Bad luck or toxin?

I purchased two clown fish roughly 1 month back. One displayed signs of Ich that night, so I took him out of the tank and attempted to treat him (I think I killed him with the treatment). The other one remained healthy and the LFS gave me a clown to replaced the deceased one. Well upon introducing that one, the other, formerly healthy one, began to show signs of ich and died the next day. I had the 3rd one for about a week (5-7 days) before he died from what I determined to be a parasite (his stomach was concave and he wasn't eating).

On Friday, I introduced a yellow damsel to see how effective he would be at removing flat worms (supposedly they do well). He didn't make it through the evening and died within 10 hours of purchase; he was pretty beaten up. He just arrived to the LFS right when I picked him up and there were a few scales missing and sitting in the bottom of the bag. This morning, I woke up to my cleaner shrimp's shell laying on the sand. I assumed he molted (has done so 3 other times since I got him 1 month ago), but he appears to be gone (I attribute his passing to the ammonia and nitrite spike from the damsel). My corals and other inverts are and have been doing fine). Before the introduction of the damsel, all nitrogen molecules read "0".

Am I just have a run of bad luck, or could there be another issue? The deaths don't follow a trend what so ever. I'll tell you this, the next fish/invert I place in my system (which won't be until my 55 is set up and cycled) will all go through a QT process.

 

qt ftw. Could have all been problems before you got them... Ich takes a while to show up like 30+days. So, both clowns probably had it at the same time, you just didn't know it.

 

You purchased these all from the same LFS?
And your water tests are reading fine and corals doing well?
I would take your business to a better store, If your tank is fine and the last four fish you purchased wound up dead from the same store i would question their procedures.
Were they all eating well and swimming normally before you found them like this?
What type of rock do you have?

 

You purchased these all from the same LFS?

Yes. All 3 clownfish were part of the same order that he recieved.

And your water tests are reading fine and corals doing well?

At the time of introduction, yes. Right now the nitrites and nitrates are elevated because of the damsel that died and decomposed in the night).

I would take your business to a better store, If your tank is fine and the last four fish you purchased wound up dead from the same store i would question their procedures.

The damsel was given to me in the shipping bag he received it in not moments before I got there.

Were they all eating well and swimming normally before you found them like this?

They were all active in the store.

What type of rock do you have?

I couldn't say. My guess is Florida Reef Rock.

 

Amyloodinium and Brookynella kill fast.

If these were wild clowns Brookynella would be what I would consider first.

 

They were wild and you very well could be correct. When QTing fish prior to introduction to your DT, do you treat with a broad range medication for preventive measures or wait until symptoms display to treat?

 

I do not treat prophylactically.

I have had too many wild clowns come down with Brookynella so I do not buy wild now unless they have been previously QT and treated. There are many reputable dealers of wild clown fish, but you have to buy from them to reduce the risk.

The yellow tail damsel death may be attributed to the questionable condition you got him in and transportation stress. But he is a damsel as are clowns so Brookynella can not be ruled out.

 

What is a good treatment for Brooknella? Pimaex?

 

I used Formalin.

It's a detailed treatment and sometimes involves a dip or bath.

This is one treatment you really need to research (as I am sure you will). Formalin is becoming or considered old school.

 

Interesting. Formaldehyde is scary stuff. How is it's treatment with internal parasites and ich?