2nd time unknown disease.

[Doctorgori]

Last time I saw this on this tang, he lived but ALL of my basslets died along with a large Moorish Idol, bristletooth tang, mimic tang and all chromis …. catching this guy will be problematic…he’s very large and I don’t have a large qt set up … I can’t see any ich and it doesn’t look like velvet …but I dunno

 

[Doctorgori]

one pic didn’t upload here is another pic

 

[Doctorgori]

3 dart fish 3 royal grammas and 3 black cap basslets missing

 

[vetteguy53081]

3 dart fish 3 royal grammas and 3 black cap basslets missing

What is referred to as fingerprint disease is bacterial and often caused by poor water quality which can simply be elevated ammonia, nitrate, salinity or presence of bacteria from decayed matter
Not sure what test kits you are using but would take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API anything and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours.
Water change, would be first step and in tank is ruby rally pro or preferably in quarantine seachem kanaplex and metroplex added to food at 5000ml

 

[Doctorgori]

What is referred to as fingerprint disease is bacterial and often caused by poor water quality which can simply be elevated ammonia, nitrate, salinity or presence of bacteria from decayed matter
Not sure what test kits you are using but would take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API anything and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours.
Water change, would be first step and in tank is ruby rally pro or preferably in quarantine seachem kanaplex and metroplex added to food at 5000ml

Hmmm,,,,thanks, never heard of it, and I’ll be looking that up…
Anyway, I know the salinity is off, but how much. So I’m waiting on standards to arrive. Hate winging it / panic move, but I may dump some RO in the tank now.
I’ll be back

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This is a case where the picture may not tell the whole story. It could be a bacterial disease, but it could also be flukes or latent ich, or even velvet. It may not be related to your previous issue, even though the basic symptom is similar. It is very rare for a fish to show disease symptoms, but then it survives, while other fish in the tank die.

Are any other fish showing symptoms?
Is the blue tang showing rapid breathing?
Is it still feeding ok?
How long has the blue tang looked this way?

Jay

 

[Doctorgori]

This is a case where the picture may not tell the whole story. It could be a bacterial disease, but it could also be flukes or latent ich, or even velvet. It may not be related to your previous issue, even though the basic symptom is similar. It is very rare for a fish to show disease symptoms, but then it survives, while other fish in the tank die.

Are any other fish showing symptoms?
Is the blue tang showing rapid breathing?
Is it still feeding ok?
How long has the blue tang looked this way?

Jay

I JUST lost a whole bunch of fish to what looked like ich but the speed of death was in days and none of the angels or anthias seemed fazed ..
I caught everybody out and treated with copper, really I lost the idol during copper treatment … so could be latent ich but I just now returned the fish to the DT argh

UV are in the process of being installed…meanwhile I’m finding a dead fish every hour

Yes he was breathing heavy earlier but not. now and frequented / hogged the skunk cleaner station a LOT…

feeding is ok

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I JUST lost a whole bunch of fish to what looked like ich but the speed of death was in days and none of the angels or anthias seemed fazed ..
I caught everybody out and treated with copper, really I lost the idol during copper treatment … so could be latent ich but I just now returned the fish to the DT argh

UV are in the process of being installed…meanwhile I’m finding a dead fish every hour

Yes he was breathing heavy earlier but not. now and frequented / hogged the skunk cleaner station a LOT…

feeding is ok

This is a case where a microscope becomes vital for being able to determine what is going on. A skin scrape and a gill clip would tell if it was a protozoan or a fluke. If neither of those are seen, then the differential diagnosis goes back to a primary bacterial disease. Those are actually pretty rare - most bacterial infection begin with an injury of some sort. Still, they can happen. One clue is: Fish posturing for a cleaner shrimp usually indicates a parasite of some sort, often flukes. However, flukes typically don't cause massive, rapid fish loss.

Jay

 

[Doctorgori]

Appreciate the fast reply
@vetteguy53081 &
@Jay Hemdal ….
this would constitute “rapid fish loss” and plain txt doesn’t convey my anxiety or mood…
I’ve had that tang for a lil while …. I’ll repost a causality list later after I get more info and test everything

 

[Doctorgori]

update, the good news and bad news….

good: I caught out a cherub angel that was near death and did a 5min fw dip … he sorta recovered so that fact and rapid breathing “might” point to flukes….

the bad: fish keep dying along with peppermint shrimp(go figure) …only the cardinals look ok …

waiting on Rally Pro…… but I’m afraid it might get here too late
…might order a microscope anyway

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

update, the good news and bad news….

good: I caught out a cherub angel that was near death and did a 5min fw dip … he sorta recovered so that fact and rapid breathing “might” point to flukes….

the bad: fish keep dying along with peppermint shrimp(go figure) …only the cardinals look ok …

waiting on Rally Pro…… but I’m afraid it might get here too late
…might order a microscope anyway

Ugh, the shrimp dying throws a monkey wrench into the whole diagnosis. It could just be coincidental, but when fish and invertebrates are dying, it could be environmental, not a fish disease. See the open mouths on most of the fish? That's a sign of hypoxia. Shrimp also have a high oxygen demand. What other invertebrates are in the tank? Are/were any of the fish breathing fast? Can you add a good air stone for now, just to help rule out low oxygen?

Jay

 

[Doctorgori]

yeah it was almost as if “something” was amiss with the O2: fish breathing heavily, peppermint shrimp very visible and high up, abnormal behavior, even previously unknown large serpent stars were out….. anyway,., no new dead bodies and almost 75% recovery today as yesterday I placed the powerheads high up for aeration….
new water is cooking, Rally is in the mail
Causes and current water quality still unknown. I could test out of curiosity but I’m changing H2O regardless

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

yeah it was almost as if “something” was amiss with the O2: fish breathing heavily, peppermint shrimp very visible and high up, abnormal behavior, even previously unknown large serpent stars were out….. anyway,., no new dead bodies and almost 75% recovery today as yesterday I placed the powerheads high up for aeration….
new water is cooking, Rally is in the mail
Causes and current water quality still unknown. I could test out of curiosity but I’m changing H2O regardless

I would add an air stone to ensure that the surface tension of the water is be broken really well. It could be low oxygen or high carbon dioxide or both.
Does the tank have a protein skimmer? Do you know what the pH of the water is first thing in the morning?
Jay

 

[Doctorgori]

midday Pinpoint reads 7.8 but tank was filled with IO purple, so that’s kinda expected , fish appear to be acting normal …I’ll re-read in the am … this was weird
add…skimmer is off line, so that could reinforce suspicions of O2 levels being low somehow

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That seems a really low pH for mid day - I’m worried about high carbon dioxide.
Jay