moved my other fish from an aquarium I had for 9 years.
All the other fish seem fine in the tank.
The first fish that died, did have rapid breathing towards the end, but this one is not.
The test kit I’ve used is an API Marine Saltwater Master test kit, high range one.
I am unable to send a video just now as it’s gone 10pm and the lights are off. Don’t want to upset the fish.
The other fish are feeding and seem ok, although I don’t see much of them. I have a black and white clown fish, a fire fish, green goby and royal gramma basslet.
I will try and upload a video tomorrow and send it over if that’s ok.
Thanks

As a suggestion to assure you are getting good readings, I would suggest to take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

 

[frostie18]

As a suggestion to assure you are getting good readings, I would suggest to take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

Hi guys,
ok so here are two new videos of the sick fish who has since died this evening. You can see both sides. Some parts, he looks like he’s got brown patches on. Not sure if you’ll see those though.
Now just need to find out if it was a disease as they were the newest fish, bought together from the same tank in the store.
Just worried incase the others may now be affected.

Did another test on the ammonia this morning to find it was down to 0, so that was pleasing.
what do you guys think, and any suggestions what I need to do to make sure the others are not affected.
the other thing that has occurred today, is that there is now a reddish brown algae growing on the glass and on the sand substrate too.

Thanks

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys,
ok so here are two new videos of the sick fish who has since died this evening. You can see both sides. Some parts, he looks like he’s got brown patches on. Not sure if you’ll see those though.
Now just need to find out if it was a disease as they were the newest fish, bought together from the same tank in the store.
Just worried incase the others may now be affected.

Did another test on the ammonia this morning to find it was down to 0, so that was pleasing.
what do you guys think, and any suggestions what I need to do to make sure the others are not affected.
the other thing that has occurred today, is that there is now a reddish brown algae growing on the glass and on the sand substrate too.

Thanks

Video does not play and this fish has a heavy bacterial infection as suspected yesterday. Treatment again will be in a quarantine tank with use of seachem Kanaplex.

 

[frostie18]

Video does not play and this fish has a heavy bacterial infection as suspected yesterday. Treatment again will be in a quarantine tank with use of seachem Kanaplex.

Hi,
Second fish died too, so really gutted. My main concern is now for my others!!
I take it I will have to treat them all.
If I use this product you recommend, will it affect the coral and clean up crew I have?
Thanks in advance.
I will go and buy some today.
Would this have come with the fish as they were only bought about three weeks ago. None of the others had anything wrong with them, and I know these guys that died, were fresh in, as we had been into the store a week before and they didn't have any. They had about twenty, which have now all gone!
Gutted!!

 

[frostie18]

Video does not play and this fish has a heavy bacterial infection as suspected yesterday. Treatment again will be in a quarantine tank with use of seachem Kanaplex.

Thank you

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,
Second fish died too, so really gutted. My main concern is now for my others!!
I take it I will have to treat them all.
If I use this product you recommend, will it affect the coral and clean up crew I have?
Thanks in advance.
I will go and buy some today.
Would this have come with the fish as they were only bought about three weeks ago. None of the others had anything wrong with them, and I know these guys that died, were fresh in, as we had been into the store a week before and they didn't have any. They had about twenty, which have now all gone!
Gutted!!

Anthias just like chromis and clowns are hit and miss. Wild caught fish are weakened through method of capture, transport, and husbandry at stores and many issues are not recognized until they go through development stages. The amount of slime and build up was a sign the fish was infected.
While it can be contagious, its best that other occupants are treated. There are two approaches to treatment.
Best is quarantine tank with the mentioned Seachem kanaplex OR you can treat in tank with the coral and inverts using Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby while safe takes a little longer to start and act on issue.
QT method cleans the fish quicker.
You will want to address cause which may be the fish quality but can also be water quality. This is where reliable test kits are valuable in obtaining the closest readings in accuracy.

 

[frostie18]

Anthias just like chromis and clowns are hit and miss. Wild caught fish are weakened through method of capture, transport, and husbandry at stores and many issues are not recognized until they go through development stages. The amount of slime and build up was a sign the fish was infected.
While it can be contagious, its best that other occupants are treated. There are two approaches to treatment.
Best is quarantine tank with the mentioned Seachem kanaplex OR you can treat in tank with the coral and inverts using Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby while safe takes a little longer to start and act on issue.
QT method cleans the fish quicker.
You will want to address cause which may be the fish quality but can also be water quality. This is where reliable test kits are valuable in obtaining the closest readings in accuracy.

Thank you so much, I will have to go for the Ruby Rally Pro method as all of my fish hide (reason why I bought these two as I never see other unless I'm feeding!) and it would mean tearing down my tank. They all seem fine at the moment so if I start ASAP, hopefully all should be OK. I would be mortified of my clown perished as I've had him for eight years.
Thank you so much for all your input, much appreciated

 

[frostie18]

Thank you so much, I will have to go for the Ruby Rally Pro method as all of my fish hide (reason why I bought these two as I never see other unless I'm feeding!) and it would mean tearing down my tank. They all seem fine at the moment so if I start ASAP, hopefully all should be OK. I would be mortified of my clown perished as I've had him for eight years.
Thank you so much for all your input, much appreciated

Hiya,
I know my fish died, but I think I have finally been able to download the video!
Two of my other fish may be now showing signs, but not too sure as they alway hide!!
Please advise if you can.
Can't get any Ruby Pro here in UK, can order but will come from abroad and will take days.
Do I need a parasite medication and a bacterial one as store I will be going to later on this afternoon sell them separately.
Thanks in advance.