Tank Inhabitants Dying Suddenly

[marsie]

hello everyone,

yesterday i noticed my banggai cardinalfish swimming very slowly, so i removed him for quarantine and dosed mela and pimafix to both tanks. he was dead by the time i got back home and this morning, my blood red fire shrimp was also dead. the medicine bottles said they were safe for invertebrates. Both of them looked normal, no weird spots or obvious wounds, and had been acting normal. no recent additions and water parameters are normal. the urchin usually drops some spines when the tank needs a good water change.

my tank is 30 gal, some soft corals, one anemone, and macroalgae. i always filter and treat water before adding. the remaining tankmates are 2 occelaris clowns and an urchin.

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? i know banggais can sometimes be sick when you get them, but then i don’t know what happened to the shrimp. should i quarantine everyone? i don’t know what to do.

 

[vetteguy53081]

hello everyone,

yesterday i noticed my banggai cardinalfish swimming very slowly, so i removed him for quarantine and dosed mela and pimafix to both tanks. he was dead by the time i got back home and this morning, my blood red fire shrimp was also dead. the medicine bottles said they were safe for invertebrates. Both of them looked normal, no weird spots or obvious wounds, and had been acting normal. no recent additions and water parameters are normal. the urchin usually drops some spines when the tank needs a good water change.

my tank is 30 gal, some soft corals, one anemone, and macroalgae. i always filter and treat water before adding. the remaining tankmates are 2 occelaris clowns and an urchin.

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? i know banggais can sometimes be sick when you get them, but then i don’t know what happened to the shrimp. should i quarantine everyone? i don’t know what to do.

Bangaii can be touchy as they dont always ship well but when the fish and inverts start dying- Focus is on water
If this is a new/newer tank, you may have stocked too quickly and experiencing spikes
What is age of tank?
Did you acclimate fish and how and for how long?
Melafix and Pimafix (pimafix may have had effect on shrimp) are rather useless in marine setting and literally is teatree oil and of little value.

 

[MnFish1]

hello everyone,

yesterday i noticed my banggai cardinalfish swimming very slowly, so i removed him for quarantine and dosed mela and pimafix to both tanks. he was dead by the time i got back home and this morning, my blood red fire shrimp was also dead. the medicine bottles said they were safe for invertebrates. Both of them looked normal, no weird spots or obvious wounds, and had been acting normal. no recent additions and water parameters are normal. the urchin usually drops some spines when the tank needs a good water change.

my tank is 30 gal, some soft corals, one anemone, and macroalgae. i always filter and treat water before adding. the remaining tankmates are 2 occelaris clowns and an urchin.

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? i know banggais can sometimes be sick when you get them, but then i don’t know what happened to the shrimp. should i quarantine everyone? i don’t know what to do.

Bangaiis have a viral disease to which they are susceptible - this should not affect you other inhabitants. Urchins should not 'drop spines' when a water change is needed - since that describes very horrible water conditions. One should decide upon water changes - or not - based on chemistry - not urchins dropping spines. Sorry - this sounds harsh - and it is meant to be - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing?

 

[MnFish1]

Bangaiis have a viral disease to which they are susceptible - this should not affect you other inhabitants. Urchins should not 'drop spines' when a water change is needed - since that describes very horrible water conditions. One should decide upon water changes - or not - based on chemistry - not urchins dropping spines. Sorry - this sounds harsh - and it is meant to be - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing?

And thought mela. makes your post sound cool - neither melafix nor prima fix will help your problems. As Vetteguy said - fish and invertebrates dying sounds like a tank in poor condition overall

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

hello everyone,

yesterday i noticed my banggai cardinalfish swimming very slowly, so i removed him for quarantine and dosed mela and pimafix to both tanks. he was dead by the time i got back home and this morning, my blood red fire shrimp was also dead. the medicine bottles said they were safe for invertebrates. Both of them looked normal, no weird spots or obvious wounds, and had been acting normal. no recent additions and water parameters are normal. the urchin usually drops some spines when the tank needs a good water change.

my tank is 30 gal, some soft corals, one anemone, and macroalgae. i always filter and treat water before adding. the remaining tankmates are 2 occelaris clowns and an urchin.

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? i know banggais can sometimes be sick when you get them, but then i don’t know what happened to the shrimp. should i quarantine everyone? i don’t know what to do.

The two losses could be coincidental. You don't see any rapid breathing in the clownfish? You haven't been dosing hydrogen peroxide?

 

[marsie]

The two losses could be coincidental. You don't see any rapid breathing in the clownfish? You haven't been dosing hydrogen peroxide?

I’ve never dosed hydrogen peroxide, and the clowns look happy and healthy.

 

[marsie]

Bangaiis have a viral disease to which they are susceptible - this should not affect you other inhabitants. Urchins should not 'drop spines' when a water change is needed - since that describes very horrible water conditions. One should decide upon water changes - or not - based on chemistry - not urchins dropping spines. Sorry - this sounds harsh - and it is meant to be - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing?

its not like he becomes naked lol. i have read that they will drop a couple spines when stressed and it happens occasionally.

 

[marsie]

Bangaii can be touchy as they dont always ship well but when the fish and inverts start dying- Focus is on water
If this is a new/newer tank, you may have stocked too quickly and experiencing spikes
What is age of tank?
Did you acclimate fish and how and for how long?
Melafix and Pimafix (pimafix may have had effect on shrimp) are rather useless in marine setting and literally is teatree oil and of little value.

tank is 6 months old, everything has been drip acclimated for about an hour. i didn’t know that about those products! they say they can be used for fw and marine. thank you.

 

[marsie]

Bangaiis have a viral disease to which they are susceptible - this should not affect you other inhabitants. Urchins should not 'drop spines' when a water change is needed - since that describes very horrible water conditions. One should decide upon water changes - or not - based on chemistry - not urchins dropping spines. Sorry - this sounds harsh - and it is meant to be - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing?

my post literally says the parameters look normal but thank you for nothing.

 

[marsie]

And thought mela. makes your post sound cool - neither melafix nor prima fix will help your problems. As Vetteguy said - fish and invertebrates dying sounds like a tank in poor condition overall

nothing in my post is meant to sound “cool” as i said parameters look normal and the tank is clean. i’m asking for advice and if you have none then go bother someone else.

 

[jabberwock]

tank is 6 months old, everything has been drip acclimated for about an hour. i didn’t know that about those products! they say they can be used for fw and marine. thank you.

Sounds like you went pretty fast with stocking. Can you post a full tank shot? Sometimes that is helpful in ascertaining the overall tank condition.

 

[jabberwock]

What kind of test kits are you using. What parameters are you testing for?

 

[MnFish1]

my post literally says the parameters look normal but thank you for nothing.

Yes - and multiple hundreds of posts say 'the parameters look normal'. Followed by the problem with the parameters. Its was not meant to be personal

 

[MnFish1]

its not like he becomes naked lol. i have read that they will drop a couple spines when stressed and it happens occasionally.

I'm going to repeat what I said - one should not base water changes on whether an urchin loses his spines or not.

 

[MnFish1]

nothing in my post is meant to sound “cool” as i said parameters look normal and the tank is clean. i’m asking for advice and if you have none then go bother someone else.

Well - just a suggestion - the vast majority of people here do not know what 'mela' means. And - I gave you advice. "Bangaiis have a viral disease to which they are susceptible - this should not affect you other inhabitants. Urchins should not 'drop spines' when a water change is needed - since that describes very horrible water conditions. One should decide upon water changes - or not - based on chemistry - not urchins dropping spines. Sorry - this sounds harsh - and it is meant to be - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing?"

I meant everything I said - which is why at the end I said - it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing....

 

[vetteguy53081]

tank is 6 months old, everything has been drip acclimated for about an hour. i didn’t know that about those products! they say they can be used for fw and marine. thank you.

There are claims by many manufacturers. Its not your fault but worth research. Certain test kits can be tricky to use offering false results. best is hanna or salifert.
for drip acclimation, you want to preferably empty contents into a clean pail and equalize the salinity with that of the display tank and even the PH