QT fish dead, no symptoms

waddlewoman

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I had three fish in 20 gal QT w/ pvc hidey holes, a coral beauty, a Firefish and a clown. Yesterday I found the coral beauty and Firefish dead. PH was just a little low, everything nitrite 0, ammonia 0, nitrates 10ppm. I did a 30% water change which brought pH up to 8.0 and today my clown is dead. No signs of ich, they had all been eating. Temp 76-77, specific gravity 1.024. Any ideas?
 
+1 to @Triggreef's questions. Also, have you treated with any meds or just been observing in QT?
 
QT tank set up about a month ago using water from my DT and filter media from my DT to establish bacteria...levels have all been stable. Hang on the back filter w/ carbon, heater, bare necessities.
 
Notice any behavioral symptoms of disease?
  • Reduced or complete loss of appetite
  • Heavy breathing
  • Scratching, flashing, head twitching, erratic swimming behavior
  • Swimming into the flow of a powerhead (unique to velvet)
  • Acting reclusive (velvet causes fish to be sensitive to light)
 
Appetite seemed good, no heavy breathing. The Coral Beauty started coming out of hiding more the day before it died. The clown fish did seem to be swimming into the flow/swimming in place versus swimming all around the tank as it did before. No physical signs except the coral beauty had a spit tail fin and I wondered if the clown had nipped it.
 
Appetite seemed good, no heavy breathing. The Coral Beauty started coming out of hiding more the day before it died. The clown fish did seem to be swimming into the flow/swimming in place versus swimming all around the tank as it did before. No physical signs except the coral beauty had a spit tail fin and I wondered if the clown had nipped it.

It's possible they succumbed to velvet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

I would treat the surviving clownfish with copper for 4 weeks as a precaution.
 
They all died. Their skin looked okay until they were dead and then it's hard to tell if it was discolored because they were dead or something else. I'm so frustrated. My first QT attempt and three dead. I was trying to use the observation method so as not to medicate unnecessarily, but maybe I could have prevented this. :(
 
@waddlewoman Velvet is so rampant right now that I suggest prophylactically treating with either copper or Chloroquine phosphate during your next QT attempt. Especially if buying from the same source you got these fish from.
 
Thank you. Do I tear down the QT tank and start over or treat the existing water?
 

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