dead tang

[sunryze]

noticed the tang (3") looking and acting weird , hiding , shy etc. kept a watch coral beauty acting the same way , noticed some white spots/film on her and qt'd all 8 fish to a seperate tank and treated with "GREENEX " as per lfs advise , ...
QT tanks levels are perfect

this morning i have 3 dead fish , yellow tang , coral beauty (2") and a pajama cardnial (1") , the tang looks like his skin melted off its snout and gills were shot ,,


tank mates left are ... 2 -(2") maroon clowns , 2 -(1") spotted pajama cardnials , 2 -( 1")green cromis .( 1 looking sluggish)...


in display tank is , 1-coral banded shrimp, 1 arrow crab , 6 hermit crabs , 1 mandarine goby , 1 purple slug , 1 brittle starfish , 1 turbo snail ,,,,,, fake or bleached coral and 2- 6" peices of liverock with baby feather duster only on it ,,,,,,,,,,,,HELP PLEASE

 

[quarryshark]

First, sorry for your loss.
Second, what size qt tank?
Third, this sounds a lot like marine velvet and greenex is not going to cure the problem. You really need to get it out of there (via large water changes and GAC) are use a good copper compound like cupramine and the seachem mulitest kit. Greenex is a very harsh drug and cupramine would serve you much better.
What are the SPECIFIC water parameters, PH, ammonia and nitrite? With all those fish in one qt tank poor water quality may also have contribute to the problem.
Here is some further reading on velvet.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=46

 

[lando]

What are your water parameters in the QT?

 

[steve-s]

What was the last fish added and how long ago?

Cheers
Steve

 

[sunryze]

thanks for the help in advance and ill try to answer all in order ;

what size qt tank?

its a 10 gallon and they were only in it last night when the 3 came up dead so they must of died during the night , i know its too small but they are all under 2" and its all i had here empty. a bigger one is comming home friday

What are the SPECIFIC water parameters

amonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 10
ph 8.2
sg 1.023

What was the last fish added and how long ago?

last thing added was a coral banded shrimpand an arrow crab and a peice of rock , 3 days ago and a mandarine goby within 2 weeks?? im horrible with time frames , so now i have a calendar set up for the tank, , other then that nothings been added for 3 weeks when all the fish went in > i know, i know it was way to quick and way too many , but found out much to late , the lfs told us it was okay to add all those fish due to the size of the tank ( we bought everything at Elmers Aquarium in Pittsburg)
I would never have done that with my african tank , , am totally clueless to salt ,and i listened to a salesman , ,, i know better , but we went out of town to this place due to its "GOOD"reputation,,, sigh....


everyone else seems to be doing fine ,,, so far

 

[sango]

I keep a log of everything on my puter. You might want to set one of these up yourself. That way you can keep track of when you put a fish in and when was the last time you tested your water.

 

[sunryze]

this thing crashes to much for that ,lol papers much better , i test everyother day sometimes more sg daily due to being parinoid

 

[steve-s]

and a mandarine goby within 2 weeks??

So the mandarin was the last fish added? How long since the one before that?

I am trying to get a timeframe as to all the fish in sequence. I'm not sure what parasite your dealing with at this point but I'm suspecting Brooklynella. Do the fish that survived show a cloudy film hovering around them or red sores?

Cheers
Steve

 

[sunryze]

sorry it took so long to respond , but as i am watching the hubbys salt tank i have been just glancing at the other tanks making sure all is wonderful , and had a large population explosion in my convict tank,,,
so anyway ,

mandarin was the last fish

yes he was the last fish

i went into my checkbook to get dates for ya ,LOL heres how things went:

jan 30 tore down 125 gal.african cichlid tank and traded all for salt setup .

jan 31 , set up salt tank using birospiro( as per fishguy at elmers)

feb 4 , put 7 fish in ,( 2 clowns , 2 cromis , 3 cardinals (from elmers)

feb 5 , put in tang & coral beauty ( lfs)

feb 11 , added 6 hermits, purple slug , mandarine goby , 1 rock (lfs)

feb 23 , added coral banded shrimp , arrow crab i rock w/ turbo snail hitchhiker ( lfs)

feb 26 saw fish acting sluggish at top of tank 9pm ( tang coral beauty)

feb 27 , put all fish in qt ( except mandarine), bought greenex , treated

feb 28, 3 dead ( coral beauty , tang , cardinal)

show a cloudy film

all remaining fish now acting , eating fine , no signs of anything wrong ,


cycle went smooth , only prob was ph went down to 7.8 , brought it up with water change which i do weekly , 5-10 gallons , we have well water in the house with a ph of 8.0 , run a uv light and softener on it anyway because I'm paranoid , when the uv died last week i bought distilled water to replenish the evap in all my tanks , it really lowered the ph everywhere. but its at 8.2 now ,
nitrates are at between 5-10 ,
nitrites and ammonia still at 0
ph is 8.2 ,
sg is 1.023 ,

only difference in qt and display tank is sg in display is 1.024 and ph is 8.4 , temps in both tanks are at 78,, no carbon in qt .

 

[sunryze]

only difference in qt and display tank is sg in display is 1.024 and ph is 8.4 , temps in both tanks are at 78,, no carbon in qt .

sorry its the QT that is ph 8.4 and SG 1.024

 

[steve-s]

sorry it took so long to respond , but as i am watching the hubbys salt tank i have been just glancing at the other tanks making sure all is wonderful , and had a large population explosion in my convict tank,,,
so anyway ,

Congrats...

( as per fishguy at elmers)

I'd stop listening to this guy. All it has accomplished is frustration and loss. He really should know better.

all remaining fish now acting , eating fine , no signs of anything wrong ,

Good to hear. Did you change the treatment as suggested by Quarryshark or is the Greenex still in use?


Cheers
Steve

 

[sunryze]

thanks , about the convicts ,at least something went right around here ..,

, i will never enter elmers again,, such a shame probably just got the wrong salesman , i think i may call the store to let them know of the bad advise ,they have such a good reputation, we drive 2 hours to go there..


i havent changed the meds because they seemed fine and didnt have anywhere to put them untill i got the greenex out of the tank?? ,, didnt want to double medicate

can you do that?? im so chemical phobic..

thanks for the help ill keep ya posted if anything changes

 

[sunryze]

Thanks to all

 

[austinsdad]

My LFS buddy swears by that Bio Spira. Still, I often hear customers come in and say thay've got fish problems, dying, sick ane etc. My buddy swears that the tanks they service are doing OK - even with the bio spira. Others they don't service seem to have problems.

My suspicion is as follows. Seems that bio spira put ammonia consuming orgs in the tank, allowing folks to fully stock fish very quickly, if not all at once. Things seem to go fine for a few weeks. The the big crash. I suspect that the ammonia and nitrate consuming orgs die off the full fish load causes problems - as opposed to a properly cyled (in my opinion) tank.

Sunryze, from the time you first added fish 'til now, did the ammonia or nitrates ever go up?

 

[sunryze]

did the ammonia or nitrates ever go up?

just barly , highest

Am was between, .25-.50ppm
nitrates 20ppm never hitting 40ppm


things/products /quickfixes.. that sound to good.. usually are ,, I really know better....

 

[steve-s]

i havent changed the meds because they seemed fine and didnt have anywhere to put them untill i got the greenex out of the tank?? ,, didnt want to double medicate

can you do that?? im so chemical phobic..

Leave things how they are for now and run the treatment as directed. If it seems to be working then your all good. Once treatment is done with though do not place the fish back in the main. Remove all remanants of the med with repeated water changes (well aged/aerated) and a couple of changes in carbon to conclude the treament. Allow the fish to stay put for about two additional weeks. If there are no re-occurances or signs of secondary infection your fine.

In all, I would keep the fish QT'd for 6 weeks and leave the main tank fallow, inverts are fine though. That will help ensure whatever was the cauue is also dead. No fish host, no means of continuing the life cycle. Just be sure you feed the fishless tank as if there where fish in there. It will help maintain whatever biofilter has established itself and possibley improve it. A normal feeding every few days would work well.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sunryze]

??Bio Spira?

I really wonder if it ever really cycled or if the birospiro stuff just makes it appear that way ,, and how will i ever know if im getting true readings or not now that the stuffs in there

 

[sunryze]

fish QT'd for 6 weeks

sounds good to me ,, i'll do just that, hubby can just watch the crabs,,

 

[lando]

My LFS buddy swears by that Bio Spira

Hey, I would to if I was charging $25 for a package that treats 55gals.

 

[austinsdad]

Am was between, .25-.50ppm
nitrates 20ppm never hitting 40ppm

IMO, that kinda supports my opinion stated earlier about not having enuf beneficial bacteria w/Bio spira. I believe ammonia levels at or above .50 ppm is enuf to cause huge problems, and maybe even deaths.