Why are my healthy looking fish dieing?

[Walls2walls]

I have an established 120 saltwater tank and recently my fish have started dieing with no signs of disease. A few days ago my yellow tang started swimming sideways and not moving much, within 24 hours he was dead. This morning my starry blenny passed with no signs of anything wrong. I checked all levels and water was good. I do 10% water changes 7 to 10 days apart. I don't understand what is happening. Please help.

 

[Dom]

Please provide more details...

1. Define "established"; how long has the tank been up and running?
2. Where your water is concerned, what levels did you test and what were the results?
3. Did you quarantine?
4. Can you provide pictures of the individual fish and a full tank shot as well?

 

[Walls2walls]

The tank was moved 6 months ago after being fallow for 6 months, added 4 clowns after a month, lawnmower blenny and starry blenny at 45 days, added blue angel, tux urchin and blood shrimp at 2 months, added 3 chromis and yellow tang at 3 months. Most important I added a pakasani butterfly about a month ago. The butterfly died within a week. The place I bought the fish told me they quarantine the fish so I did not. Water levels are pH 8.1, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5.0, phosphates 0, salinity 1.026

 

[Big G]

Sorry for your losses.

The only quarantine you can trust is your own. Quarantine can mean a lot of different things to different people.

Without any "visible" marks like white spots, we are guessing here. Velvet can kill without showing any external symptoms as the parasites damage the gills to the point where the fish cannot breathe and die quickly. But velvet usually acts very quickly and can take out an entire tank fast.

Another possibility is flukes (actually parasitic flatworms) monogeans in the gills. Fish become very lethargic as they don't have O2 transpiring within the gills. These spread slowly from fish to fish. So without more info I'm leaning flukes. Here's Humblefish's description and treatment advisory. Hope this helps a bit.

Flukes – General Guidelines

Many thanks to "Newsmyrna80" for writing this. Reposted with her permission. Some facts: Flukes are not true flukes. They are actually parasitic flatworms belonging to the class of Monogeans. There are 13 families of flukes. However, only three families infect saltwater fish. 1...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dom]

It's difficult to find a trustworthy local fish store as they are driven to make money, which has become increasingly difficult for brick and mortar businesses with so much available via overnight delivery.

So if I am counting correctly, you have added 13 fish to the tank in 3 months. If this is correct, I believe you may have moved along too fast.

You have to understand; fish produce waste which creates ammonia. It is the nitrifying bacteria colony in your tank that is responsible for processing that ammonia so that it is harmless to the fish. BUT you have to give the nitrifying bacteria colony time to grow so that is can catch up to the bio load produced by the fish.

Typically, I add only 1 fish every 90 days. This gives the nitrifying bacteria colony 90 days to grow and catch up the the added bio load of the new fish.

There is a difference of opinion on my next statement in the reef keeping community. It is my opinion that you ALWAYS QUARANTINE! It is better to be safe than sorry. Would you rather QT and be sure that your new fish is healthy, rather than gamble with a disease that could wipe out your entire tank? Considering you've already had to go fallow once, I wouldn't chance it again.

 

[Walls2walls]

It's difficult to find a trustworthy local fish store as they are driven to make money, which has become increasingly difficult for brick and mortar businesses with so much available via overnight delivery.

So if I am counting correctly, you have added 13 fish to the tank in 3 months. If this is correct, I believe you may have moved along too fast.

You have to understand; fish produce waste which creates ammonia. It is the nitrifying bacteria colony in your tank that is responsible for processing that ammonia so that it is harmless to the fish. BUT you have to give the nitrifying bacteria colony time to grow so that is can catch up to the bio load produced by the fish.

Typically, I add only 1 fish every 90 days. This gives the nitrifying bacteria colony 90 days to grow and catch up the the added bio load of the new fish.

There is a difference of opinion on my next statement in the reef keeping community. It is my opinion that you ALWAYS QUARANTINE! It is better to be safe than sorry. Would you rather QT and be sure that your new fish is healthy, rather than gamble with a disease that could wipe out your entire tank? Considering you've already had to go fallow once, I wouldn't chance it again.

 

[Walls2walls]

Thanks for the help, I have set up a qt tank and will quarantine new fish from now on, lesson learned I guess. I test my water weekly and as I do not see ammonia I figured it was OK to add fish. Should I fresh water dip one of my remaining fish to check for flukes? I am thinking about checking the blue angel as I really do not want to lose him.

 

[Big G]

Just be mindful that a freshwater dip mainly show "skin or surface" flukes. Flukes that are within the gills are somewhat protected during a dip by the mucous layers of the gills where they have burrowed in and are doing damage. But it's still good to check. Usually if they are on the skin, they are within the gills too. Though some species seem to prefer certain areas like the eyes, gills or skin.

 

[klimfish]

13 fish in 3 months after only running with fish for 6 months...definitely not "established" which IMO takes at least a couple years. You went too much too fast.

Also just FYI "all my parameters are good" is not the same as posting the numbers here, the numbers really help.

 

[Jmblec2]

Sounds like Velvet from the last fish you added. Also could be too many fish added. But my bet is velvet. Always QT.

 

[BeejReef]

Sorry for your struggles.

Keep an open mind and consider all the variables.
What kind of filtration do you run? How much and how often do you feed? What do you feed?
That's a really clean tank for that number of fish. Are you confident they're all getting enough to eat? I ask mainly bc u just lost two herbivores.

Did you recently start dosing anything new? Any work going on around the house?
Is it a reef or fowlr? If reef, how do the corals look.

Parasites ofc a strong possibility with a lot of new fish, but don't scope lock either.

 

[artieg1]

The fact that you don't see any marks or dots on the fish suggests ammonia, but the speed (and death of the last fish added) also suggests velvet. At this stage, I think you are watching them and taking steps to reduce and de-toxify any ammonia (see other stickies).

 

[Walls2walls]

Everything is pointing to velvet, I lost two more fish, I am considering starting over draining the tank and polishing it to remove the scratches. Very sad and expensive lesson to learn.

 

[Cell]

With that size tank and spread out over the course of 3 mo. I dont think 13 fish was too fast whatsoever. A 120 gallon tank with the suitable amt of live rock can handle adding 4 fish per month.

 

[Dom]

With that size tank and spread out over the course of 3 mo. I dont think 13 fish was too fast whatsoever. A 120 gallon tank with the suitable amt of live rock can handle adding 4 fish per month.

It isn't about the size of the tank, but the size of the nitrifying bacteria colony. Just because there is enough rock to provide a home for the nitrifying bacteria colony, doesn't mean the rock contains enough to support the bio load.

It is very much about supply and demand; you can't have a nitrifying bacteria colony bigger than the food source (ammonia) can support. It needs time to grow and reproduce... to catch up to the amount of bio load.

So when you add all of those fish so close together, you will create an ammonia spike which will slowly come down as the colony grows and can process the ammonia in the tank.

But in the mean time, all of that ammonia is harmful to everything in your tank.

 

[Cell]

After 3 mo, assuming the appropriate amt of rock for a 120g tank, adding 3 chromis and a yellow tang should not cause a big spike. I would be more concerned about 4 clowns after 1 month, but again that is a blip in a properly cycled 120g tank with adequate live rock. If those 4 clowns were fine, then 15 days later a blue angel, urchin, and shrimp were added and everything was still fine and another 4 weeks passed, the bacteria has been given plenty of time to catch up. 90 days between fish is extreme.