Need help all live stock dying in reef tank....

N

njb2345

New member
Hello, I have lost 4 fish (1 Coral Beauty, 1 Flame angel, 1 Yellow tang, 1 Diamond Sleeper head goby) in the past 24 hours.. Right now the para are Ammonia - 0.25, Nitrites - 0 , Nitrates - 50 , PH - 8.3, calcium - 390, Iodine 0.5, Salinity - 1.024.... 150 Gallon reef tank with a 40 gallon breeder tank for the sump. Aqua C 180 protein skimmer and a micro algea in the middle of the sump...

The Ammonia and Nitrates have just gone up after the fishes died.....When i test last week there was no Ammonia and the Nitrates were 20ish...... Monday I did a 30 gallon water change for my 1's a month water change but everything seemed fine after that. The first 2 fish were dead in the morning on thursday but the previous night they seemed fine and ate well. Then this morning (friday) my Diamond Goby and Yellow tang seemed like they were breathing really heavy and seemed like they had a hard time swimming around / jerky movements. Then they both died by lunch time. Also i put a air pump in the tank when i saw then breathing heavily...

Now I have 5 more fish and my purple tang right now was eating fine all day and night but now he is making alot of jerking movements and just staying at the bottom of the tank. The other fish are 2 Clown fish, 1 Chevern tang and 1 Hippo Tang. I have had all of these fish for over 1.5 years now and have been fine.

I am just really worried about all my fish and I am not sure why they are dying.. I would like to know if anyone lives or is in / around the Edison area in NJ that would be willing to stop by and see if you can see something that is going wrong or tell me what is wrong....

Please call me at 908-510-4378 at anytime

Thanks
Nick
 
nick,,

id do a large water change.. and definately run some carbon... did something fall in the tank ? was the salt mix contaminated or bad ? can you get the fish out and put them in another tank ?

good luck..

Joe
 
If you are close you could bring your livestock here until things settle . Then come pick them up

Jason
 
Is there any signs of disease? Fish dying 2 days after the water change doesn't sound like the water change was the factor. I'm thinking like a velvet or something. that can go through a tank of fish quick.
 
is it possible your new tank waters ph was not the same as the water change ph??, that happened to me a long time ago and i lost a couple of fish.

on a tank with 150+ gallons of water 3 or 4 fish shouldnt give you that big of an amonia spike, unless they were HUGE fish.

definatley run some carbon, how old are your test kits?, can you take a water sample to a store to have it checked?

for now, i would set up a small tank, to house them in until you can get things right.

good luck.

let us know what the outcome is

Jerry
 
Nick,

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

What did you feed the night before? Did you add anything to the food?

What about temperature? Any sudden changes?
 
The only thing you can do, and should do, is a big water change. More than 50%. There's gotta to be something in there unexpected. That's the only answer, where there is no acute symptoms of a disease.
 
Mongoose- I don't think the salt was bad, i used that once before out of that bucket and i been running carbon since this morning... The ones that are left are really hard to get out... I got one of the fishes out this morning that died but he still died. I got the yellow tang out this morning and put him in his own tank and he was dead about 3 hours later...

the tiler - I wish that I could get them out, the ones that are left are the hard ones to get out besides the Clowns..... The hard ones but the most expensive ones but thank you for that suggestion.....

BobCReef- The part that kills me is there is no sign of sickness. There are no markings or anything on the fish, just that they are heavy breathing and jerking movements.... Also all the corals are doing just fine.....

jer1198- I am not really sure about the PH, but i run a monitor for PH and it didn't change after the water change.... Also my tests kits are about 1 month old only, just bought some news ones and i just recalibrated my ph monitor.....

blange3- The feeding was as normal as they always get, a mixture of all different type of shrimp with sprilina and micro algea from my sump and they get nora all doing the day. Also with the feeding i put in Xtreme Garlic and Selcon..... The temps have been around 79ish and it is around that most of the time... I have a heater and a chiller to control everything in that department....

dppitone- Yea i might have to do a major water change tomorrow because it makes no sense at all... Last time i looked my purple tang was doing a little better but who knows until tomorrow...

camz28- I live right off Rt.1 by the old Ford Motor company that they torn down and by Boston Market....

I will give everyone a update tomorrow but if anyone has any ideas or wants to take a ride....let me know

Thanks
Nick
 
Update for the morning....

Hippo tang is laying sideways and it breathing really heavy and loooks like he is on his way out... He is also doing that jerking movement like the other ones where doing and like the purple one is doing....


So far the purple tang is the same as last night..


Nick
 
do you have a skimmer? how is your skimmer reacting? is it producing anything?

could you have had something on your hands when you put them in the tank, like cologne or oil? maybe it's something you don't have a test for...

I'm setting up a new sump in my basement (50 gallons freshly mixed three days ago) that I haven't finished plumbing in just yet. I can hold your survivors for a little bit if you want. I live in metuchen close by.
 
I really hope that no more of your fish die, that's sad. I can offer much help, my tank is also available, and if I can get away today, I can help you catch the remaining fish. Need to see what the wife has planned though. Did you use r/o water, or anythign to condition the water with? I did that with some water last week, added water conditioner, and my skimmer went nuts, foaming all over. Nothing seems wrong with the fish, but one of my leathers is wilted, leaning to the side. So, it can be something like that. I am wating it out, to see if the leather comes back, hopefully it will. But this isn't about me, it's about you and your tank. Please let me know what I can do to help.

Edwin
 
Nick

Really sorry to hear about all your troubles. Sounds like somthing toxic got in your tank for such a wide spread issue effecting so many fish the same way??? I'd do the big water change and change the carbon at least every other day. Whish I had more answers ... good luck
 
Does anyone think that it is Brookynella??

I did add a new coral like 1 1/2 weeks ago but i did dip it it....

Thanks
Nick
 
dflint - I am not sure, I just dipped the Hippo tang in Formulin -3 and so far he is acting the same, i wish i could get the other fish out of my tank and help them but i am not sure how to even help them out.

Nick
 
Someone posted a thread about different ways to get fish out of a tank (it was a link to an Anthony Calfo thread). The one method Calfo recommended that may work for you is to get some clean garbage cans and empty out a good percentage of your tank into them. The lower water level will make it easier to catch the fish. Once you get them out pump the water back into the tank. Since you seem to be in an "all hands on deck" mode, it may make sense just to bite the bullet and move the water to get the fish out. 150 gallons is a lot to move, though.

Just a thought.
 
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