Mysterious fish death

M

Mr. Thingdoer

New member
Last night, I noticed my Royal Gramma behaving strangely. It seemed listless, and was flowing with the current in my tank. Every time he'd settle on the rocks, all other fish & inverts would seem to start eating away at him. He'd escape, but then settle elsewhere, only to be attacked again. I was able to move him to the sump while I began preparing a hospital for him, and did some research on parasites & diseases, so I could make a diagnosis & start treating.
When I returned to the sump, it was dead. It did appear that both eyes were bulged (Popeye), although From what I've read, that's not fatal. I'm having a hard time figuring out what it was that it succumbed to. I'm just concerned about the rest of my inhabitants. I want to do whatever I can to make sure they don't suffer the same fate.
 
MMreef

MMreef

Active member
Did you add any new fish in the last couple of weeks? How are your other fish behave now? How long did you have Royal Gramma before it died?
 
M

Mr. Thingdoer

New member
I did a FW dip, and did not find any flukes under 5X magnification. The Gramma was treated with Prazi while in QT.

All the remaining fish do appear to acting normal, but as of today, my Midas Blenny has a strange white spot on his dorsal fin. I will post a photo as soon as I can get a decent one.
 
M

Mr. Thingdoer

New member
This is the best I can do right now, although I can try for better shots when I get back from walking the dog. Can anybody identify this parasite or illness?

 
wrasse

wrasse

Member
How is your magnesium in the tank ?
Do any of the other fish have Popeye ? Low mag can cause Popeye and if the fish is stressed he might have exhibited symptoms anf Popeye was more pronounced. What other inhabitants do you have in the tank? The royal gamma may have been the one fish that got picked on by the other fish when weak he succumb to their aggreassion and he got Popeye and atacked. If There's a lot of aggressive posturing In the tank the blenny might've gotten a little bit of aggression as well. From your picture it doesn't look that bad, maybe he just got nipped a little bit. Is he eating normally and acting normal otherwise?
 
K

Kevin Says

Member
Popeye is usually a secondary infection from weakened immune system. Most likely from some disease it was suffering from. It's also possible that Gramma became weak from the QT process and developed a bacterial infection. Hopefully, it's the latter and not the former.
 
M

Mr. Thingdoer

New member
wrasse said:
How is your magnesium in the tank ?
Do any of the other fish have Popeye ? Low mag can cause Popeye and if the fish is stressed he might have exhibited symptoms anf Popeye was more pronounced. What other inhabitants do you have in the tank? The royal gamma may have been the one fish that got picked on by the other fish when weak he succumb to their aggreassion and he got Popeye and atacked. If There's a lot of aggressive posturing In the tank the blenny might've gotten a little bit of aggression as well. From your picture it doesn't look that bad, maybe he just got nipped a little bit. Is he eating normally and acting normal otherwise?
Click to expand...
Mag is 1380ppm
No3 2-4ppm (test kit begins at 5ppm)
Po4 .03

I do have a very aggressive/territorial female clownfish, so it wouldn't surprise me. All the fish seem to be behaving normally. The only thing out of the ordinary so far is the spot on the Blenny's dorsal fin. which I hope is just a nip. I will continue to monitor everybody, although I'd feel safer knowing what I need to be looking for in case parasites or disease made its way in to the tank.
 
Rcunning8

Rcunning8

Premium member
Given the six weeks of time in the tank followed by rapid deterioration in the fish's health my bet is cyanide poisoning in the catching process. A lot of the specimens caught this way don't show signs of toxicity until around this time frame and then they perish quickly right after. That would be my guess, parasitic infections tend to be more insidious and take longer to kill their victim whereas poisoning can go unnoticed and then when symptoms appear the specimen is dead within hours. In regards to the Popeye I believe this is a common finding in this process as well but I am not one hundred percent sure, however I just don't think most parasites kill their host within hours of first symptom onset because that does not allow them time to complete their life cycle. I would watch your other fish closely and fist signs of stress I would quarantine and start treating for the next best guess on your differential diagnosis. Hope that helps :) sorry about the loss


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
K

Kevin Says

Member
"Knowing who collected, transported, and held the fish prior to export is the key to quality specimens. We believe that the highest-quality fish start with the most ethically compliant sources." That's from Kevin Cohen of LiveAquaria. He is indeed talking about cyanide poisoning, copper dosed water, and other practices which are designed keep their cost low and pass the risk to the next guy. I now only buy from LiveAquaria, Petsolutions, and Petco. Petco will custom order fish for you and you may even be able to pickup your fish before it hits their tanks.
 
T

#theMatrix

Active member
With petco. You must pay for the fish 1st and your buying blind...it may be a harlequin tusk but size wise...the wont know as it can be a 7in tusk.

Same as when a customer ordered an anthias. And when it came, it was a 4in anthias the customer had paid for it but daid it was too big as he was looking for a generally small anthias. This square anthias was HUGE
 
K

Kevin Says

Member
#theMatrix said:
With petco. You must pay for the fish 1st and your buying blind...it may be a harlequin tusk but size wise...the wont know as it can be a 7in tusk.

Same as when a customer ordered an anthias. And when it came, it was a 4in anthias the customer had paid for it but daid it was too big as he was looking for a generally small anthias. This square anthias was HUGE
Click to expand...
It is a lot like buying from online.
 
T

#theMatrix

Active member
With online some can be. Wysiwyg and also usually have a deacription of what size atleast on DD and most other places. With petco they are the middle man and cant say if youll get a juvi or full grown adult.
 
K

Kevin Says

Member
#theMatrix said:
With online some can be. Wysiwyg and also usually have a deacription of what size atleast on DD and most other places. With petco they are the middle man and cant say if youll get a juvi or full grown adult.
Click to expand...
I will take that over fish that are kept in copper. We don't really have good options.
 
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