Fish coated in sand+air and dying

oceaninabox12345 · May 28, 2019

Another update.. cowfish is on the downhill, and my only surviving and eating fish are the original two clownfish. Still cant get the diamond goby out the tank and hes still wrecking all rockwork

Mastiffsrule · May 28, 2019

Sorry this is going on.

My opinion you’re not an idiot. You’ll get thru this, take away things learned as you move on.

My only advice, if not already given is keep feeding them. Nutrition is not a cure but will help.

Keep updating.

PhilT · May 28, 2019

Also sick or stressed cowfish can release poison which can wipe out your fish too.

Mjrenz · May 28, 2019

I'm sorry you're dealing with this too and I hope you can at least save some of your fish. You've gotten solid advice so far, I just want to add that when it's all over, and you put your tank back together, make sure all the rockwork is supported only by the bottom of the tank and not the sand so it doesn't collapse when the critters move it around. You're tank will also need to be left without fish for 6 weeks to starve the parasite out. If you leave it fallow for 76 days you can also starve out ich. By implementing a strict quarantine procedure you will be able to prevent this from ever happening again in the future.

I wish you the best of luck

oceaninabox12345 · May 30, 2019

@Mjrenz @Mastiffsrule thanks you guys

well, all of the fish have passed except for my two original clownfish. They seem to be doing decently, but i can absolutely see the gold dusting of velvet on my black one. Its pretty much gone now, but it was scary for a bit

Mjrenz · May 30, 2019

oceaninabox12345 said:
@Mjrenz @Mastiffsrule thanks you guys well, all of the fish have passed except for my two original clownfish. They seem to be doing decently, but i can absolutely see the gold dusting of velvet on my black one. Its pretty much gone now, but it was scary for a bit

I'm sorry for your losses! Do you have them in a qt now?

lolmatt · May 30, 2019

I know it was mentioned, but definitely make sure to leave the display tank fishless for 76 days after the last fish was removed. That will break the lifecycle of any ich or velvet that could be in there.

Now is actually a great time to practice your qt skills since you have about 11 weeks before the display can see fish again. I took the opportunity to get a few new fish and qt them when I got ich (luckily for me it was mid tank switch) so by the time the fallow period was over I had a few new fish to be excited about.

If you find small tangs, you could qt one or two (two is about the max you could have in a 120 anyways) in that 20 long for many weeks - I put a 3-4" purple tang and a copper band butterfly in my 20 long for about 6 weeks with no noticeable stress. Clowns probably fine in 5-10g for the duration as long as they're not huge.

Losing fish to disease is difficult, but a learning experience most of us have at some point and makes us better fish keepers in the long run.

Mastiffsrule · May 30, 2019

Mjrenz said:
I'm sorry for your losses! Do you have them in a qt now?

Really sorry. Hard to go thru this.

oceaninabox12345 · May 31, 2019

@Mjrenz yes the remaining that are alive are all in qt and are being treated with cupramine (i think i spelled it wrong). This is my first time qting, but i think im doing okay. @lolmatt as soon as i get the stupid goby out the DT then yes i absolutely will. Ill just concentrate on the corals. And i could really fit such big fish in the 20L for that long??? Thats very good to know! @Mastiffsrule thank you. Ive really appreciated all the support, especially when i hadnt qted in the first place and I didn't get "shamed" by everyone.