newbie with big problem

knotical

Hello all, first post and an ugly one.
29 gal bio cube, all water parameters appear to be fine. 2 months old and water,rocks and sand from a 1 month old established tank.. 5 gal water changes every two weeks. All corals doing well but have lost all fish. The expensive one went first, (blue spotted jaw fish) Found him at the surface behind a cord to the power head but he went back down and it was several days before he died. Cardinals quit eating but I could not see any problems on the their bodies. Clown fish got a fuzzy type of growth on their skin. Treated with Maracyn plus two days ago. Today all dead or close to it. I have one little blue guy left, sorry can't remember his name (the Doctor fish) and he had been pecking on the clown fish. I added a UV light today and hope that helps down the road but a diagnosis is difficult. Not sure what to do now. Is it possible to have an O2 problem? Local fish stores are close to worthless. I really feel bad and wouldn't have thought one could be come attached to fish. Any help would be appreciated. Bruce

briang

At this point, all you can really do is double up on the water changes. I never will add chemicals to my reef tank again. It often causes oxygen depletion. I wouldn't hesitate to do an 8 gal change and do the same in 1 week. Any chance to set up a hospital tank? Years ago when I first stated out, I had a problem similar to yours and lost 3 of my 6 fish. I couldn't set up a hospital tank because with all the coral and rock, it wasn't possible to catch them. I lost one fish and then added some crap that the lfs told me would help, well within a few hours 2 more were dead and the others were gasping for oxygen. I did a quick, major water change, I mean that I changed 30 gals. from my 75 gal. tank and the rest lived. I have no doubt that I'd have been better off just by doing a few weekly water changes and leaving the chemicals alone. I wish you luck and DON'T let it get you down. My avitar is my tank from 2 years ago. I'm going to get new pics. up soon and you'll see how nice your tank WILL look in no time at all. Every one of us has dealt with a set back or 2. Does the fuzz growth on the clowns look like cotton? If so, it sounds viral. my fish had it and recovered by adding nothing! I forgot the name of the virus but if that is your only problem, they usually recover from it without intervention. Chin up and good luck, Brian

Pasfur

I have no idea if this is the problem the Clowfish have, but I believe Brian is referring to Lymphocystis.

I do agree that a series of water changes is never a bad idea. I would also consider running a new batch of activated carbon for 48 hours to remove the medication. Then a series of water changes to see if the fish show improvement.

If you can post some pictures you can probably get much better guidance. We have a couple people on this forum with background in diagnosis and treatment of marine fish. I am sure a more specific solution can be recommended.

knotical

Thanks for the advice, whatever the problem is/was it did a number on my fish. I don't see any adverse effects on any of the shrimp or other cleaners. Coral is all doing well but I don't really want to add any other fish until I know the problem is gone. I understand that if the tank is fishless for a few weeks parasites and or bacterias will die off without any hosts. How accurate is that statement? I will get a pic up soon, the tank is actually beautiful, just fishless other than the little blue guy. He must be immune...... or the carrier. Bruce

Pasfur

Depending on the parasite, they can live without a host for much longer than a few weeks. Cryptocaryon (ich) will often present itself for up to 90 days after an infection. Amyloodinium is known to be even more stubborn.

I doubt you had either of these parasites based on your description, unless you were looking at multiple issues at the same time. I would probably wait 4 to 6 weeks before adding a fish, and use this time to do multiple partial water changes.

timL

80% of all problems can be dealt with by water changes. id do a 50% water change soon, then do weekly water changes and you should be fine. hope this helps

Pasfur

I disagree so badly I'm not sure where to begin. I am going to make the assumption that the person who posted this response was in the wrong forum. This is a saltwater forum, not a freshwater.