Help!! Dead fish in quarantine tank

Had a Gobi in our QT tank die. Had a weird spot on him. Any ideas what this is?

Nitrate and notriye levels are both off the chart. We have been doing 40% water changes every other day and that doesn't seem to make a difference. Not sure what else to try to keep them down?

 

Ok guys - sorry for the long delay in responding, but wow - great helpful advice! This is such a great forum!!

Ok so let me start answering these questions here....

First, I am using RODI water that I have verified is showing at 0 TDS.

We have two separate 40 gallon quarantine tanks setup. The goby was our first casualty in either tank. In the first tank, we have:

• One 6" purple tang
• One 3" coral beauty angelfish
• One (dead) 4" Diamondback Goby (obviously not in the tank anymore)

That is the tank that the nitrate/nitrite levels appear to be going crazy on.

The second 40 gallon tank has three 2-3" clownfish. It hasn't had fish in it for as long. The clownfish used to be in the other tank until about 2-3 weeks ago when we split up the fish to try to balance the load per tank.

It should also be noted that I will have 5 more fish coming on Friday:

• Three Blue Reef Chromis
• One orange-back fairy wrasse
• One Diamondback Goby (to replace the one that died)

I am not entirely sure how I am planning on splitting them up amongst the two tanks yet.

As far as filtration, I have an air line going into both tanks, and I have a sponge filter running in both tanks. I believe this is the one. And there is a single powerhead in each tank as well for water movement. They are pretty small powerheads but I figured they were better than nothing!

The reason that I am doing QT in the first place is I had 4 fish die in my display tank and the thought was there was a parasite infection happening. So I removed all the fish to QT them and treated them all with copper. We are about 7 weeks into this process with 5 to go. And as I said, this was our first casualty. But my poor wife is busting her butt to do these 40% water changes every other day and she is not really enjoying it right now!

I was asked about our ammonia levels. Our tests are showing those are pretty close to 0. And the pH was also tested and is showing 8.2. We are using the Red Sea test kit, and was purchased from Amazon just three months ago.

Now one of our QT tanks is showing much lower levels of nitrite and nitrate levels (the newer tank with the clowns). We were playing with the idea of taking about 75% of that water and putting it in the older tank and filling the newer tank with a fresh batch of saltwater.

The tanks are bare-bottom with nothing else in them except large PVC pieces for hiding. I do have some rubble rock that I could put in there that has been in my display tank's sump? We didn't do that at first because it could absorb the copper, but since we are done doing that, perhaps that would also help?

Oh, also DangerD asked about where I get my fish from. Most come from Live Aquaria as I like the warranty. However the Goby did come from Iowa Pets. We had it for probably 5+ months with no problems.

I think I answered everybody's questions. Any additional thoughts?

If anybody in the west side of Des Moines is dying to take a look to offer any insights, we always enjoy the input!

Thanks again everybody!

 

I don't think there should be any copper in there anymore. We have been doing 40% water changes for about 4 weeks (every other day) since we completed the copper treatment. So if there is any copper in there it should be very small amounts.

 

We noticed a bit of the scratching and also what appeared to be a velvet outbreak. We took pictures of the fish to Seascapes and they thought it was some kind of parasite and they recommended the copper treatment for ich, velvet and any parasites, as well as the qt for 12 weeks. Since we lost like 5 fish we thought it best to try all of the above.

Actuary - I didn't know that about the wrasses so good to know. We have been done with the copper for a while so I think we are ok there. We had sand in a bowl for the goby and will probably leave it in there in case the wrasse wants it. And good call on the rubble rock. I will nix that idea.

 

Bud -

The nitrate and nitrite are both very high in the problematic quarantine tank. Both turned red almost immediately using the Red Sea test kits and are too high to measure using that kit.

Grrrrr