Random Die off

datBme150 · Aug 23, 2022

In the past 3 days I have lost 3 fish randomly. I lost a yellow Corris wrasse that just looked beaten up, so I thought he was being picked on. The same day my Singapore angel became super bloated, with just a huge gut. Tried to catch him to medicate him but couldnt. He died the next morning. Fast forward two days, my yellow eye Kole tang I noticed he was super skinny. Tried to up the feeding with everything. He ate. Found him dead this morning. Now I find these little white spots on my clowns. It looks like ick but I have changed or added anything in in months.

Water quality is stable. Alk is 8.5, ph is 8. Phosphates are .02. NO3 is around .05.

Need some help. Those clowns have been with me for years. Don't want to lose them.

Jekyl · Aug 23, 2022

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More photos in white lighting and a short video, along with answering as many of the questions above will help tremendously.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 23, 2022

datBme150 said:
In the past 3 days I have lost 3 fish randomly. I lost a yellow Corris wrasse that just looked beaten up, so I thought he was being picked on. The same day my Singapore angel became super bloated, with just a huge gut. Tried to catch him to medicate him but couldnt. He died the next morning. Fast forward two days, my yellow eye Kole tang I noticed he was super skinny. Tried to up the feeding with everything. He ate. Found him dead this morning. Now I find these little white spots on my clowns. It looks like ick but I have changed or added anything in in months.

Water quality is stable. Alk is 8.5, ph is 8. Phosphates are .02. NO3 is around .05.

Need some help. Those clowns have been with me for years. Don't want to lose them.

Clowns show a clear case of brooklynella and may have escalated to secondary bacterial condition. If you look closely at the clowns, the most significant sign is the amount of slime on their body. The thick mucus on their body is a second sign which is noticeable on the fish. This mucus generally starts at the facial area as well as gills and spreads across the body producing lesions as it progresses often confused with ich and can turn into secondary bacteria. Other symptoms will be lethargic behavior, refusing to eat and heavy breathing from the mucus.
Typical treatment is a formalin solution is mixed with in a separate container with either fresh or saltwater. Start with a quick dip in the formalin at a higher concentration then performing treatment in a prolonged bath of formalin base at a lower concentration in a quarantine tank. The longer the fish are exposed to the formalin treatment the more effective it will be at eliminating this issue.
If a formalin solution is not available for immediate use, temporary relief can be achieved by giving the fish a FW bath or dip in water same temperature as display tank. Even though this treatment will not cure the disease, it can help to remove some of the parasites, as well as reduce the amount of mucus in the gills to assist with respiration problems.
Treatment is best done in a QT tank using either quick cure (more effective) or Ruby Rally Pro. Ruby takes a little longer and initial treatment generally takes 2-3 days to really start going to work.

datBme150 · Aug 23, 2022

42 cube total water volume of 55. Mixed reef. Tank has been running for about 3 years.

I am religious about weekly 10% water changes. Although now that I'm thinking about it... I added some tiger snails from Petco and turbo snails from WWC just over 2 months ago.

ClownSchool · Aug 23, 2022

Without knowing your water parameters, it’s hard to say what it could be.

datBme150 · Aug 23, 2022

Most are in the first post. Salinity is 1.25. temp is 78

Jay Hemdal · Aug 24, 2022

datBme150 said:
In the past 3 days I have lost 3 fish randomly. I lost a yellow Corris wrasse that just looked beaten up, so I thought he was being picked on. The same day my Singapore angel became super bloated, with just a huge gut. Tried to catch him to medicate him but couldnt. He died the next morning. Fast forward two days, my yellow eye Kole tang I noticed he was super skinny. Tried to up the feeding with everything. He ate. Found him dead this morning. Now I find these little white spots on my clowns. It looks like ick but I have changed or added anything in in months.

Water quality is stable. Alk is 8.5, ph is 8. Phosphates are .02. NO3 is around .05.

Need some help. Those clowns have been with me for years. Don't want to lose them.

The trouble is that the three fish that died all had different symptoms/issues. The clownfish seems to have a fourth issue. It is impossible to say what a central theme could be....and they may not be related.

A video of the clownfish would help.

Jay