What's Wrong With This Fish?

[chrissaysyes]

So I used to have about 6 or 7 damsels and a tomato clown. They each ended up looking like this fish, one by one. It happens over night, and once they start to look like this they only last about a day. They look like theyve been run through a blender or something. Fins are mangled, skin is pale, eyes pale, lips, white. They look like zombies. They will behave normally early in the day, then they begin swimming sideways, by night time they are dead. Like I said it happened to my damsels, then the tank went for a month with no fish, now I recently added a domino damsel. He has been fine for about a week and now today all of the sudden he looked like he does in the pictures. Just like the fish in the past, he was dead by the end of the day. What's going on here? There's nothing else in the tank big enough to rough him up like that.

Here are some pics of him today before he died:

 

[SkiFletch]

Dunno... They don't develop any spots or lesions? Seems pretty clearly a pathogen of some sort. Perhaps an internal parasite or a bacterial infection?

 

[chrissaysyes]

It starts as cryptocaryon irritans or so it appears. Tiny white spots around the face. They go away for days, then this happens. I'm aware that I should run fishless for 8 weeks to rid the tank of ich but is there something else I need to be worried about as well?

 

[SkiFletch]

Ah, Lynden's favorite, Ich weakens the fish and it then gets a case of a secondary bacterial infection with the immune system comprimised by the ich. So unfortunately you have 2 pathogens in your tank, Ich which will require at least an 8 week QT to be safe with, and some kind of bacteria which can clearly stay dormant for a month. Might be worth considering some antibiotic treatments since the tank has no fish in it and the bioload wil be low

 

[chrissaysyes]

the tank does have a good amount of corals and inverts as that's where I focus my time and money during QT. Think itd be ok treating with antibiotics? I've been treating with 5-nitromidozoles (sp?) for ich FYI. Any anti-biotic recommendations?

 

[SkiFletch]

the tank does have a good amount of corals and inverts as that's where I focus my time and money during QT. Think itd be ok treating with antibiotics? I've been treating with 5-nitromidozoles (sp?) for ich FYI. Any anti-biotic recommendations?

Maracyn 1 for a week, and then Maracyn 2 for a week. QT for the remaining 6weeks to keep the ich at-bay, then try another fish

 

[chrissaysyes]

You're awesome. So it says this stuff doesnt affect the biological filtration. Nice. So I assume I shouldnt be using any carbon or skimmer during those two weeks of treatment? This stuff seems really cheap too. It's around $30 to treat my tank with both for the time period you recommended.

 

[SkiFletch]

You're awesome. So it says this stuff doesnt affect the biological filtration. Nice. So I assume I shouldnt be using any carbon or skimmer during those two weeks of treatment? This stuff seems really cheap too. It's around $30 to treat my tank with both for the time period you recommended.

Yeah, they're basic generic antibiotics made by the gallon nowadays . Yes, no skimmer, no carbon, no UV, and follow the directions exactly. Dose as much as required as often as reccomended. Treat as reccomended for a freshwater system, you don't have livestock that are really at risk here. Maracyn I and Maracyn II are gram-positive and gram-negative antibiotics (I forget which is which). As much as they say they won't affect your biological filtration, they might. It's not going to kill your bio filter but it may reduce its capacity. Shouldn't be a problem with no waste-producing fish and over a month to recover and re-coup any losses.

Just make sure that when you do re-stock to only add one fish and watch your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate

 

[Lynden]

My domino used to get this all the time. Spirulina and garlic seemed to clear it up. Hopefully I will be getting some clones of my nem in a few days which will further help his immunity, if he chooses to reside in them.

 

[chrissaysyes]

the only thing mine ever ate was garlic laced mysid