2 fish lost to mysterious ailment

[jambon]

I am at a bit of a dilemma. I lost my black sailfin blenny and my springerii dottyback in the past 3 days. I have also not seen my black ray goby since then. My black ice clown looks fine. My levels all look good although my Mg. Seams to be creeping up slightly,its at 1250. All my corals are thriving with good polyp ex... salinity 1.026 temp 79-80.

They were swimming around erratically before they died. About 6 weeks ago I had a salt water ick problem I thought they survived that as they were eating well and it appeared to resolve itself.

Any suggestions would be helpful...

Thanks

[Snow_Phoenix]

How big is your tank and how are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels exactly?

[CJJon]

Ich doesn't really just go away. You mentioned you had a problem. What did you do to treat it? TTM, meds, nothing? Need your actual numbers from your testing. Temp might be a bit high. What did the dead fish look like? Pics?

[jambon]

Hi... 20 gal. Levels no3-0 po4-0 cal 1230-40 Mg 1200+Alk 1000-1100 ish.Yes u had an ick problem but this is an reef tank so I never treated. IMHO ick is often present but in a healthy population it won't show up. It may be the problem as there is a bit of competition for food.the fish that perished were washed out looking and swimming around like they were hyper before they bit the dust. I have 4 spa and 10 or so lbs corals all are thriving.BTW black ice clown doing well.Still a bit confused...

Hi... 20 gal. Levels no3-0 po4-0 cal 1230-40 Mg 1200+Alk 1000-1100 ish.Yes u had an ick problem but this is an reef tank so I never treated. IMHO ick is often present but in a healthy population it won't show up. It may be the problem as there is a bit of competition for food.the fish that perished were washed out looking and swimming around like they were hyper before they bit the dust. I have 4 sps and 10 or so lps corals all are thriving.BTW black ice clown doing well.Still a bit confused...

[ajmckay]

IME when fish are hyper the cause is a toxin or a parasite. Have you made any changes to the tank recently?

 

With a toxin the fish will seem really restless and will swim somewhat recklessly running into stuff etc. Will try to keep doing this until exhaustion sets in.

 

With a parasite they will sometimes swim normally and other times swim really quick and often will intentionally "flash" or rub up against rocks and such. In the case of most parasites at some point the fish will start to deteriorate rapidly once the gill tissue is too far gone and will become motionless and then die.

 

 

 

Regarding ich (actually cryptocaryon irritans - a marine fish parasite), I think it's a common thought to assume that the parasite is present in most aquariums but that a healthy population "just deals with it". This statement is both true and false.

 

- It's not in every system - some go to great lengths to keep it out of their systems

- A fish's immune system is capable, under ideal situations, to keep the parasite from being able to create an infestation. Note that it's still a parasite and it's still doing harm to the fish but that the defenses of the fish are keeping the parasite from reproducing to the point of an infestation.

- Generally you should treat affected fish in a hospital tank - not in a reef tank.

- The parasite actually has a 4 stage life cycle. If you can physically see the white specks on the fish that's only 1 of it's stages and when the specks disappear that doesn't mean the fish is cured, but that the parasite has moved to another stage and another generation of the parasite will soon follow.

- If you see white specks on a fish the chances of survival without treatment aren't great - immediate quarantine of affected fish and treatment is usually the best bet.

 

Anyways, hope this helps, I'm sure you'll figure out what it was at some point.

[jambon]

Thanks for all the info... the only different thing I have been doing with the tank, and has been ongoing for. The past 2 months is carbon dosing with vodka at the rate of 0.8 ml daily.as I noted this has been for 2 months approx. My crustaceans all appear happy and. Snails munching away. This all points back to the ick. Unfortunately I have no hospital tank...my black ice clown is surviving. I have heard the ick will die off or... after 11 months if the fish survive the infestation?

One other suspicion is it possible for small electric currents escape from submerged pumps?

[ajmckay]

Stray voltage is a possibility, though would likely piss off corals and affect all the inhabitants negatively.

 

I'm not aware of any timeframe where the parasite dies off when a host is present. Noe that just because you can't see any parasites on the fish doesn't mean the fish isn't affected. The parasites are just in smaller numbers because the fish is fighting them off. How effectively the fish continues to do this is dependent on how well it's taken care of. Worsening water quality, insufficient food, addition of other tank mates, or any number of things could cause it's defenses to go down and the parasite then could take hold.

 

I will say that a hospital tank doesn't have to be anything fancy. You should be able to set one up with $20 and some spare equipment - much cheaper than most of the fish we keep. Treat the clown and leave the main tank without fish for 6 weeks and then you can be assured that there are no parasites in there (as long as all new additions are treated as well before being put in the display tank).

[jambon]

Thanks for the advice AJ.... I have a tank somewhat at my disposal. My daughter has a 14 gallon bio cube. Surely with a little effort it will pay off in the end..piece of mind and healthy fish.

Thanks for the advice AJ.... I have a tank somewhat at my disposal. My daughter has a 14 gallon bio cube. Surely with a little effort it will pay off in the end..piece of mind and healthy fish.

[CJJon]

Maybe the vodka dosing is depleting the O2 in your tank. Temp of tank get hotter than 80F? Is the weather getting warm where you are in the world? Do you skim?