Emperor angel turns ghostly at night

[Saltednewbie]

75 gallon FOWLR
male green bird wrasse, emperor angel juvenile, one choco chip sea star, one sand sifter star, 2 red mythrax crabs, one juvenile engineer goby.
Parameters at 9am:
0 nitrides
0 nitrates
0-0.25 ppm ammonia (barely a tinge of green)
pH: 7.8-8.0 (added crushed coral last night)
1.0-2.0 phosphates
KH: 12
Salinity:34-35 (specific gravity: 1.025)

I thought he might have a bacterial thing going last week on so I put him in my QT with FISH MOX for 5 days. Then I noticed tiny, tiny white spots on his fins only (which looked a little frayed) so I freshwater dipped him and put him back in my display. He was recovering nicely for about 2-3 days. Still showing stress spots. My pH was at 7.4-7.8 before, so last night, I added a bag of crushed coral. This morning when I woke up he was white as a ghost. No tiny tiny white spots- fins look good, still frayed on the edges.

I LOVE THIS FISH. He has the BEST personality. His name is Momo. I hate seeing him stressed out. He ate like a champ last night, now he won't eat. What is going on with this little guy?!?! What can I do to help him?!

 

[Saltednewbie]

Forgot to mention that the power head goes off at night with the lights. Could that be an issue? Causing a drop in pH or something?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

This would get the right kind of attention in the Disease forum. Click the red triangle below your name or mine for that matter and a new box will pop up. Just ask for a mod to move this to the disease forum for you.

 

[Saltednewbie]

I clicked the red triangle and made a request. Hope that will work.

 

[Sk8r]

I'm wondering if it isn't maturity. My golden domino (damsel) goes all grey at night, blending in with the rock, and has started doing it now that he's hit 4" in size. You might ask in Reef Fishes if this is just normal for the species.

 

[ThRoewer]

Fish loosing or changing color at night is quite normal. If they look and act normal the next morning I wouldn't be worried.
If it stays like that during the day and if other symptoms are present I would suspect either high stress, a disease or parasites.

 

[scooter31707]

I'm not going to blast you for having a Emperor Angel and Bird Wrasse in a 75 gallon. Anyway your ammonia should be at 0 at all times. Any hint of ammonia is not safe to the livestock. Are you using a API test kit. If so, they are known to give a false reading of 0.25ppm. I suggest getting a reliable test kit like Salifert and testing to make sure. I think a lot of fish do this during the juvenile stage in fear of the night predators. As they grow and get bigger the less they do it.

 

[Saltednewbie]

He died. I don't know what happened. My tank is only 5 months old. I'm not buying any more fish for another 3-4 months. It's too expensive and they never make it. My fish may be in a 75 gallon tank, but they are (we're) babies! Small fish. Yes, eventually they will grow and need a bigger tank, but this was our first stab at the saltwater thing. We figured once we got this down to a science, we could get a big enough tank to be sufficient for an adult bird wrasse and an emperor. I give up

 

[scooter31707]

Understood, Emperor is not really for beginners and it's recommended they should go into a mature and established tank. Your tank being 5months old, is not really mature yet. Also juvenile Emperors are not recommend as they have issues adapting to captivity. It's recommended to get a 4-5 inch small adult, improving the survival chances. Do you quarantine your fish before putting them into your display tank? Hang in there, there are a lot of stickies above each category filled with important information. Take your time read, read, and read some more.