Please Help!

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

I just recalibrated my Milwakee Refractometer and tested salinity several times. Each time it came back at 1.025

vetteguy53081 · Jan 24, 2020

JamesS said:
Tank is almost exactly 11 Mo's old. I cycled the tank with Dr Tim's One and Only. I let it run for 30 days prior to adding my first two fish.

Double check salinity and the fish. . . any of them pooping white and stringy ?

ccombs · Jan 24, 2020

JamesS said:
After adding them directly to my DT, without doing my QT protocol, I began to notice a white like coating on my powder blue tang, fuzzy-looking fins and some spots that looked a bit like ich.

Thanks for the parameters!

This seems odd, because it seems like a disease, but does not seem like something that would cause the death of an anemone? Only thing I can think is maybe stability was thrown off while trying to treat this fish and anemone died from that? Maybe leading to some fish dying of disease and others from anemone toxin? That is a stretch though.

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

For about a week or two before my trip the anemone was looking a little off, on occasion I found the mouth opened and the anemone shriveled up and then the next day it looks totally normal. This happened a number of times until I found it Sunday morning with its foot peeling away from the rock and the dead fish.

I'm wondering if there might have been two issues unrelated but going on at the same time, anenome dying and the addition of one or two infected fish???

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Double check salinity and the fish. . . any of them pooping white and stringy ?

I haven't noticed any white poop, but I honestly can't say yes or no.

4FordFamily · Jan 24, 2020

A dusting sure describes velvet, as does cloudy eyes (velvet and secondary bacterial infection).

Are the remaining fish breathing heavily? Hiding from light? Scratching? Flashing?

I agree, don’t trust anyone else to QT your fish.

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

4FordFamily said:
A dusting sure describes velvet, as does cloudy eyes (velvet and secondary bacterial infection).

Are the remaining fish breathing heavily? Hiding from light? Scratching? Flashing?

I agree, don’t trust anyone else to QT your fish.

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

4FordFamily said:
A dusting sure describes velvet, as does cloudy eyes (velvet and secondary bacterial infection).

Are the remaining fish breathing heavily? Hiding from light? Scratching? Flashing?

I agree, don’t trust anyone else to QT your fish.

Three of the remaining four fish appear normal??? I have one chromis who does seem like he was avoiding the light and still is breathing heavy.

JamesS · Jan 24, 2020

My QT is coming up to temp and nearly ready for fish. I'm going to pull all four out of the DT and put into the QT. Would you start with copper power immediately? Begin with levels right at 2.0 or start lower and bring up over several days? I have AAP Spectrogram, would you recommend starting it as well?

Big G · Jan 24, 2020

A Freshwater dip will remove parasites from the fish's gills and buy the fish some time.

Then immediately give the fish a 90 minute bath in an acriflavine product like Ruby Reef Rally. This step has greatly increased survival rates, even in heavily covered velvet infected fish.

For active velvet, we're recommending starting at 1.0 ppm and then moving to 2.0 ppm of Copper Power or Coppersafe within 48 hours. Small regular doses are easier on the fish and allows you to watch for copper sensitivity of a fish.

Can start Spectrogram at the same time. But it is advised to run a powerhead aimed up at the surface where it is actively rippling the water surface.

Feed the fish a wide variety of food rich in proteins and fats. Frozen foods are preferred. Add some vitamins like Selcon, Zoecon, etc. And Beta Glucan it greatly helps the fish's immune system.

ccombs · Jan 25, 2020

4FordFamily said:
A dusting sure describes velvet, as does cloudy eyes (velvet and secondary bacterial infection).

Are the remaining fish breathing heavily? Hiding from light? Scratching? Flashing?

I agree, don’t trust anyone else to QT your fish.

That's what I was thinking, just odd timing with them nem.

4FordFamily · Jan 25, 2020

ccombs said:
That's what I was thinking, just odd timing with them nem.

The anemone dirtying the water would exacerbate any disease or parasite as it would weaken the immune response of the fish further.

JamesS · Jan 25, 2020

Thank you for all the help guys, really appreciated the support. Sadly the remaining fish were lost durning the night.

Going fallow for six weeks and I will never repeat that mistake. Thanks again.

Dom · Jan 25, 2020

JamesS said:
Thank you for all the help guys, really appreciated the support. Sadly the remaining fish were lost durning the night.

Going fallow for six weeks and I will never repeat that mistake. Thanks again.

I believe the fallow period is minimum of 76 days. Please confirm. I'd hate to see you go through all of this only to have a reoccurrence.

Big G · Jan 25, 2020

JamesS said:
Thank you for all the help guys, really appreciated the support. Sadly the remaining fish were lost durning the night.

Going fallow for six weeks and I will never repeat that mistake. Thanks again.

Sorry about your losses. This hobby has a rather steep and harsh learning/experience curve. Make sure to stir your sand thoroughly on occasion. There have been studies showing some parasites can go dormant in anaerobic environments.