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Drshare

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Hello everyone, I know this is a long shot but I figured I would put it out there to see if anyone had some input. I currently have a 55 gallon saltwater tank that has been up and running for almost 4 years. It's a fish only tank with some live rock and live sand. Most of the fish have been in there for more then 3 years, 2 clowns, a sailfin, a vlamingi, a watchman goby and 1 cleaner shrimp. The goby was added about a month ago. We test the water when we do our water changes and it's always normal (nitrate,nitrite, PH, ammonia, salinity). Last week our vlamingi tang died without warning. We removed the fish and tested the water and all seemed ok so we were ready to chalk it up to age. Then yesterday we found one of our clowns dead, again with out warning signs. So we tested the water again and did a water change. I examined the fish and noticed nothing other then it's eyes were cloudy. The remaining fish looked ok but this morning we wake up to a dead sailfin and a dying clown so now the only fish left is the goby, cleaner shrimp and a few hermits.

What could this be????? I'm afraid to restart a tank
 
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KathyC

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If all was fine and If there wasn't a huge shift in pH from a water change then the most likely culprit is the addition of the goby that introduced some sort of illness into the tank.
If you are seeing no outward signs of illness..spots on fish, heavy breathing, erratic swimming, lack of eating..then the cause could well be bacterial.


3 years on the Vlamingi isn't old, or for any of the fish you have in there.
 

Drshare

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If all was fine and If there wasn't a huge shift in pH from a water change then the most likely culprit is the addition of the goby that introduced some sort of illness into the tank.
If you are seeing no outward signs of illness..spots on fish, heavy breathing, erratic swimming, lack of eating..then the cause could well be bacterial.


3 years on the Vlamingi isn't old, or for any of the fish you have in there.

We thought it might be the goby but he seems in good shape, though just before this post I noticed him hanging by the cleaner shrimp who appeared to be working on him.
 

Yani1133

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Watchman gobies are amazingly resilient to disease. I had a tank with one and a four other fish before i used to qt that got wiped out by some type of disease with white stringy growth. and he was the only survivor and never showed any signs of sickness. Tried to hypo him and tested a month later with a saltwater baitfish and that caught the same disease and died and the goby was still a happy camper. Read up on them and they have some traits that make them resilient little buggers to alot of common diseases so definitely wouldnt rule it out because he is alive.
 

Drshare

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Now I am nervous, at this point the tank at home is wiped out except the Goby, 1 cleaner shrimp, and a couple of hermits. I had purchased from a local store 2 Watchman Gobys, one for home and one for the tank at the firehouse. The Gobys were in seperate tanks in the store and neither shows any sign of sickness. As you know my tank at home is all but wiped out but now I am concerned with the tank at the firehouse. The firehouse tank is a 90 Gallon mostly fish and a couple of small corals, in this tank I have a yellow tang, blue damsel, 2 fire fish, 1 clown, a sixline wrasse, 1 anemome, and two cleaner shrimp. All looks good but this morning I came into find a cleaner shrimp had died. I really hope the same thing is not going to happen to this tank :( is there any thing I go do to help prevent a problem????????
 

KathyC

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The shrimp loss could have been a coincidence...try and hang onto that thought! If the other goby brought something into the firehouse tank, more than likely you would have seen an issue there by now.


Is the goby the only fish left in the tank at home?
 

KathyC

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You can do a couple of different things at this point..
--nothing, but I wouldn't add any further fish to the tank at this time. I'd wait a couple of weeks and see if the goby makes it. If he does, I would add one fish..something inexpensive that you can live with long term (maybe a blue chromis) and see how he does for a month or so. If he dies, then something is wrong in the tank and you should remove both fish, put them in a QT and (IMO) treat with an anti bacterial product... that treats both gram positive & gram negative bacteria. I'd probably follow that up with an antiparasitic medication.
--you could take the goby out now & QT him and leave the tank fallow for 8-10 weeks to kill off any parasite type issue that is happening in there. Though that won't help if there is a bacterial issue...as it will still be there :(


--you could treat the DT with an anti bacterial, but need to know it will kill both good & bad bacteria and will likely start a mini cycle - at a minimum.


At least you aren't dealing with a reef, so that is helpful.


Unfortunately, it's all just guessing at this point. The only 'clue' would be the cloudy eyes on the fish from what you have posted..and that leads me to the bacterial issue.
 

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