Damage Control Help Needed - Sick Fish and I broke all the rules

Okay, it's been a rough fish week...and I'm beating myself up...and I've introduced something yucky to my 65g. I could really use the experienced advice on damage control.

This week I decided to stock my 65g. Woot Woot!

I picked out 4 Anthias - 1 male and his girls, a Yellow Goby & his shrimp, a pretty Royal Gromma, and a 6 line wrasse. First...let's just say, @Deton8it , ...I'm a 2 stage reefer...just past newbie and right into the "well it hasn't happened yet".

All fish were introduced at one time, straight to the 65g, without a quarantine. Why you ask? Because I hadn't gotten around converting my 10 gallon tank fresh water hospital tank to a quarantine tank. I had everything but the heater...probably a 10 dollar heater.

Everyone was getting along great. Every one was eating. Stress seemed low. Acclimation was going great.

Then, this morning I wake up to find the wrasse on the floor. Yep. Totally my fault. I did some maintenance. Then chose not to put the glass top back on because it was rattling with the vibration of the pump to my teeny tiny refugium and annoying me. He was a beauty too.

Then...as I'm feeding, I notice one of the anthias girls hasn't come out. I find her in a crevice, panting, a bit pale. Two hours later as I'm walking out the door, I see one of the other girls has a red spot on her side and scales in that area fluffed out. The girl on the bottom has gone even paler! Crap.

At lunch today I stop and get meds...and a small heater. When I came home, girl #1 was dead belly up. Girl #2 barely resisted when I pulled her out of the tank. Girl #3 now showed signs of white spot and scales peeling upward. She wouldn't eat the medicated food. I realized she was a goner, so I pulled her out of the tank. So, one girl physically died in tank, two removed just before their deaths.

That leaves the goby and shrimp who holed themselves up as if a zombie apocolypse was in progress, and it may very well be..., the male anthias, and the royal.

The hospital tank is now heating up, and should be up to temp within a couple of hours. I'm prepared to move the anthias or royal if they show signs of infection, in a heartbeat, although essentially the damage is done.

The medicated fish food has Chloroquine Phosphate.

Now the real question...How do I clean my tank of this parasite and attempt to prevent spread to the 3 remaining fish. It was a really really fast killer. Based on descriptions and photos, I'm thinking Brooklynella hostilis or Uronema marina.

In the tank I have live rock, live sand, inverts, snails, my beloved Acan Lord from last year's November Reef Fest, a new Acan, my Favia from last november's Reef Fest, Green Star Polyps and a few little mushrooms that traveled with the polyp rock. All coral could be dipped and moved to the nano if necessary. It'll be tight, but it can be done temporarily. But...I must insure that this parasite won't transfer to the nano.

The goby and shrimp are nearly impossible to scoop out of my rock work and their burrows in the 65g.

Your damage control advice is greatly appreciated.

And I think I just leveled up to Reefer 3...quarantine EVERYTHING. I'll have little 10 gallon tanks all over the house before you know it.

Thanks guys.

 

Well I have to you tell a good story! lol I enjoy reading your posts, sorry for your losses. As far the anthius are concerned I have a little experience with them and males can be pretty mean to the females but more so to males. I have six bartletts and 2 females because that's what was sent as females. Needless to say my big males and his two girls stay on one side of the tank and he somewhat tolerates them. But if one of the 3 males crosses the center line of the tank fight is on. The 3 males fight among themselves and keep the smallest on pretty much in the rocks. The wounds on your anthius could be from the males. As for fixing your problem either you roll with it or tank all fish out for 6 weeks. And adding anything wet without qt can add bad stuff. Doesn't have to be fish could be snails or coral. I would just monitor it and roll on personally

 

I am qt/ conditioning I just want them to be healthy and eating well before they go in.

 

I have a client that has lost a dozen or so anthias to what is now becoming a male anthias. He killed 3 super males and at least 9 females, I will never put lyretails in another tank, this one is 500g and he'll chase them all over it. Not to mention he's nowhere near as attractive as a supermale, he has been unlovingly nicknamed Ike and his girls are Tinas.

 

Now that cracked me up.
Part of me kind of hopes the male was a meany and that this wasn't a nasty , but he wasn't giving the girls much grief under observation. But it sounds like they are best as a single. Lol

 

Thanks Bo! I guess I'll know for sure if the male comes down with the spotted fish fever. I'm curious though, how long can parasites survive in the water column?

If I introduce new fish, would they suffer the same fate?

Am I going to have to move everyone to the quarantine tank and fresh water cleanse the 65 and start over?

Is it bad that the first critter I wanted to save was my giant fluffy acan, my very first coral? So absolutely no harmful meds were allowed.

And, I read a fresh water dip of your fish and inverts could help drop the parasites. But is that only for external parasites?

So many questions and so much misinformation on the internet.

 

Wow! I somehow have introduced monti eating nudis and am dealing with the fallout from that! I'm following along to learn. I currently have the 3 fish that came with the tank in the DT and 3 new fish in QT that should be able to get out around the beginning of July if all are healthy. I didn't realize corals should ideally be QT'd too but now I know. I actually think this may have come with the tank and I just didn't realize it but who knows! I will be much more diligent in the future!

I really hope it was just him being mean and that your wrasse was a jumper but if not, I hope you're able to heal and get past it quickly!

 

Does fallow mean simply no fish or nothing but rock and sand?

 

Thanks for clearing that up! I've wondered this for a while but just never asked.

 

If it were me I would see how the other are doing. If they look sick then qt and treat. If you wanna start fresh you have to wait a least 6 weeks without fish like doc said. I just watch my fish for a couple weeks in qt fatten them up and through them in. I can't qt everything that I'm gonna put in the tank so it's pointless to treat one thing if I'm gonna buy snails next week and just put them right in.

 

But if you know the life cycle of these fish diseases you know that they are not on the fish the hole time right? Where do they go? To the rock and substrate where the inverts are. And with the fish store having fish in there invert tanks sometimes fish they just got I'd say there is a good chance. The stuff is everywhere. There are threads on r2r about ppl doing the same qt system on just fish. Then get fish diseases and they don't know why or how it happened.

 

QT is a helpful ordeal but fish live with Ich, Velvet, Brookynella for their entire lives in my opinion and experience. I've put Clowns I've had for years in a totally clean system that are cycled for months and watch them get brooky, same with tangs and ich. Much like humans I'm fairly confident the parasite lives in the gut of the fish waiting for a stressor. QT gives you and the fish an advantage, but even an extensive QT won't make up for an unstable tank or another fish being aggressive and causing stress.

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/can-a-dt-really-be-disease-free.302374/#post-3701384

I would do some digging and find your own answers. I always take advice lightly, partly because I just don't like being told what to do lol. And I like learning the hard way lol.

 

You can't argue facts. I think your a hell of an Aquariust doc, and a good guy. But the fact is if you don't quarantine everything for the life cycle, chances are you have it in your tank.

 

Would this be a good case for treating prophylactically while in QT? And to make sure you get the entire life cycle, how often would you have to treat? Or how long would QT need to be ideally?