Coming back to this thread a few days later to try and figure out what is necessary to progress. Most fish died within 24 hours. Total head count was 1 tang, 1 foxface, 3 clownfish, engineer goby, cardinalfish, and royal gramma. Those that survived and seemed unaffected are 1 firefish goby, 2 purple gobies, and 1 yellow watchmen goby. The pattern I see with these fish is that these specifically live inside/underneath my rock. They were not openly swimming while chaos hit. Does this bit of information help others assess what may have been the cause?
I am wanting to figure out whether the tank needs a reset or not. I have an order from Dr. Reef currently under QT and if need be, I will call to cancel it.
To recap, it started with a non-quarantined coral beauty my wife purchased from the LFS. The fish was bloated. Got continually worse every day before dying 4-5 days later. It never ate. Its eyes even became swollen on the last day. Swam around fine until it final day where it laid around the sandbed throughout the day. Next, purple tang looked like it had ich or velvet. There were tons of white granules on it. More than I am used to seeing on a fish infected with ich. It died overnight and its skin seemed to literally fall off of its body. Parts of its coat were left suspended in the water. Next, the clownfish and foxface experienced the same thing. The clowns didn't appear to have the flesh falling off like the tang and foxface did. Then, the cardinalfish and engineer goby simply looked like they had flour covering their body. It was not granular looking like what the tang had. This looked more like flour mixed with a drop of water. Once both showed signs of this, they were gone in a few hours. Royal gramma went MIA and I only assume it fell victim to whatever happened. The remaining fish seem unaffected. Coral are unaffected. Parameters are all within acceptable range. Cleanup crew is seemingly unaffected.
I am wanting to figure out whether the tank needs a reset or not. I have an order from Dr. Reef currently under QT and if need be, I will call to cancel it.
To recap, it started with a non-quarantined coral beauty my wife purchased from the LFS. The fish was bloated. Got continually worse every day before dying 4-5 days later. It never ate. Its eyes even became swollen on the last day. Swam around fine until it final day where it laid around the sandbed throughout the day. Next, purple tang looked like it had ich or velvet. There were tons of white granules on it. More than I am used to seeing on a fish infected with ich. It died overnight and its skin seemed to literally fall off of its body. Parts of its coat were left suspended in the water. Next, the clownfish and foxface experienced the same thing. The clowns didn't appear to have the flesh falling off like the tang and foxface did. Then, the cardinalfish and engineer goby simply looked like they had flour covering their body. It was not granular looking like what the tang had. This looked more like flour mixed with a drop of water. Once both showed signs of this, they were gone in a few hours. Royal gramma went MIA and I only assume it fell victim to whatever happened. The remaining fish seem unaffected. Coral are unaffected. Parameters are all within acceptable range. Cleanup crew is seemingly unaffected.