Sick/Dead fish

[CaseyC33]

Hey all,

Happy New Year!

About a month and a half ago I had my tank plagued with something that wiped out most fish. It started with a dwarf angel and worked it's way to my clown pair. It killed about 4-5 fish total. I can only describe it as a "furry" scaling disease that passed through each fish. They just didn't look healthy and everything was gone in about 2 weeks.

My yellow watchman goby/ pistol shrimp and lawnmower blenny survived without any intervention and I have done nothing to the tank since except for topping off water. It has been about 1.5/2 months now.

Any ideas what could have happened and why my YWG and lawnmower blenny weren't impacted?

How long should I wait before introducing new fish?

Thanks!

Casey

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey all,

Happy New Year!

About a month and a half ago I had my tank plagued with something that wiped out most fish. It started with a dwarf angel and worked it's way to my clown pair. It killed about 4-5 fish total. I can only describe it as a "furry" scaling disease that passed through each fish. They just didn't look healthy and everything was gone in about 2 weeks.

My yellow watchman goby/ pistol shrimp and lawnmower blenny survived without any intervention and I have done nothing to the tank since except for topping off water. It has been about 1.5/2 months now.

Any ideas what could have happened and why my YWG and lawnmower blenny weren't impacted?

How long should I wait before introducing new fish?

Thanks!

Casey

Without having sick fish to see in pictures or video, I can't tell you what went on in your tank (and even with pictures, I might not be able to always tell).

However, it is fairly common for gobies to survive some protozoan or fluke infections that take out most other fish. I've not seen that sort of durability with lawnmower blennies though.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Flukes or velvet my suspect but a guess
Any unusual behaviors, capture pics or videos

 

[CaseyC33]

based on my research- I’m going with flukes on this one. it definitely wasn't velvet and it doesn't look like brooks.

based on the fallow period for brooks and flukes- I should be okay to reintroduce new fish.

my question though, since the blenny and ywg were never taken out, is there a chance brooks or flukes could still be in the tank? id assume since neither got sick, brooks and flukes would have no host and should have died out.

i dont plan on introducing new fish until february which will be almost 3 months.

would that be a safe point to slowly reintroduce new fish? are there any steps i should take before reintroducing fish?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

based on my research- I’m going with flukes on this one. it definitely wasn't velvet and it doesn't look like brooks.

based on the fallow period for brooks and flukes- I should be okay to reintroduce new fish.

my question though, since the blenny and ywg were never taken out, is there a chance brooks or flukes could still be in the tank? id assume since neither got sick, brooks and flukes would have no host and should have died out.

i dont plan on introducing new fish until february which will be almost 3 months.

would that be a safe point to slowly reintroduce new fish? are there any steps i should take before reintroducing fish?

For fish parasites, you can’t tell what fish could be harboring a subinical infection, so for a true fallow period it is safest to remove all fish.

Jay

 

[CaseyC33]

that makes sense.

unfortunately, my ywg is paired with my pistol shrimp and they have burrowed everywhere under 40+ pounds of LR. I don’t sense the blenny would be easy to catch either. given that I don’t see turning over my tank as an option, is my next best “safest” bet adding fish slowly and “seeing what happens”?

I’d like to start with a firefish next.

Is there anything else I can do to set up the new fish for success?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

that makes sense.

unfortunately, my ywg is paired with my pistol shrimp and they have burrowed everywhere under 40+ pounds of LR. I don’t sense the blenny would be easy to catch either. given that I don’t see turning over my tank as an option, is my next best “safest” bet adding fish slowly and “seeing what happens”?

I’d like to start with a firefish next.

Is there anything else I can do to set up the new fish for success?

Yes - wait longer. The longer the fish in the tank go without showing symptoms, the more likely they are clear of disease. 60 days is a common time frame.

 

[CaseyC33]

great. thank you!

it will be around 90 days when I add new fish.

so I’ll hope for the best!