4 fish dead and gone

Hey guys new to the site...great info on here.

So here goes. I started a 55 gal in late December, set up included hang overflow, wet/dry, coralife lighting, skimmer, and uv. I have 110 lbs of lr and 40 lbs sand. I know sounds like a lot but it's not. I had 3 clownfish, 1 tomato clown, 1 domino damsel, 1 powder blue tang, 1 blue hippo tang and 1 mandarin dragonet. Everythings been running great, testing water every 2 weeks nothing out of the ordinary and then BAM powder blue shows up dead. 2 hours later 2 clowns dead. Half day later dragonett dead. Tomato is white and swimming awkwardly, domino damsel is pale, last clownfish is filled with white spots but surprisingly blue hippo is looking good. What can i measure or try to find out whats wrong>?? Your help and opinions much appreciated.

 

whats your water test like? the main ones being ammonia,nitrates phosphates. for them all to go like that, somethings up. could be stray voltage too. you also stocked heavily in a very short period of time. the mandarin was way too early for your tank.

 

The stock you have in there is way too much for a 55g tank IMO.

- Tangs should be kept in the very least 75g and only 1 if that
- Clowns are best in pairs, no more than 2 to a tank
- mandarins will starve to death unless they have a source of copepods, they need to be in very mature tanks to survive, unless they are trained to eat frozen food, which is hit or miss
- domino damsels are very aggresive

Sounds like ich or something of that nature, your tank was overstocked, your NA level was probably very high with that bio-load. Even though everything looks like it has space and is small, doesn't necessarily mean they're not stressed from overcrowding.

What are your water params - AM, NA, CA, ALK, MG, PH

don't take my post the wrong way just trying to help the situation

 

ammonia is at 0, ro/di water....nitrate is between 0 and 1, nitrite at 0, calcium is at 520, ph is at 8.1, im guessing mg is magnesium and alk is alkalinity....never tested for those....i thought if my ph is over 8 the alkalinity would be fine??? (i guess im wrong?)

 

Hmmm never heard of that about PH connected to ALK.

When were the fish added? Were they bought at a quality LFS that has good stock? Did they look healthy when purchased & did you acclimate them?

 

well I guess I'm using the alkaline and alkalinity loosely, I read if pH was at 7 or above it is alkaline. Hopefully not a big uh-oh.

I added clowns, damsel and tomato 1st week in jan. blue hippo a week after. powder about 2 weeks after. dragon was my last about a 9 days ago.

is magnesium a huge problem? I'm gonna go buy a test kit, but i dont hear many stressing on mg.

I buy from a well known lfs, fish were super healthy, as were they in my tank up until 24 hours ago. I mean ive have them for 2 months. eating regularly, swimming, no signs of stress. no fighting. idk, im frustrated with this. thanks again

 

brainb1102

the alkalinity /PH deal is reversed
alkalinity is a measure of the tanks ability to buffer/ maintain the PH

So if your DKH / ALK is correct then your PH should not have an issue
the reverse is not actually the case

if your PH is correct but your alkalinity is low - it means you have limited reserves
thus your tank is vunerable to PH swings and drops

many long term tank keepers dont measure PH , they measure DKH / Alk and if they find thats OK , then they know the PH should maintain itself.

I believe Mojoe is correct in that your issues could be parasitic, viral or bacterial in nature and the fact that you have a heavily stocked set up = fish stressed , thus more likley to fall victim to any illness, infection that infects any of the fish

dissovled oxygen levels could also play a part in this problem, you had 2 active fish with high oxygen demands and as such your tank was always on a fine line between success and failure

a general rule of thumb based more on oxygen is 1 inch of fish allowing for adult size per 4 - 5 gallons of saltwater

but naturally fast swimming and active fishes needs have to be taken into consideration
hence the generally accepted min tank sizes for certain species such as Tangs.


Steve

 

In my case, what should i measure as to not waste any more time and try and correct. Mg, pH, alk?

Other than the measurements, it is recommended that I lighten the load in the tank, maybe 20-30 lbs less of lr should give fish more air to breathe, so to speak, and probably be healthier?

as far as ich....Ive been told concentrated garlic dosage in the food can speed up recovery?

thanks guys

 

Wow, its killing a damsel? You just can't kill (or catch) those suckers. I would get a reef master test kit. It contains the Alk, Cal, Nitr, Phosphate tests in there. If you feed often, you phosphates could be very high.
I would also pickup a test kit for nitrite and amonia. What is the dates on your test kits? are they expired?

I had two Cal test kits, and they would give me completely different readings cuz one was 10 months old, and the other was 3.

 

mag and alk are more important in regards to corals. sorta their building blocks. the amount of live rock you have doesnt seem excessive , unless its hindering your fishes swimming room severely. the LR is mostly an effective biological filtration component.