Hey, Reef Central, long time lurker first time poster. Wish my first post didn't have to be in the disease section but that is life. I'm having a problem with my system atm and would really appreciate some advice.
1. How old is this aquarium? technically 5 months. But the bulk of the LR came out of a tank that had been running for several years.
2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? undetectable. Test kit appears accurate. It showed a high ammonia level while setting up a quarantine tank and always a 0ppm for the display tank.
3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? 1.023 by refractometer
4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? Two weeks ago.
5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? it was not quarantined. I believe the tank has been suffering from something for several months so I felt it would have been pointless to quarantine any new fish. This new fish showed symptoms 3-4 days after it was put in the tank confirming my suspicions.
6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? no medications
7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer? no hyposalinity
8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? Fish include: two clarikii clown, mimic tang, scopas tang, lawnmower blenny, six line wrasse, royal gramma, and purple scolopsis as the last fish added. There appear to be no physical signs of disease on any of the fish. The first fish was added to the tank 4 months ago and no obvious signs of physical disease have occurred since then. There has never been any white dots or dusty/hazy appearance to any of the fish. Based on that I pretty much ruled out ich, velvet and brook.
9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? this is where it gets tricky. From what I can tell most, if not all of the fish are breathing rapidly. And this has persisted for several months.
The fish appear active. None of them hide for extended periods of time; though the ones in the display tank hide when I approach it. I suspect that has more to do with me not being around more often because I'm at school most of the time.
Several of the fish are flashing, but this is very infrequent. The mimic tang might flash 3 or 4 times a day. I could be wrong but I'm not entirely sure this is even flashing because it doesn't look like the classic dramatic flashing I've seen in fish stores; it's more of a gentle scratch the top part of its head and not so much the gills. The lawnmower blenny was flashing but I haven't seen it flash in several weeks. The royal gramma and scolopsis flash several times a day and then they won't flash again for several hours. The scopas tang, six line wrasse, and both clowns have never flashed.
It also appears that the scopas tang and six line wrasse are totally unaffected by whatever is in the tank as they are not breathing rapidly from what I can tell.
The smaller clownfish, which is breathing much faster than the larger one, does appear to have a bit of faded color and this has been going on for about a month. But this is only faded color, not some outside covering on the skin.
10. Is the fish eating? What? all fish are eating well. Flake food, Mysis shrimp and purple/green seaweed. The big clarkii goes after the seaweed just like the tangs. The tangs and blenny graze all day on algae on the live rocks. the six line wrasse looks for pods in the display tank all day. The gramma and scoplsis are in an attached 29 gallon refugium and I see them go after pods in there.
The problem that I'm having with all of this is the uncertainty of what I'm dealing with. I've been waiting, and at times, even hoping that the fish would show some signs of ich or velvet (knock on wood) so that at least I would know what I need to treat for.
Based on the searches I've done, I'm fairly certain that the tank has flukes. But I have some reservations. Some of the fish have never shown signs of any symptoms and others have shown symptoms for several months and yet not succumb to the disease. Based on the info do you think it is flukes? Is it possible that flukes would only attack some of the fish? Or is it that flukes are in all of the fish but some just happen to be resilient and are not affected? And is it possible that flukes could persist for such a long period of time (in the area of 2-3 months) and not kill the fish?
I may be wrong, but I suspect that if it is flukes, the fish are able to deal with the gill inflammation, better than they normally would, because of my oversized skimmer (skimz sm 201, overkill yes, but I did get it for $50 off) on a 110 gallon total water volume system. That skimmer puts out a ton of bubbles in a system that is 100 gallons less than the minimum that's it's rated for. The water parameters are also very good. Ammonia, nitrate, nitrate, and phosphate are all undetectable. I can't even grow cheato in my refugium. I also do regular water changes with ro/di water checked with a tds meter.
I really want to treat the fish properly. As in get all the fish out, treat them and let the system run fallow for the recommended period of time; hopefully 10 weeks will do it. I have some idea of what treatment regimens I need to do if it fact it is flukes. But I just wanted to get a second opinion before I dive into this.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to anyone that has words of wisdom on the matter.
1. How old is this aquarium? technically 5 months. But the bulk of the LR came out of a tank that had been running for several years.
2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? undetectable. Test kit appears accurate. It showed a high ammonia level while setting up a quarantine tank and always a 0ppm for the display tank.
3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? 1.023 by refractometer
4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? Two weeks ago.
5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? it was not quarantined. I believe the tank has been suffering from something for several months so I felt it would have been pointless to quarantine any new fish. This new fish showed symptoms 3-4 days after it was put in the tank confirming my suspicions.
6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? no medications
7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer? no hyposalinity
8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? Fish include: two clarikii clown, mimic tang, scopas tang, lawnmower blenny, six line wrasse, royal gramma, and purple scolopsis as the last fish added. There appear to be no physical signs of disease on any of the fish. The first fish was added to the tank 4 months ago and no obvious signs of physical disease have occurred since then. There has never been any white dots or dusty/hazy appearance to any of the fish. Based on that I pretty much ruled out ich, velvet and brook.
9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? this is where it gets tricky. From what I can tell most, if not all of the fish are breathing rapidly. And this has persisted for several months.
The fish appear active. None of them hide for extended periods of time; though the ones in the display tank hide when I approach it. I suspect that has more to do with me not being around more often because I'm at school most of the time.
Several of the fish are flashing, but this is very infrequent. The mimic tang might flash 3 or 4 times a day. I could be wrong but I'm not entirely sure this is even flashing because it doesn't look like the classic dramatic flashing I've seen in fish stores; it's more of a gentle scratch the top part of its head and not so much the gills. The lawnmower blenny was flashing but I haven't seen it flash in several weeks. The royal gramma and scolopsis flash several times a day and then they won't flash again for several hours. The scopas tang, six line wrasse, and both clowns have never flashed.
It also appears that the scopas tang and six line wrasse are totally unaffected by whatever is in the tank as they are not breathing rapidly from what I can tell.
The smaller clownfish, which is breathing much faster than the larger one, does appear to have a bit of faded color and this has been going on for about a month. But this is only faded color, not some outside covering on the skin.
10. Is the fish eating? What? all fish are eating well. Flake food, Mysis shrimp and purple/green seaweed. The big clarkii goes after the seaweed just like the tangs. The tangs and blenny graze all day on algae on the live rocks. the six line wrasse looks for pods in the display tank all day. The gramma and scoplsis are in an attached 29 gallon refugium and I see them go after pods in there.
The problem that I'm having with all of this is the uncertainty of what I'm dealing with. I've been waiting, and at times, even hoping that the fish would show some signs of ich or velvet (knock on wood) so that at least I would know what I need to treat for.
Based on the searches I've done, I'm fairly certain that the tank has flukes. But I have some reservations. Some of the fish have never shown signs of any symptoms and others have shown symptoms for several months and yet not succumb to the disease. Based on the info do you think it is flukes? Is it possible that flukes would only attack some of the fish? Or is it that flukes are in all of the fish but some just happen to be resilient and are not affected? And is it possible that flukes could persist for such a long period of time (in the area of 2-3 months) and not kill the fish?
I may be wrong, but I suspect that if it is flukes, the fish are able to deal with the gill inflammation, better than they normally would, because of my oversized skimmer (skimz sm 201, overkill yes, but I did get it for $50 off) on a 110 gallon total water volume system. That skimmer puts out a ton of bubbles in a system that is 100 gallons less than the minimum that's it's rated for. The water parameters are also very good. Ammonia, nitrate, nitrate, and phosphate are all undetectable. I can't even grow cheato in my refugium. I also do regular water changes with ro/di water checked with a tds meter.
I really want to treat the fish properly. As in get all the fish out, treat them and let the system run fallow for the recommended period of time; hopefully 10 weeks will do it. I have some idea of what treatment regimens I need to do if it fact it is flukes. But I just wanted to get a second opinion before I dive into this.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to anyone that has words of wisdom on the matter.
