What the .....

[ca1ore]

Have had this PB in QT for two months, looking great ..... until this morning. I'm not really sure what this is? Any ideas chaps?




Appetite gone; black stuff on fins; overall washed out look.

 

[snorvich]

Tell me about what "in QT" means for you.

 

[ca1ore]

Sure .... Cycled 30 long tank with a few bits of PVC. PB has been in there for over 8 weeks with a quintet of evansi anthias (that show no symptoms). I have been observing; no meds so far. No readings for ammonia or nitrite; neither now nor at any point in the 8 weeks.

 

[snorvich]

Sure .... Cycled 30 long tank with a few bits of PVC. PB has been in there for over 8 weeks with a quintet of evansi anthias (that show no symptoms). I have been observing; no meds so far. No readings for ammonia or nitrite; neither now nor at any point in the 8 weeks.

Very peculiar. Did you use Prazi at any point? Is the fish reclusive towards light? Eight weeks is an usual time frame for a parasite to exhibit.

 

[ca1ore]

Thanks Steve, I agree, very strange. No prazi. PB had not been reclusive at all until this morning when it was hiding in the PVC. It's now out (as the photos show) but only showing a tepid interest in food. I had not been able to get it to eat nori at all, so I wonder if it might be some kind of nutritional deficiency? I'd been feeding lots of spirulina brine as a way to get it some algae in addition to mysis. Both were gobbled down with enthusiasm (unlike the evansi which are picky as heck).

I may just try CP. Going off in a business trip for a few days, so need to something that won't require close monitoring.

 

[snorvich]

CP is a good choice. For the evansi, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze, seem to work. They are difficult.

 

[ThRoewer]

Did you check the temperature?
I found, often when fish's behavior changes "over night" it's a "failed" heater.
Just had that with one of my freshwater tanks where I was wondering why all the fish look so bad and are so sluggish - put my hand into the water to take something out and it was icy cold - my wife unplugged the heater because she needed the outlet and forgot to plug it back in.

Your fish looks less sick than extremely uncomfortable.
Before administering any medications I would check the basics.

 

[ca1ore]

Yeah, checked the basics :lol: It clearly was sick because it's now dead Very strange. Almost like it had velvet, though symptoms didn't look like velvet - plus nothing had been added to the tank in weeks, and the anthias are fine. Truly bizarre!

 

[ThRoewer]

What about poison? Anybody use chemicals (hairspray, glue,...) in the house or even near the tank?

Even a fish with velvet doesn't go from perfectly healthy looking to dead within a few hours.

 

[ca1ore]

No, it's a dedicated fish room and nothing gets into the air unless I've done it; plus main display sump is in the same room and like I said, anthias in the same tank are fine.

 

[jminick2]

where did you get it?

 

[VisionsOfSalt]

Hope someone can chime in with some info! Just when you think marine ich is the worst case scenario for a PB.... Ugh.

 

[ThRoewer]

... Just when you think marine ich is the worst case scenario for a PB.... Ugh.

Ich is of all the parasites and diseases the best a fish can have. Nothing is easier to diagnose, treat and prevent. It also moves fairly slow so you usually have enough time to get your fish treated and saved. If you are prepared you shouldn't loose a single fish to ich.

Velvet and brook are much more lethal and fast moving and the treatment is less simple. Often when you recognize it it is already well advanced and you will loose the weaker of your fish.

Intestinal parasites are a real fun too.
And when it comes to bacterial, fungal or viral infections - oh boy!

Just hope you manage to stick with ich and that you never get the real bad stuff

 

[VisionsOfSalt]

I was merely commenting on their propensity to fall victim to marine ich. Obviously there are much worse and harder to treat issues that can happen to all fish but death of a PB due to marine ich would be the largest slice of the pie chart.

 

[Maxxingout]

The good part (rarely is with really sick fish) is that even seasoned hobbyist have a hard time at times. But it's good that they share cause hopefully the learning cure gets reduced for others. Of course in a situation like this where a ? is still in place doesn't help much but still. It's never easy trying to play doctor with different meds on different fish. Not only the cost of the fish but time that is spent also.

 

[sniceley]

Even pros are stumped at times too. I have an account that started losing fish for no reason after a new shipment. Prophylactically treated whole fish only system with CP and multiple doses of prazi over 14 days began tow days after arrival. Then just started losing fish with no real signs of disease after about three weeks. Fish would be healthy one day and then dead the next. Took a few dead and almost dead fish into aquatic animal health lab at my school (I am a PhD student in zoology at Michigan State) and they couldn't figure it out either.

Have just been trying everything possible now to see what stops the losses. Fed enrofloxacin soaked food for two weeks to eliminate bacterial possibilities. Thought we had it beat so we added a large group of captive bred large clowns direct from farm guaranteed pathogen free. No issues for over a month then started losing a few a day for no apparent reason again with same basic circumstances. Started tank treatment with formalin last week (30ml/500 gallons every third day). Don't know what more to do if this doesn't work.

If it can survive all of the treatments we have used then might just have to nuke the tank and start over.

 

[ThRoewer]

Well, MDs have to study many years to get to know most of the diseases of one species and still fail way too often.
We are dealing with hundreds of species of fish and inverts. Most of the diseases we know are primarily parasitic, some also bacterial, viral or fungal.
But I bet there are many things out there we rarely see, let alone recognize when they make it into our tanks.