Losing fish - dusty white look on them

bzb

bzb

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Been out of town quite a bit so I've left my tank alone to "mature". My royal gramma and cleaner shrimp died this past weekend. The gramma had a "dusty white" coating to him, and some white spots. When I took him out of the tank, he looked fine (other than, you know, being dead).

The hippo tang and my mimic tang both look dusty white now, and the mimic is very pale. They're all eating quite well, though - and the clowns and chromis look fine. Corals are all open and look as good as ever.

I'm running over to AA to get some metro and focus today (and some carbon)... but wondering if that's the right approach here. I really don't want to lose any more fish!

Ideas or tips?

90Gal
79 deg
0 amm
0 nitrite
<5ppm nitrate
410 Ca
7.8 dkh
 
I took pics of the gramma after pulling him out of the tank. I'll see if I can get one of the mimic tang.
 
I thought I could trick the Hippo into eating some Nori, but as soon as I get the camera next to him, he scoots off. So fast! You can definitely see the dots and dustiness on the mimic tang... it's WAY more pale in person.

IMG_4127.jpeg




IMG_4129.jpeg
 
that looks like marine velvet to me on the tang google it and see if it looks similar
 
So ran by AA and talked with Rit and showed him some photos. He doesn't think it's velvet, but thinks it might be fluke causing ich - and the coloration is due to them being skinny. Which is incredible to me, because these fish eat like hogs.

Got some different food to diversify their diet some more, and went ahead and picked up Prazi, Metro and Focus. Crossing fingers this knocks it out, since I don't have a QT, and my corals are all doing quite well.
 
While sitting on conference calls, I chopped up two cubes of frozen PE mysis and half a cube of frozen Seaweed Delight and put it in a shot glass with about 5mL of tank water. Added one scoop of Focus and one scoop of Metro and stirred it up. Let it soak for about 30 minutes.

Used a syringe dropper to feed, they all ate a few pieces, but I probably should have gotten the garlic too *facepalm*

Since then, I've tried feeding a couple other things and they aren't super interested in the food - curiously they still come up to the top of the tank like they want to be fed. The mimic tang is hiding quite a bit, so I've turned down all the powerheads to lowest settings. The hippo tang is still pecking at the nori that's on my magnet cleaner... so frustrating.

I'll dose with Prazi this evening, looks like about 1.5 tablespoons (0.75oz). Just retested everything:

Temp: 79.5
Saliniity: 1.023
pH: 8.1
ANN: 0/0/<5
Ca: 410
dkH: 7-8
 
Hey neighbor. Text me when you are available. I'll jog over, take a look, and bring some supplies.
 
Sadly, lost my mimic tang this morning. He was feeding well last night, but struggling to swim. Very sad Tuesday, indeed... he was a lively, happy part of my tank.
 
As of this morning, clowns, chromis, and hippo tang are still eating and acting normal. Two things to note:

- Hippo tang still looks like he has some white dots on him. Definitely has a lot more color than three days ago, a lot less white.
- The chromis is flashing a bit on the rocks.

Now my concern is towards the corals, as my monti has a few spots of brown algae on the growing edges. I assume the heavier feedings and no skimmer or filter socks is allowing this bloom to happen this quickly.

I'm starting to remember why I shut down my tanks 15 years ago lol
 
Man, I feel for you. I've been following this thread but not offering any advice because velvet is not something that I've ever dealt with. Situations like this (along with man many others) can make this hobby heartbreaking. I hope everything else comes through and that you don't get too discouraged. Hang in there, it sounds like you've worked you way through this and now your in the recovery stage.
 
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bzb said:
As of this morning, clowns, chromis, and hippo tang are still eating and acting normal. Two things to note:

- Hippo tang still looks like he has some white dots on him. Definitely has a lot more color than three days ago, a lot less white.
- The chromis is flashing a bit on the rocks.

Now my concern is towards the corals, as my monti has a few spots of brown algae on the growing edges. I assume the heavier feedings and no skimmer or filter socks is allowing this bloom to happen this quickly.

I'm starting to remember why I shut down my tanks 15 years ago lol
Click to expand...

I hate to say this, but I went through a case of velvet and lost so many fish it was disheartening. So, on my reboot of this last tank, I quarantined all my fish for 30 days. Only 2 didn't make it in there but better in there than in my DT and wiping out other fish.
 
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I have no idea what it actually is, and the curious part was that my cleaner shrimp was the first to go unexpectedly.

From all my reading, it seems velvet is very common in the industry supply chain now - that's really disappointing. However, I'm not 100% positive it's velvet. From what I understand, velvet would require the QT and copper... which I'm definitely not dosing in my DT with all the corals and other inverts.

We'll see if the hippo makes it through. Definitely will be setting up a full QT for future fish adds, which isn't going to be for a while (much to my kids' disappointment).
 
Last night while setting up quarantine, found the hippo lodged between rocks not breathing. Down to the two clownfish and the original blue-green chromis.

I restarted the skimmer last night and within a couple hours it had filled the cup with light brown goo. I assume it went crazy from the residual prazi. Back to normal levels of dry foam this morning.

I don't know if I should try to catch the three fish and QT with therapeutic copper, or just let them be in the DT and see what happens at this point. Whatever this is, velvet or otherwise, is like a damn horror film the way it's picking off my fish one at a time.

On a positive note, the leather I was having trouble with is about 3 times the size it had been for weeks. All the corals seem to be doing good.
 
After much reading, chatting with various folks, and acquiring hospital gear... I've learned that this is still much like visiting a human doctor: no one is quite sure what my fishy friends have. A few folks on R2R think it's a combination of things, and I'm kind of leaning that way.

By Sunday evening, I started noticing the smaller of the two clowns had a dusty look to him, so I went back to setting up QT.

I destroyed my tank looking for potential survivors, and managed to pull out the remains of my goby that I totally forgot I had. I gave the three survivors their own individual 5 minute freshwater baths, then 60 minutes in newly mixed water + Rally. They're now all in a 10G QT/Hospital tank with a cheap HOB, 10W heater, tiny powerhead, a bubbler, and a new and cleaned 3" PVC elbow.

Monday evening, the fish went into the QT with a dose of Copper Power @ 3mL. I'm slowly (a few drops in the morning, few drops evening, few drops late night) dosing 1mL per day until I get it above therapeutic levels. It should be a total of 11mL to get my 9 gallons of water to 1.75ppm. I have a Hanna Copper checker on the way, but the API test is around .5-.75ppm, so I seem to be on track.

I also dosed Prime @ 2mL, BioSpira @ 1 capful on Sunday and again Monday before adding the fish, and 1 scoop of Metro. The Metro will continue at 1 scoop every 48 hours two more times to knock out potential Brook in the clowns.

All three are swimming around in the tank and seem to be doing better already. I gave them their first feeding this morning, and all three went crazy on the food.

My DT is completely rearranged and has started its fallow period. So far, all the corals look just fine in their new placement, and tank levels are all within normal parameters, with just a tiny nitrate spike <1ppm.

Sunday night:
IMG_4233.jpeg

This morning:
IMG_4241.jpeg

IMG_4242.jpeg
 
Thanks - planning on 76 days, just in case!

Hanna checker came in, this thing is great (except for the paltry 6 doses of reagents that come with it!) I'm at 1.14ppm today, and have about .5mL left to dose for the day. Will be dosing slowly until I get it up to 2ppm.

If my math is correct, it looks like I'm not getting any absorption by the ceramic media in the HOB, so that's good.

Fish are eating well, and the seachem ammonia badge is still yellow. Man that thing is not easy to read, though!
 
At 7 mL added of Copper Power, I'm detecting at 1.25ppm on the dot with the Hanna copper meter. It appears every mL in 9gallons is equal to .125ppm.

I'll test on Monday, and it should be at therapeutic levels - my 30 day countdown begins from there. I'll continue raising it to 2ppm.
 
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