saltwateratx
New member
Hello everyone, here is my first post and it is a sad one to report.
I started a 105 gallon DSA reef tank approx 90 days ago. Setup consisted of DSA 105 Pro Reef tank, custom build 40 gallon sump/refugium, AquaC 240 Protein Skimmer, Eheim 250w heater, Eheim return pump, dual Koralia fans(1500gph), Current USA 48-60" Marine LED light(recently acquired MH setup), BRS filter socks, 2" bottom of caribsea bahama oolite sand, 70lbs of cleaned live rock from lfs, 50 fiji dry/live rock from BRS, 30lbs of caribsea life rock, 2" refugium with fiji miracle mud, filter and carbon sacks in sump.
I ran everything for 30 days while monitoring PO, PH, NO, CA, KH, Salinity and water temperature. Levels were very consistent with RO water changes every 2 weeks- PO.25ppm,PH7.8-8.2,NO-0-1.0ppm,CA440-460ppm,KH-10dkh,salinity1.025-1.027, water temp 79-80
After 30 days I started to add a few fish(2 green chromis, 4 crabs(forget the names), 5 hermit crabs, 5 snails which I seem to have lost one green chromis within 4 days and the other lived for about 3 weeks.
2 weeks after I added the green chromis I added to my tank 2 ocellaris clowns and a cardinal and for two weeks continued to monitor the health and water conditions. Water conditions seemed to be good with the same water readings after 30 days. I even took my water to the lfs to have them test because I felt this was good to easy.
2 weeks later with good water conditions, fish thriving and eating I decided to get a male/female pair of bluethroat triggers, six line wrasse, peppermint shrimp, 2 polyps corals and a frogspawn coral. Again, testing water perimeters everything seems to be in little at this time with consistent water changes(about 10g each time) I did have an increase in salinity to 1.029 and during this time I had noticed my wrasse after a 4-5 days in the dt started to look sick and started trying to jump out of the tank. He died within an hour after starting to do that. Every other fish as this time seems to be loving their new home and with a water change salinity came down to 1.024.
Another 2 weeks later, I decided to add another fish and picked up a foxface and got him in the tank. Again, all levels at this time were PO.25ppm,PH7.8-8.2,NO-0-1.0ppm,CA440-460ppm,KH-10dkh,salinity1.025-1.027, water temp 79-80 as mention above so I felt my tank was doing really good and the wife and kids wanted the anemone for the clowns. The next weekend I pick up a green bubble tip anemone and stick it in the tank.
After monitoring for another 2 weeks and all water conditions staying the same, I was at the lfs and say a awesome naso tang. Something that I had always wanted to I picked it up and put it in the tank on this last Saturday.
Up to this point the fish have all been eating great(mysys and other frozen foods), protein skimmer doing what it is supposed to do and all water conditions that I had been testing have been in a good range. I've been washing my filter socks with extra rinse in bleach only(small amount).
So Sunday, I was talking to my family and friends that were wanting to come check out the tank and I was open to inviting to show off what I had put together and it was an awesome display.
Then Monday comes, we noticed the female trigger started looking like it had fin rot so I head down to the lfs and pick up their suggested api fin rot medicine and start treating my entire dt. 20g water change and added the medicine after turning off the protein skimmer, removing filters and carbon in the sump. Thinking I might have caught it early, I was wrong.
Tuesday, female trigger looking worse, tang is missing and cannot locate it until I find it later in the day it apparently jumped out of the back of the tank through the canopy and landed on the floor. Will this was discouraging, I had a bigger problem with what I thought was fin rot circling the tank.
Skipping ahead to Thursday, all the fish had got a slimy coat, were showing symptoms of ick with fin rot and have died. So basically, from Monday to Thursday I lost 2 clownfish, 1 cardinal, 2 triggerfish, 1 foxface and 1 tang.
Now, I know moving forward that a qt is a must and will be setting this up this weekend but what in the heck happen to my fish in 4 days. Corals seems all to be ok(needing more light which is why I got a mh setup). I did start treating the dt with prazipro on Wednesday but it was already too late.
The fish were all acting as it they were gasping for air, fins were shredding, started getting glassy eyes and some started to form some red areas around their gills. The only think that I can find or see is that somehow one of the fish added to the tank was infected with flukes at the lfs and ended up laying eggs in the dt and wiping out my entire collection of fish.
Any one with any thoughts, experience with possible flukes or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This was a very expensive learning experience and I hope using a qt in the future will save me from ever having to deal with this again.
I started a 105 gallon DSA reef tank approx 90 days ago. Setup consisted of DSA 105 Pro Reef tank, custom build 40 gallon sump/refugium, AquaC 240 Protein Skimmer, Eheim 250w heater, Eheim return pump, dual Koralia fans(1500gph), Current USA 48-60" Marine LED light(recently acquired MH setup), BRS filter socks, 2" bottom of caribsea bahama oolite sand, 70lbs of cleaned live rock from lfs, 50 fiji dry/live rock from BRS, 30lbs of caribsea life rock, 2" refugium with fiji miracle mud, filter and carbon sacks in sump.
I ran everything for 30 days while monitoring PO, PH, NO, CA, KH, Salinity and water temperature. Levels were very consistent with RO water changes every 2 weeks- PO.25ppm,PH7.8-8.2,NO-0-1.0ppm,CA440-460ppm,KH-10dkh,salinity1.025-1.027, water temp 79-80
After 30 days I started to add a few fish(2 green chromis, 4 crabs(forget the names), 5 hermit crabs, 5 snails which I seem to have lost one green chromis within 4 days and the other lived for about 3 weeks.
2 weeks after I added the green chromis I added to my tank 2 ocellaris clowns and a cardinal and for two weeks continued to monitor the health and water conditions. Water conditions seemed to be good with the same water readings after 30 days. I even took my water to the lfs to have them test because I felt this was good to easy.
2 weeks later with good water conditions, fish thriving and eating I decided to get a male/female pair of bluethroat triggers, six line wrasse, peppermint shrimp, 2 polyps corals and a frogspawn coral. Again, testing water perimeters everything seems to be in little at this time with consistent water changes(about 10g each time) I did have an increase in salinity to 1.029 and during this time I had noticed my wrasse after a 4-5 days in the dt started to look sick and started trying to jump out of the tank. He died within an hour after starting to do that. Every other fish as this time seems to be loving their new home and with a water change salinity came down to 1.024.
Another 2 weeks later, I decided to add another fish and picked up a foxface and got him in the tank. Again, all levels at this time were PO.25ppm,PH7.8-8.2,NO-0-1.0ppm,CA440-460ppm,KH-10dkh,salinity1.025-1.027, water temp 79-80 as mention above so I felt my tank was doing really good and the wife and kids wanted the anemone for the clowns. The next weekend I pick up a green bubble tip anemone and stick it in the tank.
After monitoring for another 2 weeks and all water conditions staying the same, I was at the lfs and say a awesome naso tang. Something that I had always wanted to I picked it up and put it in the tank on this last Saturday.
Up to this point the fish have all been eating great(mysys and other frozen foods), protein skimmer doing what it is supposed to do and all water conditions that I had been testing have been in a good range. I've been washing my filter socks with extra rinse in bleach only(small amount).
So Sunday, I was talking to my family and friends that were wanting to come check out the tank and I was open to inviting to show off what I had put together and it was an awesome display.
Then Monday comes, we noticed the female trigger started looking like it had fin rot so I head down to the lfs and pick up their suggested api fin rot medicine and start treating my entire dt. 20g water change and added the medicine after turning off the protein skimmer, removing filters and carbon in the sump. Thinking I might have caught it early, I was wrong.
Tuesday, female trigger looking worse, tang is missing and cannot locate it until I find it later in the day it apparently jumped out of the back of the tank through the canopy and landed on the floor. Will this was discouraging, I had a bigger problem with what I thought was fin rot circling the tank.
Skipping ahead to Thursday, all the fish had got a slimy coat, were showing symptoms of ick with fin rot and have died. So basically, from Monday to Thursday I lost 2 clownfish, 1 cardinal, 2 triggerfish, 1 foxface and 1 tang.
Now, I know moving forward that a qt is a must and will be setting this up this weekend but what in the heck happen to my fish in 4 days. Corals seems all to be ok(needing more light which is why I got a mh setup). I did start treating the dt with prazipro on Wednesday but it was already too late.
The fish were all acting as it they were gasping for air, fins were shredding, started getting glassy eyes and some started to form some red areas around their gills. The only think that I can find or see is that somehow one of the fish added to the tank was infected with flukes at the lfs and ended up laying eggs in the dt and wiping out my entire collection of fish.
Any one with any thoughts, experience with possible flukes or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This was a very expensive learning experience and I hope using a qt in the future will save me from ever having to deal with this again.
