Multiple Fish Deaths. No idea why

[Jasontkd]

So, let me start by saying that I am not new to this hobby and have kept several very successful tanks in the past, both reef and fowlr. I had been out of it for a few years and recently set up a new tank to get back into it.

I set up a 20 gallon cube with all new Dry rock and sand. I used Dr. Tims One and Only and ammonia to cycle. This was back in the middle of October. After several weeks, cycle was complete, and I did a water change. A few days later I added a very small pair of clowns and some CUC. They were fine and healthy, and things were good.

a couple weeks ago I went to my LFS and purchased Yellow watchmen goby and a cleaner shrimp. This is where things went wrong. The next day the Goby was dead. I immediately removed it and tested water for the next few days. Everything remained stable, and all other inhabitants looked fine.

Several days later, one of the clowns went super pale, and hid from the light. I contacted the LFS and they offered to QT it and see if it recovered, but unfortunately it died before I got a chance.

So, I figured I had some sort of disease in the tank, so I left things alone for a bit and just watched. Everything is good, The remaining clown is healthy and happy, and the shrimp seems to be doing well too. It even molted the other day, which I took as a good sign.

Well, everything has been going well for a couple weeks, so I figured any disease would be gone if that was the problem. So this weekend we went out and picked up a firefish. Acclimated it well, and added it to the tank. It instantly hid in some rocks (which seems fine). And it basically stayed in the same spot for the next couple days. Then this morning I woke up to find it dead.

I have never had this kind of trouble with fish before All my parameters are fine, and I have even had my LFS test my water to confirm the results.

Could this just be because the tank is still fairly new? Again, i have never had this issue before. Or, could my LFS have an issue with their fish? I am just at a loss right now, and I am sure a lot of you will have opinions on the matter. Thanks in advance.

 

[Qasimja]

have you ever seen marine velvet? did your fish show any signs of disease? i ask because velvet took out all my fish in a very short period and they showed the same activity as yours hiding from light super pale they had spots and their eyes went really cloudy

 

[Jasontkd]

I don't have much experience with Velvet. I know they were exhibiting signs of it. I never saw any of their eyes go cloudy, and the only one that got pale was the clown. the other two looked fine and just stayed tucked into rocks like a lot of goby/blenny tend to do.

 

[Jasontkd]

I am just no sure what is going on. I guess I will just wait a while before adding anything else, but I really thought I had given it enough time.

 

[MichaelReefer]

Are you acclimating your new fish? It's pretty easy to stress them out and shock them.

Personally I temperature acclimate them, then I put them in a bucket and drip acclimate them for at least an hour.

I guess that wouldn't explain your first death, but your fire-fish it could.

Also, malting is not just a good thing. It can happen from stress. For example when you add a shrimp to a new tank, a lot of times it will malt within a day or two. It does happen when they grow too though, so it's hard to tell.

 

[Tahoe61]

Is there a significant difference in the SG between your system and the lfs?
Try a different vendor just to role out source.

 

[Salt & Peper]

New and small system your parameters can change from good to lethal several times a day imo. Also did all your fish come from the same lfs? There could also be a Problem there. I would suggest checking your parameters a handful of time threw out the day to see if there's big swing.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

Likely velvet. Treat ASAP. Not eating, rapid death and photosensitivity all consistent with velvet.

 

[Tamberav]

If there is a parasite you need to remove the remaining clown and let the tank sit without fish to starve the parasite out. There is a lot of info on this in the disease forums section.

The clown you left in the tank is acting as a carrier and transmitting it to new fish.

 

[Tahoe61]

When you hear hoofs think horses not zebras.

Start by trying other vendors, get back up test results, check your water source.

 

[Jasontkd]

Parameters are all in line with LFS. Salinity is the same. Even the same type of salt is used. All fish have been from same LFS.

parameters stay stable through the day.

 

[Jasontkd]

Water source has been checked on multiple TDS meters and all test 0.
I thought originally that the shrimp was picking at the fish but I monitored that very closely with the fire fish and the shrimp left it completely alone.

I don’t have a QT tank at the moment. Can treatments be done in the DT or will that kill bacteria/corals?

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Personally have had dozens of fish over the years, and never killed anything due to acclimation, but my salinity and bag salinity were usually very close.

What it sounds like is you have a parasites in your tank. With how fast it is killing velvet definitely seems like the culprit.

There are a few ways to approach this. You can pull all your fish and treat in a QT tank, while leaving your DT fallow for 72 days.

In your situation what I would do is remove all corals and inverts and treat my DT with copper. Decades ago this is how we treated for parasites. Your rock and sand will absorb some, but nothing significant in my opinion. After you treat with copper (4 weeks) you can also treat with API general cure bound with focus to food. You can feed the medicated food twice spaced 7 days apart. After all of this is done then I would run a copper absorbing media as well as carbon for a couple of months, then add corals and inverts back slowly. I have personally done this with great success YEARS ago. I would not recommend treating your DT with CP because it will kill most of your bacteria.

 

[Jasontkd]

Silly question, but if it is Velvet, can it live on shrimp or inverts/snails? I could potentially set up a QT and get my one remaining clown in there, but I don't know how long I have. Also, if I don't take the fish out, Can it survive? Any will that mean the velvet will never die off in my tank?

 

[steallife904]

Could the clown already be a bully and killed them? just throwing that out there. In a small tank I could see it happening.

 

[Jasontkd]

I don't think so. The two clowns used to swim around together, but it never went near either of the two other fish.

The more i read, the more lost I am. I guess I was lucky in the past and never dealt with any disease. I am really worried this is velvet, but I don't know why the clown would be fine. I haven't noticed any spots or strange behavior. I am getting really confused.

 

[steallife904]

sometimes some fish just survive. I have a couple fish that are nearly 10 years old and survived a couple episodes of things.

 

[Jasontkd]

But will the parasite stay alive is what I am wondering. Say this one fish survives and never has an issue; at what point am I same to add more fish?

 

[Jasontkd]

If this is velvet, is there anything else I can do other than remove the remaining clown? I have a few zoas, and small acro flag, and a rock nem.

If I wait 6-8 weeks with that one clown in there, am I good to go?