Dropping Like Flies

[wacasama]

I have had saltwater for years. About 5 months ago, a new shop opened in my area. I purchased one angel from this place. After three days all my fish were dead. I restarted the tank with two damsels. One died right away and the other thrived. I watched the chemistry and everything cycled. I added two lawnmower blennies, a small clown and a tang. Over the last week I lost one blenny and the clown as well as the original damsel. The tang seems to have small white spots on it with what looks like a haze over its eyes. The only chemisty that looks off is ammonia at 0.25. I am going to do a half water change to try to address this and then retreat with "good" bacteria.

Does anyone have any thoughts about what else to look at? Parasite from the original fish?

A few more facts: My turbo grazer snails and large brittle star are uneffected and have survived this whole ordeal. My tank is a 55 gal with skimmer and canister filter.

 

[Baldpoodle]

I have had saltwater for years. About 5 months ago, a new shop opened in my area. I purchased one angel from this place. After three days all my fish were dead. I restarted the tank with two damsels. One died right away and the other thrived. I watched the chemistry and everything cycled. I added two lawnmower blennies, a small clown and a tang. Over the last week I lost one blenny and the clown as well as the original damsel. The tang seems to have small white spots on it with what looks like a haze over its eyes. The only chemisty that looks off is ammonia at 0.25. I am going to do a half water change to try to address this and then retreat with "good" bacteria.

Does anyone have any thoughts about what else to look at? Parasite from the original fish?

A few more facts: My turbo grazer snails and large brittle star are uneffected and have survived this whole ordeal. My tank is a 55 gal with skimmer and canister filter.

It might help if you use a U.V sterilizer that can kill the nasties in your tank,it can also kill good bacteria too.

 

[tmreynolds]

Hi,

Have you got Live Rock in there aswell as the canister?

Ammonia should be 0, any amount can be dangerous. I don't agree with cycling the tank with live fish either. If you get live rock and decent test kits, there is no need to cycle with livestock. You shouldn't need to add "good bacteria" either.

I think the tank is too small for a tang aswell.

let us know the following, so we can have a btter idea of whats going on

ph, temp, salinity/sg, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, turnover, substrate, are you using RO water, live rock etc

The more info the better the chance of identifying the problem

Hope this helps,

 

[Lynden]

Indeed. Do fill us in on the entire tank statistics, and provide a picture if possible.

 

[wacasama]

I have two pieces of live rock. Each is about 8 inches in diameter. I agree on the tank size. I am currently looking into a 150.
I am using conditioned tap water and have had no issues since the introduction of the "bad" fish. Also, recently I am noticing small white nautlus shaped critters on the glass. They are randomly distributed across the front panel mostly but also on others.
pH 8.4, Alk 1.7-2.8, NO3 8 - 10ppm, Ammonia 0 - 0.25, NO2= 0 - 0.05, s.g. 1.022-1.023, temp 77 F

I have about 1" of crushed shell type substrate.

My Magnum 350 has two bags of activated charcoal as well as a collection of undisturbed coral particles and pieces. I as stated above I also have a tank mounted skimmer.

Hi,

Have you got Live Rock in there aswell as the canister?

Ammonia should be 0, any amount can be dangerous. I don't agree with cycling the tank with live fish either. If you get live rock and decent test kits, there is no need to cycle with livestock. You shouldn't need to add "good bacteria" either.

I think the tank is too small for a tang aswell.

let us know the following, so we can have a btter idea of whats going on

ph, temp, salinity/sg, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, turnover, substrate, are you using RO water, live rock etc

The more info the better the chance of identifying the problem

Hope this helps,

 

[Eversurf]

You know dude I was just reading the post by Lynden and the same thing happend to him. My guess is that the Angel Fish you bought at the store was sick and killed all the other fish.

From the white dots you are describing on the tang it could be itch or stress. Check out your tang and on eaxh side it should have a white strippe. If it's white it means your tang is stressed and that could be the reson why it's covered in spot. The yellow tang are really prone to getting itch.

Check out your tape water. Maybe something changed in it. I would also bring a a sample of your tank water to the fish store and have them check it out.

Keep us up to date!!!

 

[tmreynolds]

I have two pieces of live rock. Each is about 8 inches in diameter. I agree on the tank size. I am currently looking into a 150.
I am using conditioned tap water and have had no issues since the introduction of the "bad" fish. Also, recently I am noticing small white nautlus shaped critters on the glass. They are randomly distributed across the front panel mostly but also on others.
pH 8.4, Alk 1.7-2.8, NO3 8 - 10ppm, Ammonia 0 - 0.25, NO2= 0 - 0.05, s.g. 1.022-1.023, temp 77 F

I have about 1" of crushed shell type substrate.

My Magnum 350 has two bags of activated charcoal as well as a collection of undisturbed coral particles and pieces. I as stated above I also have a tank mounted skimmer.

First things are that doesn't sound like much LR, you need roughly 1 - 1.5 kg of LR per litre (which I think equates to about 1lb of LR per US gallon) so therefore you need 55 lbs of LR. You only have 2 bits which doesn't sound like 55lbs (If you get a 150gallon tank you'd need 150lbs). This would help your ammonia and nitrite figures which should be zero.

I'd also suggest using RO/DI water instead of conditioned tap water, who knows whats in your tap water?

Crushed coral isn't the best substrate IMO, it can trap detritus and nitrates can form, but your nitrates seem OK at the moment, but if you changing tanks look at some araganite?! sand for your new tank.

What powerheads you got in there, ie whats your water turnover rate, you should be aiming for 20x tank volume per hour (1100 gallons per hour in your case)