Fish Deaths

[SM6]

My tank is a 36 gallon bowfront.

Tank Parameters:

pH 8.1
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Temperature: 77F
Specific Gravity: 1.024

Tank Inhabitants:
3 Hermits. (1 week in)
2 peppermint shrimp. (2weeks in)
2 Yellowtail Damsels. (3 weeks in)
1 Green Brittle Star. (4 weeks in)
CUC Snails Nerites, Nassarius, Florida Cerith and Dwarf Cerith (4 weeks in)
1 Cleaner Shrimp. (5 weeks in)
1 Favites Brain Coral (6 weeks in)
1 Royal Gramma (3 weeks ago -DECEASED after 5 days in tank)
2 Ocellaris Clownfish (1 week ago- DECEASED as of yesterday.

The Royal Gramma was hiding the first 3 days but was swimming about and being social with my Damsels the night before the morning I found it dead.

The two clownfish were doing well and sticking together or separating and doing their thing. They slept together on the sandbed. I found them both dead on Sunday morning. Saturday night the larger clown wasn't eating and stayed on the sandbed in his sleeping motion while the small clown swam about happily. I found the large one being eaten by my peppermint shrimp and it was stiff. The smaller clown was upside down on the sandbed but still flexible. I checked water parameters were normal.

Sunday the two damsels were acting abnormally and swimming separately in 1 place. 1 in the shade of the power head. The other in the shade by the tank center brace high in the water column. When I fed them later at night, adding the frozen mysis shrimp spooked the one up top and he went to go hide under a rock by the sandbed. He stayed there for the remainder of the night. The one by the power head was no where to be found. I have 37lbs of rock so I figured it was hidden inside.

My girlfriend called me and said that when she fed the fishes this morning, neither of the two damsels were to be found. I won't be able to tend to the tank until I get off work.

I know there isn't any pistol shrimp/worms/mantis shrimp eating anything since the fish bodies were all in tact and just on the sandbed.

I really do not know what is wrong, why the new fishes all died and why my damsels are behaving strangely now. I will have to try and find them later tonight.

Any suggestions on what to do? Or what could be happening?

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Ok, first, how old is your tank? Did you quarantine any livestock? Were the fish eating ok? What was the behavior of the fish? Breathing heavy, swimming erratic, flashing, shaking their heads? What is the condition of the body? Is there a golden sheen? Spots? Mucus? Skin peeling? Eyes cloudy?

 

[SM6]

The tank was filled January 1st 2014. Foolishly, I did not quarantine any livestock. All fish have been eating okay especially the damsels. The dead Royal Gramma ate only a little the first few days but ate normally the day before it died.

The Large clownfish seemed to be breathing heavily and steadily on the bottom on Saturday afternoon before I found both of them dead Sunday morning. The other clown was acting normal.

Sunday, the two damsels were swimming in place and were breathing a little hard. Almost like when you go for a jog and rest for 5 minutes to relax your breathing. You are still breathing a little heavy but not much.

Here is a photograph of the two clowns Sunday morning. Top is the smaller clown. The bottom was being eaten by the peppermint shrimp.

View attachment 266965

 

[snorvich]

Difficulty in breathing, especially after two unexplained deaths, indicates that there is a parasite in their gills. There would be a tendency to hover around the water return area since that would be the area of greatest oxygenated water. With no visible symptoms, I cannot figure out if which parasite. Do the fish appear to have salt sprinkled on them? Or do they have a golden sheen? Or skin peeling? Do they seem shy? Reclusive? Avoid light? Also, how exactly did you acclimate the fish to your tank?

 

[snorvich]

From the time line, you are going way too fast stocking your tank. Nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. So I suggest slowing down, stabalizing your tank and we can go from here.

 

[SM6]

I acclimated them by floating their bag on top of my tank for 15 minutes then I released them into the tank.

The fish so not have any spots or salt sprinkling, aren't shy. My damsels would come up and stare me in the face when I Approached the tank before they started acting strangely on Sunday.

The do not have any peeling skin, no golden sheen, they don't avoid light.

You think possibly it is a fill parasite. That made me start thinking that the filter my tank came with is still being used. I kept it going for the additional flow as I only have 1 power head. I clean the filter and change the filter cartridges but when the water evaporates in the tank, it makes a waterfall and causes a lot of micro bubbles. I usually just top off the water again. But even when the water is up to its max, the filter creates micro bubbles that circulate around the tank. It increases as the water evaporates. Can micro bubbles kill the fish?

Also, I don't see why that would be the problem since the damsels have lived with it happily until Sunday after the clowns died.

If it is parasites in their gills, what treatment options are available?

 

[rworegon]

If I were to venture a guess it would be brook, or maybe euronema. Both can kill quickly. Clowns are especially susceptible to brook. I had euronema almost wipe out two tanks when I ended quarantine prematurely. I will never do that again. Since the clowns were the latest additions I would probably bet on brook.

I have to agree though that it would seem you are stocking too quickly.

 

[snorvich]

If I were to venture a guess it would be brook, or maybe euronema. Both can kill quickly. Clowns are especially susceptible to brook. I had euronema almost wipe out two tanks when I ended quarantine prematurely.

Brook or Uronema is a good guess lacking other information. The differences in diagnosis are slight. Fish with either Brook or Uronema lose color very rapidly, appearing pale and "œwashed out". Often there is thickening of the skin's mucus; so much so that the fish appears to have a rough white coating . Fins may be frayed and the skin may evidence pealing. Often the scales are loosened in the infected area and may come away from the fish when it is caught in a net. The major difference between Brook and Uronema is that the lesions associated with Uronema marinum have a more defined margin between the thickened mucus and normal skin that is often red and inflamed. However, the symptoms and treatments are so similar that accurate diagnosis is not required for successful treatment.

Behavior of the fish toward the end of life includes rapid breathing, no feeding and the fish becomes listless, hanging near the surface or sitting on the bottom of the aquarium. If the fish are examined carefully during the end stages they often look thin and the skin appears to be stretched tightly over the muscle blocks. This is because the fish has lost water through the lesions caused by the parasite as it feeds on the skin, and the animals have become acutely dehydrated.
It is quite difficult to misdiagnose these infections; the most frequent disease that it can be mistaken for is marine velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum). However, fish with marine velvet do not develop such a severe mucus layer nor do the fins become brittle. Also marine velvet tends to be a sort of pale gold color unlike the white lesions of Brook and Uronema.

 

[SM6]

Thank you I will further research into these diseases and compare my findings with an analysis of my fishes later on.

 

[snorvich]

When you acclimate fish, you need to match the specific gravity of the transport water (bag) to that of the tank. Many LFS keep their water systems at about 1.017 to save money on salt, and most hobbyists try to keep their tanks close to natural sea water 1.025/1.026. So 15 minutes of temperature acclimation will not do that. However, logistics of tank maintenance are not the realm of this forum.

 

[SM6]

I just got home and my last two fishes (damsels) are dead. Will update with pictures in a bit.

 

[SM6]

Here is a photo of the two damsels.

 

[HVAC Guy]

Sounds like you tank has crashed from overstocking to quickly.