Something is killing my fish!

[remrac]

Hey all, ive got something going on in my tank. Over the last 4 days i have had 4 fish die. It only gets one at a time, and it starts with a white blotch on the head of my fish, then it gets worse like the flesh is decaying. its killed 3 lyretails, and a raccoon butterfly. Everyone looks fine eats fine then one will get this and the next day they die. i havent been able to get a good picture but ill keep trying and update this if i do.

I have been doing water changes and my params are pristine

PH is 8.2
ammonia is 0
nitrates is 0
nitrites is 0 as well.

i dont think its ich, because its not small spots its more of a white blotch that seems to be eating away at the fish. and im real confused that it only takes out one fish at a time...

i have set up a QT tank, but its next to impposible to catch any of my fish due to the hundreds of pounds of rock in my 180 gallon tank. Also in fear of whatever it is i mixed up fresh RO water to fill my qt is that okay to use?

thanks for any help!

 

[redsea]

I have never experienced marine velvet, nor do I know much about it, but you may have it. Try looking it up and see if any of the symptoms match. Good luck and sorry about you loss of fish.

 

[remrac]

no one else has any ideas?

 

[zoom760]

its almost like my unk disease. sorry for loss. wateva it is parasite will kill each fish within a day or two. highly recommend qt before its to late. usual symptoms is breathn hard, stop eating and pale color or white spots - quick cure should work as it has formalin. however, its 50/50 survival rate fish may die during treatment. my nemo took 3 treatments and other passed at 2 treatments. 6-8 wks is ideal with no fish in mt so parasite will die off. that was recommendation from the smart guys on this forum and research google. good luck

 

[carey]

I had a mysterious disease wipe out 6 of my fish and never found out what it was. I didn't add any more fish for over two months and the survivors are still going strong. I know mine didnt die from ich or velvet and the only sign of illness was after death, they appeared to have burns almost on them. They all were stricken and dead within 24 hours. It is very important if you wanna save your stock to remove them before any more damage can be done.

 

[remrac]

okay, so should i move all my fish out into a qt tank? if so should i still use the water from the tank?

by no fish for 6 to 8 weeks do you mean that all i need to do is leave my big tank without fish for that long and it will eventually die off? or do i just take the one that looks sick out, and leave the rest. what about my CUC too?

Sorry for all the questions just dont want to mess this up and lose everything!

thanks for the help.

 

[carey]

How big is your qt? is it big enough for all your fish? usually if its ich, velvet or something like that it only affects fish, not shrimp or crabs or snails. From the skin peeling I would guess velvet as I did alot of reserach and that sounds like it could be that. Maybe do some googling and see if it matches up to your fishes condition and symptoms.

I would mix up some fresh water and not use the water from the tank as we have no idea what's floating around in there. Do you have a cycled and functioning qt tank?

I also would be hesitant to medicate without knowing for sure what it is.

here is a link on velvet

Marine Velvet (Amyloodiniosis)

I read through the article real quick and it seems straight forward if thats whats happening. Unfortuantely if not caught early it says death is likely.

It also says to treat with copper, and I agree that cupramine is the best medication for it. You'll also need a copper test kit as well.
:-(

Read it and see if that could be it.

 

[remrac]

i have a 30 gallon biocube that i set up this morning, so its not cycled. i have a peice of PVC in the tank, they can all fit, i dont know how long they will be happy in there. Should i just put them all in even if it hasnt cycled? from what ive read and seen, i dont think that its velvet. it could be theres just nothing that i can find that matches what my fish have!

 

[carey]

I know how that is. I'm hoping Someone else will chime in with another option. You didnt take any pictures of the dead fish did you?

 

[zoom760]

http://www.dfs-pet-blog.com/2010/01/ich/
here is a good source in how to treat marine velvet and saltwater ich. medication required is formalin&copper; go to lfs and buy the version of quick cure that has formalin/copper. good luck.

 

[zoom760]

http://www.dfs-pet-blog.com/2010/01/ich/
here is a good source in how to treat marine velvet and saltwater ich. medication required is formalin&copper; go to lfs and buy the version of quick cure that has formalin/copper. good luck.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php
this is a better read

 

[remrac]

Well i saw my pearlscale swimming around this morning before i left for work, the spot has gotten bigger, if its still alive when i get home, i should be able to finally get a pic of it. the closest thing i can find is cotton wool disease. but Im not sure if thats what it actually is. ill be picking up another qt tank so that I can at least try to separate the fish.

 

[carey]

Goodluck, hopefully he is ok when you get home. fingers crossed for ya!

 

[remrac]

okay so i buy a QT tank, going to throw in some PVC for them to hide, should i just use the water from my tank since im going to treat it? and ive read that my main tank should be fishless for up to 8 weeks... Can i leave my fish in QT for that long?

 

[carey]

Yep, you can leave your fish in qt for that long. It's really the only way to be sure whatever is in your tank is dead and no longer a threat.

Since you will be treating the qt I think it'd be ok to use your tank water, maybe a half and half split between tank water and fresh saltwater.

Whatever you put in the qt will be with the fish so I;d limit it as much as I can. And with the qt make sure no sand. The parasites can linger in there and it will be easier to clean the qt tank as well. You will have to monitor the qt though, quite frequently especially if you don't have it cycled. I woudl imagine daily water changes might be necessary to keep ammonia levels down. :-( and you also have to monitor the medication levels, too little and youre wasting your time too much and you risk your fish.

Petco was still running their $1 a gallon sale yesterday so maybe you can drop 20$ and pick up a 20 L tank or a 29g. Give the fish more room since they are gonna be in there for awhile. But also keep in mind the larger the qt the more meds you have to administer and control.

 

[remrac]

okay one more question. is there a specific type of medicine i should get? my LFS is closed on Tuesdays....(dumb i know)

So I'm basically held up to Petsmart and or Petco. everything that I've read says treat with copper sulfate or antibiotics.

I'm pretty sure i"ve seen an anti fungus copper sulfate bottle at Petsmart. any ideas what antibiotics would work or where where would have them?

If not can i use whatever has copper sulfate in it?

 

[carey]

I think cupramine is the best choice, it's usually the recommended brand. Not sure if the chain stores carry it, I think my Petco does though.

As far as anitbiotics I'm not sure. I've only ever treated one fish and though I thought it required antibiotics and penicillin it turned out he was injured tahter than "sick". I also fed antibiotic food.

 

[remrac]

alright, well i got all my fish into my q tank. i had to destroy my big tank to catch them all but i got em.

The pearl scale is still alive this morning! If it makes it until tomorrow, something I have done has worked on some level.

 

[carey]

Getting them out of the tank was a good thing. Really. Even though you had to breakdown your tank to do it.

Now you can easily watch them and observe, you will have to do pwc's though if they went into an uncycled tank. Hopefully you will see an improvement in the fish.

Maybe you can treat them with something like paraguard....it's supposed to be a qt medication for new fish in a qt but it might help. We also don't know what is wrong with them yet, so I wouldnt rush into a copper treatment or freshwater dip until you know it will help.

 

[remrac]

here is a pic of the pearlscale. It isnt as bad as it was on the rest of the fish before they died, hopefully i got it out quick enough. I bought instant ocean lifeguard, as it said it helps with fungal and bacterial problems, So i put that in the QT. I'm just impressed that its still alive, by everyone else's schedule it should be dead... Maybe this will work after all.


The other two pics are a before and after of the madness that was fishing last night...