Total fish loss

robert · Sep 12, 2015

Could be velvet - it kills fast...but not that fast.

When was the last time you looked at your fish?...if it were the day before they died and they ate and did not look sick - its not velvet...you can miss the "spots" with velvet - but the fish will look dusty or filmy...their color will be pale or off and they are clearly in distress...they won't eat...when their eyes cloud...they're pretty much gone...its fast...but you would have noticed the day before.

Anyone spray air freshener in the room? Use beach or another cleaaner in an adjacent room? Replace a filter sock? Feed something different? Use carpet fresh and vaccume? Is the tank open or covered? Skimmer or without?

un5tab1e · Sep 12, 2015

Hate that you lost everything.

Humblefish · Sep 12, 2015

The white spots you were seeing on the Flame Angel was likely either velvet or a very bad case of ich. Both can wipe out your entire fish population in short order, although velvet is more likely to do this. If ammonia was present while the fish were battling parasites, it would have just exacerbated the situation. I would go fallow for at least 6 weeks (for velvet) - or 72 days for ich (if you wanted to be sure.)

If ammonia is still present, then that's probably what's causing your corals to stay closed. I would do a large WC ASAP. How long has this tank been setup? How long has it been cycled?

Humblefish · Sep 12, 2015

Another theory: The metronidazole aka Metroplex that you dosed is not reef safe. You can soak it in food by using a binder but shouldn't dose it directly into the water. It's also not an effective treatment for ich or velvet, but is effective on brook & uronema. So, it's possible metro suppressed symptoms of ich/velvet for a while, that then came roaring back.

But the main point I'm driving at is if you dosed your reef tank with metro, and you have soft corals which spit toxins in response to the metro, and you weren't running carbon to remove the toxins ... that could have killed off all your fish right there. Especially in such a small tank.

ReefTankRebel · Sep 12, 2015

I just lost all my fish a month ago , it was from oxegyn depletion. When the water temp rises all fish coral algae everything in the tank uses more oxegyn. If you don't have enough break on surface or oxegyn coming into the water Bam. But my tank hit like 86. Could you have had any temp swings?

Joe Pulliam · Sep 12, 2015

I have all my equipment on a battery back up so I don't think the power heads went out. I haven't added any in the last month due to being busy with work etc. happy I didn't. My hammer coral and Kenya tree seem like they are more back to normal now. I'm totally confused, the fish looked just fine, just not alive lol

Joe Pulliam · Sep 12, 2015

Humblefish said:
Another theory: The metronidazole aka Metroplex that you dosed is not reef safe. You can soak it in food by using a binder but shouldn't dose it directly into the water. It's also not an effective treatment for ich or velvet, but is effective on brook & uronema. So, it's possible metro suppressed symptoms of ich/velvet for a while, that then came roaring back.

But the main point I'm driving at is if you dosed your reef tank with metro, and you have soft corals which spit toxins in response to the metro, and you weren't running carbon to remove the toxins ... that could have killed off all your fish right there. Especially in such a small tank.

Just goes to show why I shouldnt listen to my LFS. I was soaking it into the food but this does make some sense. I haven't dosed that in the tank for a few weeks now

ZoaCollector · Sep 12, 2015

Never dose antibiotics in a reef tank. Always use a QT tank if you're going to treat with those types of meds.

Water changes are stressful which is why you should always aerate the newly mixed water for atleast a few hours or longer prior. Always have a reservoir of water ready and aerated.

Take some clear close up pictures of the fish and maybe we can see if they had external parasites.

Joe Pulliam · Sep 12, 2015

I would take photos of them but they are in the compost bin now. My fiancé is a bit of a clean eating freak and that's where all that stuff goes.

4FordFamily · Sep 12, 2015

robert said:
Could be velvet - it kills fast...but not that fast.

When was the last time you looked at your fish?...if it were the day before they died and they ate and did not look sick - its not velvet...you can miss the "spots" with velvet - but the fish will look dusty or filmy...their color will be pale or off and they are clearly in distress...they won't eat...when their eyes cloud...they're pretty much gone...its fast...but you would have noticed the day before.

Anyone spray air freshener in the room? Use beach or another cleaaner in an adjacent room? Replace a filter sock? Feed something different? Use carpet fresh and vaccume? Is the tank open or covered? Skimmer or without?

I've had a strain that shows no outward symptoms at all. Only affected gills. That is until a chevron tang showed classic symptoms. For months every angel added died, and a few other fish. Wrasse did fine and a hippo died toward the end unfortunately.

Many strains exist with with different characteristics.

It may not be velvet if it were that suddenly, but ammonia seems unlikely as well.

Angels, particularly flame, do not do well in low 02 circumstances, so that would lend credence to that but it doesn't sound like that's a plausible reason.

Situations where flow stopped and O2 depleted quickly my flames were always the first to go.

Joe Pulliam · Sep 12, 2015

Okay now things have gotten weirder. Just found these baby serpent stars on the sandbed. If the water chemistry was bad or something was wrong, wouldn't these be dead?

Breakthecycle2 · Sep 12, 2015

Joe Pulliam said:
Okay now things have gotten weirder. Just found these baby serpent stars on the sandbed. If the water chemistry was bad or something was wrong, wouldn't these be dead?

Not really, no. How about an electric shock?

Joe Pulliam · Sep 12, 2015

That's the third thing I checked. Everything seems fine there. No voltage problems that I can tell.

jdl513 · Sep 12, 2015

What kind of coral do you have? Any zoanthids, palys, numerous leathers? I am wondering if this could be a toxin release response to the antibiotic. That could explain the sudden die off and ammonia spike.