Losing all of my Fish ans I dont know Why!

[gmanjeep]

I have an established reef tank 125 gallon and in the last 3 days I have lost 6 fish! I have had some of these for over a year. Nothing new has been added to the tank in almost 2 months. Ph was a little low about 8.0 but alk was ok. Nitrates and trites are well within acceptable limits. All the fish that have died appear to get large glazed eyes and seem a bit lethargic but still are eating well until they die.All my corals seem to be fine. I only have about 5 fish left and a couple of them aren't looking real good. Has :sad:anyone else been through this?????

 

[stacy22]

Nitrites should be 0. What exactly are your nitrates?

 

[rbredding]

are you running a UV sterilizer?

 

[gmanjeep]

My test kit doesn't do Nitrites specifically, but the nitrate level is between 0 and 5 parts

Edit: No sterilizer

 

[jennm]

Please post all of your parameters.

The eyes - are they cloudy and perhaps a bit swollen?

What specific fish have you lost? And what's left? Any symptoms in the remaining fish?

 

[gmanjeep]

Yes the eyes are cloudy and bulgy and the fish that I lost first was my powder blue tang. I have since lost a foxface, 2 anthius, Flame angel and a wrasse. I still have a pink clown and a pajama fish that are showing signs. So far I have a percula clown and a hawkfish, and another wrasse, and 3 green chromis that seem ok so far

 

[jennm]

Pictures would help (of living or dead).

Off the top of my head, it sounds like flukes aka trematodes. These parasites typically infest the eyes, mouth and gills first but may spread to other areas. They are about the size/shape of a sesame seed, and are sort of translucent. When they infest the eyes they cloud them over.

They don't kill directly - rather, in severe infestations they impair the fishes' ability to breathe (and see, and eat). Also a risk factor is a secondary infection from the bite sites.

We see them most (and first) in tangs and angels, although any fish can be affected.

Quarantine and treatment with PraziPro will kill the flukes. You can also do a freshwater bath for 7 or so minutes if you're brave enough to try that. It's not a difficult procedure - the hardest part is catching the fish to do it, but often times it's as stressful or more stressful to the hobbyist as it is to the fish.

The parasite can't handle the osmotic shock, dies and falls off.

PraziPro can be used in a reef setting. It's contraindicated where fanworms and similar are present, and you would need to remove carbon and turn off your skimmer for at least 5 days.

Treatment in a quarantine tank is always preferred, but PraziPro *can* be used in the display with suitable caution.

I'm not 100% sure that's what you've got going on, but based on your description that's my best educated guess.

Jenn

 

[gmanjeep]

are they visible to the naked eye? Also,what happens to this parasite if all the fish die? will it continue to live in the tank? We thought it might be velvet or something like that.

 

[jennm]

Well that's also possible too - that's why I said it's an educated guess. Pix would really be helpful.

Velvet or Amyloodinium or Oodinium usually manifests as a velvety film all over the fish. Different treatment indicated there - definitely in a QT tank - no effective treatment that's safe to use with inverts.

The trematodes are visible when they come off, the only time you really see them is on the eyes, or occasionally wedged between scales if you know what you're looking for. When they fall off they look rather like sesame seeds that are opaque.

Here's a link: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm</a>

I didn't read through the whole article before posting it, just looked for pix (but Bob's page is awesome for info)... there are some good photos on there. I'm about to read the rest of the article.

Jenn