Sick Fish (Another Newbie)

[macman]

Help! I've just lost 4 ocellaris clowns and a green chromis!

I've got a 55 gallon FOWLR - about 25 pounds live rock (well established when I bought it) and another 24 pounds of reef rock - the tank is about 3 months old and had cycled nicely - ammonia and nitrites at 0 and nitrates negligble, SG at 1.023.

I had the four clowns in, and they were doing really well, and then I added the chromis. Within about 2 weeks a couple of the clowns stated looking "dusty" - not really spotted, just sort of a dullishness to their color. Their eyes looked clear, and they were feeding well (I had to make sure that the chromis weren't getting all the food; as long as I was careful, everybody got fed.)

Then a few days ago one of the clowns died. Two days later, yesterday, and two more of the clowns were gone. The last one was looking really mottled - white splotches all over. He had also stopped eating. I quarintined him in a small container hoping to take him to my LFS today (it was too late last night), but by the end of the evening he was gone.

Now my wife just called and one of my chromis is dead!

I don't know enough to say if this is ich or something else, and I can't get to my LFS until tomorrow. I'm open to any suggestions before I loose any more fish...

Help!

[Joe Reefer]

How many fish did you add at once?

[macman]

I first added the clowns - all four, and about 4 - 6 weeks later added the four chromis.

[Joe Reefer]

You may have shocked your system by adding to many fish at once causing an ammonia spike. Adding 4 fish at once to a 55 is to many IMO. You should spread out your additions weeks apart to let the systems nitrifying bacteria catch up.

[TheReefGeek]

I dont think that would explain the white splotches though, or the dustiness, those sound more like parasites.

I guess you can't post any pics any more? Do some searches on marine parasites and see if any of the pictures look like what happened to your clowns.

[Pan]

I dont think that would explain the white splotches though, or the dustiness, those sound more like parasites.

I guess you can't post any pics any more? Do some searches on marine parasites and see if any of the pictures look like what happened to your clowns.

does not ich come on from stress....ammonia spiking from 4 fish atr once would defn. stress them.

[phreezee]

does not ich come on from stress....ammonia spiking from 4 fish atr once would defn. stress them.

No it doesn't, it comes from a parasite LOL. Stress increases susceptibility, but obviously the guys problem is not an ammonia spike, but the fact that he has parasites in his water system.
(he even says ammonia at 0 in his initial post)

Sounds more like Velvet anyway.


Amyloodinium ocellatum
Common names: saltwater velvet, coral reef disease

When whole aquariums of fish are lost in a short period of time it is usually to oodinum. Oodinum is a parasite which first attacks the gills. Therefore, heavy breathing is the earliest recognizable symptom. As the infestation advances, the body will take on a powdery or velvet-like appearance. The spots are much smaller than Cryptocaryon spots. Oodinum can kill fish in less than a week! Careful observation of your fishes' respiration rate is important for an early diagnosis. By the time your fish has a velvety appearance, it may be too late!

[Chaloupa]

I gotta agree with the Velvet. We had it come through our FOWLR tank and lost everything but a Niger Trigger and Yellow Wrasse. Sounds just like what ours looked like.

[Pan]

No it doesn't, it comes from a parasite LOL. Stress increases susceptibility, but obviously the guys problem is not an ammonia spike, but the fact that he has parasites in his water system.
(he even says ammonia at 0 in his initial post)

Sounds more like Velvet anyway.

well jeez you assumed i could read :) whoops

[macman]

If it is velvet, how do I treat it? And where would it have come in from? The chromis when I introduced them?

[howdy20012002]

IMO it is velvet
i had the same thing happen in one of my tanks
i lost everything
apparently there really isn't anything u can do for velvet that will cure it fast enough..from what i have read about it
they say copper..but i dunno. Whatever u do decide, do it quickly...my whole tank was dead in a week.
u can take u fish out and put into a tank with just SW and try treating it will copper sulfate..or maybe a freshwater dip
if you put the copper into your main tank it may kill ur LR
I would let ur tank sit for at least 6 weeks before putting any fish into it.
That way you can make sure that if it is velvet or ick, that the parasite will be dead.

[bulletsworld]

Sorry I’m late jumping on here….

If ever you are unsure about whether or not you have Velvet, you can perform a FW dip that will help confirm it. Click here for details on HOW TO DO A FW DIP –
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/freshwaterdips.html

After following the direction on how to do a FW dip, I found a dip of approx 3mins - 5mins, providing the fish are not stressed. Use a clear glass dish for dip & dim lights low, I found this helps reduce the fish stress or panic. After the fish is taken out of the dip, putting it back into your main tank, go back to the dip dish. In the light, swirl around the water & inspect the water dish closely. If you see a dust like powder or little white flake particles in the water, you have Velvet (Amyloodinium) and the parasite has dislodged & fallen off your fish only because it was mature. The only time this dip doesn't show if Velvet parasites are present on your fish is when the parasites have only been attached for less than 24 hours. Approximately every three days the parasite drops off the host (your fish) and divides and looks for hosts (your fish) re-infects again.

NOTE: You can use this dip for relief of Velvet (only mature parasites will fall off) but when you put the fish back in your infected main tank, your fish will become infected again with free swimming parasites.

In heavily infected cases of Velvet, you may see the fish with thousands of tiny yellowish white spots all over (often confused with Ich, but Ich spots are larger & look more like salt sprinkles all over the fish) Another way to tell if it’s Velvet in early signs is fins of the fish are not clear and display random smudges through them. When heavily infected with Velvet the fish will take on a shiny yellowish appearance and may seem darker in color than normally. If you ever have any scale less fish (i.e porcupine puffers, all cowfish, lionfish, etc). they will ALWAYS be the first to show signs. I found clownfish, damsels, gobies, chromis, some tangs, angels, wrasse, even when heavily infected show very little to no signs other than to the naked eye. They will go darker in color, take on a shiny appearance and they will breathe more rapidly.


For information on different treatment options, check out a really good article by Steven Pro.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php



Hope this info helps,

Lee