What is happening with my fish!?!?

[DrillSarge770]

I have a 30 gallon coral life tank. In the tank I have 3 fish. A clown, a coral beauty, and a yellow and purple fish I forgot the name. Also in this tank I have a aptasia that is getting pretty big and a bunch of what I thing are bristle worms Something happened to the blue and yellow fish about 3 weeks ago and it's Been constantly skid ish and hiding doesn't come out much.Then just now I found my coral beauty in the back being sucked by a vent and it looked dead so I got my net out to investigate and it was alive kind of but it looked like it's rear fin was chewed up pretty bad so it couldn't swim normally. Now the only problem I have had with the tank is my NO3 nitrate levels are a little higher then normal but that's its! The fish have been together for months now. What is attacking them!?!

 

[DrillSarge770]

 

[DrillSarge770]

The bristle worms and the aptasia

 

[snorvich]

The bristle worms and the aptasia

Neither attack fish.

 

[DrillSarge770]

I don't understand how his fin got all tore up then

 

[jraker]

are they sick? aiptasia can irritate fish if they touch it, so i would recommend removing it immedaiatley (aiptasia-x). otherwise, qt them and try to see if they are sick

 

[DrillSarge770]

I don't know the royal gamma is being skidish and like hides and acts dead but moves when I bring the net by it. He has been like this for 3 weeks. He also like puts sand in his mouth and spits it out lol the coral beauty it's fin was all messed up and couldn't swim so I had to get rid of it

 

[SPTreefer]

Neither attack fish.

Ditto that. I will add that bristles are opportunistic feeders that will take advantage of an ill and lethargic fish, hence the fin damage. With all that said, very large bristles have been reported to capture and kill bottom/rock dwellers, which doesn't seem to be your case. Have you checked salinity with a properly calibrated refractometer?

 

[snorvich]

I suggest reading this. And following that research here. Based on the behaviors described, you are likely experiencing a parasite issue or two.

 

[DrillSarge770]

My NO3 levels are kind of high. I am doing water changes every 4 days to get it down and once it's down after 2 weeks or less it skyrockets again. I'm going to change the sand out today or tomorrow that may have some to deal with it

 

[KimHalpert]

That doesn't look like an aiptasia...

http://blog.aquanerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Ultra-LE-500-Aiptasia.jpg

Are you talking about the Kenya Tree in the pic with the worms?

The fins can easily get beat up by being sucked into a vent.

 

[Reef Frog]

How high are the nitrates? Is this a new tank with new sand? If so the sand isn't a cause. Why do you think you need to remove the sand? If your fish are sick the disturbance could cause more stress.

 

[DrillSarge770]

It's an old tank. I bought it used about 6 months ago. I was told that maybe the person before me let the nitrate levels get high for awhile so it got into the sand so even though I am doing regular water changes the nitrates are seeping in from the sand

 

[DrillSarge770]

It's an old tank. I bought it used about 6 months ago. I was told that maybe the person before me let the nitrate levels get high for awhile so it got into the sand so even though I am doing regular water changes the nitrates are seeping in from the sand

And keeping the nitrate levels high