Rotting Flesh?

Okay, thanks guys! I'll bleach everything tomorrow and then let it dry in the sun after a good soak, rinses, and neutralizer.

I just emptied out the QT and boy was it nasty. Shockingly so, since my water parameters were 0 across the board. I even tested the nitrate again today before I cleaned and it was weirdly 0 - like no hint of any color, to the extent I thought maybe I forgot to put the reagent in, so did it again and came up with the same result, despite having visible detritus on the bottom. And the test kit works - used it earlier on my other tank. Makes me even more suspicious that this disease came from my pink skunks - anyone know of a bacteria that breaks down nitrates? So strange.
 
Nope, that wouldn't break down nitrates though (unless I'm missing something, which is always a strong possibility ;)
 
LOL That was just a guess on my part, I have no clues, Its late here for this old brain of mine, maybee someone here will have an answer for you, Im so sorry you are going through all this, and this all started with a bad fish shipment?? Correct??
 
Yeah, it seems like the problems have been non-stop since the brittlestar debacle, which was 3+ weeks ago now. I don't think the latest problems are related to the first problems, although I'm sure the stress on my tiny tank inhabitants from that incident certainly didn't help. Knock on wood these problems remain isolated to my tiny tank and don't spread to my 90g. There would be little chance of spreading since the tanks aren't even in the same place, but its more of a "as luck would have it" worry!
 
having detritus doesnt always corresponding to having a water quality issue. With the symptoms you are describing I would think infection/disease as well
 
Mysterious diseases/fungal infections dont just pop up out of no where. Do some googling and you will find several links to pictures and flow charts with yes no questions that will guide you to the answer of what is causing this... Since you havnt posted any pictures its difficult to identify and I could only dig up a few things that it couldve been with what description you did give. Im leaning towards fungal since most of the pictures I saw had something similar to what you described (in terms of the white stringy and flesh coming off).
 
Firefish is dead.

I got some pics of the OSPG yesterday but my camera died so I couldn't upload them. Battery is now charged so I'll upload them today to see if anyone had ideas.

I did google last night to try to identify and the only one that came up with sloughing skin other than bacteria was brooklynella - although I really wasn't seeing the lung involvement that brooklynella starts with. Of note, all three fish at the end looked bloated or as if they had an intestinal blockage / swelling near their anal fin / opening.

At this point I don't really know what steps are next. Obviously the tank will be left fallow for 3 months in case this is parasitic (for what its worth I don't think this was either ich or marine velvet - no evidence of white spots on any of the fish). But if its bacterial and I don't proceed with a full course of antibiotics, would that lead the bacteria to just remain in the tank and flourish even if its not appearing to attack anything else (or at least not yet I should say)?
 
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But would bacteria go after my inverts/corals next if there aren't fish available (I'm thinking bacteria may be less discriminating than parasites)?

I went ahead and just did another 20% wc and added the second dose of antibiotics.
 
I think I'll just continue to treat for the full 5 day course of antibiotics and hope for the best. If I lose my inverts and corals, then I'll break down the tank, bleach and sun dry the rocks, and start over. Hopefully that won't be what happens but whatever this disease is I don't want it in my tank!
 
Inverts and corals are still alive. The tips of the birdsnest look a little white and polyps aren't as fully extended as they have been, and the brain looks a little deflated (not sure if this is from tx or because the starfish was near it). I think I'm going to put my lights on a reduced cycle over the next week to help compensate for the antibiotics - my understanding is that they make corals more light sensitive than normal. Hopefully this will be enough to get them through. Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

PS - to drown out my tiny tank woes I went shopping.... to my favorite lfs.... and picked up another chalice, meteor shower, and really awesome plate coral for my 90 :)
 
Thanks Cathic

I'm not as hopeful this morning. Starfish isn't looking so hot, and neither are the brain or birdsnest. I wish I could move them to my 90, but I'm just not willing to take the chance. I very reluctantly added a 3rd dose of antibiotics (2 more to go) - so hard feeling like I'm putting poison in the water..... changed my timer so my lights will come on at 2pm instead of 10am. Sexy shrimp are still happy. This whole thing sucks :(

As for the starfish, I'm a bit worried its not been getting enough to eat. I tried spot feeding it krill when I first got it but it didn't want anything to do with it (it moved away from it when I put the krill under it). I presume its been eating algae and pods off the rock that its been moving around since I got it (I seem to have a very healthy pod population at the moment), but is there anything else I can spot feed it that it might go for?

Also, now that my tank is fishless, how much and how often should I feed to keep my inverts alive? As of now I have snails, 4 sexy shrimp, a pompom crab, a fromia starfish, and maybe a feather duster.
 
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The formica and links type starfish don't eat meaty foods or algae really, it's thought that they eat bacteria colonies living on the rocks and maybe some of the single cell algeas, which is why they usually only live in very large, well established tanks. Also if they are ever exposed to air at some point they can die from that. I'm not sure there is really anything you can do for it once it decides its going to die.

For the other things, I would feed maybe once a week. They don't need a whole lot.
 
little_fish said:
The formica and links type starfish don't eat meaty foods or algae really, it's thought that they eat bacteria colonies living on the rocks and maybe some of the single cell algeas, which is why they usually only live in very large, well established tanks. Also if they are ever exposed to air at some point they can die from that. I'm not sure there is really anything you can do for it once it decides its going to die.

For the other things, I would feed maybe once a week. They don't need a whole lot.
Click to expand...

Interesting.... Live Aquaria says "If there is insufficient algae growth in the aquarium, the diet should be supplemented with flaked foods, and small pieces of fish or mussel" even though their description says "It requires a mature tank with algae and is generally fairly self-sufficient in the aquarium, finding enough micro-organisms and detritus to scavenge if live rock is present."

Last night when I lifted it off the rock I noticed the underside near the mouth appeared to be somewhat dissintegrating (it also could have been pooping, though the color was the same bright orange as the starfish). This morning it had fallen off the rock I placed it on and was on the sand (though upright). All legs are still attached and healthy looking but it was holding a few of its legs in a kind of kinked manner, and there was some orange remanents on the rock where I had placed it. Fortunately it fell into an area of the sand w/ a lot of detritus. I'm keeping an eye on it. I know if it dissentigrates or loses limbs, then its dying, and obviously if I find snails on top of it I'll presume its dying. Any other way to know?

I've been extremely careful not to expose it to air (and have only moved it twice - once when it was on a high rock and I thought it might be exposed to air during a water change, and then again last night when one of its arms was touching my brain coral and I thought that could be the reason my coral was shriveled.

I suppose if it eats bacteria and I'm using antibiotics then it may very well no longer have an adequate food supply. Sucks, but I'm not sure of a better or different course of action at this point. What would others do if you were in my place?
 
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