My fish keep dying....

[davidebarnes]

Hi everyone! Could I please get your help? I am very new to salt aquariums. I have had my tank for 5 months with many ups and downs. Most recently I had Brooks in my tank and it took out all of my clowns before I realized what it was. My remaining fish is a diamond goby and several invertebrates. I have been feeding my remaining tank inhabitants Metroplex along with their regular food to get rid of the Brooks. I purchased a Bangai Cardinal two days ago, he had been fine but then I discovered him this morning a the bottom of the tank with labored breathing like the clowns had been before they died. Is it the Brooks? Something else? Could I please get your input?

Thanks!

-Davide

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 7.8
Salinity: 1.023

 

[fishface NJ]

Clowns seem to be more affected by brook but any fish can get it. Did you place all fish into QT? They will need a formalin bath, acriflavine bath, or metronidazole. Multiple baths may be needed but don't do them back to back or daily. The fallow period is 6 weeks for brook for your DT.

 

[davidebarnes]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have a quarantine tank so that might be the problem. How should a QT tank be setup?

 

[mrsdixon]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have a quarantine tank so that might be the problem. How should a QT tank be setup?

we use a 20 gal as a qt tank and its setup as followed.

bare bottom, a heater, small powerhead and a hob filter. I've seen people also use ammonia alert badges on theirs along with maybe a couple small PVC pipes for hides.

 

[davidebarnes]

Super helpful! Thank you

 

[mrsdixon]

Super helpful! Thank you

the glass is dirty but here is ours! if we are qt'ing more than 1 fish we add a cpl small pvc pipes for hides but we dont leave them in there all the time

 

[davidebarnes]

Thanks again. I will get one setup.

 

[pbenjbear2]

Clowns seem to be more affected by brook but any fish can get it. Did you place all fish into QT? They will need a formalin bath, acriflavine bath, or metronidazole. Multiple baths may be needed but don't do them back to back or daily. The fallow period is 6 weeks for brook for your DT.

Piggybacking on your original questions - I have had the same recent problem:
Can a BTA, emerald crabs, hermits, snail and a sea hare remain in the DT while the fish are in QT for Brook? Any recommended safe treatments for the DT? Plan is for Infected fish will be in QT treatment for 14 days then stay in QT tank 6 wks total.

 

[jreefier]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have a quarantine tank so that might be the problem. How should a QT tank be setup?

Consider a QT tank as part of the "necessary" equipment for a saltwater setup. You might even consider having two. One for new arrivals and one as a hospital tank. Some people will choose to treat all new fish with copper, freshwater dips, etc as a precaution and may only QT for a month or two or less. In my view, why stress a new fish out even more by placing it in a sterile tank, dosing it with copper, freshwater dips, or changing the water completely every couple of days? I set up my qt with just a small skimmer, heater, light, and live rock with bare glass bottom, and just observe for a minimum of 72 days and treat only if needed. I’m willing to sacrifice a little live rock if it means my fish has a more natural place to hide and pick off food.

You need to let your infected tank go without fish for two or better three months or break it down completely and clean it with vinegar and get any fish still living into a hospital tank right away.

 

[CuzzA]

Just a heads up so you're not wondering if your fallow and qt failed in the coming months, but unfortunately the diamond goby will starve to death. They need a huge amount of microfauna in a very large established tank. The eat constantly and despite eating prepared foods, it's just not enough. An internet search will reveal there are countless threads among the various sites of them wasting away and that was my experience as well. They grow to six inches, but you'll rarely see an adult that has survived years in an aquarium. They usually starve within six months to a year.

 

[nmo0ory]

fast way to fix problem is QT
i had about 12 clown fish all has same problem
but all of them were in QT with copper
then i noticed that they have this problem
didn't have formalin at that time so first thing i did is fresh water dip so i can have more time to get the formalin
most likely if i didn't do any thing 1 more day they will be dead
so one of the fish were very very bad not eating and look tired and on the ground
did the freshwater then after 2 days i got the formalin
and its fixed all my problem with them
now they are doing great its about 2 month

but just to note that when you do a bath on freshwater or formalin
you need to clean the tank very good
or change it to new tank
my method after each dip is to change the QT to a new QT
then put the old tank on the sun tell i needed it again
for me this work very good cuz i have lots of QT

 

[davidebarnes]

Very helpful. Thank you!

 

[fishface NJ]

Treat with Formalin dip: Formalin added at a dosage of 1000ppm for 15 min. Use Revive added to the water...this is for 14 days in QT. Do not treat the DT. The DT should stay fallow for 6-8 weeks. It is ok to leave non fish in the DT durning fallow period. The life cycle of both parasites is similar to that of Velvet and Ich as described in other stickies. Both of these parasites have a direct life cycle: they live on the fish, feeding and the population growing very rapidly, then drop off into the water column (where they can live quite happily for some time) and then go on to infect another fish.