Hello,my tank has been up for 8 months,tank has cycled, first added cleaners later 4 clowns,wrass,and blue hippo tang tang died in a week,have since added tangs and flame angels they live for 7-8 days and one by one they die some i never find two of the original clown fish are fine,I acclimate as instructed(15 min float slow drip).I do not have a Qt tank set up yet,any ideas on what my problem may be i was told to does with prazipro.
dying fish
- Thread starter DPayne
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Well lets start with your SG level? For fish coming from a lower SG like 1.020 moved into an SG of 1.025 a 15 acclimation is not long enough.
When you state cycled have you done a recent chemistry work up, what are your nitrates?
Do you have enough oxygenation for the tank?
When do the fish die, night or day? What symptoms to the fish exhibit?
When you state cycled have you done a recent chemistry work up, what are your nitrates?
Do you have enough oxygenation for the tank?
When do the fish die, night or day? What symptoms to the fish exhibit?
Sg is 1.024 i float for 15 min then drip every 5 min for 30-45 min.125g long tank. Ammonia 0,nitrites 0,nitrates 0. I have a wave maker up high that's for o2 but dont know actual 02 level.the fish mostly die overnight.most fish show no signs of problems but i have seen some stay up torward top of tank and some act like they cant swim around laying on there side on bottom of tank. water temp stays at 79.thanks for any help.
Duke4Life
Just a crazy eel guy, LMAS
Are you getting all your fish at one source?
Hanging around at the surface sounds like it could be an oxygenation issue, you can not rule out a predator though. At night O2 may drop and already compromised fish just fails.
No white spots, no flashing?
If you get another fish from source ask what they keep their SG at. Fish do not handle sudden rises SG, many fish stores keep their SG in the 1.020 range, unfortunately this requires a much longer acclimation.
Hanging around at the surface sounds like it could be an oxygenation issue, you can not rule out a predator though. At night O2 may drop and already compromised fish just fails.
No white spots, no flashing?
If you get another fish from source ask what they keep their SG at. Fish do not handle sudden rises SG, many fish stores keep their SG in the 1.020 range, unfortunately this requires a much longer acclimation.
Naiad
Valuable Member
It is a good chance that the hippo tang brought in velvet. Idk why but tangs seem to be suffering from it just as much as ich lately. I think some of the big wholesalers need to look into their holding tanks...
melypr1985
totally addicted
The speed at which your losing fish makes me suspicious of velvet here. There are several instances when velvet didn't show any outward symptoms before the fish died. Have any of the fish been swimming into the flow of a powerhead or hiding from the light? Swimming up at the top of the tank seems like a good place for a powerhead to be pointed so I'm wondering if that's what they were doing there?
if this is velvet you'll need to get a QT set up asap to save any remaining fish. If you dont have any fish left then you need to leave the tank fallow (without fish) for 6 weeks before adding any new fish. At this point every fish you add to replace the lost ones are just contracting the parasite or disease the others died from. Qt on all new additions will keep this from happening in the future.
if this is velvet you'll need to get a QT set up asap to save any remaining fish. If you dont have any fish left then you need to leave the tank fallow (without fish) for 6 weeks before adding any new fish. At this point every fish you add to replace the lost ones are just contracting the parasite or disease the others died from. Qt on all new additions will keep this from happening in the future.
^^ I suspect velvet as well. I recently rescued a Dogface Puffer from Petco (of course 
) who was the first one to show visible physical symptoms of velvet. None of the other fish showed symptoms as of Sunday night. On Tuesday I went back in there, and one of the Hippos had already died and you could tell the other wouldn't last much longer. The Aquatics Dept. manager told me you couldn't even see velvet on the fish until they took the dead body out of the water, and I couldn't see it on the still alive Hippo that was huffing & puffing and on his last leg. 
However, as @Tahoe61 pointed out I would like to know the SG of the source water these fish are coming from.
) who was the first one to show visible physical symptoms of velvet. None of the other fish showed symptoms as of Sunday night. On Tuesday I went back in there, and one of the Hippos had already died and you could tell the other wouldn't last much longer. The Aquatics Dept. manager told me you couldn't even see velvet on the fish until they took the dead body out of the water, and I couldn't see it on the still alive Hippo that was huffing & puffing and on his last leg. However, as @Tahoe61 pointed out I would like to know the SG of the source water these fish are coming from.
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
X2 this sounds like velvet to me. Velvet is every bit as common as ich now or at least very close and far more deadly.
Every LFS here local has velvet in their systems.
^^ Yup. LFS I advise tells me every shipment from a California wholesaler comes gift wrapped with velvet these days. He calls it the "West Coast Plague"
. He treats all his fish before selling them now.i purchased a blue hippo and 5 watchman gobies these came out of California i checked SG in shipping bag it was 1.015 my tank was 1.025 i slowly dripped my water to bag for about a hour.put them in Thursday night came home tonight(sat) and tang is dead gobies are hiding i have had a suspicion of a disease but don't know what diseases look like.My original fish came from lfs.I think my best move my be removing fish from tank but if i do wont i be moving the disease with them?
Osmotic shock. Very few fish can survive going up that high in salinity in just 1 hour. Next time place your fish in a QT, matching salinity to the bag water, and slowly bring the SG up by topping off with saltwater (instead of freshwater) to compensate for evaporation.
How to acclimate: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-acclimate.192300/
ok so i did add prime when i acclimated fish so could it be disease or not acclimating correct.The gobies have been in tank 3 days they are hiding but i think still alive,2 damsels been in tank 2 months,1 angel 3 weeks,1 clown 5 months they are swimming around eating and look fine.Should i remove fish or wait see what happens?dose tank with something? I have others with SW tanks and they have checked water for me and say its ok and have seen fish but cant tell me what the problem is.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Disease is a possibility. Try your best to get a good look at the hiding fish. Maybe even a picture. Keep a close eye on the rest of your fish and be prepared to get them into QT if velvet seems like the actual culprit here as I think is likely.
melypr1985
totally addicted
If it turns out to be velvet then yes absolutely. I like Coppersafe. I use this at the LFS I work at with great results.
You cannot use any form of copper with corals/inverts.
Considering that your fish are likely still recovering from osmotic shock, I wouldn't use any meds on them right now unless absolutely sure you have velvet in the aquarium.
