Velvet? Aggression? Something else?

[drolmaeye]

Found my Helfrichi Firefish stuck to the weir this morning. When I gently pushed it off, it was very weak but swam. My sailfin blenny started aggressively biting it. Netted it into a bucket but it looks like it is past the point of recovery. Looking for experienced views from others to rule out possibilities.

Without going through tank details, the firefish has been in there for six months. Most recent fish added 90 days ago, most recent coral added 80 days ago, EXCEPT:

I received a shipment of four frags Thursday. These frags were transferred as follows: mix of vendor and DT water -> Revive dip -> DT water rinse -> 2nd DT water rinse -> DT tank. I think it is unlikely that I transferred velvet through water, but I think velvet on frag/coral skeleton is possible.

QUESTION 1: if velvet was on frags added Thursday at 10:00 AM, could it progress fast enough to take out firefish Saturday before 8:00 AM? I have unrelated video of firefish behaving and looking perfectly normal last night at 6:30 PM.

QUESTION 2: Can the sailfin blenny behavior of attacking the weak firefish be chalked up to dominating a weak fish? Or is it likely/possible the blenny aggression is the cause of death? The two have been tankmates for six months without incident.

Losing my little Helfrichi so unexpectedly is a difficult blow, but if I'm about to have velvet rip though my tank, not sure I'll cope with that so well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Found my Helfrichi Firefish stuck to the weir this morning. When I gently pushed it off, it was very weak but swam. My sailfin blenny started aggressively biting it. Netted it into a bucket but it looks like it is past the point of recovery. Looking for experienced views from others to rule out possibilities.

Without going through tank details, the firefish has been in there for six months. Most recent fish added 90 days ago, most recent coral added 80 days ago, EXCEPT:

I received a shipment of four frags Thursday. These frags were transferred as follows: mix of vendor and DT water -> Revive dip -> DT water rinse -> 2nd DT water rinse -> DT tank. I think it is unlikely that I transferred velvet through water, but I think velvet on frag/coral skeleton is possible.

QUESTION 1: if velvet was on frags added Thursday at 10:00 AM, could it progress fast enough to take out firefish Saturday before 8:00 AM? I have unrelated video of firefish behaving and looking perfectly normal last night at 6:30 PM.

QUESTION 2: Can the sailfin blenny behavior of attacking the weak firefish be chalked up to dominating a weak fish? Or is it likely/possible the blenny aggression is the cause of death? The two have been tankmates for six months without incident.

Losing my little Helfrichi so unexpectedly is a difficult blow, but if I'm about to have velvet rip though my tank, not sure I'll cope with that so well.

Please furnish a couple pics under white light intensity to best assess the issue you describe

 

[drolmaeye]

The fish passed. I can show some video from yesterday evening, but not enough detail to see much. Hoping someone can address the two questions, but recognize it's difficult.

Note in video, fish is swimming into the reflected flow off the glass. This was very common behavior for it throughout its time in my tank.

 

[MnFish1]

The fish passed. I can show some video from yesterday evening, but not enough detail to see much. Hoping someone can address the two questions, but recognize it's difficult.

Note in video, fish is swimming into the reflected flow off the glass. This was very common behavior for it throughout its time in my tank.

Sorry to hear it!. I can't get much from the video except there is pretty high flow- which it was having some trouble with. Unless you can come up with another clue - it's hard to tell. Also would watch your other fish, etc for issues

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Found my Helfrichi Firefish stuck to the weir this morning. When I gently pushed it off, it was very weak but swam. My sailfin blenny started aggressively biting it. Netted it into a bucket but it looks like it is past the point of recovery. Looking for experienced views from others to rule out possibilities.

Without going through tank details, the firefish has been in there for six months. Most recent fish added 90 days ago, most recent coral added 80 days ago, EXCEPT:

I received a shipment of four frags Thursday. These frags were transferred as follows: mix of vendor and DT water -> Revive dip -> DT water rinse -> 2nd DT water rinse -> DT tank. I think it is unlikely that I transferred velvet through water, but I think velvet on frag/coral skeleton is possible.

QUESTION 1: if velvet was on frags added Thursday at 10:00 AM, could it progress fast enough to take out firefish Saturday before 8:00 AM? I have unrelated video of firefish behaving and looking perfectly normal last night at 6:30 PM.

QUESTION 2: Can the sailfin blenny behavior of attacking the weak firefish be chalked up to dominating a weak fish? Or is it likely/possible the blenny aggression is the cause of death? The two have been tankmates for six months without incident.

Losing my little Helfrichi so unexpectedly is a difficult blow, but if I'm about to have velvet rip though my tank, not sure I'll cope with that so well.

Velvet will cause rapid breathing, not eating, and possibly facing into the water flow. I can't tell much from the video, but it doesn't look like it was breathing too fast.

If the frags brought disease into your tank, it would not cause actual fish loss for at least 3 days, most likely longer, as the disease needs time to replicate and fully infect the fish.

Jay

 

[drolmaeye]

Velvet will cause rapid breathing, not eating, and possibly facing into the water flow. I can't tell much from the video, but it doesn't look like it was breathing too fast.

If the frags brought disease into your tank, it would not cause actual fish loss for at least 3 days, most likely longer, as the disease needs time to replicate and fully infect the fish.

Jay

Thanks for the perspective, it is a relief to effectively rule out the frags bringing in disease (at least thus far). All seven (now six) fish went through isolated QT with copper and prazi, and I double-checked my records, no new life of any kind for over 80 days.

Fish seem to be behaving normally, with their usual voracious appetite. Only fish I could get respiratory rate for was the sailfin blenny at 96/min. Fingers crossed it was an isolated incident. I have been congratulating myself on my husbandry efforts lately, so maybe this is the gods just reminding me yet again that I have less control over my little reef than I think.