Starting Over :( Massive loss

[balley]

150 gallon tank with two clown fish, sand sifting goby, black cap basslet, Huma Huma Trigger, Naso Tang. All were fine, doing great for YEARS! Decided to add a dog face puffer last weekend and within a week we have lost all of our fish except our Trigger. But even he doesnt look so great today.

I have been doing this for five years and our water peram's were perfect, ) nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 amonina. Lots of water filtration with Tunzi, bac pack skimmer, and emp 400 filter. Temp is fine and heater is working properly.
No signs of ick, brook, HLLE, ect. I did see our fish look like they had pop eye. Which I treated with antibiotic. Didn't help. Our fish are up, swimming, eating and acting normal and then on the ground gasping and dead the following morning.

I have one fish left, our trigger but suspect if the week continues to go like it has been, he will be gone by morning.

Want to re stock fish tank but wondering if I have to completely restart from scratch, with a recycle, sand ect.... or if I can remove water, add new, refresh filters (not bio wheels) and restock. This is the first time we have had this major of a loss. And want to start over....any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[halamaya]

If you post this thread in Fish and Disease I bet Beth will be able to help you. Theres also a list of pictures in that forum of different illness'. Sounds like the puffer brought something with him. It's the worst when your fish get sick for no apparent reason, but so do people.

 

[balley]

Thanks for your reply Halamaya. I have used this site for years and went right to the "Pictures worth a 1000 words" and for the life of me I cant see anything on my fishies. No apparent reason other than some type of disease that my puffer brought with him. (should have never trusted that store when they said they qt tanked him and he was healthy) URG!!!
But thanks and I will repost in Fish and Disease.

 

[spanko]

To me for things to happen that quickly points to a water problem. Any cleaning chemicals, painting, gas fireplace running etc. that could have introduced something inadvertently into the water?

 

[mrdc]

I feel your pain. I have a 120g reef tank that I had been running for years when all of a sudden stuff started to die. I never did figure out the cause. I eventually took almost all the rock out, changed the sand, did countless water changes ... Anyway, lost everything except for the coral I gave friends to hold. I ignored the tank for over a year and have just recently started over. I am making some modifications such as putting more flow in the back of the tank, I added a fluval unit even though I have an overflow tank, ... Things are looking really good so far and I just added a duncan coral. I plan to take things real slow.

 

[balley]

Thanks MRDC...five years and countless dollars and our lil babies So disapointed!
We are going to start over but not sure where to start:
Option #1: Totally gut the tank, clean and re start the tank letting it recycle again
Option #2: take water out and replace with new water and slowly replace fish.
*We dont have corals. Fish only.

 

[balley]

And what to do about the sand? Replace or will it correct itself? Thinking that the new fish we added brought in a bacteria infection or something.

 

[noah's nemo]

I would do option #1,considering you still do not know what your dealing with.

 

[ryancw01]

That doesnt make any sense that a new fish would spread a disease that fast and kill everything in your tank without any signs of being sick. Are you sure nothing got into the tank?

 

[balley]

Ryancw01...We are so careful about using anything around by or in the tank. I thought the fish had popeye becuase their eyes looked cloudy and big. So that is why I started using the Mardel Maracyn Plus for Popeye. But it isnt working.

 

[beaslbob]

FWIW I think anyone who has kept an aggressive tank with those fish for 5 years has had a successful tank.
my .02

 

[garick]

Don't puffers put off a poison when they die?

 

[balley]

Garick, didnt think about that. Ill have to read up on that . thanks for the post

 

[twood]

I would not gut the whole tank yet. I would work on trying to keep your trigger alive. If you don't think medication will help it, do a 50% water change and start running carbon. Continue to do your regular water changes (10% weekly or 20% every other week) changing out the carbon weekly. If the trigger recovers, allow 4-6 weeks after full recovery before trying to add new fish. If the trigger dies, change out as much water as you can and let the tank run without livestock for 4-6 weeks. Test the water to make sure the tank isn't cycling again. If water params look good, add an inexpensive fish and see how it does over the next 4-6 weeks. If it remains healthy, then and only then start to repopulate.

 

[balley]

Thanks twood. Hubby did a 50% water change just an hour ago. Our trigger doesnt look good at all. I would be surprized if he makes the night. Hubbys thinking along your lines. Water changes and if he dies a massive water change and watch the water params. He mentioned getting a inexpensive fish to see how it goes. We know the tried and true meaning of SLOW GO. If the inexpensive fish doesnt make it after that time...then he will gut the entire tank and we will start over totally. Thank you for your reply!

 

[fretfreak13]

Are you running carbon? If not, I suggust it. It'll help get the nasties like the toxins from the puffer and cleaning solutions out.