Tank Crashed-possible flukes?

[saltwateratx]

So the last fish(FoxFace) that we pulled out the tank this morning we put in a bowl with freshwater and found maybe a 100 hair like squiggles came out of the fish after about 3 min time. They were clear like parasite worms. Is this a symptom of velvet or flukes?

 

[saltwateratx]

While it is obviously too late for any of the fish, I wanted to get a test kit to test the Ammonia along with all the other perimeters based on the responses I received.

Test results are NH-0ppm,NO-5ppm(assuming this is due to turning the protein skimmer off to run meds in the system),KH-9dkh,PO-.25ppm,PH-7.8ppm,CA-400ppm, Salinity 1.023 and water temp 79.7 --------Keep in mind that these results are all with the API test kit as I don't have another kit at the house

Now I know I was impulsive on adding many fish and without the qt, but does this make any sense as the ammonia is 0ppm and aside from the Nitrate being high due to the skimmer being off, the rest of the other water perimeters are in desired spec?

Just to clarify what I believe as desired spec--
NH-0ppm
NO-0ppm
KH-9-12dkh
PO-0ppm
PH-7.8-8.4ppm
CA-400-500ppm
Salinity-1.021-1.025(maybe 1.026)
Temp-78-82

I would hope that if I was testing daily or weekly there would be something to indicate that my water conditions are off. I get the ammonia side of things but I would've expected my very fragile anemone to have died with a ammonia spike. I feel like something is missing in this puzzle and looking for some direction on what these clear worms were that killed the fam's fish collection.

 

[soulpatch]

You have no way of knowing at this point what your water was at time of issue. Once fish died your bio load decreased and your bacteria could then process the ammonia.

 

[nmotz]

So the last fish(FoxFace) that we pulled out the tank this morning we put in a bowl with freshwater and found maybe a 100 hair like squiggles came out of the fish after about 3 min time. They were clear like parasite worms. Is this a symptom of velvet or flukes?

As I said before, I think the ammonia/salinity/other issues were bad, but I still feel like you introduced some funky parasites/disease into the tank when you added all those fish. THIS is what killed the tank. The other stuff can be addressed over time but my concern would be how to clean your tank now. Someone mentioned going fallow for a while and that might not be such a bad idea. You've got to get the disease situation under control before you can move on regardless of what happens with ammonia levels, salinity, etc.

 

[Jeremiah_Conway]

You can get refractometer on amazon for $25 to get an accurate salinity reading
Calibration required of course

 

[Clowny88]

Ammonia vs. Parasite, what killed my fish? Not that important

- QT all new fish
- Let the tank go fallow to remove any possible parasites
- Don't overstock
- Test for ammonia... Make sure your live rock is doing its job!
- Dip corals before introduction to the DT

These steps will help prevent major issues obviously, but it will also help you narrow down what happened IF something happens in the future.

Ammonia or Parasite, what killed my fish? Doesn't matter, have to do better at preventing both. Good luck! While the tank is fallow do lots of reading... You have been forced into being patient.

 

[stingeragent]

+1 to above. I don't believe anyone asked, but when you introduced all these new fish, how did you do it? Did you dump the bags and all the water they came in, into the tank? Never ever dump in the water. Ever. I bought some coral off a site I won't mention, and being new and dumb, I did a full acclimation, and then dumped in the entire contents of the bag. Within like 2 days all my fish in the tank had ich, and it wasn't coincidence as I hadn't added anything else new to the tank for months before that. You never know whats in someone else's tank water, especially a LFS that recommends not to test for ammonia. My other concern is your salinity swings. They are wayyyy too much for a tank that size. Either your salinity testing tool (whatever your using), is not reading right, or your not reading it right or something is off. I don't see how it could go from .20 to .29 to .23 unless you are doing huge water changes. If you don't have a refactometer definitely get one, and definitely calibrate it to the water you use to fill the tank before you add salt. But like others have said, always QT. It absolutely sucks doing it, as like everyone else, when I buy a new fish I can't wait to see it swimming in my display tank, but the risk isn't worth the reward. Ammonia could have definitely killed the fish, but I also think you introduced something with all your new additions.

 

[saltwateratx]

You can get refractometer on amazon for $25 to get an accurate salinity reading
Calibration required of course

Sorry, I meant I was using an refractometer and picked up a hydrometer just to make sure that I was close on both test

 

[saltwateratx]

Ammonia vs. Parasite, what killed my fish? Not that important

- QT all new fish
- Let the tank go fallow to remove any possible parasites
- Don't overstock
- Test for ammonia... Make sure your live rock is doing its job!
- Dip corals before introduction to the DT

These steps will help prevent major issues obviously, but it will also help you narrow down what happened IF something happens in the future.

Ammonia or Parasite, what killed my fish? Doesn't matter, have to do better at preventing both. Good luck! While the tank is fallow do lots of reading... You have been forced into being patient.

All great points. I have already setup my qt and it is running. I appreciate everyone's responses and while I know I screwed myself by not using a qt with treatments, I was more trying to get some education on what the fish had so in the off chance that this happened again I would be prepared to deal with it and not start treatment for the wrong thing like I did this time. Ammonia or Parasite, knowing what I have learned over the last week, I could have saved some if not all of my fish.

 

[saltwateratx]

+1 to above. I don't believe anyone asked, but when you introduced all these new fish, how did you do it? Did you dump the bags and all the water they came in, into the tank? Never ever dump in the water. Ever. I bought some coral off a site I won't mention, and being new and dumb, I did a full acclimation, and then dumped in the entire contents of the bag. Within like 2 days all my fish in the tank had ich, and it wasn't coincidence as I hadn't added anything else new to the tank for months before that. You never know whats in someone else's tank water, especially a LFS that recommends not to test for ammonia. My other concern is your salinity swings. They are wayyyy too much for a tank that size. Either your salinity testing tool (whatever your using), is not reading right, or your not reading it right or something is off. I don't see how it could go from .20 to .29 to .23 unless you are doing huge water changes. If you don't have a refactometer definitely get one, and definitely calibrate it to the water you use to fill the tank before you add salt. But like others have said, always QT. It absolutely sucks doing it, as like everyone else, when I buy a new fish I can't wait to see it swimming in my display tank, but the risk isn't worth the reward. Ammonia could have definitely killed the fish, but I also think you introduced something with all your new additions.

When introducing the fish, I generally drip acclimate them in the bags and then scoop them out with a net and put them in the display tank. As for the salinity swings, I have been using a calibrated refactometer the entire time but had started off my ATO system incorrectly. I had RO water with a salt mixture(mistake) for about 4 days which increase my salinity to the 1.029. The water change and straight RO water in the ATO straightened that problem out. That was around 3 week prior to all of this going on with the fish.

I have spoke with the lfs and the owner has agreed to help me out a bit. I will rebound wiser and look forward to having a better experience moving forward.

 

[Jeremiah_Conway]

Sorry, I meant I was using an refractometer and picked up a hydrometer just to make sure that I was close on both test

Multiple measuring instruments is the only way to go.

 

[paullondon]

How is your tank doing?

 

[tidus10]

All great points. I have already setup my qt and it is running. I appreciate everyone's responses and while I know I screwed myself by not using a qt with treatments, I was more trying to get some education on what the fish had so in the off chance that this happened again I would be prepared to deal with it and not start treatment for the wrong thing like I did this time. Ammonia or Parasite, knowing what I have learned over the last week, I could have saved some if not all of my fish.

Honestly, i think at this point, whatever killed the fish isnt fixable or preventable. If all these fish died within 4 days there is no sort of treatment that could have saved them. I would write this off as ammonia and learn from it.