need help, may be flukes?

[chrislkh]

Hi,
I need some help for my fish. 3 of my fish die within 2 days in my tank. First one dead is my all time favorite morrish idol. The MI was eating pellets and nori and was in my tank for a month. The day before it died, it stop eating and fin was rotting. It was also shaking it's head, flashing and chasing water current. So I think it died because of marine flukes. Second one to die is my newly added flame angel. It was in my tank for 2 days and it was only picking on the rocks. When it died, there was a little fin rot on it's tail. The third dead fish is my newly added power blue tang. It was in my tank for 2 days. It was eating pellets and nori like a pig and swim normally. When it died there was no symptom at all.
What is left in my tank are 6 green chromis, 1 yellow tang and a cleaner shrimp. The yellow tang is covered with white dots now.
I was thinking the fish die because of marine flukes or ammonia spike.
Here is some more info about my tank.
55g mixed reef with lps, softies, sps
no3: 10ppm
po4: 0.06ppm
salinity: 1.026

 

[ThRoewer]

This doesn't sound like flukes, more like velvet or something bacterial.

 

[snorvich]

This doesn't sound like flukes, more like velvet or something bacterial.

I agree. The mortality timeline is not consistent with flukes. I take it you do not quarantine?

 

[Newsmyrna80]

How long has your tank been set up? Why do you think it's an ammonia spike? What was the last thing you added to the tank? Don't add anything else until you get this under control. White dots on a tang could be velvet, Brook but most commonly it is ich. Read the stickies at the top of this forum to determine what you are dealing with and treat accordingly.
The powder blue, yellow tang and the MI need bigger tanks.

 

[sk8ter20art]

Such quick deaths sounds like velvet, kills within days, too late once you notice it. Some fish can fight it off and live. It is a parasite that works like ick. On the fish feeding, drops off, reproduces, then looks for another host. PM me and i can send you pics of both flukes and velvet. Velvet really sucks, and is hard to get out of a display tank.

 

[chrislkh]

I agree. The mortality timeline is not consistent with flukes. I take it you do not quarantine?

Yes I do not quarantine. I am living in a very small apartment, it is hard to make another space for a qt. But I will try to squeeze some space to set up a 10g or 20g qt.

 

[chrislkh]

How long has your tank been set up? Why do you think it's an ammonia spike? What was the last thing you added to the tank? Don't add anything else until you get this under control. White dots on a tang could be velvet, Brook but most commonly it is ich. Read the stickies at the top of this forum to determine what you are dealing with and treat accordingly.
The powder blue, yellow tang and the MI need bigger tanks.

My tank is set up for 4 months now.The last thing i added to the tank was the power blue tang and flame angel. I was thinking ammonia spike because i took all the live sand out a week before.

 

[sk8ter20art]

Why did you take the live sand out? That can cause a number of problems. If your tank wasnt so new it can release a bunch of trapped toxins. Also you reduced a lott of your beneficial bacteria. Even without adding more fish you probably would have had an amonia spike. Have you tested for amonia, nitrite, and nitrate. They can all be deadly at high levels. Removing a large portion of bacteria could have caused your tank to cycle again.

 

[chrislkh]

Why did you take the live sand out? That can cause a number of problems. If your tank wasnt so new it can release a bunch of trapped toxins. Also you reduced a lott of your beneficial bacteria. Even without adding more fish you probably would have had an amonia spike. Have you tested for amonia, nitrite, and nitrate. They can all be deadly at high levels. Removing a large portion of bacteria could have caused your tank to cycle again.

My live sand was only 0.5 inch thick. I removed my live sand because i had a bacteria bloom that never go away. My sps is not getting enough light because the water is cloudy. Now without the live sand my water is clear and my sps is doing beeter. My no3 went from 0 to 10 ppm when i took my LS away. It was 5 ppm when i tested it yesterday.

 

[sk8ter20art]

Even with a small sandbed you removed a lot of bacteria. If you were having cyano/algea blooms the sand was not the issue. Tap water, not frequent enough water changes, no skimmer, lights on too long can all be factors
Sounds like you threw your tank into another cycle by removing the sand, then adding fish made the amonia production higher.

Have you checked for amonia? Nitrates at 10ppm are not harmfull to fish but can feed algea/cyano.

 

[chrislkh]

Even with a small sandbed you removed a lot of bacteria. If you were having cyano/algea blooms the sand was not the issue. Tap water, not frequent enough water changes, no skimmer, lights on too long can all be factors
Sounds like you threw your tank into another cycle by removing the sand, then adding fish made the amonia production higher.

Have you checked for amonia? Nitrates at 10ppm are not harmfull to fish but can feed algea/cyano.

I am running all in one bio pellets. I know I put my tank into another cycle but I don't think the amonia is that high to kill my fish. Also, I do not regret removing the sand because the bacteria bloom is gone. Water is clear now and my corals are more happy especially the sps. I think the fish die because of parasite infection. I just wonder which parasite cause the death of my fish and how do I treat my remaining fish.