Suddenly Dead Kole Tang?

[ironman187]

I'm at work, and I get a message from my wife saying our Yellow eyed kole tang is dead. We've had her since October, she was swimming around fat and happy two days ago, yesterday evening I noticed she was in her cave, I could only see her tail. Today she was floating dead on the water and was all pale looking. What happened?

A little history on the tank, and current parameters.
Tank is a 75 gallon reef ready with a 30 gallon sump, it was set up in late September 2019.
Our local LFS uses very stringent QT procedures based on humblefish's I believe. We don't have room for a QT set up, so we only buy from that LFS and do not QT.
She was the third fish we added.
We lost a clownfish due to what I can only surmise was a parasite, long stringy poop that hung on, which I misdiagnosed as mysis shrimp runs because it happened right when we started feeding mysis shrimp to new tank inhabitants. The clown laid on the sand for a day, then disappeared. We treated all tank inhabitants with more mysis soaked in Selcon, garlic, API general cure, and Seachem focus for 14 days. We ended that treatment 2 weeks ago.
Current inhabitants are:
1 Molly miller blenny
1 Foxface Rabbitfish
1 Yellow tang
2 spotcinctus clowns
2 pearly head jawfish
1 highfin goby

Tank parameters: (note, I'm using a red sea test kit which I believe is defective, it doesn't expire for another year, but the results seem suspect, especially since I compared the ammonia kit with a Salifert)
Salinity: 35%
Temperature: 80 degrees
Ammonia: .2-.4 per Red sea test kit ( 0ppm per. Salifert test kit)
Nitrite: .1-.2
Nitrate: 50
PH: 8.0
KH: 2.86 dKH

EDIT: I'm not sure it it's pertinent, but I did stir up a little sand while trying to capture a clown to re-home. The tank is so new I can't imagine that would be an issue though.

 

[Reefer5640]

Looks like his fins are beat up any chance the yellow tang beat him up? What size is the tank? You shouldn’t be seeing any ammonia or nitrite are this point. If you truly have ammonia then that could definitely be a problem. Do you have any coral? They won’t tolerate ammonia so if your test kits are suspect that’s a good telltale... I ditched all my Redsea kits and went salifert and Hanna’s. It could also be that general cure didn’t do the trick. Also, could be the pic but it looks like there are little white specs that resemble ich on the fish. Could that just be debris or sand? I too follow humble fish’s methods of QT. In his articles he talks about reintroducing ich into an ich free tank. If you put anything wet in your tank without the properly QTing said item for the 76 day fallow period then you could most certainly reintroduce ich into your tank (ie: free chaeto from another tank, Frag from another Reefer, sand or rock to Seed your tank or add to the aqua scape, you get the idea....). There are much better experienced reefers on here to give you a proper ID but those are just the thoughts I have after reading your post.

 

[Katrina71]

I'm so sorry

 

[ironman187]

Looks like his fins are beat up any chance the yellow tang beat him up? What size is the tank? You shouldn’t be seeing any ammonia or nitrite are this point. If you truly have ammonia then that could definitely be a problem. Do you have any coral? They won’t tolerate ammonia so if your test kits are suspect that’s a good telltale... I ditched all my Redsea kits and went salifert and Hanna’s. It could also be that general cure didn’t do the trick. Also, could be the pic but it looks like there are little white specs that resemble ich on the fish. Could that just be debris or sand? I too follow humble fish’s methods of QT. In his articles he talks about reintroducing ich into an ich free tank. If you put anything wet in your tank without the properly QTing said item for the 76 day fallow period then you could most certainly reintroduce ich into your tank (ie: free chaeto from another tank, Frag from another Reefer, sand or rock to Seed your tank or add to the aqua scape, you get the idea....). There are much better experienced reefers on here to give you a proper ID but those are just the thoughts I have after reading your post.

Not likely, the yellow tang is smaller, also, she was the tank boss and let everyone know. It's a 75 gallon with a sump. I don't trust the test kit one bit, the ammonia, nitrite, and PH readings don't match what I expect. I bought a Salifert ammonia test kit to confirm there is no ammonia in the tank, and to compare results. I have a neon green toadstool, a colony of pink zipper zoas, a small colony of un-named zoas, a small montiporia frag, 3 heads of duncan, a branching frogspawn, and an acan, we also have a rock flower and a small maxi-mini carpet. I think the specs you are seeing is debris, there was some sand in the acclimation box that she is laying in. I'm not sure it it's pertinent, but I did stir up a little sand while trying to capture a clown to re-home. The tank is so new I can't imagine that would be an issue though.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

When did the clown die? When’s the last time you added any fish coral invert or other wet objects from another tank? The clown might have died from something other than internal parasite and it also affected the tang. 2 recent fish deaths is concerning for parasitic infection. I also see the nipped fins but I’m not sure if that is significant here. Since he was hiding for a day before that suggests respiratory problem. Or aggression problem. Did you ever see any spots or slime or anything in the skin prior to it expiring?

 

[JumboShrimp]

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe fish are good of ‘hiding’ how sick they are. I’m guessing that if he acted normal just 2 days before heading for a cave and dying, he was more sick than he let on. Not a fast-killer if all the other fish are OK.

 

[ironman187]

When did the clown die? When’s the last time you added any fish coral invert or other wet objects from another tank? The clown might have died from something other than internal parasite and it also affected the tang. 2 recent fish deaths is concerning for parasitic infection. I also see the nipped fins but I’m not sure if that is significant here. Since he was hiding for a day before that suggests respiratory problem. Or aggression problem. Did you ever see any spots or slime or anything in the skin prior to it expiring?

The clown passed on January 27th. We did a 14 day stint of medicated food. A Duncan and 2 spotcinctus clowns were added on February 21st, we added a longfin goby and candycane pistol shrimp on February 29th. I agree, this is concerning, I'm sad for the losses, but more concerned for the rest of the tank inhabitants. When I saw the tail in her cave, it looked perfectly fine, I suspect the frayed tail and fins happened very close to or after the death. Agression likely wasn't an issue, she didn't let anybody push her around. I didn't see any spots or slime, but the last time I saw it (other than her tail), was the day before last. Of course, I thought staying in her cave was odd, but wasn't overly concerned at the time.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

The clown passed on January 27th. We did a 14 day stint of medicated food. A Duncan and 2 spotcinctus clowns were added on February 21st, we added a longfin goby and candycane pistol shrimp on February 29th. I agree, this is concerning, I'm sad for the losses, but more concerned for the rest of the tank inhabitants. When I saw the tail in her cave, it looked perfectly fine, I suspect the frayed tail and fins happened very close to or after the death. Agression likely wasn't an issue, she didn't let anybody push her around. I didn't see any spots or slime, but the last time I saw it (other than her tail), was the day before last. Of course, I thought staying in her cave was odd, but wasn't overly concerned at the time.

I’m inclined to think that a pest hitch hiked on one of your new additions and caused a disease in the tang. It sounds like it was healthy and had a rapid decline in 24-48 hours which suggests an aggressive disease. It’s great your LFS does a QT process but unfortunately who knows exactly what each animal has been in contact with and what diseases it might have. I would advise very close monitoring of existing animals and waiting a bit to add anything new. If you get the itch you can setup your own fish and coral QT tanks for future additions. This will also get you ready to pull and treat if your other fish become ill.

 

[ironman187]

I’m inclined to think that a pest hitch hiked on one of your new additions and caused a disease in the tang. It sounds like it was healthy and had a rapid decline in 24-48 hours which suggests an aggressive disease. It’s great your LFS does a QT process but unfortunately who knows exactly what each animal has been in contact with and what diseases it might have. I would advise very close monitoring of existing animals and waiting a bit to add anything new. If you get the itch you can setup your own fish and coral QT tanks for future additions. This will also get you ready to pull and treat if your other fish become ill.

We had a few more livestock purchases to make, but we are suspending that until we can figure this out. Thanks for the input. How long would you recommend waiting to add anything?

 

[Reef AquaCult]

That’s a judgment call but 4-6 weeks to let things settle out would be reasonable. Any significant pathogen should show it’s evil face well before then.

 

[ironman187]

That’s a judgment call but 4-6 weeks to let things settle out would be reasonable. Any significant pathogen should show it’s evil face well before then.

Ok, great, Thanks again for the advice. I'm going to look into setting up a QT tank, the wife wanted a tank in the bedroom, so why not?