Unfortunately my first post has to be this

[BrightReefer]

In the mind set of learning from all this I have a few things here.

Small back story, my tank has been up and cycled since end of December. Got my first salty fish. Two clowns. They have been doing great since I got them in the end of December

Then things went down hill . I added a royal gramma and 2 trochus snails and a cleaner shrimp. 3 weeks ago.

2 weeks later the cleaner died. He had molted in week 1. Then I found him dead he had black spot on him as pictured.

Fast forward to this past Sunday the RG is breathing heavy and on laying on its side fins clamped. With white patch around the anal fine. He died in a few hours. I chalked this off as to much par as I got a Ai blade coral grow and was running saxby preset at 100% intensity. 1.5 inch from the water surface. It is a Fluval 13.5 evo. With it being in the stock cover and so close to the water stressed the poor thing to death is what I thought.

Performed a 2 gallon water change and changed out my filter floss ( I do this twice a week).

Now today I come home from work one of my clowns died he’s coated in white. The other clown seemed ok and ate food.

As I posted this my last remaining clown is starting to show signs of white dust and stringy fins totally bummed out as are my kids as we have been doing this together.

salinity is 1.025sg
I use distilled water, no coral at this time
Temp 78f with a controller
API test kit
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0.15
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30ppm



I just want to learn going forward. Funny I made this account today and made a greeting post about success and few failures. Then came home from work to The clowns

Pretty bummed at this point

Here’s a few photos

 

[MnFish1]

Very hard to tell the dead fish cause. The rapidity suggests velvet - The mucus on the clown is non-specific - of course clowns can commonly have brooklynella - but the timing doesn't seem right to me - additionally the high PAR I do not think killed your gramma (however, if the clowns were bullying it - thats possible) - its also possible that the one clown killed/bullied the other. Your ammonia is a little high - however not high enough to cause death - but may be contributing. Did you quarantine any of the fish? Additionally, normally I would suggest that if inverts are also dying - thats probably a toxin - but shrimp can die during/after a molt - and I'm assuming your snails are ok?

 

[vetteguy53081]

In the mind set of learning from all this I have a few things here.

Small back story, my tank has been up and cycled since end of December. Got my first salty fish. Two clowns. They have been doing great since I got them in the end of December

Then things went down hill . I added a royal gramma and 2 trochus snails and a cleaner shrimp. 3 weeks ago.

2 weeks later the cleaner died. He had molted in week 1. Then I found him dead he had black spot on him as pictured.

Fast forward to this past Sunday the RG is breathing heavy and on laying on its side fins clamped. With white patch around the anal fine. He died in a few hours. I chalked this off as to much par as I got a Ai blade coral grow and was running saxby preset at 100% intensity. 1.5 inch from the water surface. It is a Fluval 13.5 evo. With it being in the stock cover and so close to the water stressed the poor thing to death is what I thought.

Performed a 2 gallon water change and changed out my filter floss ( I do this twice a week).

Now today I come home from work one of my clowns died he’s coated in white. The other clown seemed ok and ate food.

As I posted this my last remaining clown is starting to show signs of white dust and stringy fins totally bummed out as are my kids as we have been doing this together.

salinity is 1.025sg
I use distilled water, no coral at this time
Temp 78f with a controller
API test kit
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0.15
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30ppm



I just want to learn going forward. Funny I made this account today and made a greeting post about success and few failures. Then came home from work to The clowns

Pretty bummed at this point

Here’s a few photos

Sorry to see of this experience. The gramma is prone to flukes and ich and hard to tell which with a dead carcass, The black dots on shrimp often happens prior to a molt. Some with struggle with molt and not make it.
The clowns in pic look to have excess mucus often associated with brook.
Did you notice loss of appetite, loss of color, increased breathing rates and itching or scratching from any of the fish?

 

[BrightReefer]

Very hard to tell the dead fish cause. The rapidity suggests velvet - The mucus on the clown is non-specific - of course clowns can commonly have brooklynella - but the timing doesn't seem right to me - additionally the high PAR I do not think killed your gramma (however, if the clowns were bullying it - thats possible) - its also possible that the one clown killed/bullied the other. Your ammonia is a little high - however not high enough to cause death - but may be contributing. Did you quarantine any of the fish? Additionally, normally I would suggest that if inverts are also dying - thats probably a toxin - but shrimp can die during/after a molt - and I'm assuming your snails are ok?

I never did quarantine. But after this I guess I have to. From my freshwater water roots I never had issues like this. Other than fin rot or bullying. The snails have been fine.. shocked actually how much they clean!

 

[BrightReefer]

Sorry to see of this experience. The gramma is prone to flukes and ich and hard to tell which with a dead carcass, The black dots on shrimp often happens prior to a molt. Some with struggle with molt and not make it.
The clowns in pic look to have excess mucus often associated with brook.
Did you notice loss of appetite, loss of color, increased breathing rates and itching or scratching from any of the fish?

Last night I thought they didn’t eat as as
Much and the smaller clown was hanging out by the wave maker which they normally didn’t do. He was also swimming vertical.. they did that often on the one side of
My tank.

Can brook just develop in clowns at random? In the morning I thought my smaller
One was pale but I was using
My phone light as I leave early in the
Morning for work. I did notice he would kind of dart and shake a little bit the night before. I guess none of that matters at this point everything‘s closed so I don’t think I can do any thing for my last clown clown

 

[BrightReefer]

So My next steps should be breakdown the tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Last night I thought they didn’t eat as as
Much and the smaller clown was hanging out by the wave maker which they normally didn’t do. He was also swimming vertical.. they did that often on the one side of
My tank.

Can brook just develop in clowns at random? In the morning I thought my smaller
One was pale but I was using
My phone light as I leave early in the
Morning for work. I did notice he would kind of dart and shake a little bit the night before. I guess none of that matters at this point everything‘s closed so I don’t think I can do any thing for my last clown clown

Yes, brook can appear as an onset and progress quickly. The signs you mention are in alignment with brook.

 

[BrightReefer]

Yes, brook can appear as an onset and progress quickly. The signs you mention are in alignment with brook.

I was just reading about it on another post for fish disease index. And a freshwater bath could ease some of the symptoms. But I guess if she in the shape she’s in now. It’s no luck?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was just reading about it on another post for fish disease index. And a freshwater bath could ease some of the symptoms. But I guess if she in the shape she’s in now. It’s no luck?

FW dip of 5 minutes offers temporary relief and is Not a cure

 

[BrightReefer]

FW dip of 5 minutes offers temporary relief and is Not a cure

she’s gone …going forward how do I make
My tank save for future fish.

unless someone has more to point out for learning. My take always

-even though tank is a nano I need to set up a qt tank.. which my wallet totally hates.
- when things are going good just leave it and enjoy what you have. No matter how nice a fish is in the store
-I now know the steps of brook so maybe next time I’ll catch it sooner for treatment.

Thanks you everyone for answers!

 

[dan241838]

Where did you buy the fish from?

 

[BrightReefer]

Where did you buy the fish from?

My local fish store .. I don’t think it is a Canada wide franchise, big al’s aquarium they have multiple locations in My province The clowns were great for months. Unless it possible the cleaner shrimp was keeping it up bay?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Also three fish in that tank is a lot and probably didn't help the situation.

You can read up on leaving the tank fallow to make it safe for the future fish and do quarantine in the meantime. A simple 5 or ten gallon tank from petco or similar will do the job.

Tons of resources on qt online.

 

[vetteguy53081]

she’s gone …going forward how do I make
My tank save for future fish.

unless someone has more to point out for learning. My take always

-even though tank is a nano I need to set up a qt tank.. which my wallet totally hates.
- when things are going good just leave it and enjoy what you have. No matter how nice a fish is in the store
-I now know the steps of brook so maybe next time I’ll catch it sooner for treatment.

Thanks you everyone for answers!

As disease can or may be a possibility, I highly suggest to leave the tank running without any fish for 6-8 weeks which any parasites or protozoans, if present will die off without a fish to host on. You can set up a quarantine tank which will be useful now and in the future and place potential fish in it adding coppersafe and monitoring copper level with a Hanna brand copper test kit at 2.15 - 2.25 for 30 days and then doing a good water change and then dosing tank with prazi Pro at 85% of recommended dosage applying the liquid and let it run 8 days, do a water change and dose one more time for another 8 day period and fish are deemed cleansed of parasites and then you can enter them into the display tank. Add air stone when using prazi as it depletes oxygen slightly

 

[Should I]

In the mind set of learning from all this I have a few things here.

Small back story, my tank has been up and cycled since end of December. Got my first salty fish. Two clowns. They have been doing great since I got them in the end of December

Then things went down hill . I added a royal gramma and 2 trochus snails and a cleaner shrimp. 3 weeks ago.

2 weeks later the cleaner died. He had molted in week 1. Then I found him dead he had black spot on him as pictured.

Fast forward to this past Sunday the RG is breathing heavy and on laying on its side fins clamped. With white patch around the anal fine. He died in a few hours. I chalked this off as to much par as I got a Ai blade coral grow and was running saxby preset at 100% intensity. 1.5 inch from the water surface. It is a Fluval 13.5 evo. With it being in the stock cover and so close to the water stressed the poor thing to death is what I thought.

Performed a 2 gallon water change and changed out my filter floss ( I do this twice a week).

Now today I come home from work one of my clowns died he’s coated in white. The other clown seemed ok and ate food.

As I posted this my last remaining clown is starting to show signs of white dust and stringy fins totally bummed out as are my kids as we have been doing this together.

salinity is 1.025sg
I use distilled water, no coral at this time
Temp 78f with a controller
API test kit
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0.15
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30ppm



I just want to learn going forward. Funny I made this account today and made a greeting post about success and few failures. Then came home from work to The clowns

Pretty bummed at this point

Here’s a few photos

see over ur side of the pond you HAVE to qt over my side of the pond not so much but i know a fishstore that does QT so i usally buy from them

 

[Jay Hemdal]

In the mind set of learning from all this I have a few things here.

Small back story, my tank has been up and cycled since end of December. Got my first salty fish. Two clowns. They have been doing great since I got them in the end of December

Then things went down hill . I added a royal gramma and 2 trochus snails and a cleaner shrimp. 3 weeks ago.

2 weeks later the cleaner died. He had molted in week 1. Then I found him dead he had black spot on him as pictured.

Fast forward to this past Sunday the RG is breathing heavy and on laying on its side fins clamped. With white patch around the anal fine. He died in a few hours. I chalked this off as to much par as I got a Ai blade coral grow and was running saxby preset at 100% intensity. 1.5 inch from the water surface. It is a Fluval 13.5 evo. With it being in the stock cover and so close to the water stressed the poor thing to death is what I thought.

Performed a 2 gallon water change and changed out my filter floss ( I do this twice a week).

Now today I come home from work one of my clowns died he’s coated in white. The other clown seemed ok and ate food.

As I posted this my last remaining clown is starting to show signs of white dust and stringy fins totally bummed out as are my kids as we have been doing this together.

salinity is 1.025sg
I use distilled water, no coral at this time
Temp 78f with a controller
API test kit
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0.15
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30ppm



I just want to learn going forward. Funny I made this account today and made a greeting post about success and few failures. Then came home from work to The clowns

Pretty bummed at this point

Here’s a few photos

Sorry things started out like this for you.....

Just checking, the snails are still doing well, actively moving around? The shrimp dying might be related to the fish issues, if it is an environmental problem, so having other invertebrates doing well in the tank can help rule that issue out, making the shrimp loss unrelated to the fish issue.

Both clowns and RG are prone to Brooklynella. Wild caught clowns get it the worst, and yours could have been wild caught. Given the time frame, they came in with it from the store, could be bad luck, but it could also be a poor quality store.

I would leave the tank fishless for 60 days (you can still add invertebrates, best if they come from a fishless system at the LFS though). Then, going forward, quarantine is best. However, you are probably not in a position to set up a QT, as your tank is fairly small. Next best would be to buy pre-quarantined fish, or tank raised fish that have NOT been housed with untreated wild caught fish.

Jay

 

[BrightReefer]

Also three fish in that tank is a lot and probably didn't help the situation.

You can read up on leaving the tank fallow to make it safe for the future fish and do quarantine in the meantime. A simple 5 or ten gallon tank from petco or similar will do the job.

Tons of resources on qt online.

Sorry things started out like this for you.....

Just checking, the snails are still doing well, actively moving around? The shrimp dying might be related to the fish issues, if it is an environmental problem, so having other invertebrates doing well in the tank can help rule that issue out, making the shrimp loss unrelated to the fish issue.

Both clowns and RG are prone to Brooklynella. Wild caught clowns get it the worst, and yours could have been wild caught. Given the time frame, they came in with it from the store, could be bad luck, but it could also be a poor quality store.

I would leave the tank fishless for 60 days (you can still add invertebrates, best if they come from a fishless system at the LFS though). Then, going forward, quarantine is best. However, you are probably not in a position to set up a QT, as your tank is fairly small. Next best would be to buy pre-quarantined fish, or tank raised fish that have NOT been housed with untreated wild caught fish.

Jay

As for the snails this morning my snails were doing snail things. I did forget to mention I had a cleaner shrimp last 2 months. When I got the clowns back on December . That one end up molting a few times. The last time is molted and was found dead against my wave maker. Got another one which was much small and he died molting by the looks of it. The LFS said I need to dose iodine. Which I never did to be honest. Maybe that’s my problem.

I floated and dripped all inverts before they went in. When I do water changes it’s 2 gallons. My salinity match DT and as well as temp. The tank was used and I have been using salt he had left over. It was Fritz rpm. Other then trying shrimp again I don’t know what else to do to learn for the inverts.

As for the fish I guess try 2 more clowns and get them going in a qt tank. So bummed, I’ll have to see if coppersafe. If available around here. My local store said there supplier does qt before they get them?

I got the room for a qt. My wife said I picked rich man hobby . Still trying to be mindful of what a spend though!

 

[BrightReefer]

As disease can or may be a possibility, I highly suggest to leave the tank running without any fish for 6-8 weeks which any parasites or protozoans, if present will die off without a fish to host on. You can set up a quarantine tank which will be useful now and in the future and place potential fish in it adding coppersafe and monitoring copper level with a Hanna brand copper test kit at 2.15 - 2.25 for 30 days and then doing a good water change and then dosing tank with prazi Pro at 85% of recommended dosage applying the liquid and let it run 8 days, do a water change and dose one more time for another 8 day period and fish are deemed cleansed of parasites and then you can enter them into the display tank. Add air stone when using prazi as it depletes oxygen slightly

Thank you. I will have to see if I can get this locally. LFS said 2 weeks to leave tank empty. I’ll just wait it out longer! If I had coral does this change how diseases live in a tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you. I will have to see if I can get this locally. LFS said 2 weeks to leave tank empty. I’ll just wait it out longer! If I had coral does this change how diseases live in a tank?

Two weeks - no good as may parasites have a reproduction and life cycle of 30 - 40 days. 2 weeks insufficient time.

 

[MnFish1]

she’s gone …going forward how do I make
My tank save for future fish.

Sorry to hear

unless someone has more to point out for learning. My take always

-even though tank is a nano I need to set up a qt tank.. which my wallet totally hates.
- when things are going good just leave it and enjoy what you have. No matter how nice a fish is in the store
-I now know the steps of brook so maybe next time I’ll catch it sooner for treatment.

A qT tank can be very simple - a food safe bucket/tub, a. sponge filter, a heater.

Thanks you everyone for answers!

Hope things get better. You do not need to take the tank down - just leave it fallow while you're getting other fish and going through the QT process - which is 30 days of copper and followed by prazipro 2 doses 8 days apart