Hi guys
my name is pete and i live in england and have kept marine for 26 years.
Up until 7 months ago i had a very successful mixed reef mainly dominated by anampses wrasse and sps.
My reef is my pride and joy and my anampses wrasse collection was admired by everyone who came to see it.
My system is roughly 900 litres and my last fish additions where 2 juvenile blue spot anampse 9 months ago.
Around 7 months ago i started losing fish the first where 2 tangs that simply stayed under my montipora plates at the bottom of my tank refusing to eat and breathing was faster than usual.
My first suspicion was ammonia so i tested morning and night for ammonia and nitrite but could never get a reading i also used multiple test kits for cross referencing.
Over the remaining months i lost all of my fish apart from 4 gobies.
The last fish to die where my 2 mandarins all fish had the same symptoms and all wrasse would simply lay down on the sand at lights out and not even try to bury themselves and had rapid breathing.
I use a hydrometer to test salinity i have very good flow use a large skimmer and calcium reactor.
My system has 6 clams loads of amphipods snails urchins sps shrimp etc none of these suffer.
none of the fish have shown any signs of disease and skin has stayed vibrant even at death.
Alot of people suspected my dsb in my sump so this was removed and sump clinically cleaned.
Once the system had settled i added 4 springeri damsels on first day of adding them to my tank they ate like pigs on day 2 they ate but wasnt acting as they was on day 2 but had no signs of fast breathing however on day 3 all 4 fish where on the bottom breathing fast and eventually on day 3 died.
The fish showed no sign of disease and skin looked well coloured.
The gobies that where already in the system showed no sign of distress.
it was now suggested to me that it would be a good idea to remove my liverock wall at the back of my tank as this was sat on 2 inches of sand .my reef was dismantled all sand was syphoned out and all liverock removed.
The tank was rescaped with existing reefbones and small amount of liverock.
After the tank settled i added more springeri these died on day 3 in the exact way the first 4 did all gone on day 3.The gobies still remained unaffected.
I let the system settle for a month and decided to clean out my weir this is quite large and in all fairness was quite dirty.
During all of this i performed lots of good sized good quality water changes and used carbon and polyfiter.
i also sent water away to holland for an icp test and the test came back all good.
My next fish where cromis these ate well on day1 ate on day 2 but looked slightly off and on day 3 showed signs of fast breathing and sat on the sand eventually dieing on day 3.The gobies still remained ok
i forgot to mention i had my tank checked for stray voltage twice and this came back fine.
After lots of discussions i decided that it could be my black sea cucumber secreting toxins so this was removed i also swapped my calcium reactor to a deltec from a huge schuran and went from man made media to reefbones.
After a while with my system looking good i added 2 meleagris wrasse 1 true banana and a pair of percs. These where from my friends tank breakdown i wasnt sure about it but my friend reassured me
my system was ready.
day 1 all fish ate well and acted perfect and i was in my element i finally had some wrasse back in my system, day 2 things where not right fish where eating but the fish where not acting like on day 1.
Day 3 my percs where not together and 1 of the meleagris was sat on the sand breathing fast and later that day i had 1 dead clown and one dead meleagris.
The other 2 are still missing but i know they are dead.
the gobies are still fine and i cannot carry on like this and refuse now to murder any more fish.
i have never heard of any fish disease or illness that does this so therefor i do not know what plan of action to take.
if you can please help
kindest regards Pete
my name is pete and i live in england and have kept marine for 26 years.
Up until 7 months ago i had a very successful mixed reef mainly dominated by anampses wrasse and sps.
My reef is my pride and joy and my anampses wrasse collection was admired by everyone who came to see it.
My system is roughly 900 litres and my last fish additions where 2 juvenile blue spot anampse 9 months ago.
Around 7 months ago i started losing fish the first where 2 tangs that simply stayed under my montipora plates at the bottom of my tank refusing to eat and breathing was faster than usual.
My first suspicion was ammonia so i tested morning and night for ammonia and nitrite but could never get a reading i also used multiple test kits for cross referencing.
Over the remaining months i lost all of my fish apart from 4 gobies.
The last fish to die where my 2 mandarins all fish had the same symptoms and all wrasse would simply lay down on the sand at lights out and not even try to bury themselves and had rapid breathing.
I use a hydrometer to test salinity i have very good flow use a large skimmer and calcium reactor.
My system has 6 clams loads of amphipods snails urchins sps shrimp etc none of these suffer.
none of the fish have shown any signs of disease and skin has stayed vibrant even at death.
Alot of people suspected my dsb in my sump so this was removed and sump clinically cleaned.
Once the system had settled i added 4 springeri damsels on first day of adding them to my tank they ate like pigs on day 2 they ate but wasnt acting as they was on day 2 but had no signs of fast breathing however on day 3 all 4 fish where on the bottom breathing fast and eventually on day 3 died.
The fish showed no sign of disease and skin looked well coloured.
The gobies that where already in the system showed no sign of distress.
it was now suggested to me that it would be a good idea to remove my liverock wall at the back of my tank as this was sat on 2 inches of sand .my reef was dismantled all sand was syphoned out and all liverock removed.
The tank was rescaped with existing reefbones and small amount of liverock.
After the tank settled i added more springeri these died on day 3 in the exact way the first 4 did all gone on day 3.The gobies still remained unaffected.
I let the system settle for a month and decided to clean out my weir this is quite large and in all fairness was quite dirty.
During all of this i performed lots of good sized good quality water changes and used carbon and polyfiter.
i also sent water away to holland for an icp test and the test came back all good.
My next fish where cromis these ate well on day1 ate on day 2 but looked slightly off and on day 3 showed signs of fast breathing and sat on the sand eventually dieing on day 3.The gobies still remained ok
i forgot to mention i had my tank checked for stray voltage twice and this came back fine.
After lots of discussions i decided that it could be my black sea cucumber secreting toxins so this was removed i also swapped my calcium reactor to a deltec from a huge schuran and went from man made media to reefbones.
After a while with my system looking good i added 2 meleagris wrasse 1 true banana and a pair of percs. These where from my friends tank breakdown i wasnt sure about it but my friend reassured me
my system was ready.
day 1 all fish ate well and acted perfect and i was in my element i finally had some wrasse back in my system, day 2 things where not right fish where eating but the fish where not acting like on day 1.
Day 3 my percs where not together and 1 of the meleagris was sat on the sand breathing fast and later that day i had 1 dead clown and one dead meleagris.
The other 2 are still missing but i know they are dead.
the gobies are still fine and i cannot carry on like this and refuse now to murder any more fish.
i have never heard of any fish disease or illness that does this so therefor i do not know what plan of action to take.
if you can please help
kindest regards Pete
