Sick fish?

Discussion in 'Diseases' started by Anya, Jul 4, 2013.

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  1. Anya

    Anya Bristle Worm

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    Hi all, I need some help please with my tank situation. A couple of days ago I lost my coral beauty. I thought it was old age, as I had her over 2 years and there were no marks on the body. It was looking and eating great until found dead early in the morning.
    Then yesterday the blue damsel (yellow tail) started hiding in the rocks and when came out in late afternoon was all powdery looking. And there I a bad looking path near its top, please see the picture linked below:
    IMG_1219.jpg Photo by nurka_a | Photobucket
    Now the outer edge of one of clown fish's fins and tail looks rough and powdery.
    The most recent addition was a set of corals, one of which didn't open up as fast as others. I didn't dip the coral, very bad I know. I dipped the bad looking one after the fact. And now I'm very worried.
    Checked the water after the Coral Beauty passed, Nitrates = 0, CA = 500 (my tank's norm), Alk around 6 (dosing it daily, it's been dropping a lot since the addition of acropora), Mag 1300.
    I'll retest the water and update later.
    Any ideas on what this could be? Is it Ich? I never had to deal with that so no idea what it looks like. Couldn't find good pictures on the internet either. I did notice some tiny oval brownish looking specs (1/2 mm) on the glass that sort of move around the glass. Any help is appreciated.

    Thanks.
     
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  3. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    That does look like Marine Ich on the fins of the yellow tail damsel.

    "tiny oval brownish looking specs", sounds like some type of pod or flatworms. I doubt that has much to do with your sick fish.

    Angel fish get a lot older than 2 years, old age was probably not the issue. Angels can die at a young age from dietary issues if you are not providing marine algae and sponges. There are specialized Angels foods available and enhancing the diet is a good idea.

    Whether the Marine Ich came in on your new corals or has existed for sometime in the tank without fish becoming asymptomatic is any ones guess.
     
  4. DSC reef

    DSC reef Giant Squid

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    Maybe low alkalinity causing stress made the fish prone to an ich outbreak? Just throwing an idea out there.
     
  5. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    what you're describing sounds like possible velvet to me. I had an outbreak once and the fish appeared overall grayish/matted in color.......I don't know if there is a treatment that is reef safe for velvet..? I'll let others give input to you.
     
  6. Anya

    Anya Bristle Worm

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    Thank you Dennis. I think the Alk was actually swinging for a couple of days, as I didn't catch the drop right away. Not sure how sensitive the fish are to Alk swings, pretty sure the corals aren't happy about it, but they look fine for now.

    Thanks OFK, I will look into that and the Ich Coralline mentioned. Wish I could take the fish to a doctor...

    Thank you Coralline. It's good to know about the specs, my thought was those are pods, as I've added 2 bottles of tiger pods to my fuge 2-3 months ago. But reading that the Ich is a parasite made me now wonder if that's it? I had a variety of food, mostly for the Beauty's sake - mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, Emerald Entry (I think by Sally's) and some other herbivore entry by the same company, Nutramar Ova and some algae in the tank... ugh... not good
     
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  7. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    I hope you figure it out! Positive karma your way!
     
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  9. Anya

    Anya Bristle Worm

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    Thank you. i'm setting up a quarantine tank now. I can't figure out which of the 3 parasites it is, ich, velvet or something else, forget the name. But looks like hypo salinity should work for all, so will give it a shot. There is definitely something wrong there.
    Ok, I might be wrong about the treatment applying to all, kinda at a loss with this.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2013
  10. MichaelKelley

    MichaelKelley Banned

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    What happened to the fish once you applied hypo salinit? Did you get any idea about the disease as I have the same situation for my fish and was looking for the solution, but now sure what to do. I think your suggestion should work.
     
  11. Anya

    Anya Bristle Worm

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    Sadly the damsel did not make it. Last week I took videos of the fish to the LFS. While I still don't have an exact answer to what's going on, LFS expert said most likely the damsel scratched himself on the rock or possibly got attacked by someone in the tank and in this vulnerable condition became susceptible to some parasite, such as Brooknella. We've ruled out Ich because there aren't really any "salt grains" on the fish. They didn't think it was Velvet as it usually kills fast and my damsel had it for over a week.
    They've recommended "Para Guard" by Seachem, which is what I went with, as it has positive reviews on Amazon and contains no formalin or methanol. It seems to be pretty broad spectrum too. I've moved all fish into a simple QT: air stone, pump, heater and a little light. Applied this "Para Guard" daily for 3 days. It did not make a difference for Damsel, I think it was too late for him. And it is too early to speak but my clown might be looking a little better. A week ago she had bumps on the head and fins & tail looked really bad. In QT she's been staying in one corner, not moving much at all and eating poorly. Her companions, smaller clown and wrasse, are swimming around and showing no signs of distress. Now, clown's fins are improving and this morning she's been swimming around a little. She also is eating a little bit. My current plan is to keep all the fish in QT for at least a week from today (patience is not easy for some) and if there aren't any issues move them back to the main tank. Going to try feeding food soaked in garlic as well.
    Michael, I hope it helps and you figure out what's going on with your fish as well, good luck!

    P.s. Picture of clowns this morning, 7/12
     

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    Last edited: Jul 12, 2013
  12. Anya

    Anya Bristle Worm

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    I'm at even bigger loss now - after days of acting fine, eating, swimming around and showing no white powder or bumps my big clown fish was dead in the morning. :( There weren't any spots on missing scales on the body. Disappointed in my treatment procedures I moved the remaining 2 fish (clown and wrasse) back to the main tank - on the next day the clown was covered with whitish powder, so I moved him back to QT and restarted the treatment - he didn't make it. I'm down to one fish, who is not showing any symptoms that other fish had (no bumps, rough fins, powder, white spots) but is scratching himself a lot this morning.
    If you've ever gone through anything similar with your fish and were able to successfully treat it PLEASE share your methods. My best guess at this point is that it is velvet and I'll try to treat the wrasse with copper if I can catch him, unless anyone has a better suggestion.