This is crazy - Time bomb?- What killed these angels? Please help

[Angel*Fish]

I bought a coral beauty and a flame angel at LFS maybe 6 -8 mo. ago. The girl there told me she thought the fish were fine, but they had had some cases of dwarf angels being fine for a couple of months & then suddenly dropping dead.

I didn't know what that meant, but bought them anyway. 6 days ago for no apparent reason the coral beauty turned up dead. 3 days ago the flame was MIA & I found him very decomposed yesterday morning.

They must have almost died the same day. This is nuts

What in the world could this be?

 

[Sk8r]

THAT is weird.
First, assume the ordinary causes: a disease, water quality, leaking electronics, oxygen deprivation.
Then there's the possibility of cyanide in fish-catching, which I would have thought would show up before now.
Don't get more fish from that lfs until you're sure.

 

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7458550#post7458550 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
THAT is weird.
First, assume the ordinary causes: a disease, water quality, leaking electronics, oxygen deprivation.
Then there's the possibility of cyanide in fish-catching, which I would have thought would show up before now.
Don't get more fish from that lfs until you're sure.

It wasn't water quality, leaky electricity or O2 deprivation

My other fish appear fine, although I'm a little worried. I can't tell if my Singapore angel is acting a little weird or if I'm just imaginaing it.

This widowed my female-- who knows how quickly she'll start changing.....so I need to buy a male flame ASAP because females are so hard to come by , but I am worried that this may be a very "sneaky" parasite.

Don't worry, I won't go back to that fish store for a male.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I just thought of something---

I've read that cyclopleeze can cause "clogging" in dwarf angel digestive tracts.

I accidentally dumped a whole bunch of frozen cyclopeeze in the tank just before this happened (like a double or triple feeding). What if these 2 fish had some permanent cyanide damage to their digestive systems causing them to be more susceptible to digestive probs.??

Anybody know about cyanide?

 

[Toddrtrex]

I am wondering about cyanide too, mainly how long it takes to "kill" the fish. I just lost my Potter's yesterday. Up until two days ago it was eating like a pig, healthy and alert. I had it for 1.5 months. Heck it even ate within an hour of being in my take.
All water tests check out, and my "solar" fairy wrasse and my pair of shunk clowns are doing great.

Sorry for you loss, sucks doesn't it?

 

[Sk8r]

I did google 'cyanide'. It operates mainly by denying oxygen to the cells, so there might be some scarring, in my uneducated opinion---killed cells=scarring.
Survivors, among humans, may see problems with heart or lungs at a later date. Fish anatomy, and the chemistry of their exposure, coming in salt water, might be somewhat different, and where it collects might be different.
Besides cyanide, they also use dynamite: a stunning shock---to collect fish which are knocked unconscious and drift, waiting to be scooped up.
It's a nasty, nasty trick: the perpetrators get their pittance of money, and the people down the supply chain get the grief. In a complex supply chain, the massmarket dealers may not have a clue even where they got what fish. If you can get tank-bred on your chosen species, much, much better.

 

[jmicky41]

Potters are collected in Hawaii, where cyanide isn't used. Flames come from Christmas Islands,Solomon Islands, Hawaii, and Vanuatu - cyanide isn't used there either. Now the coral beauty could come from Indo. or the Phillipeans, where cyanide is a very real possibility.

 

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI

As you had the two fishes for so long I doubt that it was cyanide that killed them, 6 or 8 weeks yes, but not 6 to 8 months.
The food may be a solution, but your other dwarf angels seem to be fine, which makes this rather unlikely. Perhaps they just overfed themselves on the huge chunk of frozen Cyclopeeze.

However, did you open any new pack of food lately, perhaps Artemia?
In Germany we had a few cases of frozen Artemia being contaminated with Vibrions, it wiped out whole tanks in one feeding. Did you rinse your food before feeding? This is something I cannot recommend highly enough, despite all the funky slogans on the packaging (triple sterilizing and other BS), there is so much junk in the water of the thawed food, I would never ever allow this to enter my tank.

Sorry about your losses, I truly hope you can find a nice mate for your widowed fishes

Jens

 

[Bret61081]

I had a Lemonpeel angel for 7 days. Looked fine...was eating...picking at the rocks...then one day was dead. No Idea why. my water was fine....no agressive fish...the LFS hooked me up with another fish but still...no reason what so ever....

One thing about angels I do know is they are sensitive to changes in PH. Durring the hurricanes, the first fish to die...even with the air bubblers was my pygmy angel. when I tested the ph right after, the PH dropped to 7.8. Just check and make sure your PH isn't dropping at night with the lights off... I leave my light on in my fuge 24/7 now...and am getting a generator for the hurricanes!

 

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7461453#post7461453 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jens Kallmeyer
HI

As you had the two fishes for so long I doubt that it was cyanide that killed them, 6 or 8 weeks yes, but not 6 to 8 months.
The food may be a solution, but your other dwarf angels seem to be fine, which makes this rather unlikely. Perhaps they just overfed themselves on the huge chunk of frozen Cyclopeeze.

However, did you open any new pack of food lately, perhaps Artemia?
In Germany we had a few cases of frozen Artemia being contaminated with Vibrions, it wiped out whole tanks in one feeding. Did you rinse your food before feeding? This is something I cannot recommend highly enough, despite all the funky slogans on the packaging (triple sterilizing and other BS), there is so much junk in the water of the thawed food, I would never ever allow this to enter my tank.

Sorry about your losses, I truly hope you can find a nice mate for your widowed fishes

Jens

I just opened a new can of artemia eggs -- I was going to decapsulate but got lazy.


This morning I woke up to find a revisit from an old and nasty enemy on none other than the little female flame.
.:sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1:

Classic looking injury to her head area. It's the nasty intestinal flukes back again. I had these about 8 weeks ago and thought they were eradicated. Leebco had told me to retreat in 6 weeks, which I did, but not for the full 5 days. That was stupid. That said - neither fish was thin or lethargic.

I guess I've been in denial as the Herald's angel has been having white stringy stool.


The good news is that if this is the culprit, it's treatable & I may not lose any fish. I have found some better dosing info than I had before.


Bret - I recently went to the alternating fuge with the tank lights again - The mandarin that lives in there says I've messed up his bio-clock

Sk8r - I still think there is merit to our "damage" theory - maybe these two fish were damaged from something other than cyanide - still explaining why they suddenly succumbed to the intestinal flagellates and my other fish are still alive. The flame angel almost died from them before I couldn't believe it when he survived - but the time bomb must have been the 6 week period Leebca told me about -- life cycle??? I need to contact him to see why he said retreat in 6 weeks

Jens - do you know what the symptoms of Vibrions can be?

 

[Rothie]

How are your angels doing?
I don't think your female flame will change into a male since there is no need for a male at this point-no other female flames in the tank.

 

[Angel*Fish]

Thanks for asking All fish in the tank are doing fine including the remaining angels. I only lost those 2 fish. Intestinal flagellates or not I think it was pretty weird - they must have had some similarly damaged organ or something & thus been more susceptible to the "worms", if that's what killed them

 

[Rothie]

Good to hear.I have had a couple of unexplainable incidents over the years.It really made me paranoid-you just don't know how to prevent it from happening again.