Reef Discussion

[potatocouch]

My apology in advance for the long rambling post.

After running for 3 years or so without no disease, my tank has finally caught the bug, a bad one.

All of my 3 longest serving fish passed away within a week. :(

I'm not too sure if it's Marine Velvet or Ich; but it started with the Kole and then the 2 clowns.

I did observe white dusty all over my clown with no appetite to eat; it went so quick; all up took 1 week.

I keep questioning myself what may have caused it; given that I do not dip my coral nor dip my fish in the past, but 3 years was a bloody good run and a lucky one.

No changes, no new fish however the only changes that have had happened is:

• New frags that have been added, in saying that all of water that came with them have been flushed out prior putting them on DT.

(I doubt the parasite is introduced from the frags).

• Tank (in the living room) has now got ambiance lights at a longer duration (almost 24 hours) as our newborn sleeps here (we're sleep training her and don't want to disturb her older sister).
  • By ambiance light: TV and dim light from the hall way.

(I highly likely considered this may have caused the stress on the Kole, which promotes whatever disease that might be)

• A trial of second hand ATO which was coming from tank shutdown and have been dry for few weeks before I bought them; my work colleague seems to think the parasite may have stayed inside the tube but I highly doubt it, so from my perspective highly unlikely this has caused it.

I am now in fallow stage, and intend to keep the tank fish-less for at least 3 months (just to be safe, as I'm not entirely sure whether it's Amyloodinium or Cryptocaryon).

I do not have QT and don't intend to have one (please don't crucify me :( ); mainly the cost and time to maintain another tank is the issue, and not too mention whether I'll get an approval for it.

What would be my second best option in introducing new fish come 3 months forward? Should I just dump and hope, or am I better with a quick 10 seconds FW dip with Methylene blue?

If I do the latter, I'm just afraid as stress promotes ich/velvet, wouldn't the FW dip stress the fish hence promoting the ich/velvet?

 

[Lesley]

I say dump & run
I don't like fw dips. I think it's extremely stressful and additional handling that's unnecessary but that's just my opinion
I don't run a qt either
Same reasons as you
Sorry for your losses
Chin up and come back better :)

 

[shaidas]

That is very strange mate. First of all a week to lose all is a very short time unless they were all infected earlier but then you would have noticed some signs I would imagine. Secondly without introduction of new livestock , ich or velvet causing organisms cannot automatically come into the tank as it is a parasite nor can it survive a year without feeding which shows immediately and while it does attack stressed fish it needs to be present to begin with. That is of course if it was marine ich or Velvet for that matter. To me it sounds like something else or a combination of factors. Assuming you dont have any fish at the moment , Id say first leave the tank and do 50% water changes for two weeks monitoring all parameters then introduce one aqua cultured hardy fish which is easy to catch if things go south and observe it for 3 weeks. And obviously when introducing the new fish do not introduce any of the original water that the fish came in.

 

[potatocouch]

That is very strange mate. First of all a week to lose all is a very short time unless they were all infected earlier but then you would have noticed some signs I would imagine.

@shaidas the Kole has shown sign earlier; I've noticed it but I don't have QT and my chance in catching that fish in a DT full of LRs will be slim and it would stress him even more. So yeah, I was hoping and praying and just keep feeding (accordingly).

Secondly without introduction of new livestock , ich or velvet causing organisms cannot automatically come into the tank as it is a parasite nor can it survive a year without feeding which shows immediately and while it does attack stressed fish it needs to be present to begin with. That is of course if it was marine ich or Velvet for that matter. To me it sounds like something else or a combination of factors.

After talking to fellow reefers, would it be the coral frags that I put in (without dipping)? It seems that the ambiance light shouldn't cause it, nor does the second-hand ATO which was dry for few weeks .. unless it can live in a damp hose for more than that period.

Assuming you dont have any fish at the moment , Id say first leave the tank and do 50% water changes for two weeks monitoring all parameters then introduce one aqua cultured hardy fish which is easy to catch if things go south and observe it for 3 weeks. And obviously when introducing the new fish do not introduce any of the original water that the fish came in.

I intend to leave it fallow for minimum of 3 months; just to be safe. Although I know there were some cases where the new fish gets another ich even after 3 months fallow period. I hate putting fish that I don't like, even if it's hard .. just for the effort to catch it may required me to take all the rockwork. Yes, I now understood ...0% of that water coming in to the DT.

 

[MagicJ]

For what it's worth, I have never quarantined fish or corals and have never had Amyloodinium or Cryptocaryon outbreaks. I have not been purchasing many fish over the past 8 years so that would reduce the likelihood, and I may just have been lucky. But, I also maintain low stocking levels which results in low stress levels for my fish. I am not advocating this approach, it is just me experience.

If it was actually Cryptocaryon then I suspect that it has always been in your tank, just at low levels which wasn't noticeable. A stress event (24 hour lighting??) has allowed it to multiply in your tank which, in a small space, can quickly overrun a tank.