Here is my question:
Can someone please help me identify what is ailing my fish AND recommend a treatment option?
This is lengthy, but nothing is routine in the reefing world, so here is everything I could think of that COULD BE relevant. This one has me stumped.
Basic information:
Fish were in a 16 gallon Biocube for 2-3 years. Within the last 40 days, I upgraded their tank to a 32 gallon Biocube. Other than the fish and invertibrates (crabs, snails, urchin, small BTA's), everything is new (sand, live rock from LFS, filter media, etc.) I always cycle my own dry rock, but due to an impulse buy of the 32-gallon and a planned vacation I went with Live Rock and Caribsea fiji pink sand. I have been monitoring the fish at my LFS and have talked to the aquatics specialists, and they have not had any issues that would match my fish's symptoms.
Water Parameters:
Nitrate: 20 parts
Nitrite: 0 parts
Ammonia: 0 parts
Salinity: 33 ppt
Livestock:
Naked Clownfish (2) - Had not paired up yet - (newest one deceased)
Flame Hawkfish
Tailspot Blenny
Tomini Tang (deceased)
Lemonpeel Angel (deceased)
Pincushion Urchin
Emerald Crab
Blue Leg Hermits
Super Nassarius Snails (4?)
Turbo Snail (1)
Symptoms:
Discolored fish (pale, washed out, white film covering scales?)
1 fish was breathing rapidly (first to die - clownfish)
NOT hiding, NOT sensitive to light
Total of 3 fish died within a week - no additional losses for almost 2 weeks now)
Media -
Floss
Foam
Chemipure Blue - removed from tank when Herbtana added)
Bacteria Block (from an established tank - used to help start the cycle in the new tank)
Timeline:
May 14 - Fish moved to new 32 gallon tank (clownfish, hawkfish, blenny)
May 22 - 3 new fish introduced (Tomini Tang, Lemon Peel Angel, clownfish).
May 31 - Hood (lighting) on Biocube stopped working
June 5 - Noticed new clownfish was struggling - sick - removed from tank and placed in QT (Died within 24 hours in QT tank). My QT tank is a copper tank. Suspected he wasn't welcomed by the existing clownfish and although I had 2 BTA's for hosting, with the hood not working, anemones weren't opening fully and welcoming the clowns. I truly thought this fish was being bullied.
June 8 - Central Garden sending new hood - setup a temporary light (Kessil Tuna Blue - hoped it was enough for the anemones until new hood arrives), Nassarius snail laid eggs in the tank - consumed by copepods). Turbo snail died.
June 9 - Noticed some of the other fish were beginning to look pale (washed out), and the angel and tang stopped eating - immediately suspected velvet based on symptoms from 1st clownfish (the one that died in the QT tank was the only fish that displayed rapid breathing) and the washed out look of the remaining fish. Gave remaining clown, hawkfish, angel, and tang freshwater dip for 5-8 minutes. Couldn't get the blenny out, so he missed the dip. Began treating the whole tank with Herbtana - only thing I had on hand that wouldn't harm the inverts. Anticipated I would lose all of the fish in the tank, so did what I could to give them some relief with the FW dip. I should have moved them to the QT tank, but I wasn't certain it was Velvet, and of course, I was leaving for vacation the next day while my 17 year old daughter maintained all of my tanks. Since all of the fish appeared ill, I decided to leave them in the display tank and focus on nutrition.
June 10 - Left for Vacation - Prepared my daughter the fish would all die probably within the next 2 days and just to remove them when they did. Also made sure she had NO OPPORTUNITY for contaminating any of the other tanks.
June 11 - Angel died and removed from tank
June 12 - Tang died (consumed by cleanup crew)
June 23 - Returned from Vacation and New Hood Installed
June 25 - Remaining hawkfish, blenny and clownfish still look washed out - but they are alive. They actually look better than they did on the 9th with no treatment. These are the original fish that I have had for 2-3 years.
Blenny is just now showing signs of flashing, but it looks like there is an injury on his side which could be the reason for the flashing. All fish are out in the open and behaving normally - just look like they are covered in a white film. All fish are also eating. I'm not sure I want to use Copper on them if I don't need to. I was surprised they survived for this long and am suspecting something other than velvet because of this. I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some insight so I know how to treat the fish. Pictures and Video from today attached. (ignore the floaters in the tank - I Tunzed the glass to get a clearer video of the fish). You can see the underside of the hawkfish is white and he has a white film (that looks like velvet). Same film on the clownfish. Blenny is hard to tell because of his coloring.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you! Let me know if additional pictures or video are needed.
Can someone please help me identify what is ailing my fish AND recommend a treatment option?
This is lengthy, but nothing is routine in the reefing world, so here is everything I could think of that COULD BE relevant. This one has me stumped.
Basic information:
Fish were in a 16 gallon Biocube for 2-3 years. Within the last 40 days, I upgraded their tank to a 32 gallon Biocube. Other than the fish and invertibrates (crabs, snails, urchin, small BTA's), everything is new (sand, live rock from LFS, filter media, etc.) I always cycle my own dry rock, but due to an impulse buy of the 32-gallon and a planned vacation I went with Live Rock and Caribsea fiji pink sand. I have been monitoring the fish at my LFS and have talked to the aquatics specialists, and they have not had any issues that would match my fish's symptoms.
Water Parameters:
Nitrate: 20 parts
Nitrite: 0 parts
Ammonia: 0 parts
Salinity: 33 ppt
Livestock:
Naked Clownfish (2) - Had not paired up yet - (newest one deceased)
Flame Hawkfish
Tailspot Blenny
Tomini Tang (deceased)
Lemonpeel Angel (deceased)
Pincushion Urchin
Emerald Crab
Blue Leg Hermits
Super Nassarius Snails (4?)
Turbo Snail (1)
Symptoms:
Discolored fish (pale, washed out, white film covering scales?)
1 fish was breathing rapidly (first to die - clownfish)
NOT hiding, NOT sensitive to light
Total of 3 fish died within a week - no additional losses for almost 2 weeks now)
Media -
Floss
Foam
Chemipure Blue - removed from tank when Herbtana added)
Bacteria Block (from an established tank - used to help start the cycle in the new tank)
Timeline:
May 14 - Fish moved to new 32 gallon tank (clownfish, hawkfish, blenny)
May 22 - 3 new fish introduced (Tomini Tang, Lemon Peel Angel, clownfish).
May 31 - Hood (lighting) on Biocube stopped working
June 5 - Noticed new clownfish was struggling - sick - removed from tank and placed in QT (Died within 24 hours in QT tank). My QT tank is a copper tank. Suspected he wasn't welcomed by the existing clownfish and although I had 2 BTA's for hosting, with the hood not working, anemones weren't opening fully and welcoming the clowns. I truly thought this fish was being bullied.
June 8 - Central Garden sending new hood - setup a temporary light (Kessil Tuna Blue - hoped it was enough for the anemones until new hood arrives), Nassarius snail laid eggs in the tank - consumed by copepods). Turbo snail died.
June 9 - Noticed some of the other fish were beginning to look pale (washed out), and the angel and tang stopped eating - immediately suspected velvet based on symptoms from 1st clownfish (the one that died in the QT tank was the only fish that displayed rapid breathing) and the washed out look of the remaining fish. Gave remaining clown, hawkfish, angel, and tang freshwater dip for 5-8 minutes. Couldn't get the blenny out, so he missed the dip. Began treating the whole tank with Herbtana - only thing I had on hand that wouldn't harm the inverts. Anticipated I would lose all of the fish in the tank, so did what I could to give them some relief with the FW dip. I should have moved them to the QT tank, but I wasn't certain it was Velvet, and of course, I was leaving for vacation the next day while my 17 year old daughter maintained all of my tanks. Since all of the fish appeared ill, I decided to leave them in the display tank and focus on nutrition.
June 10 - Left for Vacation - Prepared my daughter the fish would all die probably within the next 2 days and just to remove them when they did. Also made sure she had NO OPPORTUNITY for contaminating any of the other tanks.
June 11 - Angel died and removed from tank
June 12 - Tang died (consumed by cleanup crew)
June 23 - Returned from Vacation and New Hood Installed
June 25 - Remaining hawkfish, blenny and clownfish still look washed out - but they are alive. They actually look better than they did on the 9th with no treatment. These are the original fish that I have had for 2-3 years.
Blenny is just now showing signs of flashing, but it looks like there is an injury on his side which could be the reason for the flashing. All fish are out in the open and behaving normally - just look like they are covered in a white film. All fish are also eating. I'm not sure I want to use Copper on them if I don't need to. I was surprised they survived for this long and am suspecting something other than velvet because of this. I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some insight so I know how to treat the fish. Pictures and Video from today attached. (ignore the floaters in the tank - I Tunzed the glass to get a clearer video of the fish). You can see the underside of the hawkfish is white and he has a white film (that looks like velvet). Same film on the clownfish. Blenny is hard to tell because of his coloring.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you! Let me know if additional pictures or video are needed.
