Fish are dropping dead

[djryan2000]

I purchased 4 fish for a well cycled QT tank that had 3 previously. There is no ammonia and no nitrites in the same. Nitrates ~20ppm. I purchased a flasher wrasse, yellow wrasse, bangaii cardinal and a long nose hawk.

The first couple days everything was okay - as expected considering the fish were kept in copper.
Then the cardinal fish started acting weird. It was swimming into the wall of the tank and just staying there. Didn't want to eat. Chalked it up to the fish just acting weird as my clownfish have done worse.

Last afternoon the fish was dead and extremely pale and honestly looked like he lost a fight despite there being no aggression in the tank. Today, it's the flasher wrasse. I found him laying on the sand last night, but alive enough to dart away when I tried to scoop him out with the net. He also looks super pale and appears to be breathing very heavily when breathing.

The water is well oxygenated so I know that's not it - I have an air pump and the filter provides surface agitation.

I haven't found any white spots to indicate ich or velvet and am at a loss to know what's affecting the fish.


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[Zionas]

How big is your QT tank? Any stray electricity?

 

[djryan2000]

How big is your QT tank? Any stray electricity?

The tank is 10 gallons. I don't think there's any stray electricity - i was able to stick my hand in it and not get shocked.


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[djryan2000]

Fish are dropping dead

An update - I went to my LFS and they sold me a medication for internal parasites. The yellow wrasse passed and it's just the hawkfish left of the original four over the course of 36 hours.

So far he seems to be acting okay - he responded to me adding food to the water but I'm not sure how he ate. It definitely wasn't much but it looked like he did eat a little.

There may be inflammation in his gills - I can quite clearly see them now. I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

The associates at the LFS were stumped like I was. They agreed no signs of visible parasites.

Water parameters are still ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. Temperature is 79, confirmed with a heater and a handheld thermometer. I don't feel any electricity.

 

[Tcook]

Were any aerosols sprayed anywhere near the tank or the rest of the house? Did you have the last test your water to confirm your results? All fish came from same lfs at same time?

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[Tcook]

*lfs test your water

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[djryan2000]

Fish are dropping dead

Were any aerosols sprayed anywhere near the tank or the rest of the house? Did you have the last test your water to confirm your results? All fish came from same lfs at same time?

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I didn't have the LFS test the water. I just used the same test kits I use on my reef tank.

I purchased the two wrasses and then the cardinal and hawk fish 2 days after - the wrasses were only coming out to eat so I wanted to try to have more active fish to entice them out. It worked, until 3 days later everyone started dying. They did come from the same LFS, and the same section of it.

Aerosols were sprayed in my bedroom the day after I got the cardinal and hawk fish - so two days before the fish started dropping.

However, my reef tank is in much closer vicinity to where they were sprayed and saw no results. I never even considered the fact I used febreeze as a potential killer.


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[Tcook]

Not sayings it's that but remember the reef tank is a much larger volume and has a skimmer and possibly carbon running.

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[djryan2000]

Not sayings it's that but remember the reef tank is a much larger volume and has a skimmer and possibly carbon running.

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That's an excellent point. I just changed out a few gallons (about 4) with water matching in salinity temperature and pH. Hopefully that will help.


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[Tcook]

What's in this qt tank? Sand,rock,bare tank?

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[djryan2000]

What's in this qt tank? Sand,rock,bare tank?

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It's a 10 gallon tank. It has a 1 inch sand bed and live rock. I have a HOB filter for tanks up to 30 gallons and I heater.


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[Sk8r]

Scaleless fish such as tangs, angels, wrasses, etc, are sensitive to copper or cupramine and may die of it.