I'm stumped

[Pittsburgh88]

Well short story here I ditched my skimmer due to it constantly overflowing, recently I tried it again to no avail now my fish are dropping like flies I've had 3 deaths in the last 2 weeks what is poisoning my tank? It seems to only effect the fish as the coral and hermits/snails are doing fine I put the skimmer in a fresh bucket of saltwater and it seemed to work so its gotta be something I'm either dosing or in my tank. Anyone??

 

[Pittsburgh88]

I've been dosing Vibrant Reef, Stress Coat, Reef Fuel, and Prime every so often.

My water levels are all good.

 

[cmcoker]

Stress coat, I think, is most likely the problem. Why are you dosing it? Or prime?

If you aren't seeing ammonia, I would stop the prime. If you are seeing ammonia, that's a problem.

How are the fish acting before they die? It's probably more likely you have a disease or something but need more info on the tank.
Need size, date setup, stocking list, quarantine procedure if any, behavior of fish, noticeable spots, lesions or discoloration, and anything else you can think of that may be relevant.

Oh and need which tests, and actual results of the tests

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Stress coat, I think, is most likely the problem. Why are you dosing it? Or prime?

If you aren't seeing ammonia, I would stop the prime. If you are seeing ammonia, that's a problem.

How are the fish acting before they die? It's probably more likely you have a disease or something but need more info on the tank.
Need size, date setup, stocking list, quarantine procedure if any, behavior of fish, noticeable spots, lesions or discoloration, and anything else you can think of that may be relevant.

Stress coat just to help the acclimation process, no ammonia or such, one fish has disappeared completely, the other 2 would just swim around then look like they are resting on the bottom then swim some more then die. Right now all that's left is 1 clown seems to be ok right now the tang that died did appear to have large white spots at death. Tank size is a 75 gallon that's been up for approximately 1.5 years The coral and clean up crews seem to be doing fine.

 

[40B Knasty]

A lot of products will overflow a protein skimmer. Like stress coat. It's a coating. This will make a skimmer go bonkers.
Prime binds ammonia. It does not remove it. So using Prime in a tank is kind of useless if the ammonia that is bound together is not taken out by your mechanical filtration I believe. Prime is more or less only good for detoxifing chlorine and chloramine.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

A lot of products will overflow a protein skimmer. Like stress coat. It's a coating. This will make a skimmer go bonkers.
Prime binds ammonia. It does not remove it. So using Prime in a tank is kind of useless if the ammonia that is bound together is not taken out by your mechanical filtration I believe. Prime is more or less only good for detoxifing chlorine and chloramine.

Gotcha so I'm gonna dona large water change see what happens and nix the dosing.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Vibrant Reef, Stress Coat, and Reef Fuel can all cause the skimmer to go nuts.

Vibrant is really only intended for short term use, as well as Stress Coat. Prolonged use can cause other issues such as nutrient imbalances and such.

For Prime, it lasts for up to 48 hours after dosing, and really is only needed if there is a present issue with ammonia, or nitrites/trates. If you are seeing ammonia spikes then it's a key indicator that something has died, and is overloading your tank's biological filtering ability.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

A lot of products will overflow a protein skimmer. Like stress coat. It's a coating. This will make a skimmer go bonkers.
Prime binds ammonia. It does not remove it. So using Prime in a tank is kind of useless if the ammonia that is bound together is not taken out by your mechanical filtration I believe. Prime is more or less only good for detoxifing chlorine and chloramine.

Prime also bonds with ammonia, and nitrites present in the water column reducing their toxicity on your livestock. Once this happens the bonded molecules become a more readily consumable form than when un-bonded for the nitrifying bacteria in the system. This is why you typically see a nitrate spike after dosing with Prime for an ammonia or nitrite issue as the aerobic bacteria rapidly break down the bound ammonia and nitrites and leaving you with nitrates as the end result.

 

[cmcoker]

How large where the white spots?

 

[Pittsburgh88]

How large where the white spots?

About the size of a pea maybe a lil smaller

 

[cmcoker]

Fixed link, have a look here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.285708/
And see if the white spots looked like maybe flukes or lymphocystis. If you have any pics that would help.

If you think flukes are possible a freshwater dip on the clown to check it may be in order.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Fixed link, have a look here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.285708/
And see if the white spots looked like maybe flukes or lymphocystis. If you have any pics that would help.

If you think flukes are possible a freshwater dip on the clown to check it may be in order.

Here is a picture of the tank hours before it died.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

The tang was the only one to show the spots tho. The other 2 deaths just died with nothing on them just appeared to be heavy breathing/weakness

 

[Retro Reefer]

I would never put prime or stress coat in your reef.. as has been pointed out stress coat will make your skimmer go crazy.. If you could list your compete tank parameters and any resent changes or additions to your tank it will help figure out your fish issues.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

I would never put prime or stress coat in your reef.. as has been pointed out stress coat will make your skimmer go crazy.. If you could list your compete tank parameters and any resent changes or additions to your tank it will help figure out your fish issues.

Tank params last night was:
Ammonia = Trace (prolly from the deaths)
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite=0
Ph= 8.2
Temps 78 degrees

Tang was put in about 4 weeks ago looked good for 2 weeks then declined and died the other 2 deaths were in the tank for almost a year.

Neither of the fish deaths were in the tank for long I caught them pretty quickly.

 

[NewbieReefer11]

Could it be to do with lack of oxygen exchange? I.e a build up of co2

 

[Gareth elliott]

Sorry for your loss

That looks like some kind of bacterial or fungal infection.(bacteria more common in marine tanks)

This could be the after effects of water parameters, a toxin or another disease that went undiagnosed.

If still have any of the dead fish, take a look as the gills for any damage.

Like above i would stop with any of the dosing you were doing.

Are any live fish still in the tank?

 

[GoPitt88]

I never ever ever add anything to my tank. If your tank was properly cycled, you shouldn't need Prime, and fish don't need any help if properly acclimated. I recommend putting new fish into a quarantine tank for a few weeks anyway before adding them to your display tank. How long have you had your tank running?

 

[GoPitt88]

I never ever ever add anything to my tank. If your tank was properly cycled, you shouldn't need Prime, and fish don't need any help if properly acclimated. I recommend putting new fish into a quarantine tank for a few weeks anyway before adding them to your display tank. How long have you had your tank running?

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Could it be to do with lack of oxygen exchange? I.e a build up of co2

I have pretty decent surface agitation