Diagnosing and treating fish diseases?

[joshwahwoo]

My tank is about 3 months old with both corals and fish. Not 1 coral has died yet but my fish seem to die quite regularly. Ive been researching online and diseases such as marine velvet and clownfish disease and they all seem to fit the description. I don't have a quarantine tank and i dont think im able to get one. Is there anything i should do now? the information online has been quite varied so i dont know which is the best course of action. I have stopped stocking any fish atm. Any advice? should i just let it run its course or should i be dosing my tank with anything? The symptoms are quite consistent - white film on skin --> stop eating --> some of them seem to be breathing heavily --> death.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My tank is about 3 months old with both corals and fish. Not 1 coral has died yet but my fish seem to die quite regularly. Ive been researching online and diseases such as marine velvet and clownfish disease and they all seem to fit the description. I don't have a quarantine tank and i dont think im able to get one. Is there anything i should do now? the information online has been quite varied so i dont know which is the best course of action. I have stopped stocking any fish atm. Any advice? should i just let it run its course or should i be dosing my tank with anything? The symptoms are quite consistent - white film on skin --> stop eating --> some of them seem to be breathing heavily --> death.

In the US, we have access to pre-quarantined fish, do you? If not, the only real solution is to get a small quarantine tank. This won't solve 100% of the problems, but it reduces the issues be a great degree, and then, when you do have a problem, it is isolated in the quarantine tank, not your main display.

When an aquarium has had uncontrolled fish losses like yours has, it is best to leave it empty of fish (invertebrates are fine of course) for around 11 weeks. That ensures no active disease is left in the tank.


Jay

 

[joshwahwoo]

In the US, we have access to pre-quarantined fish, do you? If not, the only real solution is to get a small quarantine tank. This won't solve 100% of the problems, but it reduces the issues be a great degree, and then, when you do have a problem, it is isolated in the quarantine tank, not your main display.

When an aquarium has had uncontrolled fish losses like yours has, it is best to leave it empty of fish (invertebrates are fine of course) for around 11 weeks. That ensures no active disease is left in the tank.


Jay

I am not from the US, i am from Hong Kong, most of our fish are imported from the U.S but i visit multiple lfs. Right now i have no way of catching the fish from the tank as it is quite large and has structures that are fragile. Ive tried to dose it with some medication given to me by my lfs(i do not know what is in it) and immediately my corals shriveled up and invertebrates died. So i will not be adding anymore medication.

is my tank pretty much f**ed? im a bit lost here, information on the internet isnt really helpful for my case. I also have a few garden eels so its pretty impossible to remove all fish from the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I am not from the US, i am from Hong Kong, most of our fish are imported from the U.S but i visit multiple lfs. Right now i have no way of catching the fish from the tank as it is quite large and has structures that are fragile. Ive tried to dose it with some medication given to me by my lfs(i do not know what is in it) and immediately my corals shriveled up and invertebrates died. So i will not be adding anymore medication.

is my tank pretty much f**ed? im a bit lost here, information on the internet isnt really helpful for my case. I also have a few garden eels so its pretty impossible to remove all fish from the tank.

That is an issue - there really are not any truly reef safe medications that are also effective against fish parasites; anything strong enough to kill the parasites, will harm the corals. People have used strong UV lights, but due to the dwell time, they don’t stop parasites well in large tanks.
Jay