Lost our clowns in quarantine

[foozed]

Start by saying how perplexed and frankly sad we are right now.

We've had 2 clowns in a 10 gallon quarantine tank going on 4 weeks. Week 1 just water, no medication, did great. Ate like champs from day 1.

Week 2, water change and dosed with ParaGuard, no issues, continued eating like champs and behaving normal.

Week 3, water change and dosed with PraziPro, almost immediately not as interested in food. Ate very little to nothing for 5 days. Moments of mad dashes around the tank to extreme lethargy. We did a water change yesterday and most of the day today they were vertically "bobbing" near the surface in the "feeding position" or as if gasping for air. ...and both fish died this afternoon...

Salinity, temp, pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia...ALL OK...we checked at every water change and just now as we emptied the tank.

Please help me understand what happened so that I can keep this from happening again...

Is it possible that they had a parasite that the PraziPro treated and that killed them? Our LFS said that seemingly healthy clowns that had 2 solid weeks of eating could go weeks without eating and not to worry that they didn't have an appetite.

 

[Potatohead]

Sounds like ammonia or lack of oxygen

 

[foozed]

We checked ammonia regularly, no abnormalities there. Perhaps oxygen...we are using an all in one JBJ 10 gallon set-up.

 

[Soluent1]

Did you use an air stone when you dosed Prazipro? If no, then possibly they died from lack of oxygen int the tank.

 

[Khazmodain]

Sorry for the losses.

+1 on oxygen. PraziPro contains alcohol which is needed to make praziquantel water soluble. The alcohol ends up promoting a bacterial bloom which depletes oxygen. I always run a powerhead near the surface of the water as well as an air driven sponge filter when dosing PraziPro.

 

[125mph]

Long ago in my first QT setup, I ran a powerhead that pushed water horizontally at the bottom of the tank.... and all the fish died one by one.. Afterwards, figured out it was due to lack of oxygen. Now, I always run a powerhead pointed at the surface of the water and make sure theres lots of surface agitation.

 

[Brieninsac]

I've lost fish in quarantine and I attributed it to lack of O2 too. I ended up adding a small powerhead and haven't had any more unexplained losses.

 

[Potatohead]

That sucks.

I always use a HOB filter in QT and a small powerhead on the surface too.

 

[f3honda4me]

Is a HOB filter and air stone sufficient for oxygen ?

 

[Potatohead]

Is a HOB filter and air stone sufficient for oxygen ?

Even one or the other is likely fine, both is redundant which is good!