Random deaths and feeling heartbroken

[DunkyDG]

Hello all. Looking for any and all theories on what is happening to our tank. We’ve had it for 3 years, during those 3 years we’ve had a naso tang, fox rabbit fish and 2 clowns that have stuck with us through random individual fish drop offs. 3 weeks ago we added 4 wrasses, one powder blue tang, 4 snails and 2 kenya tree corals. Adding the extra fish seemed like the best decision as the original 4 fish seemed much more active and didn’t hide in the rocks as much. Unfortunately, the fox face and the powder blue had a few scraps and one morning the powder blue sat at the bottom of the tank between the rocks and swam back and forth. He died 3 days later. While the powder blue was sitting in the middle of the tank, the naso tang and fox face started acting very strange. They would sit at a 45 degree angle and stopped swimming around normally. After the powder blue died, the naso tang returned to normal behavior but the fox face started acting extremely weird, sitting vertically tucked in the corner of the tank. We noticed some small white dots on him so assumed ich due to the stress. Thankfully, the remaining fish all had no spots and returned to their normal behavior. After the powder blue died our aquarium store came to check our tank and ran a bunch of tests and said everything looked fine but nitrates were slightly elevated. Our coral, snails, and new wrasses are thriving. We have been extra vigilant watching our fox face and he seems to be turning a corner swimming around the tank a bit again. This morning we woke up to a dead clown fish (wedged in the rocks bottom left) and the remaining clown has started swimming at the middle bottom of the tank which is out of character. Any idea what happened to our tank?! We are very sad to have lost our new powder blue but having a sick fox face and dead clown, who we’ve had for years, is heartbreaking. Any thoughts and insight is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[cdemoss01]

Very weird. @vetteguy53081 may be able to help. What are your parameters?

 

[Fish Fan]

Sorry about what's going on with your fish. Maybe one of the R2R #fishmedic crew can take a look and offer some help.

Good luck!

 

[DunkyDG]

Very weird. @vetteguy53081 may be able to help. What are your parameters?

Despite having our tank for 3 years I still consider us super new to the hobby. By parameters do you mean temp/salt content? We keep salt at 1.024 and temp is at 77.8 F . Forgot to mention the clowns have always done their own thing and definitely have never fought with anyone. Makes me wonder if something else happened to the powder blue and it wasn’t the scraps with the fox face that killed it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello all. Looking for any and all theories on what is happening to our tank. We’ve had it for 3 years, during those 3 years we’ve had a naso tang, fox rabbit fish and 2 clowns that have stuck with us through random individual fish drop offs. 3 weeks ago we added 4 wrasses, one powder blue tang, 4 snails and 2 kenya tree corals. Adding the extra fish seemed like the best decision as the original 4 fish seemed much more active and didn’t hide in the rocks as much. Unfortunately, the fox face and the powder blue had a few scraps and one morning the powder blue sat at the bottom of the tank between the rocks and swam back and forth. He died 3 days later. While the powder blue was sitting in the middle of the tank, the naso tang and fox face started acting very strange. They would sit at a 45 degree angle and stopped swimming around normally. After the powder blue died, the naso tang returned to normal behavior but the fox face started acting extremely weird, sitting vertically tucked in the corner of the tank. We noticed some small white dots on him so assumed ich due to the stress. Thankfully, the remaining fish all had no spots and returned to their normal behavior. After the powder blue died our aquarium store came to check our tank and ran a bunch of tests and said everything looked fine but nitrates were slightly elevated. Our coral, snails, and new wrasses are thriving. We have been extra vigilant watching our fox face and he seems to be turning a corner swimming around the tank a bit again. This morning we woke up to a dead clown fish (wedged in the rocks bottom left) and the remaining clown has started swimming at the middle bottom of the tank which is out of character. Any idea what happened to our tank?! We are very sad to have lost our new powder blue but having a sick fox face and dead clown, who we’ve had for years, is heartbreaking. Any thoughts and insight is appreciated. Thank you!

With the remaining fish doing well and mainly coral and inverts, it sort of rulers out water quality and pointing either disease or even intimidation s Powder blues can be very intimidating
Are fish breathing normal or labored?
Are fish still eating?
Are gills red or clear?


Disease right now is my suspect.

 

[DunkyDG]

Hello all. Looking for any and all theories on what is happening to our tank. We’ve had it for 3 years, during those 3 years we’ve had a naso tang, fox rabbit fish and 2 clowns that have stuck with us through random individual fish drop offs. 3 weeks ago we added 4 wrasses, one powder blue tang, 4 snails and 2 kenya tree corals. Adding the extra fish seemed like the best decision as the original 4 fish seemed much more active and didn’t hide in the rocks as much. Unfortunately, the fox face and the powder blue had a few scraps and one morning the powder blue sat at the bottom of the tank between the rocks and swam back and forth. He died 3 days later. While the powder blue was sitting in the middle of the tank, the naso tang and fox face started acting very strange. They would sit at a 45 degree angle and stopped swimming around normally. After the powder blue died, the naso tang returned to normal behavior but the fox face started acting extremely weird, sitting vertically tucked in the corner of the tank. We noticed some small white dots on him so assumed ich due to the stress. Thankfully, the remaining fish all had no spots and returned to their normal behavior. After the powder blue died our aquarium store came to check our tank and ran a bunch of tests and said everything looked fine but nitrates were slightly elevated. Our coral, snails, and new wrasses are thriving. We have been extra vigilant watching our fox face and he seems to be turning a corner swimming around the tank a bit again. This morning we woke up to a dead clown fish (wedged in the rocks bottom left) and the remaining clown has started swimming at the middle bottom of the tank which is out of character. Any idea what happened to our tank?! We are very sad to have lost our new powder blue but having a sick fox face and dead clown, who we’ve had for years, is heartbreaking. Any thoughts and insight is appreciated. Thank you!

With the remaining fish doing well and mainly coral and inverts, it sort of rulers out water quality and pointing either disease or even intimidation s Powder blues can be very intimidating
Are fish breathing normal or labored?
Are fish still eating?
Are gills red or clear?


Disease right now is my suspect.

The fox face’s breathing is quite labored but everyone else is doing fine for that. Fox face has eaten at most meals, all other fish have been eating no issue except the powder blue when it was swimming around the bottom of the tank before it died. Gills all look normal.
I also forgot to mention we have an urchin that’s doing great as well.
Can I post a picture of the fox face when he’s looking extra bleak? I find it quite upsetting but it might provide some extra info

 

[vetteguy53081]

The fox face’s breathing is quite labored but everyone else is doing fine for that. Fox face has eaten at most meals, all other fish have been eating no issue except the powder blue when it was swimming around the bottom of the tank before it died. Gills all look normal.
I also forgot to mention we have an urchin that’s doing great as well.
Can I post a picture of the fox face when he’s looking extra bleak? I find it quite upsetting but it might provide some extra info

Urchin doing well again suggests water is good.
Add air stone and looks for odd signs such as scratching, sudden darting, gasping at surface, hiding, swimming in pat of flow and flickering fins as examples

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The fox face’s breathing is quite labored but everyone else is doing fine for that. Fox face has eaten at most meals, all other fish have been eating no issue except the powder blue when it was swimming around the bottom of the tank before it died. Gills all look normal.
I also forgot to mention we have an urchin that’s doing great as well.
Can I post a picture of the fox face when he’s looking extra bleak? I find it quite upsetting but it might provide some extra info

Rapid breathing but still eating can be a sign of low oxygen or gill flukes. If the tank has good aeration, not just circulation, you can rule out oxygen and focus on gill flukes.

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes Overview In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Uncle99]

That last add without QT likely introduced a parasite infection, ick being very common especially with some tangs.

I might start treating as if it’s is ick (you’ve seen the spots) now for the safety of others, or, at least, be ready to deploy if anything shows back up.

If that’s fish only, maybe Hypo, have a read on that is my thinking, but it only does ick.


The descriptions you post make me at least lean towards that potential.

 

[vetteguy53081]

That last add without QT likely introduced a parasite infection, ick being very common especially with some tangs.

I might start treating as if it’s is ick (you’ve seen the spots) now for the safety of others, or, at least, be ready to deploy if anything shows back up.

If that’s fish only, maybe Hypo, have a read on that is my thinking, but it only does ick.


The descriptions you post make me at least lean towards that potential.

Why are you opposing the medic team as of late and confusing others with your guesses which have been less than correct. The signs point to flukes and a potential tank wipeout can occur and hypo is not for all fish and can be stressful and clues diminish ick as the culprit

 

[Uncle99]

Why are you opposing the medic team as of late and confusing others with your guesses which have been less than correct. The signs point to flukes and a potential tank wipeout can occur and hypo is not for all fish and can be stressful and clues diminish ick as the culprit

My apologies, I can see how that would be so unhelpful and I will leave these important issues to the experts of the medical team in the future.

The poster clearly asked for “any and all opinions”.

Again, my apologies for the over reach.

 

[DunkyDG]

Hello all. Looking for any and all theories on what is happening to our tank. We’ve had it for 3 years, during those 3 years we’ve had a naso tang, fox rabbit fish and 2 clowns that have stuck with us through random individual fish drop offs. 3 weeks ago we added 4 wrasses, one powder blue tang, 4 snails and 2 kenya tree corals. Adding the extra fish seemed like the best decision as the original 4 fish seemed much more active and didn’t hide in the rocks as much. Unfortunately, the fox face and the powder blue had a few scraps and one morning the powder blue sat at the bottom of the tank between the rocks and swam back and forth. He died 3 days later. While the powder blue was sitting in the middle of the tank, the naso tang and fox face started acting very strange. They would sit at a 45 degree angle and stopped swimming around normally. After the powder blue died, the naso tang returned to normal behavior but the fox face started acting extremely weird, sitting vertically tucked in the corner of the tank. We noticed some small white dots on him so assumed ich due to the stress. Thankfully, the remaining fish all had no spots and returned to their normal behavior. After the powder blue died our aquarium store came to check our tank and ran a bunch of tests and said everything looked fine but nitrates were slightly elevated. Our coral, snails, and new wrasses are thriving. We have been extra vigilant watching our fox face and he seems to be turning a corner swimming around the tank a bit again. This morning we woke up to a dead clown fish (wedged in the rocks bottom left) and the remaining clown has started swimming at the middle bottom of the tank which is out of character. Any idea what happened to our tank?! We are very sad to have lost our new powder blue but having a sick fox face and dead clown, who we’ve had for years, is heartbreaking. Any thoughts and insight is appreciated. Thank you!

This is what our poor fox face looks like at night :( normally he would tuck himself into the rocks and we wouldn’t see him until morning. He doesn’t spend the whole night at the top but he is up there sporadically

 

[Idech]

Adding new fish is always risky and you added many at the same time. I would only add one at a time, maybe two at most. That’s what I do.

I hope your fish make it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

This is what our poor fox face looks like at night :( normally he would tuck himself into the rocks and we wouldn’t see him until morning. He doesn’t spend the whole night at the top but he is up there sporadically

Is part of the foxface's tail fin missing?

They do have a "nighttime" coloration, but with your fish, there is additional skin discoloration. The rapid breathing and absence of pinhead white spots leads me away from ich as a diagnosis. Likewise, velvet causes rapid breathing, but the fish soon stop eating and die. So - I'm back to what I had posted before, that this is likely gill flukes.

 

[DunkyDG]

Well, our fox face has died. We are devastated. We’ve had him for 3 years and we considered him part of the family. Are you able to tell if it is gill flukes? If it is, should we be treating the remaining fish even if they aren’t showing signs of labored breathing? What is the recommended treatment?
Also, we used our local fish store to introduce this new batch of fish so relied on their expertise on both the selection and quantity of fish. They said introducing more than one fish at a time would protect the newcomer from being picked on by our fox face as he was king of the tank and wasn’t always kind to newcomers.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to all my messages. We’ve only had our tank 3 years and this is our first loss of original crew so it’s hard to handle.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So sorry about your losses!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well, our fox face has died. We are devastated. We’ve had him for 3 years and we considered him part of the family. Are you able to tell if it is gill flukes? If it is, should we be treating the remaining fish even if they aren’t showing signs of labored breathing? What is the recommended treatment?
Also, we used our local fish store to introduce this new batch of fish so relied on their expertise on both the selection and quantity of fish. They said introducing more than one fish at a time would protect the newcomer from being picked on by our fox face as he was king of the tank and wasn’t always kind to newcomers.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to all my messages. We’ve only had our tank 3 years and this is our first loss of original crew so it’s hard to handle.

Sorry to hear that it died.

Too late now, but I always give a freshly dead fish (within a few hours) a FW dip and then look at the dip water under a microscope for flukes.

Based on the grossly visual symptoms, I still can't rule out flukes. At the very least, if any other fish start to show symptoms, then I would go ahead and run a course of praziquantel in the tank.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

I’m not sure if this helps, but I’ve heard they have been importing tons of diseased powder blues. Apparently the way they are capturing them is very stressful and leading to
Disease. I personally have tried two in my system this past year. I did also see signs of stress on my foxface, but luckily after the powder blue died the fox eventually returned to normal. I haven’t looked into these capture
Methods but i seen someone recently mention it. I think the blue either carried something or stressed out your other fish to the point they were susceptible to diseases.