240G deaths already

so me and my buddy have ran our tanks for roughly 8 weeks and started the process at the same time. he has the 240G while I have the 125G(i'm jealous ) He already faced a few dead fishes and were wondering why as I'm scared to add fish further fish myself.

The 240G finished cycled about two weeks ago, so we decided to start his 240G with CUC from reefcleaners and a pair of clowns. The following week we added 5 chromis. No problems yet. The next week we added a yellow tang and a powder blue tang. I went with him to check on the fish and they came up to my fingers and were swimming actively. Drip acclimated them for a few hours, then placed the two tangs in the 240G. Four days later, we found out the yellow tang was dead and the powder blue is no longer eating and breathing extremely heavy. The next day after, we found the powder blue dead as well. Checked water parameters immediately only to find out the following :

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 15, sg 1.027, ph 8.4


Any ideas as to why they died?

 

Sg is a bit high....
It's supposed to be 1.025 max. IMO

Maybe the fish was sick from the beginning?
Any fighthing?

 

Possibly related to new tank syndrome. While the parameters are not out of line, you can not test for everything related to a new system and how it might affect that systems inhabitants. IMO he should really slow way down on the stocking.;D

 

no fighting was seen. Yeah, I agree the SG is high, but that was due to evaporation. I topped off with freshwater and its down to 1.025. I even used a different test kit to check parameters and they show fine.

 

Does the tank have lids? Sump/Refugium? Protein skimmer?
Heavy breathing could be a sign of lack of oxygen. If you have lids, remove them and aim your power heads towards the surface of the water to create a ripply effect and facilitate oxigen exchange.

What is the water temperature? The hotter the water, the less oxygen it holds. I try to keep mine between 77 and 79, but sometimes it goes to 80 or 81 in the summer without problems. I would definitely try to keep the water around 78 ore 79 in such a tank.

Good luck.

 

You think so? We gave a week in between each new addition to ensure all fish are actively eating and water parameters are in check. We're both dissapointed as we won't want to waste another dollar on a fish only to find out he will die. The clowns and chromis are active and eating like pigs.

 

Yes it is pretty common. The tank is large yes, but it needs more than a week before adding multiple fish. I think if he goes slower between additions he will do better.

And boy I would be so jealous too, that is a nice size tank.

;D

 

First off Tangs are notorious for having Ich when purchased, hence the name ICH magnets and should always be put into a quarantine tanks before being put into the display tank. Did you see any of it on them? From the sounds of it that's might been the issue.

You said that they came up to your fingers, but did you see them eat before you bought them, that is what I always base my decision before buying a fish. I do not listen to the store employees that tell me "oh yeah its eating really well, I just feed them so they may not eat now" cause thats BULLSH!RT, have you ever seen a fish that would not eat more than once, especially in a store tank where they usually do not get feed as well as they do in our tanks.

I also wonder if you didn't push it a little bit, what I mean is you put to much to fast. I usually do not add more than one fish every couple of weeks. By adding more that that you take a chance of overwhelming the bacterial count and having a small cycle which can cause fish to be stressed.

IMO your SG is a little high, not high enough to cause the fish's deaths but I would lower it to 1.025 or 4 before adding any corals. And 1.025 isn't the MAX it is just a level where almost everything does well.

 

Your salinity is a bit high like elwesho suggested. Next time you water change make a little less salty water... say around 1.024 that should balance things out a bit. I keep mine at 1.025. Also, if you have a refugium, add some chaetomorpha macroalgae. This will help take your nitrates to 0.

Keep us updated.

 

Tank sits at 78 degrees.
Skimmer is an octopus 3000
No lids, open top tank, sump with refugium. Added chaeto last week.
Several MP40s with a few breaking the surface, few in the middle region.