Is it Marine velvet?

[Umair]

Hello everyone,

Im a newbie and have just recently set up my 35 Gal QT tank after following the guidelines mentioned here.

My two pairs of clown fish are in DT after going through successful QT period of about 4-5 weeks each on separate occasions.

This time i got little excited and bought 6 fishes for QT:

1) 3 small yellow tangs
2) 2 Medium purple tangs
3) 1 medium convict tang

Now long story short:

- Bought on tuesday
-Purple tangs started eating very next day
- Convict also eating but bit shy
- Yellow tangs did not eat
- On Friday all three yellow tangs died
- Yellow tangs before dying were swimming close to the surface and later just lay on the bottom
- After one yellow tang died i though maybe its ammonia however test showed zero ammonia
- Did 25% water change and just to be on the safe side added Prime
- However later two Yellow tangs died one after the other
- There were no visible spots on them
- I had planned to treat with prazipro for two weeks and then CP but now i am confused

Can anyone please advise what happened to yellow tangs?
Today morning Purple and convict are

eating and swimming normally.

Regards
Umair

 

[Umair]

Forgot one very important point. Presently we have temperatures between 33-40 C here in my city.

In DT im using a Chiller to keep my tank at 25 C however QT i have placed in my air conditioned room and temperature daily varies between 28.5-30.5 C.

 

[Umair]

@Humblefish @Dr. Reef @Big G

 

[wangspeed]

Forgot one very important point. Presently we have temperatures between 33-40 C here in my city.

In DT im using a Chiller to keep my tank at 25 C however QT i have placed in my air conditioned room and temperature daily varies between 28.5-30.5 C.

30.5 is really hot! That would also make for less oxygen in the water.

 

[Umair]

30.5 is really hot! That would also make for less oxygen in the water.

Yes temperature is no doubt very high but believe oxygen can be compenstated with sponge and airstone filters?

 

[HotRocks]

24-27 degrees Celsius is where you want to be for sure. If your water temp exceeds 27 oxygen exchange becomes an issue, which is probably why your YTs were hanging out near top before dying. I would add a chiller to your QT. I would also recommend a powerhead or wavemaker aimed upward enough to break the surface in combination with an Airstone if you are going to medicate in any way.

Another side note. Tangs can be very aggressive. Keeping the same species together in the same tank may be impending doom. @4FordFamily can probably elaborate on this.

 

[4FordFamily]

24-27 degrees Celsius is where you want to be for sure. If your water temp exceeds 27 oxygen exchange becomes an issue, which is probably why your YTs were hanging out near top before dying. I would add a chiller to your QT. I would also recommend a powerhead or wavemaker aimed upward enough to break the surface in combination with an Airstone if you are going to medicate in any way.

Another side note. Tangs can be very aggressive. Keeping the same species together in the same tank may be impending doom. @4FordFamily can probably elaborate on this.

That many tangs together may be OK but the warm water isn’t helping oxygen exchange and without more symptoms I cannot be sure.

Honestly it sounds like ammonia do you have an ammonia badge to compare to your ammonia test?

Was this cycled? Did you use Biospira or dr tims for bacteria head start?

 

[Umair]

That many tangs together may be OK but the warm water isn’t helping oxygen exchange and without more symptoms I cannot be sure.

Honestly it sounds like ammonia do you have an ammonia badge to compare to your ammonia test?

Was this cycled? Did you use Biospira or dr tims for bacteria head start?

Just bought a small chiller so hopefully temperature wont be an issue henceforth.

I have two seachem ammonia badges but they hardly ever change their color.

The tank was cycled using marine pure balls which were seeded in the DT for about a week. However also used TLF Biopronto before adding fishes.

Is it recommended to use a cannister filter with only filter floss inside?

 

[4FordFamily]

Just bought a small chiller so hopefully temperature wont be an issue henceforth.

I have two seachem ammonia badges but they hardly ever change their color.

The tank was cycled using marine pure balls which were seeded in the DT for about a week. However also used TLF Biopronto before adding fishes.

Is it recommended to use a cannister filter with only filter floss inside?

No I would avoid canister filters for all applications.

The two purple tangs I overlooked, that’s not likely to end well they’re very aggressive zebrasoma and even among a large number of tangs are likely to fight and kill each other. But especially without the others they’re at risk.

 

[melypr1985]

It looks and sounds to me like lack of oxygen, and ammonia. That alert badge appears to be showing blue in the picture. It could just be the lighting and a trick of the camera, but it looks blue to me in the pictures.

I also believe you dont have enough filtration or water movement in there. The marine pure balls will not help with much of anything without water movement. Putting them in the chamber of an HOB filter would serve you better.

Lastly, that is a lot of tangs for a small QT. Not only will all those zebrasomas fight among each other, but they would need more room/filtration than what it looks like is available.

 

[Big G]

Consider using these in your HOB for bacterial help. Put them into a mesh bag that's either seeded with Dr. Tims or Bio Spira, or have been soaking in your DT for at least a month. Same treatment for the HOB's foam filter pad.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

i have 7 tangs in a 40 gal qt tank along with 15 other fish all in one 40 gal qt. including 3 yellow tanks. 30.5c (87F) is hot and that reduces oxygen like everyone else said. my only concern is purple tangs are more energetic than the yellow tangs and they dont seems to have been effected. i am not ruling out the oxygen factor but what i am interested in is
1. where did you buy the fish (retail store or online)
2. if store, how long of a drive to home? if online what was the temp of the bags when recieved
3. did you temp acclimate the fish?
4. did you check for salinity difference in transport water vs qt
5. if there was salinity difference were they drip acclimated?

 

[Umair]

It looks and sounds to me like lack of oxygen, and ammonia. That alert badge appears to be showing blue in the picture. It could just be the lighting and a trick of the camera, but it looks blue to me in the pictures.

I also believe you dont have enough filtration or water movement in there. The marine pure balls will not help with much of anything without water movement. Putting them in the chamber of an HOB filter would serve you better.

Lastly, that is a lot of tangs for a small QT. Not only will all those zebrasomas fight among each other, but they would need more room/filtration than what it looks like is available.

Here attached are clear pictures of the badge.

Yes i agree my filtration is not enough. Working on it immediately. For water movement have put wavemaker pointing towards the surface.

 

[HotRocks]

Here attached are clear pictures of the badge.

Yes i agree my filtration is not enough. Working on it immediately. For water movement have put wavemaker pointing towards the surface.

Uhhh... Did you by chance remove the indicator when you pulled the protective cover off? It should read yellow at all times when no ammonia is present. Not white.

Yes good call on powerhead. Oxygen exchange is very important when introducing meds. They deplete the oxygen from the water column.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Have you used a kit to test for ammonia?

 

[Umair]

i have 7 tangs in a 40 gal qt tank along with 15 other fish all in one 40 gal qt. including 3 yellow tanks. 30.5c (87F) is hot and that reduces oxygen like everyone else said. my only concern is purple tangs are more energetic than the yellow tangs and they dont seems to have been effected. i am not ruling out the oxygen factor but what i am interested in is
1. where did you buy the fish (retail store or online)
2. if store, how long of a drive to home? if online what was the temp of the bags when recieved
3. did you temp acclimate the fish?
4. did you check for salinity difference in transport water vs qt
5. if there was salinity difference were they drip acclimated?

What are you using for filtration?

1) & 2) Bought it from a retail store however fishes had just arrived from Srilanka
3) yes did for almost 45 mins
4) i had purposely kept my qt at salinity of 1.018 as from past experience usually the salinity is either 1.017 or 1.018
5) there was no difference in salinity hence introduced the fishes directly after temperature acclimation. Discarded the water which was in the bags

 

[Umair]

Uhhh... Did you by chance remove the indicator when you pulled the protective cover off? It should read yellow at all times. Not white.

Yes good call on powerhead. Oxygen exchange is very important when introducing meds. They deplete the oxygen from the water column.

i believe these indicators were quite old when i bought from a local store since no color changes till date in both the indicators.

 

[Umair]

Have you used a kit to test for ammonia?

Yes used salifert test kit and it showed zero ammonia.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I have a 40 gal tank and a 20 gal tank both drain into a 20 gal sump with ceramic rings. Currently I am only using 40 gal and have the 20 gal cut off.

If the fish just arrived from overseas were the bags changed or did the store give you fish straight out of box in bags to you?
Sorry for all the questions but I am leaning towards a badly stressed fish along with aggression from other tangs. Purple tangs are very aggressive.. maybe even low pH ammonia toxivity in unopened bag which is opened and let pH and ammonia rise. with a lot of stress and aggression along with very warm water with low oxygen just a little chase around will end up in same ending like yours.

 

[Umair]

Since i have a spare cannister filter, shouldn't i use that instead of HOB filters?

In place of carbon

I have a 40 gal tank and a 20 gal tank both drain into a 20 gal sump with ceramic rings. Currently I am only using 40 gal and have the 20 gal cut off.

If the fish just arrived from overseas were the bags changed or did the store give you fish straight out of box in bags to you?
Sorry for all the questions but I am leaning towards a badly stressed fish along with aggression from other tangs. Purple tangs are very aggressive.. maybe even low pH ammonia toxivity in unopened bag with is opened and let pH and ammonia rise. with a lot of stress and aggression along with very warm water with low oxygen just a little chase around will end up in same ending like yours.

No bags changed. got fishes straight out of the box.

Used seachem stress guard on day 1.

However it all makes sense that fishes were stressed and temp was high so oxygen depletion or maybe ammonia is most likely the culprit.

Really appreciate help from all of you! such a responsive and caring forum.