Need help quick, fish are dieing

[steelhead77]

I lost a powder-brown tang, lawnmower blenny, two damsels and a mandarin within 2 days and didn't see a speck other than a couple on the tang.

Again, what would kill all of the fish and leave inverts alone other than ich?

Well, I'm not sure, but I thought Mandarins were pretty much immune to ich. Well, if not exactly immune, very "ich resistant".

AFAIK, ich is not a quick killer. It takes awhile to manifest before it begins to weaken the fish enough to kill them.

 

[Tuscaquatics]

Well, I'm not sure, but I thought Mandarins were pretty much immune to ich. Well, if not exactly immune, very "ich resistant".

AFAIK, ich is not a quick killer. It takes awhile to manifest before it begins to weaken the fish enough to kill them.

Yeah, mandarins are pretty resistant to it because of their slime coat, but that doesn't help them in their gills, where the ich usually kills them anyway. Ich does not need to ever be present on the skin of a fish. Mandarins are not immune from ich. They are just less likely to import it. They are just as likely to die from it.

If you guys still wanna think it was some sort of chemical which killed all fish but one, leaving it with ich, yet didn't bother any far more sensitive invertebrates, then go ahead. I'm not saying to completely disregard that possibility, but, in my opinion, it's pretty obvious what happened.

Ich does not have to take a long time to kill, especially when there is a non-QT'd tang involved and an immature tank with newer fish.

Also you have to consider that white spots are not necessarily marine ich. There is also brooklynella and oodinium.

 

[lisafoster]

How old was your tank before you put in a mandarin. Mine was 1 1/2 years old they eat the copepods that come with a mature system.I have had an ammonia spike from moving my rocks and disturbing the sand bed and it did not affect my inverts they are tougher than you think just takes longer to acclimate them when adding thenm to your tank. Sometimes things happen in a tank and you never really figure out why you just pick up and keep going. One day yourtank can be fine and then disaster happens have found out the hard way. If your temp goes up for a day you can wipe out your tank,

 

[Palting]

IMHO, I think this is akin to the chicken or the egg thing. Something happened to stress the fish and made them prone to illness, then they ggot ill with a disease and died. It could easily have been some hand cream or lotion as in Lisa's experience, then Ich as in Tusk's experience.

So, Tusk, since I believe you are only half right. give me 50 (fake) bucks of the 100 (fake) bucks back!

 

[rayn]

Small update. Checked this morning and Ph 7.8 with alk 6. This gives me a daily swing on Ph of .6. Is this too much and how would I correct it?

 

[gweston]

Typical marine aquarium Ph is in the 8.1-8.4 range and Alkalinity should be around 8-10 dkh. By raising alkalinity, that will help stabilize your Ph and reduce swings. If you reverse daylight cycle a refugium, that can also help reduce Ph swings.. which tend to drop at night. The refugium reverse cycle isn't required though.. just something you can potentially do.

 

[rayn]

Working now to stabalize the alk. Just have to do it slowly so as not to shock the tank. I'll have to get a light, what about a uv light? Are they really worth the money to get and run?

 

[rayn]

Well another update for all those helping me here. Today the one remaining clown shows absolutely no signs of anything! Swimming like crazy and eating well, even twice today. I have my alk up a full point at this time with my dosing. Could a alk and ph swing have caused all this?

 

[rayn]

At 7:50 tonight I tested PH and Alk. Ph at 8.4 with the alk at 8. I'll check again in the moring and see what kinda swing I have. One thing I did notice tonight though that also might help, my leather coral seems to be happier tonight with more of the little bumps sticking out then the last couple days.

 

[rayn]

Alk @ 9 with the ph at 8.2!! whoohoo, getting better

 

[rayn]

This morning all is going well, then boom I find my clown in my sump!!!!! Get him out and back into the DT and about a hour later I find my cleaner going to town on him I took a couple pics, can anybody see any signs of anything, or was it just the final stress straw?
<a href="http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/dougcobb/?action=view&current=c96a0198.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/dougcobb/c96a0198.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/dougcobb/?action=view&current=1905aa79.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/dougcobb/1905aa79.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The dots right behind the first white stripe aren't ich either, just a bubble of air/water as I took him out.

 

[jtrasap]

Wow....you are having some really horrible luck. I really doubt that it was at all marine ich that killed these fish. Other fish are just as likely to host Ich as any Tang is, the difference is that Tangs are more likely to show outward symptoms and tend to be easily stressed, so introducing a Tang does not necessarily raise your chances of introducing Ich. Ich could have just as likely come from one of the Clowns. Regardless, it seems more likely that something other than Ich was at hand.

 

[rayn]

I'm a murderer!!! I now have a 55 with NO fish. Wife walks out and says " you know you have another dead clownfish?" No I say the tank is empty, but wait there is my 29 with two false percs. Yep one of them died now too. Is there any chance that something could have gone haywire im my water that would effect fish but not inverts? Seems crazy to me, but now I have lost fish in two different tanks and the only constant is water.

 

[lisafoster]

Plenty of things don't sffect inverts I lost a bunch of fish from an ammonia spike my inverts were fine including anemones. Was there a white sheen on the clown's body. what was the time frame they died 3-4 days

 

[Palting]

WOW! You got hit by lightning, bud.

Don't really know what else to say, other than I feel for you. I'd start some carbon to remove any chemicals you can't really test for, take two steps back, take deep breaths and review all my routines to see what has changed. I would stop treating anything until something definite shows up that can be treated.

 

[TripleT]

Were you sharing anything between the tanks, such as a net?

That clown looks like it had brooklynella, but maybe that's just because he's been dead for a while.

Got a microsocope? I wonder what kinds of things you might see on that clown.

I'm guessing you should leave the fishless tank fishless for another 6-8 weeks to eliminate ich, in case it is present.

 

[TripleT]

I wonder if any of your buckets or other water containers have become contaminated with anything? Anybody use a bucket while mopping a floor for example?

 

[rayn]

Plenty of things don't sffect inverts I lost a bunch of fish from an ammonia spike my inverts were fine including anemones. Was there a white sheen on the clown's body. what was the time frame they died 3-4 days

Kinda a fading of the black to white, so kinda I guess. I've tested ammonia everyday and after every death with ammonia always 0.

WOW! You got hit by lightning, bud.

Don't really know what else to say, other than I feel for you. I'd start some carbon to remove any chemicals you can't really test for, take two steps back, take deep breaths and review all my routines to see what has changed. I would stop treating anything until something definite shows up that can be treated.

Tank is fishless for now. My main focus now is getting the 120 up and running, which should take about the 6-8 weeks for ich to be gone and hopefully everything else too. I'll just keep checking my levels for the inverts in there.

I wonder if any of your buckets or other water containers have become contaminated with anything? Anybody use a bucket while mopping a floor for example?

No on the buckets. I bought four 5 gal jugs for transporting water from the LFS. They were brand new, rinsed, and only mine to use. Now that I have a ro/di set up they will only have my water in them.

Thanks for the help guys, just like Palting said I'm taking a step back and waiting. Only thing I might add in a few days is a GFO reactor with carbon and phos-something.

 

[rayn]

Were you sharing anything between the tanks, such as a net?

That clown looks like it had brooklynella, but maybe that's just because he's been dead for a while.

Got a microsocope? I wonder what kinds of things you might see on that clown.

I'm guessing you should leave the fishless tank fishless for another 6-8 weeks to eliminate ich, in case it is present.

Sorry, forgot this one. Brooklynella, I'll have to look that one up. He was only dead at that point for a couple hours. Only thing that was shared months ago was a net. Before the tang, before the black and whites. Doh, one very small piece of LR actually rubble for seeding when I set up the 29, but that was way before anything.