Woke Up to 2 Dead Fish

[ruegaroo]

Woke up this morning and found one of my blue reef chromis floating and my white lined combtooth blenny at the bottom. Both of these fish appeared to be fine all day yesterday so I'm a bit confused. I have one blue reef chromis and 2 clowns left that seem to be alright for now. All corals and inverts are fine.

Two minor changes occurred recently. Last week I added 5 trochus snails, 5 yellow tip hermits, and 1 fighting conch. On Monday I slightly increased the flow and adjusted the return flow to be a bit higher than it was. Before that the chromis were added a month ago and the blenny two months ago. The tank is going on 6 months old now. I do not have my parameters handy as I am at work but will run some tests on my lunch break. They are generally consistent although my nitrates tend to be on the higher side.

I am worried about the possibility of a velvet outbreak based on some brief research on the forums. However, my blenny did not show signs of velvet and neither did my chromis. They both just kinda died. I'm going to take some pics of the clowns and closely observe them during my lunch break. I read that clowns have a better natural defense against velvet or at least seem to do better so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they make it to my lunch break if it is velvet.

If it isn't velvet, I would like to hear other possibilities so I can know how to deal with this.

Here is a pic of the blenny.

 

[4FordFamily]

Did the chromis have any redness on the body? Uronema is pretty common in them. I don't see anything for certain on the blenny. Are there any small spots, or scratching, flashing, hiding from light, breathing heavily?

 

[ruegaroo]

Did the chromis have any redness on the body? Uronema is pretty common in them. I don't see anything for certain on the blenny. Are there any small spots, or scratching, flashing, hiding from light, breathing heavily?

No and I didn't take pictures of the chromis even though I should have. Rookie mistake. It just looked very pale and not its normal vibrant blue. None of the fish were hiding from light or showed any signs of stress except the chromis for a brief moment. The chromis that died did seem to be a bit excited when I increased the flow a bit but it calmed down after a while.

 

[Deezill]

What can you treat Uronema with?

 

[Big G]

What can you treat Uronema with?

With the quick deaths, agree it may be Uronema or Velvet. Both can kill quickly. Velvet often attacks within the gills, unseen, and death follows quickly. That's why we need to observe for the other behaviors.

Here's a complete guide to Uronema and treatment:

Uronema marinum

Uronema marinum What You Need To Know: * These are the red sores most often seen on chromis damsels; however it can afflict any fish. * Treatment of choice is a 45 minute formalin bath (e.g. Quick Cure), followed by transfer into a new/sterile QT. * Once in QT, it is very important to do...

www.reef2reef.com

And a complete guide to Velvet and treatments:

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)

Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum) What You Need To Know: * Fast killing parasite capable of wiping out most of your fish in just a matter of days. Sometimes there are survivors, sometimes not. * Can be treated in a quarantine tank using Chloroquine phosphate or Copper. A 5...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ruegaroo]

I'd say it looks like velvet upon closer inspection. Hard to get a good pic of it but it looks like they have a fine powder all over them. Kind of like dust spots. Going to go fallow and treat as such.

 

[4FordFamily]

I'd say it looks like velvet upon closer inspection. Hard to get a good pic of it but it looks like they have a fine powder all over them. Kind of like dust spots. Going to go fallow and treat as such.

Since it is a clownfish, it could also be brooklynella. Brook doesn't usually harm other fish as quickly or severely as it does clownfish but it certainly can. I'd recommend removal of the fish, treatment in a quarantine tank with metroplex and copper at 2.25PPM (metroplex treats brook, uronema, and some bacterial infections, and copper treats ich/velvet).

You'll want biospira to kick start the nitrogen cycle to keep ammonia at bay as well. I'd avoid using prime for ammonia while in QT. Treat for 30 days, or for 14 days then move to a completely sterile QT (that shares nothing with the first other than the fish). I rinse the fish in-between transfer (put them in a bucket with clean water)

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Since it is a clownfish, it could also be brooklynella. Brook doesn't usually harm other fish as quickly or severely as it does clownfish but it certainly can. I'd recommend removal of the fish, treatment in a quarantine tank with metroplex and copper at 2.25PPM (metroplex treats brook, uronema, and some bacterial infections, and copper treats ich/velvet).

You'll want biospira to kick start the nitrogen cycle to keep ammonia at bay as well. I'd avoid using prime for ammonia while in QT. Treat for 30 days, or for 14 days then move to a completely sterile QT (that shares nothing with the first other than the fish). I rinse the fish in-between transfer (put them in a bucket with clean water)

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