Captain Ron
Supporting Member
Okay I need some help and suggestions with how to proceed. Apologies for the long post, just trying to give all background information possible.
background:
20 gallon tank, set up for 6+ months, with sponge filter, 5 gallon water change done either every week, or as long as every 3 weeks. algae occasionally scraped off glass and removed, no other nutrient export. The 20 gallon tank seemed stable, fish seemed healthy previously. Inhabitants: yellow watchman (6+ months), chocolate chip starfish (4+ months), pistol shrimp (4+ months), 2 strawberry conchs (3+ months), pompom crab (3 weeks), yasha goby (3+ months), clarkii clownfish (died June 17th had for 8+ months), 2 bangai cardinals (4+ months, 1 died this morning). No quarantining of any of those inhabitants before they were added to the 20 gallon tank.
In a separate 10 gallon with sponge filter I was quarantining a diamond watchman goby and a chalk basslet together in copper power for a little over 30 days. The diamond watchman has since been relocated to my 90 gallon tank 3 weeks ago (June 6th) and has no issues and appears completely healthy as does a small blue tang which is the other current inhabitant of the 90 gallon tank.
3 weeks ago (June 6th) moved the chalk basslet into the 20 gallon. That fish seemed healthy no issues. After a day in the 20 I moved the chalk basslet and the clarkii clownfish into the 10 gallon as I was leaving on a week-long trip and the other fish in the 20 gallon were intimidated by those 2 fish. (by then > 95% of the copper power water had been water-changed out with both newly mixed water and water from my 90 gallon (that had been fallow for 90+ days due to previous ich infestation). After returning from the week-long trip (June 15th) I had noticed the autofeeder hadn't been feeding pellets into the 10 gallon and I resumed daily feeding (june 16th) frozen brine shrimp to those 2 fish in the 10 gallon. The morning of June 17th my son noticed the gills of the chalk basslet and clownfish moving fast so the fish were drip acclimated and moved back into the 20 gallon tank that morning. (I suspected but did not test for, possible ammonia poisoning.) In the afternoon the clownfish was dead. No observable markings or other signs on the body as far as I could tell. In the days after that I occasionally saw the chalk basslet swim really fast (dart) with a twist. Perhaps that is called flashing? Color/appearance of the chalk basslet seemed normal, all other fish in the 10 gallon looked/seemed normal. My son says the gills of the chalk basslet were always moving fast since he was put back into the tank on June 17th.
2 days ago (June 26th) I used half of the water from the 20 gallon and moved all the fish into a new 20 gallon isolation/treatment tank. I re-used the old sponge filter from the 20 gallon (for the benefiial bacteria) and also added an additional new sponge filter to the isolation/treatment tank. I topped of the tank with new saltwater and I started treatment 2 days ago (June 26th) with copper power at 1.95ppm, raising it to 2.38ppm yesterday and probably to 2.5ppm today (haven't tested it yet). Yesterday evening I noticed that the back half of the body (near the tail) of the largest bangai cardinal had a reddish hue to it. This morning that fish was found dead on the bottom of the tank. Picture attached. I don't yet notice any issues with the other fish. I have not as of yet observed any funny darting/twisting movements from the chalk basslet since he has been moved with all the fish to this 20 gallon isolation treatment tank. The chalk basslet's mouth seems to be moving fast (small mouth movements not large gasping) but according to my son his gills are not moving fast like they were before this latest move. His outward appearance/color seems normal to me.
What to do? Continue with the copper power and wait? Treat the tank with Kanaplex? Something else? Thanks for any help and guidance.
and this morning I noticed this on the other bangai:
background:
20 gallon tank, set up for 6+ months, with sponge filter, 5 gallon water change done either every week, or as long as every 3 weeks. algae occasionally scraped off glass and removed, no other nutrient export. The 20 gallon tank seemed stable, fish seemed healthy previously. Inhabitants: yellow watchman (6+ months), chocolate chip starfish (4+ months), pistol shrimp (4+ months), 2 strawberry conchs (3+ months), pompom crab (3 weeks), yasha goby (3+ months), clarkii clownfish (died June 17th had for 8+ months), 2 bangai cardinals (4+ months, 1 died this morning). No quarantining of any of those inhabitants before they were added to the 20 gallon tank.
In a separate 10 gallon with sponge filter I was quarantining a diamond watchman goby and a chalk basslet together in copper power for a little over 30 days. The diamond watchman has since been relocated to my 90 gallon tank 3 weeks ago (June 6th) and has no issues and appears completely healthy as does a small blue tang which is the other current inhabitant of the 90 gallon tank.
3 weeks ago (June 6th) moved the chalk basslet into the 20 gallon. That fish seemed healthy no issues. After a day in the 20 I moved the chalk basslet and the clarkii clownfish into the 10 gallon as I was leaving on a week-long trip and the other fish in the 20 gallon were intimidated by those 2 fish. (by then > 95% of the copper power water had been water-changed out with both newly mixed water and water from my 90 gallon (that had been fallow for 90+ days due to previous ich infestation). After returning from the week-long trip (June 15th) I had noticed the autofeeder hadn't been feeding pellets into the 10 gallon and I resumed daily feeding (june 16th) frozen brine shrimp to those 2 fish in the 10 gallon. The morning of June 17th my son noticed the gills of the chalk basslet and clownfish moving fast so the fish were drip acclimated and moved back into the 20 gallon tank that morning. (I suspected but did not test for, possible ammonia poisoning.) In the afternoon the clownfish was dead. No observable markings or other signs on the body as far as I could tell. In the days after that I occasionally saw the chalk basslet swim really fast (dart) with a twist. Perhaps that is called flashing? Color/appearance of the chalk basslet seemed normal, all other fish in the 10 gallon looked/seemed normal. My son says the gills of the chalk basslet were always moving fast since he was put back into the tank on June 17th.
2 days ago (June 26th) I used half of the water from the 20 gallon and moved all the fish into a new 20 gallon isolation/treatment tank. I re-used the old sponge filter from the 20 gallon (for the benefiial bacteria) and also added an additional new sponge filter to the isolation/treatment tank. I topped of the tank with new saltwater and I started treatment 2 days ago (June 26th) with copper power at 1.95ppm, raising it to 2.38ppm yesterday and probably to 2.5ppm today (haven't tested it yet). Yesterday evening I noticed that the back half of the body (near the tail) of the largest bangai cardinal had a reddish hue to it. This morning that fish was found dead on the bottom of the tank. Picture attached. I don't yet notice any issues with the other fish. I have not as of yet observed any funny darting/twisting movements from the chalk basslet since he has been moved with all the fish to this 20 gallon isolation treatment tank. The chalk basslet's mouth seems to be moving fast (small mouth movements not large gasping) but according to my son his gills are not moving fast like they were before this latest move. His outward appearance/color seems normal to me.
What to do? Continue with the copper power and wait? Treat the tank with Kanaplex? Something else? Thanks for any help and guidance.
and this morning I noticed this on the other bangai:
