First serious problem - very mysterious

[kevinsimons]

OK, I guess I'm now officially a member of the reef community - had a rough week that started with giving up a long-tentacled plate coral to the great reef in the sky, and then coming home from work 3 days later only to see one of my two engineer gobys (the hardiest reef fish of them all) clearly stressed - and dying.

All his color was washed out, his skin looked patchy, and he was breathing VERY heavily. Within 30 minutes he was gone. It LOOKED like he had swallowed something too big and had a digestive blockage. Nothing else made much sense at that time... especially since I've seem them both stuff things down their throat that really were too big.

Later in the week I noticed (with pride) how fat and happy the mandarin goby was - really - FAT (after all, I've probably spent $140 on Tiger pods)... he's active, hunts for food, and was doing well.

Now, this AM - the mandarin has that same patchy appearance on his sides that the enginner goby had - is respiring heavily and also looks like he'll be joining the long-tentacled plate coral any time now...

There have been no new introductions, water parameters are excellent, and the only changes made have been 2 doses of Kent Coral-Vite (starting about 12 days ago) and 2 doses of Marine S.A.T (after a one month break). I've had a small cyano outbreak but the S.A.T. has brought that under control.

This AM I DID notice the coral banded shrimp was out - something that's unusual, as he's very reclusive - so I'm wondering if his true personality (aggressive, so I hear) has finally shown up. I don't see obvious wounds - but neither the mandarin nor the engineer goby are fish that are prone to disease.

One other clue to consider: the flame angel is swimming around as if he's on a roller-coaster - kind of a "up-and-down" trajectory. This isn't all that unusual - he's done this pretty much all along - but it's always looked kind of unusual compared to what I consider to be normal fish swimming behavior.

Any ideas as to what's going on - and what to do - are much appreciated.

[Doc]

that is a tough one. If there are no visual wounds, that would rule out getting beaten to death. Cb shrimp can be nasty. Sounds like stress. When weird things happen in my tank, I leave it alone for 4-6 weeks without adding anything or drastically changing things. I like to let my system work itself out. Keep up on water changes and keep parameters solid. Things will pull thru. Patience. This hobby is wrought with mysterious deaths.

- Doc

[NewbReefer]

have you checked your salinity? if so and it says it's where it's suppose to be i would go get another salinity meter. i've heard stories of meters going bad and not reading right.

[kevinsimons]

NewB, I don't use those crappy hydrometers - learned that lesson almost immediately - I use a refractometer - tested @ 1.024 this AM, which is where I keep it... that, and nitrates - were my first concern, and tested both of them as soon as I discovered I had a problem...

[NewbReefer]

hmm...well this is a dilly of a pickle then. did you purchase your tank new or used? if used was it ever used for a freshwater aquarium? trying to rule out copper poisoning.

[kevinsimons]

While racking my brain on this conundrum, I've been going over and over "WHAT DID I DO THAT IS DIFFERENT????" - and realized last week's water change involved a step I've never taken before: I vacuumed out all the cyano on the sand bed - and then added a cup of newly-purchased live sand to the bed after I finished the water change.

I'm wondering of both of these species - who live in and on the sand bed - were exposed to something in this new sand? The sand was purchased last weekend, had an expiration date of 12/08 (can't remember the brand name - sorry). The remaining engineer goby is now looking just like his deceased brother - and the mandarin may be dead (can't tell - wedged in a rock).

[NewbReefer]

hmm...it may be possible there could have been something nasty lurking in that live sand. sorry i cant be of more help, hopefully someone with more expierence will be able to point something out.

[kevinsimons]

The sand was Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand and Reef Substrate... unless somebody comes up with a different theory, I'm pretty much sold on the idea that there was some toxin present in this stuff - this would also explain why the CB Shrimp is out ...

[Bifferwine]

I don't think it was the sand. If I were you, I would check for stray voltage. This can lead to HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) in fish which can manifest itself as spots or blotches on the head.

[daugherty]

Originally Posted by NewbReefer

copper poisoning.

i would not think that this would be a problem un less all the inverts died.
as for the live sand i do not think that would be a problem either. i would check for stray voltage.