I'm stumped

[Pittsburgh88]

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?

Yes 1 clown and he seems to be doing well

 

[Pittsburgh88]

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?

A little over 1 year.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I would do a large water change, if theres a toxin will dilute it. If theres a parasite will reduce the number of free swimmers.

Personally i would also qt him, and let the tank run fish fallow since the deaths coincided with new additions with no definitive cause of death.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

I would do a large water change, if theres a toxin will dilute it. If theres a parasite will reduce the number of free swimmers.

Personally i would also qt him, and let the tank run fish fallow since the deaths coincided with new additions with no definitive cause of death.

Will do thank you

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Sucks that you have lost so many fish.

The spots on the tang and symptoms listed like labored breathing are common with bacterial and/or parasite infections. The spots also could have been from rubbing due to a parasite like ICK, Velvet, or Brook. I have had fish go from perfectly healthy, start rubbing on the rockwork producing spots like this and be dead within 24-36 hours.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Sucks that you have lost so many fish.

The spots on the tang and symptoms listed like labored breathing are common with bacterial and/or parasite infections. The spots also could have been from rubbing due to a parasite like ICK, Velvet, or Brook. I have had fish go from perfectly healthy, start rubbing on the rockwork producing spots like this and be dead within 24-36 hours.

Is there anything that I would be able to dose now that I can try to save my last fish that wouldn't harm a urchin or inverts? Also that's reef safe?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Not to treat for the parasites that is reef safe. Copper or cupramine is the best option for treating the parasites. If it's bacterial, then you could try Kanapalex or Metro but I would be cautious with it. Best option is set up an emergency QT tank. Depending on the size of the fish, a 10g kit from Aqueon only runs about $50-60 and comes with filter, heater, and LED hood. Pull 10G from the display tank and put the fish in there with a couple 2-3" PVC pipe segments for a place to hide. You can also toss in a small chunk of live rock as well. Make sure to get an ammonia alert tag for the tank glass, a bottle of Stability or Seed, copper test kit, and Cupramine. Follow the dosing recommendations for the copper and bring the level up between .25-.5 and keep it there. Remove the filtration media from the filter and replace it with plain filter floss.

Once in QT monitor the ammonia and copper levels. Be ready to do multiple small water changes daily on the QT tank if needed for the first week or so. If you do pull out say 1 - 1.5g of water from QT, dose with a capfull of stability and 3-4 drops of Cupramine to bring the copper level back up to the treatment range. keep the fish under close observation for the first 3-4 days. If it responds well watch it for a full 10 days. If no signs of issues arise after that, do daily water changes and dose with Stability only, and replace the filter floss with carbon filter pad. This will need to be replaced after 1 week, and repeat until copper is at zero and remains there for a full 10 days after that. Just be absolutely sure to have two sets of nets, siphons, buckets etc. Be sure to label them for QT and one for display, as to not mix them up.

During this time, vacuum the sand bed on the main tank every other day working in sections, doing at least 10-20% water changes and dose with Stability. Once the entire bed is cleaned leave the tank fallow (no fish) for at least 2.5 months. This is to ensure that no parasites have survived. After the fallow period, drip acclimate your fish in QT to the main tank and watch it for 10 days. If no signs of distress or parasites are seen, then you can look into replacing your fish one or two at a time, making sure to put them in QT for at least 10 days before moving them to the display tank. During the QT period, if you see any signs of parasites, immediately dose with copper back to treatment levels and leave them in there for another 10 days minimum. If they recover and show no signs of parasites, then you can drip acclimate to the new tank. This time pull QT water into a small bucket and double the volume at least 3 times over 2 hours. Then transfer the fish to a new bucket of straight tank water and double the volume once. After that they can be moved to the display tank. The acclimation water can be discarded. The QT tank can be left in a ready state for weeks as long as you ghost feed the bacteria in the rock you placed in there.

It seems like a hassle, but this will be your best bet to ridding your tank of parasites and ensuring you do not reintroduce them.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Just did a 20 gallon water change and added some activated carbon we shall see what happens. The only clown fish that's left is happy and eating and swimming normally.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Just did a 20 gallon water change and added some activated carbon we shall see what happens. The only clown fish that's left is happy and eating and swimming normally.

Welp things are looking alot better fish looks completely normal and my protein skimmer has finally started to work again, I think this came down to me dosing certain things that required a skimmer to pull it out and not running one is what killed my fish.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Sounds good, glad the clown is doing better.

 

[Pittsburgh88]

Sounds good, glad the clown is doing better.

Thanks!