FISH DYING AND BREATHING HEAVY

[apex82]

Originally Posted by reefcat

Ya I always make sure my hands are clean, I don't wash with soap though but I always take all the precautions.

You and I both know that the chances are very likely that the powerheads caused the issue... I had the exact same symptoms in exactly the same duration of time after adding the exact same brand and model of powerheads.

I ended up losing my whole stock after this episode brought on a major case of velvet from the stress caused. There was no evidence of any ich or velvet outbreak the day before. It would be impossible for it to take out 15 fish with all the same symptoms in a night.

Wash those powerheads in vinegar and water for many hours before using them again. If you notice any onset of ich due to the stress caused from this episode I would quarantine right away... Dont wait and try try to ride out like I did.

[reefcat]

Ive got them running in vinegar, illl keep'em in there for a while before I even think about putting them back in there. I ended up losing 1 purple firefish and one regular firefish fortunately that was it, the rest of the fish are eating well with no signs of velvet or ich. I'll keep updating though.

[daniella3d]

If you had velvet, it is quite clear what caused the death of your fish and it was not the powerhead!! You probably introduced something what had marine velvet (it can live for a few weeks and go unotice before it spread too all the fish) and that was brewing in your tank until it reached all the fish gills and more.

Marine velvet does not come from the air, it does not appear on freshly installed new powerhead either. It does not appear out of nowhere. Weater you stress your fish or not, marine velvet will kill them if you don't treat them with medication and it is a very deadly and fast killer.

It is not because you had no evidence of velvet before installing the pump that they caused it. Velvet had to be present in your tank and it could have been there multiplying to plague proportion for weeks!

It is not impossible for marine velvet to kill all fish withing 24 hours no, actually it is quite common especially if your fish were stressed out by you doing maintenance. Installing a new pump may also have made the velvet larvaes more mobile and able to catch the fish easier due to increased flow.

Next time, do a proper quarantine.

Originally Posted by apex82

I ended up losing my whole stock after this episode brought on a major case of velvet from the stress caused. There was no evidence of any ich or velvet outbreak the day before. It would be impossible for it to take out 15 fish with all the same symptoms in a night.

Wash those powerheads in vinegar and water for many hours before using them again. If you notice any onset of ich due to the stress caused from this episode I would quarantine right away... Dont wait and try try to ride out like I did.