Fish dying one by one

[B1tran]

Hi. I have a group of fish that has been thriving for awhile, eat, swim happily, and get a long. Recently fish have been dying one by one. All would eat except for one that breaths a little hard and stop eating then die in a few days. Then the next fish will have the same symptoms while all others are fine until that one dies and then another fish gets it. I maintain a low dose of copper, treat ProziPro from time to time and had flatworm problem for awhile also. Trying to get rid of the flatworm nAturally by having wrasses.
Any idea what is happening?

 

[AcroNem]

How long have you been maintaining copper? What level is it at?

 

[B1tran]

1.0ppm and maintaining it for 4-5 months. I have a Hanna checker. Fish has no exterior symptoms like ich, brook, or flukes.

my guess is velvet?

 

[B1tran]

I recently dose BioClean which is Bio digest and bioptim. Not sure if it has anything to do with it. Might not be velvet bc there are no physical signs of disease. Internal parasite maybe?

 

[AcroNem]

You may not have a disease, or at least not visible. It's possible that one of these parasites is causing deaths, but my guess is that your fish have gill/ internal damage from chronic copper exposure. Copper treatment works at therapeutic levels for a short duration (21 days), but is still toxic and can cause damage even at sublethal levels if exposed for a prolonged period of time. Some fish don't tolerate it at all, so depending on what your keeping this could be the problem. It's also possible parasites are not visible and in the gills.

 

[B1tran]

Ok. So I’ll try that to lower the level of Copper. Or maybe I’ll add the carbon back to remove the copper entirely. Thanks. I have copper bc I have achille and powder blue which is prone to ich.

 

[lalothefreediver]

HI B1Tran.
I had the same , losing fish one by one ,marine velvet did not show until I almost lost 27 fish. Approx
I react to late , and the syntoms was the Same behavior as velvet with no show.
anyway I had to set up hospital tank to try to save the rest 12 guys. Some of them are reluctant to get into the trap, and hope I can treat them before is to late .
THE MOST IMPORTANT is to know the symptoms of marine velvet , before it shows in the skin

scratching agains rock or sand
shy
hiding
swimming against a power her or heavy current
not eating much
shy when feeding

IF you have this SYNTOMS is velvet unfortunately, and need To be treated urgently.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/
This is the best way and only way after 2 weeks reading and learning
hope the best .

 

[jelazar]

What kind of copper are you dosing? I use Copper Power and the theraputic dosage is 2.0 if I recall correctly. Your dosage may be too low to be effective.

IMO asymptomatic velvet has been rampant in the hobby for the past few years. Everything looks fine and you haven't added fish in ages, then bam! You have a stress event and fish start dropping off like crazy.

 

[B1tran]

I add Fritz Copper Safe. Formerly Marbel Copper safe.

My fish do have the same symptoms as the velvet. Maybe I’ll up the copper to 1.75-2.0 for 2 weeks then I’ll remove the copper since the copper might be causing it too.