What is going on here!?

[RacingTiger03]

OK, I had a post a couple days ago about ick. A couple weeks before that cyano. Today I come home to my flame angel dead being eaten by hermits!!! Ick does not progress that fast does it?! What could have happened to my flame? Yesterday he was hanging around in the LR and didn't eat, I was going to put him in the QT today when I got home.. instead I found him dead.

I wish this was an april fools gag but its not... Anyone have some advice or insight? His body was free of anything obvoiusly bad aside from the fins that were eaten by the hermits.

 

[johnanddawn]

i looked back at your transfer thread/cyano thread/ich thread - and not being critical but...
i think you just went to fast - stressed everything out - disease follows.
cyano in an early stage tank indicates a tank that is cycling
cycling means ammonia/nitrite
ammonia causes stress
stress reduces immune system hence they get ich
time is the cure and hope you don't have any more loses
trying some garlic in your food wouldn't hurt - some swear by it - me idk, but worth a try
sorry can't help much

 

[RacingTiger03]

How did I go too fast? I had a 29 gallon setup for 7 months and transferred everything over to the 55 gallon, I added some dry rock to have the correct pounds, and added one fish after two weeks, and the final (mandarin) after another 2 weeks *shrug*

And I'm not trying to sound know it all or critical of what you said. I want to know exactly what went wrong so it doesnt happen again! :)

 

[johnanddawn]

could have been anything that caused the cycle
- the new rock
- did you reuse the sand - stirring it will do that
- maybe just the addition of new fish - i added a new tang to my fish community once and everyone got ich, luckily it was a minor bout and they all got over it but it happens
- you may not have done anything "wrong" - change is a stresser in itself

 

[RacingTiger03]

That's depressing. I re_used about half of the sand and added 40lbs new sand. All of my inverts, including a rbta and acropora are doing fine through this though. I woke. Up this morning to a dead mandarin and pseudochromis though.... I'm just going to leave it alone for a couple months before adding anything back, because I don't know what is causing the deaths.

The mandarin never showed signs of ich, but last night his eyes appeared very cloudy, and this morning when I found him dead he had some white patches on his head. The pseudo in same form as the angel has no visible causes...

Anyone with a plausible disease cause? I still have two clowns, and a watchman goby they are showing no signs... but neither were the other two scaled fish that died

Or am I misunderstanding thid and your saying they just couldn't handle the change and died? If that's it what about the new fish?

I should also mention before this started I took the skimmer and soaked it in vinegar water for 1 day rinsed thoroughly and returned it to the tank. Is that another factor?
The day before fish started dying I added a new koralia evo 1050, could that have been stirring up too much stuff, or too strong flow and stressing the fish?

 

[beaslbob]

Is your pH low (just before lights off)?

 

[RBursek]

How long did you have the Angel? If cyanide was used to capture it it affects there livers and they die about 4-6 weeks later. Just a thought.

 

[RacingTiger03]

Ph drops to right at 8.0 to 7.8 at night.

I had the angel for 4 months... =/

 

[RacingTiger03]

ok.. now the latest. Everything has been fine the last few days. This morning I couldnt find either of my clowns. Then I found one that went carpet surfing. Seeing as they stay in the nem and there is no fish to scare them I cant figure out what caused the jump... I also could not find the other clown anywhere, so it either died and the nem took it, or my dog got it this morning before I realized the clowns were missing.

The question now is, How long should the tank go before adding replacements? 8 weeks is best for ick right? But since this is some unknown whats the longest any disease can live in the tank?

Also there is one fish left, the YWG, he is very active and doing great. In fact appears to be the happiest and most active hes ever been with no other fish lol. Should I remove him as well until 8 weeks or however long has passed?

 

[wicked demon]

Mandarins dont get ich very easily, sounds like another issue, especially with the jumpers, disease can cause that though. I would wait 3 months just to be safe, and keep a close eye on that gobi, have you had temperature fluxuations?

 

[jaytizzle]

Wicked has some good advice there.

Very sorry to hear about all of the complications. This is what I would recommend at this time...

You don't have a clue what caused your problems. Start isolating causes. You say that you had ich. Take the goby out and house him elsewhere. Let that tank go fallow for 8 weeks. This will eliminate ich as a concern in the future (unless you reintroduce it). Keep an eye on the YWG in a QT setting. Perhaps treat with hyposalinity during the fallow period.

When the 8 weeks is over begin by adding fish back very slowly. No more than 1 every two weeks. Go through a proper QT period with each new addition as well. Put them in a setting where you can observe for disease and treat appropriately.

Lastly, be patient. Nothing good ever happens fast in this hobby.

 

[RBursek]

I would check for stray voltage, with the fish jumping now.

 

[RacingTiger03]

Yeah, I thought ick initially, then all this occured so I really don't know.

3 months before going to other fish? sounds fine to me.. I'm not wanting to risk anything again right now for sure....

How would I go about checking for stray voltage?? Just use a voltimeter like I would to check if a fuse were blown?

Im thinking it had to be some kind of disease though, wouldnt stray voltage cause issues for my corals and inverts as well? Also I would have expected the YWG to jump LONG before the clowns if there were any problems like that...

 

[RacingTiger03]

as an update for this, I ended up losing the goby too. Still no idea has to the cause of death on any of the fish. Every coral in the tank is still doing great, corraline has started covering all the new rocks very rapidly, and all my SPS are extremely happy without the flame nipping occasionally. I also got a new morph out of my blue deaths.. hehe I'll have pics of that up later though in the zoanthid section :)