Best way to improve tank?

[BCreefmaker]

I am now taking care of approximately 350 gallon aquarium. I have a quite a bit of experience with coral and smaller systems, but I had a few question about the larger fish and how to improve the setup in general. First off I have owned a few 100-120G tanks, but all my large fish were always bought and stayed healthy, and so I never really looked into how to nurse them back to health or signs of stress to watch for. Upon arrival I noticed the returns were shut off. A GFCI had tripped and it was unknown how long it had been off for. The corals and anemones still seemed slightly stressed. Then my attention turned to the show fish, a large tang that I cannot for the life of me find the name for. I was told it was a unicorn naso but my ID book and google say otherwise.

He has some small white spots (maybe 10) and a slight white film (slightly larger then a nickle) on one side of his hind quarters, but other wise was very friendly, and active.

The regal tang I recognized right away:

He was shy, but still active. I have seen many of these tangs with what looks to be erosion on their face? Is this a disease? or a sign of malnutrition? I have never owned one personally so I have never looked into it.

The other fish in the tank include:
Small foxface,
4 large blue chromis,
3 Zebra gobies,
2 clown fish,
1 long nose butterfly fish,
1 Bi color blenny

I should also add I am already looking to improve these tangs diets substantially. From all the reading I have done, I feel best way to help heal or recuperate any fish in a reef tank where capture is not really an option is to improve the water quality and nutrition offered. If I understood correctly, they are currently eating a mix of: http://ca-en.hagen.com/Aquatic/Nutrition/Premium/A6706 and low quality frozen cubes.

I am planning on switching their diet to something like:

Dry nori,
Mixed frozen chopped seafood,
PE Mysis,
Pacifica plankton,
NLS: thera-A small,
NLS: thera-A large


Any advice on how to better care for these tangs would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind reading or answering questions. If you have a link to a long thread or webpage please post. I just want to give these nice fish an awesome home.

P.s. Sorry for the cell phone pics

If you have any other questions I will try my best to answer them.

 

[BCreefmaker]

Also, my first question on how to improve the system in general. I noticed the top off water comes straight out of a copper pipe and goes directly into the tank. Will a carbon filter installed inline remove the copper and chlorine out of the top off water?

 

[downbeach]

Is this a possibility?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-11/fish/index.php

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/marine/tangs/VlamingiTang.php

I sounds like the one unidentified tang has Ick, and maybe something else, i.e. secondary infection from the Ich. The Hippo appears to have HLLE, which could be caused by the use of a poor grade of GAC.

You should be using an RO/DI unit for top off and WC's, so the chlorine and/or other metals will be removed before you use the water.

The feeding regiment sounds fine.

 

[BCreefmaker]

Thanks downbeach,
The tang is a Vlamingi tang. The tang in my picture is more spotted then striped, but the tail seems to be identical.

I also remember the previous care taker mentioning the awesome deal on GAC they get from a local hydroponics store. It is running in a little filter canister under the sump. Should i remove it ASAP?

 

[BCreefmaker]

I forgot to say that I am currently looking into an RO/DI water, but that may be a few months down the road since the tank is on a relatively small budget. And the previous care takes thought it was unnecessary. So there is no plumbing setup for it. I was just wondering if a inline carbon filter would be a drastic step up from just straight tap water? or should I save the pennies for buying a RO/DI system faster?

 

[MikeYQM]

If that is HLLE, it's likely that overall water quality, poor diet are likely causes. I would fix those before I blame the GAC. It's probably doing more good than harm, with the tap water going in.

Make sure the tangs also get sheet algae in their diet daily.

RO/DI will greatly help clean up both the top off & salt mix water and is probably the easiest part of the solution.

I would also take some time to do a massive water change, tear down the equipment and deep clean everything you can (pumps, powerheads, plumbing, skimmer, canister etc). I like to do a big attack to try to bring it back to baseline in one shot. Far more effective, especially when you're unsure of the history.

 

[downbeach]

Thanks downbeach,
The tang is a Vlamingi tang. The tang in my picture is more spotted then striped, but the tail seems to be identical.

I also remember the previous care taker mentioning the awesome deal on GAC they get from a local hydroponics store. It is running in a little filter canister under the sump. Should i remove it ASAP?

I don't know that I've remove it since there seems to be some copper pipe in the system, and it may be removing whatever copper may be making its way into the tank water. Although I'd be suspicious of its quality, since as the article mentioned it is a know cause of HLLE. Do you know the last time it was replaced?

I forgot to say that I am currently looking into an RO/DI water, but that may be a few months down the road since the tank is on a relatively small budget. And the previous care takes thought it was unnecessary. So there is no plumbing setup for it. I was just wondering if a inline carbon filter would be a drastic step up from just straight tap water? or should I save the pennies for buying a RO/DI system faster?

I'd make the RO/DI unit a priority

 

[BCreefmaker]

I was thinking for the time being I will use my own RO/DI. Now I just have to figure out where to produce the water or how to move a large amount of mixed water across town. I will try and find out last time the carbon was changed. Thankfully the display has a glass top to reduce evaporation so the top off is not effecting the tank as much as it could be.