internal infection possibly?

Ok heres what I know

Volitan lionfish, snowflake eel, domino damsel, foxface in a 75 gallon.

I explored raw seafoods due to the lionfish at a local grocer. Was feeding the lionfish and eel table shrimp oysters crablegs and salmon.

Well I got lucky and they were all eating it fine and everything was swell i was thawing out proportions as I fed them a month or so went by.

Well I got sloppy and thawed out a bunch of salmon and placed the chunks in a old sandwich meat container and was throwing it in the fridge afterwards.

I usually do the same thing when feeding my other tank with marine cuisine cubes in a plastic cup of water but the unused portion never stays in the fridge for more than 1 day after.

Now the good part:
damsel died of what seemed to be ich one day (wasnt suprised since he lived with a fish that could eat him)

about 2 days later the lionfish died signs of ich and heavy skin loss

the foxface started showing weird spots(not like normal color changes)(not bumps) and a small amount of ich and swimming kinda funny (slightly facing down)

the foxface is now in a large plastic tub with a piece of live rock and a powerhead being treated with pimafix

the eel is fine

anyhow I feel like I fed them that salmon that had been in the fridge for several days and made them sick thus causing the ich to outbreak and killing them

any thoughts? any thoughts on pimafix Ive never used it?

PS my first post hi guys~!

 

Sounds like the food may have caused your problem. Not only could it make the fish sick by eating it, the bacteria, etc. growing on it could be growing in your tank.

Additionally, old food has very little nutritional value, as vital vitamins are lost very quickly, esp. vitamin C, which is important to keep the fishes' immune systems up to snuff.

If you pre-cut the salmon into feeding size chunks and freeze them flat on a plate or small cutting board covered with plastic wrap, you can transfer them into a freezer bag or container. Then, you simply go to the freezer, grab a chunk of food, thaw it and cut it into bite-sized bits. Also, if it's over 6 mos old...toss it (we actually toss food at 3 mos old, but we're a bit fussy about our fish food). Also, if the food is "slick" feeling or smells "fishy", it's likely going bad, so toss it.

I'm afraid Primafix and any of the "natural, tree oil" type preparations are more to make you feel better than the fish. They don't work.

Lionfish have a cuticle they can shed to try to rid themselves of ectoparasites...is that what you were seeing? I've seen badly infested fish get into a "molt after molt" situation.

I dunno how large your fish were/are, but your tank was overstocked, which may have had some bearing on the fishes' general health. I wouldn't put an adult P. volitans in anything smaller than a 48" x 24" x 20" 100 gal (the 48" is a MUCH better footprint for lionfish than the 72" x 18" x 17"100 gal). An 18" wide tank simply doesn't allow larger lionfish the proper turnaround room, so they become very sedentary.

HTH, and sorry for your loss.

 

thanks Greg good input - what are your thoughts on the foxface swimming around with his head down? would you think thats a sign of something internally wrong?

i guess it would be like a 45deg angle he does it for some time and every now then he snaps out of it and will swim to a new location almost as if hes fine - this hes never done before

 

It kinda sounds like poisoning...possibly due to bacterial toxins. To that end, you can try a healthy water change and run some extra carbon.

Is the fish having buoyancy trouble or is it acting more "disoriented"? If it's a buoyancy issue, it may have a swim bladder infection.