Fish Seem Stressed And 2 Are Swimming Drunkly

[k3rack]

So I cycled my tank and finished about a month ago. I had 3 tester damsels during this and decided to add a goby. Everything is fine and dandy. I took out the 3 damsels and put in 2 perc clowns, a niger trigger and blue tang. The two clowns were swimming on the top of the tank for a while, the tang was swimming normally and the trigger was hiding most of the time and coming out periodically.

Yesterday I noticed my tang skinny and swimming face down into my rock, while the 2 percs were swimming on the edge of the glass sideways. They don't look healthy but have no external indications of disease. The tang shows a half-transparent white circle near it's gill. Not sure if it's sand or a disease.

Anyways, I don't know how to treat the fish or if I should just feed them a little extra and let this pass. The water is not bad: 8.1ph, 0 nitrites, .15 ammonia, 10 nitrate, salt OK, temp 79, nothing weird in the tank.

Besides the percs swimming and the tang spots and swimming, the goby and trigger are totally fine. The goby is happier now than ever and the trigger hasn't changed.

Any ideas on how to overcome this? Any help is GREATLY appreciated since I am new to SW tanks and love my fish!

 

[-Nemo-]

.15 ammonia is NOT good... ammonia should always be 0. I would deal with that first. How big is this tank?

 

[k3rack]

.15 ammonia is NOT good... ammonia should always be 0. I would deal with that first. How big is this tank?

It's a 40 gallon. That's actually low considering what it was and there were no issues. I assume this could be the problem though. Any other angles to look at so I can knock that out as well?

 

[n3ont3tra]

Its almost definitely the ammonia that's causing problems.
How much live rock do you have?
I don't think the damsels produced enough waste to cycle the tank for such a large bioload as you've added.
The niger trigger and the blue tank will rapidly outgrow your tank.
Also triggers are very messy fish that definitely won't help your ammonia issue.

The best way to fix this imo is to return or relocate the trigger and the tang, that should cut down your bioload considerably.
Large (~30%) water changes will also help lower the ammonia.

 

[-Nemo-]

The constant ammonia levels could still indeed be compromising the fish. When in environments with excess ammonia, nitrite or nitrates, the immune systems of the fish is diminished. This allows illnesses which the fish would normally be able to fight off, to infect them. You definitely need to get your ammonia in control. A tang and a niger in a 40G is not great.. Those two fish are going to get large and will need to eventually be re-homed (assuming they are a small size at the moment). You either need to do more constant water changes, get a better filtration system or have less fish; perhaps a combination.

You need to figure out the your ammonia problem or you will continue to have illness problems/deaths. What is your filtration system as of now, how big are these fish, and how often and how much water do you change?


EDIT: Neon makes a good point, did you test your water as the tank was cycling?

 

[k3rack]

Its almost definitely the ammonia that's causing problems.
How much live rock do you have?
I don't think the damsels produced enough waste to cycle the tank for such a large bioload as you've added.
The niger trigger and the blue tank will rapidly outgrow your tank.
Also triggers are very messy fish that definitely won't help your ammonia issue.

The best way to fix this imo is to return or relocate the trigger and the tang, that should cut down your bioload considerably.
Large (~30%) water changes will also help lower the ammonia.

I will start my water changes. How often should I change, every 2 days about 25%?

I have about 17 lbs of live rock, maybe 20 now.

The two are relatively small and I am upgrading by the end of the year. I have a built-in we/dry filter, and additional powerhead for movement, all the fish are super small except the goby is long, and I change out about 20% every two weeks. My ammonia is usually around 0-.10 but it's hard reading it could be 0 for all I know. I'm colorblind a bit I think.

 

[n3ont3tra]

By the end of the year? Its January.
I would try and get more live rock if I were you.
It's generally recommended to have at least 1lb per gallon of live rock for filtration. So your halfway there.
If you can, get cured rock so you can add it right away. If you get uncured it is better to cure it in a seperate tank or vat.
And that water change schedule sounds good to me. But make sure the salinity and temperature are correct otherwise you'll have bigger problems.

 

[-Nemo-]

^ What he said

+ Perhaps invest in a protein skimmer.
The test kits can be very tough to decipher, if you're unsure ask someone else what color they think it is, or see if your LFS tests water.

 

[k3rack]

Well ya by December

More rock then, got it.

Is it possible the fish will shake it off in a few days? I've never dealt with sick fish before so I don't know.

 

[-Nemo-]

Depends on what they have. A picture of the tang of his "bump" might help.

 

[milkton]

Well ya by December

More rock then, got it.

Is it possible the fish will shake it off in a few days? I've never dealt with sick fish before so I don't know.

if you can get the ammonia down to 0 and make sure nitrites or nitrates dont rise then i dont see why not

The blue tang is awesome huh?!?! its the fish with most personality and best color i have seen in the hobby

 

[mattyg12uk]

I would change about 20% of the water every week depending on the stock you have. Also ro is best.

 

[k3rack]

I would change about 20% of the water every week depending on the stock you have. Also ro is best.

I checked last night and the ammonia is at 0. I turned up the oxygen this morning and well see if they are doing better I guess. The poor blue tang might had been diseased when I bought it, even though it looked fine. My water levels aren't terrible and the other fish are doing super duper. I hope this shakes off, it's bright blue and does have a sense of personality

 

[seffieuk]

What are you phosphates running at and PH level?

Seffie x

 

[k3rack]

What are you phosphates running at and PH level?

Seffie x

I don't have a phosphate tester actually, but the PH is running at 8.2. The rest of the fish are fine now except the tang, which is stuck in my rock hopefully not dead. It moved but I think I might need to pull it out