Reef Discussion

[Alex Blake]

So this is on my 5X2X2 system thats been up and running for almost 6 months now, all was well running with 6 fish and heaps of corals until i went out and bought 3 tangs including a kole tang labelled "needs TLC", a foxface and 6 chromis (all in one day), all was well for about a week after the purchase. The first to die was the kole tang which was looking very skinny, then another week later the foxface died, then the blue tang, then a few chromis, some hard corals, then the blue tang, then a few more chromis,, more corals, you get the picture. The strange thing is that it wasnt a "tank crash" in the way of all of the fish dying at once, but more random death over time, also fish that were previous inhabitants started dying so it wasnt just a batch of "dud" fish from the store.

Ive had the water tested at home and at the LFS and all levels are good (i dont have the exact parameters), so i have basically no indication of what is killing my fish and corals. lately ive been thinking the crash is over as i havent lost a fish for a few weeks and the corals are looking better (except my zoas which are all closed) but today i woke up to find my Yellow Tang floating on the surface and now unfortunately its on its way out.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that there has been heaps of cyanobacteria lately so i have purchased a phosphate reactor, however i doubt a high phosphate level is the cause of all the death.

 

[A Barnes]

Anything look "off" on the fish? fins, signs of disease, markings? Anything changed in the environment around the tank? Temp been fine? Could be something not tested for entering the water, aerosols or something that could pollute the water?

Would be worth checking all your pumps and equipment to make sure nothing has gone wrong there causing something to leach into the water, maybe even look at a triton test (will take some time to get results, but may pinpoint the issue)

 

[potatocouch]

Hmmm all water parameters were checked by LFS and they're all good.

I assume they would check Ammonia and Salinity.

How about your water temp and air circulation where you keep your tank (pH)?

 

[Alex Blake]

temp is 25.5 and has never changed to my knowledge, no ammonia or nitrite and the LFS told me no nitrate (i find that hard to believe), could the water be testing low for phosphate and nitrate due to it all being held by the cyano and therefore not present in the water?

 

[Mattres]

Did I read right you added 10 fish in one day?
If that's the case what might have happened is the bioload of your tank which sat at 6 fish plus corals was increased a lot. Time is needed when adding fish to slowly increase the bio filter of the tank. 10 fish added at once is gonna create a lot of ammonia and the bio filter hasn't had time to catch up to process it yet.
Your levels seem fine now but I wonder what it might have been the couple days after you added them. High levels of ammonia will stress the fish, increase chances of disease susceptibility, organ failure and decrease oxygen in the water available to the fish.
So that and with your cyanobacteria you might have had very low levels of oxygen.
Were the fish lethargic or gasping for air at all?

 

[A Barnes]

temp is 25.5 and has never changed to my knowledge, no ammonia or nitrite and the LFS told me no nitrate (i find that hard to believe), could the water be testing low for phosphate and nitrate due to it all being held by the cyano and therefore not present in the water?

Phosphate and Nitrate may test low if you have cyano, but it is still there, just being consumed keeping it lower on a test kit. Something will be causing it though, either the water, RO or Salt, over feeding, or any number of things. That shouldn't kill of fish and corals, large changes may stress out SPS, however it is possible to run Nitrates well over 100ppm and Phos almost as high as you like, as long as things are stable your corals and fish will adapt (just like we adapt to Winter and Summer temps).

I don't think Nitrate and Phos is the issue, unless you had a MASSIVE spike and change in the water parameters. Ammonia shouldn't be an issue in a tank this old, providing you have enough cycled and stable live rock / marine pure / bio filtration.

C02 shouldn't kill corals (as far as I know) so there seems to be something else that you don't test for, some pollutant / bug / disease causing it.

Did you do anything different / new prior to adding the new fish? did you add anything to the water that you haven't done before, or did you add more of something? Adding 3 fish into a tank this size, and this age, shouldn't have done this, something has been introduced to your system, and that's not a "water parameter" thing, testing "fine" will not tell you if something has polluted the tank, it will only tell you what you want to see.

Edit: Just noticed it was 10 fish, that is a massive load to introduce to any system. Unsure why the LFS wouldn't say something...

 

[IJG3145]

Sorry to heap on you but that is way too many fish in one day, also way to big a bio load for a six month old tank. At the 6 month mark it's only just becoming stable - if all is going well.

Never double your fish load in less than a month. You should also read this by Eric Bourneman..

 

[slin1977]

My opinion on this situation is virus not tank cycling.... Etc
Think about it , your LFS adds 30 fish per week to thier tanks.
I'm afraid mate , your choice in fish has brought you unstuck.
Never rescue anything skinny or suspect. Or needs TLC ( they don't need TLC they need to be tough )Adding three tangs at one time is also something experts have failed at.
All it takes is one weak fish to ruin your dreams..... Next time quarantine!!! And pls don't get me wrong here either I'm not having a go at you at all. Just putting it out there as a newly convert to a quarantine method myself.

 

[Franklin Dattein]

It is difficult to provide proper guidance, without knowing the water parameters.
With the information provided, I would guess your fish died due to some disease. Marine Velvet can cause this sort of sudden deaths, in a matter of days...

First thing to do now, is to stop relying on the LFS tests and buy buy good quality Nitrate test kit.
It is likely the fish have caused an No3 spike, which resulted in corals looking bad.

 

[holly]

Cyano is usually a sign something is up, and by itself can be a source of toxins and lowered oxygen.

- Check your pumps ATOs etc for signs of rust/damage.
- Give skimmer a deep clean and increase it's turnover
- Increase water changes.
- Always quarantine new fish. It's a pain but is beneficial in the longer term. You can easily keep fish in a tank with just water by adding in ammonia lock and changing 25% of the water every week, and using airstones. Keep two tanks like this and use the tank transfer method plus bacterial treatment for worms etc before they go into your tank to prevent most diseases from spreading.
- Add phosphate management.
- Check age of light bulbs if they are tubes and halides. Older LEDs cause algae issues as well as they age over longer periods but still age. I have a 8 year old LED unit over one tank in a row of 5 and it's the only tank with algae. If I move it to another one, algae grows there and dies off in the original tank.
- Add a good quality carbon (K&J sell the stuff)

Good luck, I hope the rest of your fish can recover.