strange fish death ???

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#1
In the last three days I have lost three fish. 1st my melanurus wrasse. I attributed it to my sand bed being nasty and I am getting nassarius snails to deal with the new sand bed issues. Then, yesterday, my yellow coris wrasse. I saw him with two popped out eyes and still trying to swim in circles. Both eyes looked like pop eye and he died within an hour. This eve I had a fire fish exhibit the same popping out eye and then death. All fish have acted normal and even eaten the day of the death. No heavy breathing in any fish. ammonia etc. test at 0. I did add 5 chromis last week. 2 died almost right away and I figured it was because they were tiny chromis and didn't even blink.

Any Ideas... Worried about some of my prize fish. don't really want to set up a quarantine for everyone. don't want to tip down the reef to grab them all... Anyone ever see this? causes?
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#3
Haddonisreef;277795 said:
Man im Gona say the chromis brought something in!
Seems to be the variable. Nothing can be done to change that. just wondering what to do moving forward. I have a small uv. probably not enough to make any kind of dent but i'm about to put it on line.
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#9
FinsUp!;277804 said:
I have nothing valuable to offer, just my condolences. :(
thanks cindy. the wrasses were both three or 4 years old in my system. sucks. don't wanna loose anyone else.
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#11
the chromis looked fine. nothing weird in any of the tanks at the store system. could be a coincidence, just the only variable in my system.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
Knowing if the problem affects one or both eyes is very important. If the problem affects just one of a fish's eyes, the cause is likely to be a specific injury to that eye alone. If both eyes are equally affected, the problem is not likely to be a simple injury, and there is more of a chance that the problem is systemic - involving the entire fish, or in the case of multiple animals showing the same symptom, the entire aquarium.

Sorry to hear Mike, if you haven't already I would do a water change.
 

mathewkofalk

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
Do you have a voltage meter can you rule out stray voltage maybe the fish grounded some how and got zapped....just my two cents

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#15
Off The Deep End;277820 said:
Knowing if the problem affects one or both eyes is very important. If the problem affects just one of a fish's eyes, the cause is likely to be a specific injury to that eye alone. If both eyes are equally affected, the problem is not likely to be a simple injury, and there is more of a chance that the problem is systemic - involving the entire fish, or in the case of multiple animals showing the same symptom, the entire aquarium.

Sorry to hear Mike, if you haven't already I would do a water change.
yea, kinda thinking the eye thing isn't an injury as it has been in both eyes in both witnessed cases. Maybe that's just the part that swells 1st after death, they were still trying to swim like that though... weird I removed the fish pretty quickly (within a couple hours I think) and have done a water change. The 1st wrasse was partly eaten though. I suppose any fish that ingested that could be at a greater risk depending on what caused the death. I'd need to do a pretty large change to make much of a dent as I have a huge sump. My plan is to do a wc of about 15 gallons every day for a few days.

Does suck to loose fish I have had for a while. Dillon, they were all in that 40 cube you got from me back in the day!
 
#20
Dr.HarlemTutu;277793 said:
In the last three days I have lost three fish. 1st my melanurus wrasse. I attributed it to my sand bed being nasty and I am getting nassarius snails to deal with the new sand bed issues. Then, yesterday, my yellow coris wrasse. I saw him with two popped out eyes and still trying to swim in circles. Both eyes looked like pop eye and he died within an hour. This eve I had a fire fish exhibit the same popping out eye and then death. All fish have acted normal and even eaten the day of the death. No heavy breathing in any fish. ammonia etc. test at 0. I did add 5 chromis last week. 2 died almost right away and I figured it was because they were tiny chromis and didn't even blink.

Any Ideas... Worried about some of my prize fish. don't really want to set up a quarantine for everyone. don't want to tip down the reef to grab them all... Anyone ever see this? causes?
Sorry about your losses, but I believe you answered what caused your problem. You said "I attributed it to my sand bed being nasty and I am getting nassarius snails to deal with the new sand bed issues." Popeye is caused from a anaerobic bacterial infection which generally happens do to poor conditions. The sand bed is the most likely place for "bad" anaerobic bacterial to be. Popeye if caught early enough can be cured, but some damage to the eye can remain. The best treatment for saltwater popeye is Kanamycin or Saltwater Maracn-Two treated in a QT. I'd also do some "spot" gravel cleaning in your tank and you'll usually find the "dirtiest" areas around rocks and such. Good luck with your tank!
 
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