Little help needed

[PaPa_Johnny]

First some background on my system.
I have 90 gallon Oceanic with mega overflow, mag 7? I think equivalent return. Koralia 7, 4 and 2 in tank circulation. ASM G2 skimmer, sump with Chaeto, 2 250w metal halides, 20k radium and 15k I don't remember (nother story).

SG 1.026
Calc:410
Alk:9.2
Ph:8.2
Mg:1500

Parameters from last testing. I had a major dino outbreak that cleared up a couple of weeks ago. Just before the dino outbreak I purchased a Khole (sp?) tang, he had ich in the store, they isolated and medicated.. I know should have left him alone. He was eating, doing great, then the dino's. After a couple of days he stopped eating, (2 weeks in tank) was swimming with mouth open all the time. Needless to say I lost him.

One month later, dino's gone, tank looks better, Sohal tang and 6 Line wrasse. 2 days later, can't find the sohal (I have Caulerpa growing in the display from rocks from my son, that's reason for wanting tang). Well, I finally find the sohal in the rocks, deceased. The 6 line looks preggy it's so fat now, doing great.

My question, is there possibly something that is poisonus in the algae growing in the tank? I see some minor/maybe dinos, caulerpa and another macro. One bunch of hair algae, some short algae on rocks.

Oh nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phospate, zero. I had the water tested at LFS to double check my readings before both fish purchases .

I have a 240 in the works, and now I'm wondering now if I should grow goldfish .

The tank only has a few corals, some of the Zoa's are not happy, Huge cup coral, 2 acro's, one tabling monti, some paly's and that's it for the corals? 2 clams happy as they can be. 1 gigas with phenomenal growth, the other clam has ridges on shell? (I should know ID better I know). The gigas is 8 inches or better in length, 2 inches of growth in the last 7 months or so.

So any ideas? and yes I know quarantine quarantine quarantine. LFS swore they sohal was eating, been in store for while (I have to travel 40 min to get there, hard to find time). I will have a quarantine before the 240 gets stocked, as-u-me-d would be ok in a fishless system. Mr 6 line will swim solo for long time now.

 

[alanbates12]

I'm guessing by "diano" you mean Cyanobacteria? IMO a couple of things. I think the Tang you bought was sick and the move stressed him. You could not say it better, "yes I know quarantine quarantine quarantine". Lesson learned. Ich has many stages and from my dealing with it I've reached the conclusion we all have ich in our tanks. It’s stressing the fish that lowers their immune system and give the ich a host to latch onto. If it's cyano usually it's caused by excess nutrients, especially nitrate and phosphate. Doing some reading and Caulerpas can drop your PH at night and I'm wondering if this could have anything to do with it. And everything else I've read on Caulerpa as a food is a good thing.... Good luck

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

if I spelled wrong sorry, Dyno, as in dyno-flagelates (sp?) slime monsters. I'm beginning to question the husbandry of the LFS now. Luckily the 6 line is still going strong, no signs of stress, fat as a pig. Every test I've run and had run shows 0 on all trates, ammonia etc.

Thanks for reply though! I do wish I'd never seen caulerpa also it absolutely took over my son's 75, which is where most of this rock came from. I've harvested and harvested in the tank, cannot get rid of it. That is the main reason I wanted to add a grazer now before the move.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

It sounds like your problem is not your husbandry but your LFS's.

Any tang or rabbitfish will eat and decimate your caulerpa. Good luck!

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

Tomoko I'm leery of tormenting another fish at this point but I may try a different source. Thanks for the kind words, your insightful input is always appreciated.

 

[reefjunkie42]

with that much algea growing you may be getting a false phosphate reading.high PO4 is poisonous to the inhabitants.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

You're welcome, Papa Johnny.

I don't think you have to worry too much about PO4 if you have a lot of caulerpa. Caulerpa is consuming NO3 and PO4 to grow.

If your sixline is doing well, I think you can add another fish without a problem. You just have to find a good supplier so you can get a healthy fish.

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

not a lot of caulerpa, but a ball of chaeto half the size of volleyball? So with no fish and very little input unless it's in the live rock there should be no source of P; if that makes sense. LFS's are hard to come by where I live. There is one in Carrolton, GA that seems to be promising I'll have to wait for it to get into full swing or make a road trip

 

[Tomoko Schum]

If you can take the rock with caulerpa out of the tank, you can scrub your rock with a wire brush to get rid of caulerpa. While you have the rock out, you can pour some vinegar right over the part of the rock where caulerpa used to be to eliminate any remaining caulerpa tissue.

 

[NicoleC]

Personally, I would set up a QT and cycle it, then trap and remove the sixline to QT. Let the display sit fallow for 6 weeks while monitoring the sixline for disease, including ich. If he shows signs of ich, use hyposalinity to kill the ich. You must treat the fish for a full 4 weeks. Then you can return your ich-free 6-line to an ich-free tank and use the QT for monitoring and treating any future fish purchases.

You CAN keep disease and parasites out of your tank, but once they are in a display it's very hard to fix. With only one fish, this is an excellent time to take the opportunity to clean house. Not all parasites will die in 6 weeks without a fish host, but ich certainly will.

 

[alanbates12]

It might be worth the drive to Birmingham Al, Aquarium Imports to buy your fish. I've had great luck with them. Aquarium Imports 205-979-0840. they have corals also. But if it's corals you want check out Aquarium Fantasies 205-637-5680. Both stores are great and I know Aquarium Imports had Tomoko's fish suggestion. Best of luck. Also check out this place for CUC,

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?p...ategory_id=20&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

Bought one for my 180 and I'm very pleased....

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I am happy to report that the Six line is still the picture of health, no dreaded spots. He/she is cruising around munching on all the lil bugs I wanted to become dinner for him/her. The tangs never displayed any sign of ich in my tank.... I truly don't think that was the cause of their succumbing. I've seen enough cases of serious ich infestation over the years that I would have known if this was the problem. I think like Tomoko said, I just need to find a different supplier.

Aquarium Imports, which store in B'ham is that? I visited the 2 that were there (before the one from Gump opened up?) but I thought one of them had closed down all the way. I have a small CUC on board now, but thanks for the link I will definitely check it out!