Couple fish dying all of the sudden

[iidylii]

hi everyone....my dad has a 125 gal tank...he has had it up for about 18 months...about 5 days ago his lemon peel angel which is his newest fish of one month died with no signs that I could see...then his pearl scale butterfly which was in there about 5 months just up and died the next day with no signs was eating well and what not...then yesterday 2 days later his Auriga butterfly died which was in there for 5 months...this time I noticed before he died he sat in the bottom back corner of the tank for the whole day...he started to look a little tattered on the fins and also had like dime sized bumps on him but these signs only showed up hours before he died...I now notice one of his 2 clowns kind of laying up against the rocks like a blenny would behave...the clown shows no skin irritation at all but possibly a little heavy breathing...my dad felt like his return pump might not have been pumping well so he cleaned that out and it now seems to be pumping better...I'm wondering if possibly there was a lack of water circulation which may have caused these sudden deaths? His parameters are as follows ph 8.0 trates are maybe 60 trites and amonia are all 0... Temp is 75 salt is about 34ppm so all the parameters look ok...and like I said there is no skin irritations that I can see and the only couple signs are the butterfly hanging out in the bottom corner and the clown resting against the LR...the Auriga did start swimming irraticaly in circles near the end also but I'm guessing he was just struggling at the end to stay alive :~{

Anyways that's my story and am looking for what steps to take when u really don't have an idea what the cause may be...do u wait it out and see if it stops...do u transfer them all into brand new water?

We did stick a bubbler in the tank just for added oxygen...if there was lack of oxygen is it possible to get it back by just bubbling the water? Or when it's gone is it to late?

 

[iidylii]

Live aquaria suggested my dad might have changed to much water out at a time...in 10 days he has changed 70 out of the total 140 gallon system so I would have a hard time thinking that would be it..

.I do know that my dad pretty much just mixes his salt like 2 mins before dumping it in the tank so I know that's not the proper way to do it and I've told him how many times...but again i dont know if that would have these results?

Last night when his lights went out his clown was swimming around as if he was getting better...today he's back laying up against the Rock the entire day so who knows

 

[2quills]

Well if it was caused by the water changes I would think could have more to do with ph shock more so than changes in salinity.

And some of what you've described sounds like ph shock.

The timing does seem pretty coincidental and one of the reasons why freshly mixed water should be aged before adding to avoid the dramatic swings.

 

[iidylii]

yeah I just see people a lot of times saying that they do 50% water changes at one time to help bring down there trates so I just found it odd for a 50% water change over the course of 10 days to harm any fish...im sure it definitely can im just saying it seems unlikely...

I did just warn him again about mixing SW at least 24 hours prior to using it...im thinking all of this was a combination of a couple of things...ph shock, not mixing the SW properly, water temp swings from water changes, scrubbing the algae off his rocks with tap water...im thinking the combination of all this if nothing else would definitely stress the heck out of some fish...and possibly kill some of the less hearty ones...

I still would like to know if your waters oxygen supply has depleted will it come back with just agitating the water or would water changes be necessary to restore the oxygen...im just curious about this now lol that's all

 

[jay0705]

Adding air stones will add more oxygen. It's generally a short term fix, but yes it does increase oxygen. I use them in two of my tanks. For esthetics, not per say to increase oxygen lol

 

[2quills]

Agreed the oxygen will come back.

But also would agree that it was probably a combination of all of the above.

Large or even huge water changes are just fine when the water is aged. 24 hours is actually the minimum recommendation. There are many chemical changes that occurs after the salt dissolves and these changes can take several days or longer to reach equalibrium. As long as Temps, ph and salinity are near equal than its not an issue. But even small but frequent stressor can add up to big problems.

Rinsing the rocks with tap probably introduced chlorine into the system. And if he stirred up the sand bed that could also release deadly toxins into the water.

So yeah, I'm thinking all of the above each probably had a small roll to play in what happened. It's not surprising that the clown (the hardiest) is the only one left still alive.

 

[iidylii]

thanks jay im aware the stones help with oxygen

not all died quills...he has I believe between 13-16 fish...his lemon peel angel, and 2 butterflies died....his 5 chromis, foxface, blenny, cardinals, hawkfish, etc are still kicking lol...and actually I just talked to him and both clowns now appear to be swimming around looking ok again so im betting the parameters have stabilized and hopefully all will go better...if that indeed was the issue

 

[2quills]

Ah ok, didn't realize there were that many fish.

Glad to hear things are looking better.

Another thing I just thought of, rinsing the rocks in tap probably killed off some of the beneficial bacteria and other critters. Perhaps causing a ammonia spike that may have already come and gone.

 

[iidylii]

Ah ok, didn't realize there were that many fish.

Glad to hear things are looking better.

Another thing I just thought of, rinsing the rocks in tap probably killed off some of the beneficial bacteria and other critters. Perhaps causing a ammonia spike that may have already come and gone.

That's what I was thinking as well...the parameters could have been back in check by the time we checked the water

 

[iidylii]

Spoke to soon...one of the clowns was dead this morning...so now this has spanned over 7 days now...a fish dying every other day or so...showing no skin irritation at all...

Any thoughts on what type of disease or what else it could be that could take up to 7 days to kill different species of fish? I know very vague but I'm not sure what to do...today I think we are going to catch the remaining fish and put them in a couple 20 gallon tanks :~{

 

[lmforbis]

Sorry no clue but moving to hospital tanks is a good idea. Just make sure he mixes the water the way he is supposed to this time.
Any chance something got in there like a cleaning product? any air fresheners being used?
I have read accounts of velvet whiping out tanks with out the typical skin signs. The wholesalers are supposed to be having issues with velvet. Didn't you say one of the fish was added recently?

 

[iidylii]

yeah he recently added a lemon peel angel from divers den...was pretty much a baby...which is the one that died first...was in the tank about 2.5 weeks then all of the sudden again with no signs he died...then about 5 days later or so 1 fish after another started dropping day after day...

 

[lmforbis]

That is a bit suspicious. DD is better than most retailers but things get through. I'd be inclined to treat with copper as if they had velvet. I think the fallow period for velvet is 6 weeks. There may not have been changes on their skin but their behavior did change prior to their ultimate demise.

 

[2quills]

It all still sounds a bit odd. Can velvet actually infect and kill the others that quickly with no outward signs?

 

[lmforbis]

I've read reports of that on another forum. The aquarist was not a novis and had several large tanks for many years. The Fish in one tank started dying with no outward signs of disease and velvet was not diagnosed until one fish showed outward signs after several others had already succumbed to the disease. I don't think it is common but I wouldn't rule it out.