Dying Firefish. Help!

[Leo.LA]

I have a clown fish and firefish in a smaller fish only tank since October 2019. I wanted to add some corals so I bought a larger nano tank and just moved them to a Fluval evo 13.5 gallon almost 7 weeks ago, and added a very small pistol shrimp and some CUC and corals. 

 

Then I added a coral beauty angelfish almost 3 weeks ago. Everyone seems happy and they have their own territory. During the night, firefish will hide and sleep inside one of my live rock. Clownfish hosts on couple corals and I don't see a lot of aggression between all of them.

 

I noticed that my coral beauty angelfish has a lot of small white spots after introducing to the tank 3 weeks ago and it based on my research, it could be ich. Although he is very lively and eating very well so I figured maybe just stress of new environment.

 

Today, I saw my firefish not swimming and not on his usual spot and looks like he is dying. He is not eating too. Here's the pic.

 

 

My firefish is on the larger side so I don't know if its just old age. I don't know if its harassment from other fish but I doubt it. It could be ich from the coral beauty angelfish? or it could be another disease. 

 

 

[Lypto]

I've seen that firefish tend to be fairly susceptible to disease. How are your parameters? 3 fish in a 13 gallon is a lot, and a flame angel puts out a lot of waste.

[Thrassian Atoll]

I don’t know my fish diseases very well, but possible uronema on the firefish?

[Leo.LA]

1 hour ago, Lypto said:

I've seen that firefish tend to be fairly susceptible to disease. How are your parameters? 3 fish in a 13 gallon is a lot, and a flame angel puts out a lot of waste.

Parameters are good.
 

I haven't been checking my ammonia, nitrite and nitrates recently but last time it was 0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite and 5-10ppm nitrates

 

pH 8.4

salinity 1.025 and pretty consistent

dKH is now stable at 8, it was a little higher couple weeks ago. 

 

I am doing 20-25% water change weekly, or sometimes biweekly. 

[patback]

That flame angel shouldn't even be in eyesight of a 13.5 irregardless of size or age. Hence the white spots.  

What makes you say the firefish is dying?

[Leo.LA]

6 minutes ago, patback said:

That flame angel shouldn't even be in eyesight of a 13.5 irregardless of size or age. Hence the white spots.  

What makes you say the firefish is dying?

It's not moving and it's not swimming. I tried to target feed and it's not eating.

[Tamberav]

Tank is way too small for an angelfish, 30g min and even that is pushing it. Cramming a fish in a small tank causes stress which causes disease. 

 

Also fish will often attack others early in the morning and don't seem to do it often when we are watching either. That could be an injury. Small overstocked tanks can cause aggression because who wants to live in a closet with two strangers?

 

If its not swimming or eating, probably nothing you can do at this point. It would need a dip and to be moved into a separate QT tank. All fish would need to be treated to remove disease or the 'healthy' ones will serve as hosts. 

 

If the coral beauty isn't removed, its lifespan will likely be shortened....they grow to a decent size and are very active. They also need to eat a good amount.

 

 

[Humblefish]

The "small white spots" on the Coral Beauty... Can you count them or too numerous to count??

[Leo.LA]

7 minutes ago, Humblefish said:

The "small white spots" on the Coral Beauty... Can you count them or too numerous to count??

Too numerous to count.

[Tamberav]

43 minutes ago, Leo.LA said:

Too numerous to count.

 

 

[Humblefish]

^^ I agree velvet.

 

What you are seeing on the firefish is most likely a secondary bacterial infection: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/407685-bacterial-infections/