What now....

55g · Jan 31, 2014

So my tank had a wipeout. I managed to save a clown and snowflake eel putting them in an isolation tank with copper. Pajama cardinals died today in the display tank, showing no sign of stress. All that's left in the display tank is the cleanup crew and they seem fine for now. I still can't figure what happen. Might have been velvet. Don't think it was ick. I guess my question is, as the display tank sits there, should I continue to add small amounts of brine to keep the bio load up? The cleanup crew needs to be fed anyway. I plan on doing a massive water change before reintroducing the survivors in 2 weeks with slow drip to acclimation. My RO water is stored in a Brute can in the garage with a heater, but no air stone; some say yes, some say it's not required. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Reefing Madness · Feb 1, 2014

If it was Velvet, or you even suspect it, I would not put a fish back in that tank for 60 days.
And treatment of copper should last 2 weeks, with a 4 week observation afterwards.

55g · Feb 1, 2014

Thanks for the advice. I've been in this hobby on and off for 4 years. I've never experienced a wipeout before. So now I have a 55g tank with a cleanup crew wandering around aimlessly and a snowflake eel and clown isolated in a 10g. What bugs me is that most of the fish that died showed no signs of distress. No white spot/velvet, no cloudy eyes, no shredded fins. They just died. The first was a blue hippo tang who I suspect started the event. It showed sign of velvet is suspect. I should have taken it out right away, but left it in the tank for 2 days hoping it would bounce back. Then it just spread.
Looking for best advice on how to keep the tank going until I can return the eel and clown back to the tank. Thanks.