Urgent Help Needed

[woodyetia]

Please see pics. Got water tested and all values are safe. This happened overnight. Nothing has changed in tank for 3 weeks. Overnight I lost a lawnmower blenny, diamond goby, and a sailfin tang. I have two clowns that are struggling. What’s this white slime on everything?

 

[SimplisticDesign]

#fishmedic @fishmedic

You should change the tag to emergency. What are your parameters? Age of tank? how long ago were the fish introduced? All at once? Or few at a time?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Please see pics. Got water tested and all values are safe. This happened overnight. Nothing has changed in tank for 3 weeks. Overnight I lost a lawnmower blenny, diamond goby, and a sailfin tang. I have two clowns that are struggling. What’s this white slime on everything?

Sorry to hear that....

When I see sheets of mucus coming off of a fish, especially clownfish, I think Brooklynella. However, that does not come on overnight, there is a more gradual buildup of symptoms, and then, the clownfish are usually the first ones affected, not the other way around.

More background info is needed. This post explains all that:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[woodyetia]

#fishmedic @fishmedic

You should change the tag to emergency. What are your parameters? Age of tank? how long ago were the fish introduced? All at once? Or few at a time?

Tank is 3 years old parameters are normal they have been. Last addition was a salefin tang 3 weeks ago. This happened pretty much over two days.

 

[MnFish1]

My guess is that the sailfin tang (was it quarantined) - brought something - velvet or brook, or flukes into the tank if not. Can you please give more information?

 

[woodyetia]

My guess is that the sailfin tang (was it quarantined) - brought something - velvet or brook, or flukes into the tank if not. Can you please give more information?

What more info can I give? My LFS QTs them for two weeks. I did the normal drip for an hour. This was atleast two weeks ago and all was fine up until yesterday. I notice this white stuff coming from the rocks and on the clowns. Later that night Sal Fin was dead. No clue he was swimming, eating and all was fine. Fast forward to a day later I wake up and find the clowns like they are and a dead lawn mower blenny who had been very healthy and active as well as a Gobbie. I did a 20% water change yesterday.

 

[woodyetia]

What more info can I give? My LFS QTs them for two weeks. I did the normal drip for an hour. This was atleast two weeks ago and all was fine up until yesterday. I notice this white stuff coming from the rocks and on the clowns. Later that night Sal Fin was dead. No clue he was swimming, eating and all was fine. Fast forward to a day later I wake up and find the clowns like they are and a dead lawn mower blenny who had been very healthy and active as well as a Gobbie. I did a 20% water change yesterday.

I was told I did not need to as my nitrates and ammonia are at 0.

 

[brandon429]

do you have corals

or a cuc

if not fallow prepped, those are a marked disease risk nowadays from pet stores.

 

[woodyetia]

do you have corals

or a cuc

if not fallow prepped, those are a marked disease risk nowadays from pet stores.

Yes I introduced a hard coral two weeks ago as well. It seems fine however. Nothing new has been added in over 2 weeks.

 

[Cell]

Added sailfin 3 weeks ago. Sailfin dies first, next day other fish follow. This points to the sailfin as the culprit. Just because your LFS does a 2 week QT, does not mean the fish is safe and disease free. Do you know what your LFS QT procedure is?

Posting your actual parameters and not just "everything is good" is very helpful. Oftentimes we find people who have been told their numbers are good, when the reality is there are red flags present because they were misinformed.

 

[brandon429]

it is darn hard to keep disease out nowadays no fault to anyone seeking best practices. if I ever have a large reef it will be fully stocked first, without fish/all corals in place/then fallowed, then add fish / in the reverse order from most setups.

if I carefully fallow any final entrants that's only a few runs to complete the tank, vs a lifetime of fallow tanking to cover each stocked item after fish go in first.

 

[MnFish1]

OK - so if you look at my signature - you will see a link.

HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

Click the link - it will give you the information that is helpful before posting a question - it's also at the top of the reef disease forum (you're in the general discussion area). Up front - I will say 2 things:

1. There is no such thing as a 2 week quarantine - so your fish have not been quarantined.
2. It is possible for you to introduce disease into a tank with coral (though more uncommon).
3. In the future if you use the hashtag #fishmedic - it will bring a number of people to your post that can help you.

To answer your questions - the white stuff on the rocks is not related to the white stuff on your clowns. There is a quarantine protocol at the top of the fish disease forum involving a month of copper followed by praziquantel for a couple doses - followed by 2 weeks observation.

Normally it's more common for clowns to have brooklynella - however this does not affect other fish in the same manner - so it sounds like you have 'velvet' in your tank. Since there are no pictures of your fish - I would consider treating the remainder of the fish (if any) in a hospital tank with copper as discussed above - followed by prazipro.

PS - Jay Hemdal - another of the 'fish medics' also posted the link with the questions that if answered, would help us help you.

 

[woodyetia]

Just got back home and the two clowns are gone now as well with a white skin peeling. All corals and stuff look fine. Now I have no fish. This happened out of the blue. It’s been two weeks since anything new added.
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 2
Nitrate 2

 

[woodyetia]

OK - so if you look at my signature - you will see a link.

HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

Click the link - it will give you the information that is helpful before posting a question - it's also at the top of the reef disease forum (you're in the general discussion area). Up front - I will say 2 things:

1. There is no such thing as a 2 week quarantine - so your fish have not been quarantined.
2. It is possible for you to introduce disease into a tank with coral (though more uncommon).
3. In the future if you use the hashtag #fishmedic - it will bring a number of people to your post that can help you.

To answer your questions - the white stuff on the rocks is not related to the white stuff on your clowns. There is a quarantine protocol at the top of the fish disease forum involving a month of copper followed by praziquantel for a couple doses - followed by 2 weeks observation.

Normally it's more common for clowns to have brooklynella - however this does not affect other fish in the same manner - so it sounds like you have 'velvet' in your tank. Since there are no pictures of your fish - I would consider treating the remainder of the fish (if any) in a hospital tank with copper as discussed above - followed by prazipro.

PS - Jay Hemdal - another of the 'fish medics' also posted the link with the questions that if answered, would help us help you.

Hi the clowns were 2 years old. See pic of the one that died and the other was dead on the coral. I have had this coral for over a year now.

OK - so if you look at my signature - you will see a link.

HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

Click the link - it will give you the information that is helpful before posting a question - it's also at the top of the reef disease forum (you're in the general discussion area). Up front - I will say 2 things:

1. There is no such thing as a 2 week quarantine - so your fish have not been quarantined.
2. It is possible for you to introduce disease into a tank with coral (though more uncommon).
3. In the future if you use the hashtag #fishmedic - it will bring a number of people to your post that can help you.

To answer your questions - the white stuff on the rocks is not related to the white stuff on your clowns. There is a quarantine protocol at the top of the fish disease forum involving a month of copper followed by praziquantel for a couple doses - followed by 2 weeks observation.

Normally it's more common for clowns to have brooklynella - however this does not affect other fish in the same manner - so it sounds like you have 'velvet' in your tank. Since there are no pictures of your fish - I would consider treating the remainder of the fish (if any) in a hospital tank with copper as discussed above - followed by prazipro.

PS - Jay Hemdal - another of the 'fish medics' also posted the link with the questions that if answered, would help us help you.

Hi the clowns were 2 years old. See pic of the one that died and the other was dead on the coral. I have had this coral for over a Year.

 

[MnFish1]

Too bad about your fish - I would strongly guess that some disease was carried in on your most recent fish purchase. What exactly that disease was is hard to say - given the fact that it killed fish that brooklynella would not usually affect as quickly.

Again - am assuming you've already checked any toxins, oxygen, parameters that may have been 'off'. Would suggest a 'fallow period' for 60 days (i.e. no fish) - and a careful check of all of your parameters again with good quality tests. Again - sorry this happened

 

[woodyetia]

Too bad about your fish - I would strongly guess that some disease was carried in on your most recent fish purchase. What exactly that disease was is hard to say - given the fact that it killed fish that brooklynella would not usually affect as quickly.

Again - am assuming you've already checked any toxins, oxygen, parameters that may have been 'off'. Would suggest a 'fallow period' for 60 days (i.e. no fish) - and a careful check of all of your parameters again with good quality tests. Again - sorry this happened

Hi, thank you all for your replies. I have never had every fish dye with a 24 hour period like this. Nothing new has been introduced changed or disturbed in the last two weeks. I did my normal water change. I use the pre-bought box of Pacific Ocean water because I needed to add a little more salt. I was in one 1.21, I have been gradually bringing it up an I have been gradually bringing it up little by little with water changes about 1.22 now. Never do anything too drastic at one time. About two weeks ago. I introduced the tang and this coral pictured here. Everything has been fine up until if I guess I really think about it. I might’ve noticed the fish acting a little weird two days ago. I think I will follow the advice and go ahead and get the corals. Introduced that I want. Let it all settle down before any more fish. It’s just sad. The clowns were a couple years old and they paired.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Just got back home and the two clowns are gone now as well with a white skin peeling. All corals and stuff look fine. Now I have no fish. This happened out of the blue. It’s been two weeks since anything new added.
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 2
Nitrate 2

Was your ammonia really 2??

 

[woodyetia]

Was your ammonia really 2??

Oh my god no missed the . It’s .2 lfs tested and said not enough to kill everything.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, thank you all for your replies. I have never had every fish dye with a 24 hour period like this. Nothing new has been introduced changed or disturbed in the last two weeks. I did my normal water change. I use the pre-bought box of Pacific Ocean water because I needed to add a little more salt. I was in one 1.21, I have been gradually bringing it up an I have been gradually bringing it up little by little with water changes about 1.22 now. Never do anything too drastic at one time. About two weeks ago. I introduced the tang and this coral pictured here. Everything has been fine up until if I guess I really think about it. I might’ve noticed the fish acting a little weird two days ago. I think I will follow the advice and go ahead and get the corals. Introduced that I want. Let it all settle down before any more fish. It’s just sad. The clowns were a couple years old and they paired.

Sorry, from what I can see, the tang brought Brooklynella into your tank. That you had the clownfish for some time explains why they didn't come down with it right away.

This disease cannot be treated in a display, and even in a treatment tank, you really need to use formalin, which is toxic and difficult to source.

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

Was your ammonia really 2??

Kudos to @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal I missed that - I thought that was nitrite. To the OP - You really should not have any ammonia - which test kits were/are you using - - I know its 0.2 - and your LFS was correct - thats unlike to kill everything - but - its suggestive of an issue.