Dying Fish With No Apparent Cause

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by Coral Falconer, Sep 22, 2006.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Coral Falconer

    Coral Falconer Plankton

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2006
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    AHHHHHRRRRGGGGGG!

    Ok I vented, now to beg for help on my 55G reef.

    I have (or should I say had) a yellow tang, clownfish, and a firefish in my reef tank. I noticed white spots on the tang so I removed ALL the fish and treated them in a QT for ich with CopperSafe. After about ten days I freshwater dipped the fish to make sure no copper was on them and released them back into the reef. Two days later I saw spots on my tang again that looked like an ich relapse. I put in a cleaner wrasse just to see if I could get away with letting him pick the spots off the tang without having to quarantine everybody again. The next morning the tang was dead, and the day after that (today) the cleaner wrasse was dead! It must be something in my tank. What the hell happened? Was it the ich or did I misdiagnose or what? BTW I put the clown back in the QT but I can't catch the firefish.

    Notes: My nitrates are 0!!!! Tested with two separate kits. All of the corals are fine, are are the clams and the electric scallop. Only the fish are suffering.
     
    Coral Falconer, Sep 22, 2006
    Coral Falconer, Sep 22, 2006
    #1

    2. Click Here!

  2. serotonin

    serotonin Purple Spiny Lobster

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2006
    Messages:
    498
    Location:
    New Berlin, WI
    You need ot leave your main tank fish free for a full month.
     
    serotonin, Sep 22, 2006
    serotonin, Sep 22, 2006
    #2
  3. Coral Falconer

    Coral Falconer Plankton

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2006
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    An entire month? So it was the ich that's killing them? But I'd only had the cleaner wrasse for one day!
     
    Coral Falconer, Sep 22, 2006
    Coral Falconer, Sep 22, 2006
    #3
  4. sssnake

    sssnake Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2005
    Messages:
    1,062
    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    Ich can develop in a matter of hours in some cases.

    Like serotonin said...leave the tank fishless for a good month.

    Sorry for your loss.
     
    sssnake, Sep 23, 2006
    sssnake, Sep 23, 2006
    #4
  5. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2006
    Messages:
    4,860
    Location:
    Wonderland
    It was ich!!!! You can remove the fish, however the eggs from the Ich are still in your tank. What you found out is that just by removing the fish from your main tank and treating them, doesn't rid the ich cycle from your main tank.
    Corals etc. are not succeptibe to ich only the aftermath(dead fish and AMMONIA, NITRITE and NITRATE) from the demise of your fish.
    I wouldn't add any fish to your tank for awhile now to let the ich cycle take its course...
    Sorry to hear about your fish dying! I know how helpless you feel as it has happened to me numerous times in the past.
    Keep your eyes open and test for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates in your water now and I would do a partial water change as well>
     
    coral reefer, Sep 23, 2006
    coral reefer, Sep 23, 2006
    #5
  6. Coral Falconer

    Coral Falconer Plankton

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2006
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    Thanks. I had no idea ich was such a persistent S.O.B......My nitrates are still 0 so I'm just keeping an eye on my corals.
     
    Coral Falconer, Sep 23, 2006
    Coral Falconer, Sep 23, 2006
    #6