Sad day...

[leetch]

I had posted in the Fish Disease and Treatment forum but didn't receive any replies for my cries of help. As I went back, I couldn't even see the thread unless I searched under myself to see where I've posted and even then I couldn't even reply to my own thread...weird.

Regardless, it's a sad day as I lost my entire tank over the last few days as a case of Brook broke out and killed all my fish inhabitants (2 false percs, 1 flame angel and 1 orchid dottyback). I wasn't quick to identify it but even after I did, I couldn't get any formalin as I couldn't find any in my area and amazon couldn't get me any until after Christmas.

I tried a fresh water dip and parasite control but that didn't work either.

In the 10+ years of this hobby I was fortunate to never have a major event like this, mostly just the dreaded GHA event but other than that, nothing major.

It is a stark reminder that we can't prepare for everything but if something seems wrong, don't wait to ask and get help if you aren't sure what to do. These communities are a great source of information and can be very helpful.

On a side note - now that I have to go fallow for a while, does anyone know off-hand the fallow period for Brook? Is it 2 months?

Additionally, my tank still maintains it's other inhabitants, coral and snails. I assume I can cut down on the tank feeding but how much? Every other day?

Thanks all!

 

[Uncle99]

Yes, I agree, that is a sad day.
Been there.....
Most say 6 weeks, but nothing wrong with going a bit longer
Good luck!

 

[tc2007]

I am right there with you leetch. I lost about 10 fish due to ich recently. Highlights the importance of QT.

 

[Pslreefer]

Ich doesn't wipe out a tank, velvet does.

 

[neilp2006]

Ich doesn't wipe out a tank, velvet does.

So ich isn't fatal?


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[tc2007]

I don't think ich killed the fish directly, but they died from a bacterial infection when they were covered with ich and they fell off the bodies leaving open wounds. They died over a span of more than a week. Velvet would have killed within hours.

 

[Pslreefer]

Sad day...

No, ich itself isn't fatal. When a fish gets stressed it's immune system breaks down and then ich can be fatal or make another issue worse.

My tanks have all had ich and as long as you have healthy fish they are not going to die. Even my current tank does and I'm fine with it.

 

[Seasidenj]

Velvet is a fast killer

 

[Pslreefer]

I don't think ich killed the fish directly, but they died from a bacterial infection when they were covered with ich and they fell off the bodies leaving open wounds. They died over a span of more than a week. Velvet would have killed within hours.

Depends I have had a velvet outbreak kill most of my fish several years back after adding my livestock to someone else's livestock when I bought their setup. The deaths stopped after about 72 hrs and I was only left with 10% of what I had.

 

[candymancan]

You think thats bad ? Try discus plague.. Its a viral disease with no cure, and no treatment and a up to 90% mortality rate .. Nothing works.. once you get it, you have it for life imagine having 20 100-150$ tangs in your tank all die in 5 days. The fish that do survive will be carriers for life and it kills in 3-5 days. I had over 2200$ in discus die from a discus i purchased who was a carrier of the disease.. meaning he wouldnt get sick anymore and would pass being quarantined... Ive lost about 40 discus total to the disease and the 3-4 that survived were carriers.. even after waiting 1 year any new discus i got would get it in 2 days and die 3-4 days later..

Its a disease that almost made me completetly get out of the hobby it turned me off that much.. My last hope was to buy 30 2 inch 20$ discus and see how many would survive.. I lost about 15 of them, but the other 15 recovered and i now have 15 adult discus in my tank all healthy 7 inch discus but i can never sell them to anyone, and i cant get any new discus as they will spread it to the new one. Its a discus only disease as well.. Kinda like Green chromis in the marine hobby.. Ive lost about 10 green chromis and i just recently discovered its caused by some marine parasite called Uronema marinum and it seems to only attack chromis... So i wont be ever getting those fish again which sucks.. because they are cool fish.

Oh and Discus plague is airborne as well, the virus can transmit through the air to other tanks in the building or house.. Its been documented so this disease is probably the worst disease ever..

I dunno i just noticed marine fish as a whole are alot weaker then fresh water fish.. Sure i had thousands in discus die on me from this virus.. but other then that ive never had issues with ich and if i do its easily cured.. same with velvet and other diseases.. im begging to learn with marine fish its alot harder to keep them healthy over fresh water

Imagine seeing 20+ discus look like this for 4-5 days and you cant do anything about it.. it sucks !!

 

[Uncle99]

Ick can and will kill, just slowly, one fish at a time.

 

[alton]

What fish was added recently that brought in the brooke to your tank?

 

[leetch]

What fish was added recently that brought in the brooke to your tank?

It was a flame angel. He was fine for 2 weeks then bam...tank gone. My fault for no QT and I should have used more caution as the LFS had a few dead fish in their tanks that day...although they were on different systems.

I found out later, others had the same problem. I haven't QT'd in 10 years of doing this mostly due to being lazy and not setting one up. After the outbreak I bought everything necessary for a hospital tank which I guess I can now use as my future QT.

I'm still not sure that I would have caught this even with a QT though due to the fact that even if the flame angle was QT'd for 2 weeks, he would have looked and acted fine and I would have put him in the tank....which would have ended with the same results, just a little later.

I'm still wondering why the brook didn't present itself for that long. I don't know that much about it, whether it can lay dormant, etc.

I can only point to the flame angel because that is the only thing that changed in that 2 1/2 week period.