What happened, need help fish loss

uscmizzy

uscmizzy

Member
I recently bought a Royal Gramma from my lfs not even two weeks ago. Today I wake up and the gramma is dead and my blue tang looks horrible. I don't see any indications from disease on the Gramma. My blue tangs color is very faded and she is hiding in the rocks and I can't find her anymore. Does anybody have any idea what this could be and what I can do? My levels are all ok so I have no clue what it could be.....

Now my Clown fish is looking bad!!

Any ideas of treatment? If all my fish die what can I do to clean the aquarium? I need help everybody I'm seriously freaking out!!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Sounds like something toxic in the system.

Probably do a large water change. Check your equipment for damage or stray voltage. Check tank temp, ph etc.

Anybody do any spray painting in the house recently or anything like that?
 
uscmizzy

uscmizzy

Member
No painting. Levels are .25 Ammonia 5.0 Nitrate 0 nitrite pH 8.0 Salinity 1.022. I just found out that my neighbor added melafix marine to my tank by mistake instead of prime. Could that be causing it?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yep and run some air stones or skimmer if u have one.

I made a similar mistake when I first started the hobby. Caused the same type of reaction in my system. I know they say that stuff is reef safe but it can still be very deadly if you're not careful.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Good point, Bang. GAC, will help remove the medication from the system.

I'd still recommend a water change if possible for the ammonia. Prime works too I suppose.

I remember when this happened in my tank. Treatment when fine for a few days. Then I turned my air pumps off to one night and forgot to turn them back on. Woke up to half of my livestock dead and the other half in bad shape.

I was brand new to saltwater so I didn't have great power heads/flow or a skimmer at the time. Did a 50% water change that morning, turned air pumps back on and things looked way better when I got home later that day.

Come to think of it I believe that was the situation that prompted me to find this site and seek help.

Think Beth, was the first to offer advise. Then I questioned that advice and Flower chastised me for it lol. Sorry, Beth.
 
D

deejeff0442

Active Member
Agree water change run carbon.
I remember must have been over 30 years ago. I used a sponge from under the kitchen sink to clean the inside glass. All the fish started gasping for air and died. Figured out the sponge had chemicals like germ killer in it. Live and learn
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
florida joe said:
can we rule out everything else without knowing hows much was dosed
Click to expand...
If we had everything else to go on I suppose we probably could...(taps fingers)

We know there was meds used and we know there's ammonia.

If op has good flow and or a skimmer than maybe that's not the problem. Maybe the gramma died first, caused ammonia then the friend accidentally dosed meds.

Either way it sounds bad. And sounds like what happened to me. The fish that didn't die were remarkably discolored and looked very bad before I did the large water change. Colors came back by the next day.

Still currious to hear more, myself, though.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
2quills said:
If op has good flow and or a skimmer than maybe that's not the problem. Maybe the gramma died first, caused ammonia then the friend accidentally dosed meds.
Click to expand...
Could very well be the case I of all people know how hard it is to keep a RG. That’s why knowing how much medication was dosed is important
 
uscmizzy

uscmizzy

Member
Just an update:

Everything is dead but the clown. He is fighting and I have been monitoring water levels. Ammonia is still saying .25 but it's an api system. I have gotten my protein skimmer working so that's a plus now just trying to keep the clown alive
 
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