Frustrated, no idea what's going on.

[AdictedAquaristAnonymous]

So I have a 40g reef tank, I'm at work so I can't give exact water parameter measurements. Though I can tell you they are if not perfect, as close as you can be to perfect. I have 4 or 5 zoa frags, a small maze brain coral, small chalice, and a decent size hammer coral. The hammer, chalice and couple of zoas are new. I have 4 peppermint shrimp, a sea hair, and another slug that appears once in a great while that was a hitchhiker.

My issue is that all of my swimmers continue to die. I have had an orchid dottyback that was fine the night before, and in the morning was laying down breathing heavy, then did the death swims and was gone. I had a green mandarin goby that started breathing strange, wouldn't eat, and then died. I currently have a yellow eye kole tang that when I saw this morning, was and still is laying on the bottom breathing heavy and appears to maybe have its slime coating coming off? In any case, everything else is doing great, the corals are looking amazing, the shrimp are doing great and molting regularly, and the sea hair is tooling around noming on all of the algae he can.

Does anyone have any idea what can be going on??

 

[kevinsmixed90]

You will want to ask humblefish but off hand it sounds like ammonia maybe retest? if it is not sure why corals look fine though . Sorry to hear about your losses and hope you get back on track soon,

 

[Chris Adams]

Have you cross checked your #'s on multiple kits/probes etc...

You should run full battery of tests and then have someone else test starting with ammonia.
Do yo use ro/di for top off? Do you have an RO/DI at all?
Do you have any fish that survive?
I would also be looking for stray voltage.. does your water smell?

 

[Tahoe61]

Are you quarantining your fish purchases?

Slime coat, sounds like a disease process going on. Could be multiple pathogens so you need to ID which bacteria or parasite.......is present. Treat for that pathogen (after research) QT all new additions and leave your current tank without fish or add any further fish until you can nail down the culprit.

 

[zemuss]

How long has this tank been up?

 

[AdictedAquaristAnonymous]

Sounds good, I will pick up some more testing equipment and see if that sheds some light. I only use ro/di water, and I'm not sure about stray voltage, I'll have to check that. I also have not noticed any smell.

I don't quarantine them, just acclimate and mix water slowly. I will do some research on diseases that can cause that.

The tank has been going for at least 5 months.

 

[Humblefish]

It sounds like a fast killing parasite (ex: velvet) invading the gills and your fish are dying due to asphyxiation. But also check for stray voltage just in case.

Velvet (Amyloodinium):

Symptoms - Because velvet can be such a fast killer, key behavioral symptoms will often prelude visible ones. A fish with velvet may breathe heavy, seek relief by swimming into the flow of a powerhead and act reclusive (velvet makes them sensitive to light).

If visible symptoms do manifest; velvet appears the same as ich, except the fish will usually be covered in “dust.” This dust may look gold colored if viewed at the right angle and under the right spectrum of light. Velvet is often misdiagnosed as ich and is the main “tank killer” in our hobby. It can wipe out all your fish in less than 72 hours and cannot usually be “managed” as ich sometimes is.

Treatment options - Chloroquine phosphate is the treatment of choice for velvet, but copper also works if symptoms are caught early on. Tank transfer and hypo does not work with velvet. A freshwater dip or formalin bath is recommended before treatment begins, due to the severity of this disease; however these would only provide temporary relief and will not eradicate velvet.

 

[AdictedAquaristAnonymous]

Would the treatments for velvet effect coral? I don't have a quarantine tank set up yet. =/

 

[Humblefish]

Would the treatments for velvet effect coral? I don't have a quarantine tank set up yet. =/

Both CP and copper will kill corals/inverts, so you have to treat the fish in a QT environment. The DT itself should be left fallow for 6 weeks for velvet - 72 days if you suspect ich.