Fish dead within 48 hours

[MarineKyle]

Hello I was hoping someone could help me determine what might have happened to my fish. New to Saltwater aquarium but have had freshwater for 20 years. I have a 75 gallon FOWLR tank and within 48 hours almost all of my fish perished. The tank is around 6 months old. My parameters were good salinity 1.025, PH 8.0, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Nitrates: 20. They were doing fine swimming around with no problems. Then my Flame fin tang started losing color and looked really pale and Butterfly fish looked milky white, like a film on scales. Wasnt sure is it was ich then they both perieshed.. Changed 20% of my water after and dosed with Ich Attack. Then today all of fish started perishing 2 wrasse, Coral Beauty, Springer Damsel, and now a percula clown, bubble tip anenome. Some showed signs of white specs or growths near mouth and some had fin damage. I only have one clownfish, lawnmower blenny and firefish (maybe) all not doing great. I lost my entire tank. I also have hermits, a sally foot crab, Saron shrimp, cleaner shrimp and Porcelain crab... who seem to be thriving. So i feel its some sort of fish disease... But seems to be extremely rapid development. Any advice would help... And what should i do before restocking my tank and how long should i wait. Also I did have a Cyano outbreak before, and dosed with Vibrant. a week ago. Thanks for the advice.

 

[MnFish1]

The issue I see - is every time a clownfish gets sick - everyone LOOKS for the things that suggest brooklynella. To me this is velvet. As well as a tank (sorry) - that may have been stocked too quickly to make good sense of the whole cascade. It could be oxygen, ammonia - after a fish death - causing a cascade etc. Bottom line - IDK - others have given their opinion - thats mine - but the truth is sorry it happened - and its certainly a hard thing to deal with!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree on likely velvet with clownfish. if it was on clown, it likely hot the other occupants. Problem with velvet is, unlike ich , it does not show up right away then appears as a dust increasing in size
Assuming velvet, some signs/warning signs/symptoms would have been:
- Scratching body against hard objects
- Fish is lethargic
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Rapid, labored breathing
- Fins clamped against the body
- rapid breathing and mucus around the gills

Fish with velvet will typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium. As the disease progresses outwards from the gills, the cysts then become visible on the fins and body.

 

[MarineKyle]

Update. Lost all my fish, except my lawnmower blenny who seems unaffected. Couldn't get a QT set up in time. I'm sick at losing all the fish, wiped them out within 48 hours. Still have my cleaner shrimp, porcelaiin crab, sally lightfoot and hermits for the next 6-8 weeks. Should I be worry about any equipment in tank, cleaning etc. Also i'm guessing i should keep the tank running for next 2 months. Going to setup a QT for next round. Thanks again for everyones advice

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sorry to hear.
Pull the lawnmower blenny and put it in qt. Tank should remain fishless for 6 weeks, take care of it as normal.

 

[MarineKyle]

Agree on likely velvet with clownfish. if it was on clown, it likely hot the other occupants. Problem with velvet is, unlike ich , it does not show up right away then appears as a dust increasing in size
Assuming velvet, some signs/warning signs/symptoms would have been:
- Scratching body against hard objects
- Fish is lethargic
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Rapid, labored breathing
- Fins clamped against the body
- rapid breathing and mucus around the gills

Fish with velvet will typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium. As the disease progresses outwards from the gills, the cysts then become visible on the fins and body.

The clowns were the first in the tank, over 6 months ago. They were the last to die. None of them where at the surface gasping for water. Just very lethargic. wouldn't eat the last few days. did see weight loss and discoloration happened within a day then dead the next few hours. Not really much scratching against rocks either, a few times i caught it but very seldom. Looked like the fins where rotting and mucous over scales sand eyes. Also looked a few looked maltritious right before death. Some spots on some fish near mouth. Anyway next time i'm using a QT. Never thought it would spread so quickly. Will 6-8 weeks kill all the parasites. How can i know for sure? Thanks again.

 

[MarineKyle]

Sorry to hear.
Pull the lawnmower blenny and put it in qt. Tank should remain fishless for 6 weeks, take care of it as normal.

thanks definitely will.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The clowns were the first in the tank, over 6 months ago. They were the last to die. None of them where at the surface gasping for water. Just very lethargic. wouldn't eat the last few days. did see weight loss and discoloration happened within a day then dead the next few hours. Not really much scratching against rocks either, a few times i caught it but very seldom. Looked like the fins where rotting and mucous over scales sand eyes. Also looked a few looked maltritious right before death. Some spots on some fish near mouth. Anyway next time i'm using a QT. Never thought it would spread so quickly. Will 6-8 weeks kill all the parasites. How can i know for sure? Thanks again.

That really sounds like brooklynella

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Honestly I'd treat the surviving lawnmower blenny with a 90 minute bath in ruby reef rally pro to eliminate brooklynella, then place it into a sterile quarantine (10 gallon set up with all new saltwater and pvc pipe to hide). HOB filter with no carbon (swap media bag with filter floss), and dose Biospira to prevent an ammonia spike. While in quarantine, treat with copper (I like cupramine) for 30 days. Keep the fish in the quarantine until the fallow period is done. I would also recommend treating with praziquantel every 7 days for 3 weeks after the copper treatment, eliminating potential flukes.

Any fish added to the tank after the fallow period can be quarantined the same way before going in and being introduced to your other fish. It's a pretty much foolproof method to prevent parasite introduction to the tank.

 

[MarineKyle]

Honestly I'd treat the surviving lawnmower blenny with a 90 minute bath in ruby reef rally pro to eliminate brooklynella, then place it into a sterile quarantine (10 gallon set up with all new saltwater and pvc pipe to hide). HOB filter with no carbon (swap media bag with filter floss), and dose Biospira to prevent an ammonia spike. While in quarantine, treat with copper (I like cupramine) for 30 days. Keep the fish in the quarantine until the fallow period is done. I would also recommend treating with praziquantel every 7 days for 3 weeks after the copper treatment, eliminating potential flukes.

Any fish added to the tank after the fallow period can be quarantined the same way before going in and being introduced to your other fish. It's a pretty much foolproof method to prevent parasite introduction to the tank.

Seems like a lot of medication, but if it will keep them healthy, I'll do it. Thanks

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Seems like a lot of medication, but if it will keep them healthy, I'll do it. Thanks

Each one is for specific diseases, most of which are relatively common now.
Ruby Reef Rally Pro - eliminates Brooklynella, and helps prevent Uronema.

Cupramine or Copper Power - eliminates Cryptocaryon (marine ich) and Amlyoodinium (marine velvet)

Prazi-Pro (Praziquantel) - eliminates most flukes, and some intestinal worms

 

[MarineKyle]

One last question when restocking (6-8 weeks from now) should i also quarantine new Invertebrates introduced to the display tank in the future.

 

[Sharkbait19]

One last question when restocking (6-8 weeks from now) should i also quarantine new Invertebrates introduced to the display tank in the future.

Ideally inverts should be held in qt for 76 days. Many, myself included, don’t with no problems though. If I had the tank for invert qt I would do it though.

 

[MarineKyle]

Is there an online fish store any of you would recommend. I was using BlueZoo Aquatics, good quality and healthy fish i thought, they seemed to thrive, until this happened.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Usually I like purchasing in person so I see if the fish is sick. Online is always a gamble. Blue zoo has really good reviews. Stay away from liveaquaria. I had a good experience with NY aquatic.
Dr. Reef will qt fish for you, and I think TSM does the same.

 

[MarineKyle]

Usually I like purchasing in person so I see if the fish is sick. Online is always a gamble. Blue zoo has really good reviews. Stay away from liveaquaria. I had a good experience with NY aquatic.
Dr. Reef will qt fish for you, and I think TSM does the same.

Thanks

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Is there an online fish store any of you would recommend. I was using BlueZoo Aquatics, good quality and healthy fish i thought, they seemed to thrive, until this happened.

TSM Aquatics, ReefProStore, and CoralReefTN are all great places. I still quarantine though, even if already pre-quarantined.

 

[MnFish1]

So sorry to hear about your fish. I agree. Put the blenny in qt. I am not sure a ruby reef dip will do any more or less. Agree with copper for 30 days. You could also consider treating the tank with hypo salinity (with the blenny included) without going through the entire procedure - depending on whether you have invertebrates or corals in the tank) - I think I read you have a shrimp

 

[MarineKyle]

yes 3 shrimp: 1 Cleaner and 2 Saron, also Porcelain and Sally Lightfoot Crab... So want to keep the salinity same for them... But I'll pull Blenny first chance i get and medicate

 

[Salted]

Going through a very similar situation here. 80g system running 2yrs. Lost all fish except a blue damsel in about 24hrs. Same as the op, all inverts are fine - shrimp/snails/hermits/sand sifting star/corals. Is/are large water changes a waste of time at this point? Do I pull the lone survivor let the tank go fallow as is and not bother with water changes?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Going through a very similar situation here. 80g system running 2yrs. Lost all fish except a blue damsel in about 24hrs. Same as the op, all inverts are fine - shrimp/snails/hermits/sand sifting star/corals. Is/are large water changes a waste of time at this point? Do I pull the lone survivor let the tank go fallow as is and not bother with water changes?

Generally, fish loss with all invertebrates thriving means a fish disease. Losing all fish in 24 hours often means Amyloodinium/velvet, but the fish would have shown rapid breathing prior to death. The typical response to that is remove all fish and let the tank run fallow with just the invertebrates for a period of time. The time frame ranges from 45 to 75 days, depending on the disease involved and the water temperature. Then, new fish should be fully quarantined, else you may end up with the same issue later on.

In your case, the tank running good for two years and then having a problem is unusual. Did you add any new fish or invertebrates in the past 45 days?

Jay