Total Fish Wipe Out - Help!

[Stephanie Redfern]

Hello, I recently just lost 11 small damselfish in 2 days due to a suspected bacterial infection (the local pet store did a necropsy report). I did some research and think I have narrowed it down to either Brooklynella or Oodinium based on the symptoms the fish were exhibiting (not eating, mucus covering them, fast breathing, etc.) I have 2 blood shrimp and a lot of snails who are doing just fine and the water is testing good.

I'm very new to having a saltwater aquarium and am a bit ignorant on how these bacterial infections are contracted. Is my water unsafe for future fish or is this something that can only be spread from fish to fish, and now that my fish are gone won't affect future fish? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[00Barracuda00]

You're going to want to start here.
Then read up on the diseases themselves here.


Sorry to hear about your fish. It's almost a certainty these days that whatever fish you purchase will have some form of sickness when you bring it home. For this reason, the majority of users on this site recommend quarantine and proactive treatments before new additions.

I'm sorry to say, but whatever killed your fish is still in the tank. It is unlikely to affect your clean up crew, but unless you allow the tank to lay fallow it will infect any new additions to your tank. This isn't the end of the world for things like ich, but brook and velvet can be very deadly, very quickly.

 

[Stephanie Redfern]

Thank you so much for the reply! What steps would you recommend that I go through? I love my inverts but I'd definitely like to have fish back in there one day. Also, do you know if these diseases affect coral? Before I lost the fish, the tank was a fish/invert only tank but I would like to have coral one day as well.

 

[00Barracuda00]

In truth, they aren't something that can affect coral (to my limited knowledge). I am by no means an expert here, just paying foward the good advice that was given to me by the stellar team here.

Brook and Ich are actually parasites which get beneath the fish's slime coat, and cause all kinds of havoc. They may be present on corals or live rock or invertebrates, but they cannot attach/feed from those hosts. They release into the water column as free swimmers and attach to fish.

This is why a fallow period is the only way to TRULY elminate the sickness from the tank, followed up a QT regimen before placing any new fish. It sucks, I know. I just wrapped up my own fallow period when one of my clowns had a pretty rough brook outbreak. I am slowly reintroducing my fish now.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

From the sound of it you had Brooklynella which is a parasite not a bacterial infection. Can you post any pics of the fish? Mucous or sloughing skin is the main symptom of brook and. It’s a quick killer. Your inverts will be fine in your tank just ghost feed them. Brook will die out in 6 weeks without a host (fish). If you want to cover all your bases go fallow for 76 days.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Likely Brook yes and you will need to add No fish to tank for at least 60 days to assure no presence of protozoan or other foreign matter in the tank moving forward.
You Can setup a quarantine tank 4 weeks or so prior to re-introduction, so you at least have fish to enjoy and utilize that tank for future introductions into your display tank

 

[Stephanie Redfern]

From the sound of it you had Brooklynella which is a parasite not a bacterial infection. Can you post any pics of the fish? Mucous or sloughing skin is the main symptom of brook and. It’s a quick killer. Your inverts will be fine in your tank just ghost feed them. Brook will die out in 6 weeks without a host (fish). If you want to cover all your bases go fallow for 76 days.

I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but when I google brook it definitely looks familiar with the sloughing skin and mucus, but even that only appeared hours in advance of the fish dying. It's just crazy how fast everything happened. Definitely going to go fallow for the full 76. Thanks so much for the tips, I'm finding this forum to be a great resource for me!

 

[4FordFamily]

From the sound of it you had Brooklynella which is a parasite not a bacterial infection. Can you post any pics of the fish? Mucous or sloughing skin is the main symptom of brook and. It’s a quick killer. Your inverts will be fine in your tank just ghost feed them. Brook will die out in 6 weeks without a host (fish). If you want to cover all your bases go fallow for 76 days.

I agree. I'd also recommend setting up a quarantine to treat for these ailments before they make it in to your display tank going forward.

Sorry for your losses

 

[00Barracuda00]

I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but when I google brook it definitely looks familiar with the sloughing skin and mucus, but even that only appeared hours in advance of the fish dying. It's just crazy how fast everything happened. Definitely going to go fallow for the full 76. Thanks so much for the tips, I'm finding this forum to be a great resource for me!

In this hobby, nothing good happens quickly. All of the positives take prep and patience, while all of the negatives like disease outbreak, infections, and coral collapse, all happen very rapidly.

But forewarned is forearmed, and you're definitely on the right path here.