Is there such a thing as a typhoid Mary fish?

MaxM · Jan 18, 2023

I only had a couple of fish when I added my male Carpenter wrasses. I added a couple more after. Each one except my coral crouches, one by one stopped being active and pretty much died overnight. I managed to get two into a quarantine tank with cupramine but they just died slower. Only the clown looked like it might have had a bit of inch or velvet.

It's been two weeks. The wrasse seems perfectly healthy and so does the coral croucher when I catch a glimpse.

Any thoughts on what it could be or what to do? I have no plans to add any fish until I figure this out.

Corals and nems and inverts are healthy. Nitrates and phosphates are just barely detectable using API. Ph 8.2, alk 11, salt 1.025, cal 500.

Tamberav · Jan 18, 2023

Fish can be asymptomatic and continue to infect others.

This is why when people have to QT their display, they need to get all fish out.

MaxM · Jan 18, 2023

Tamberav said:
Fish can be asymptomatic and continue to infect others.

This is why when people have to QT their display, they need to get all fish out.

And treat them how when you can't tell what's killing other fish? I just broke down my quarantine tank and cloraxed it so as to have a completely clean system for quarantine. Cycling it now.

Tamberav · Jan 18, 2023

MaxM said:
And treat them how when you can't tell what's killing other fish? I just broke down my quarantine tank and cloraxed it so as to have a completely clean system for quarantine. Cycling it now.

Did you see all the fish you bought eat before purchase?

How did you acclimate? LFS purchase? online?

There could be more issues then disease. Your post doesn't give a time line of what happened when.

I would start by making detailed post about everything... when added.. when it died.. where from, how you acclimated, any behaviors/symptoms, etc.

MaxM · Jan 18, 2023

I had several fish before the addition of the male wrasse. A female wrasse, a tail spot blennie, a pink clown, a green clown goby and the coral croucher. All are and appeared healthy for weeks and came in by mail quarantined. The female wrasse disappeared shortly after I got the male (which was shipped as quarantined several weeks after the others). I got a second clown and the first clown started going downhill but it looked like maybe aggression. I quarantined it and copper treated but it died. The tailspot and green clown goby went from eating and active to dead in a 12 hr period. Then a few days later the second clown looked questionable and was the only one that looked like it might have had ich but may not have. It's hard to tell against the pink. It basically started looking pale and no longer went into its nem. I moved it to quarantine with copper. It died two days later.

The male wrasse still looks great and I just saw the coral croucher eat.

MaxM · Jan 25, 2023

So to continue the saga. The male Carpenter wrasses and the coral croucher are hail and hearty, eating well, behaving normally, no flashing or heavy breathing.

I am trying to figure out what disease is in the tank that is killing the other fish so I can put the survivors into a treatment tank.

To that end I put in 2 saltwater mollies. They both died within 4 days. They looked totally normal for 3 days. On the 4th day they appeared lethargic, wouldn't come to food and stuck to the bottom of the tank behind rocks. They may have been breathing a bit heavier than normal but didn't go to the surface like they were oxygen seeking. No flashing. They were dead by the 5th morning. One totally disappeared but I recovered the other one off the filter intake. Other than the tail fin being frayed from the filter, I'm not seeing any clear signs of the diseases that killed them.

Here's a pic. Colors are normal, skin looks clear to me.