Fish Slowly Dieing

We have been having a hard time keeping fish alive in our new 90G tank. When we decided to get a tang we had the water tested at the LFS and everything was fine, but the nitrates were high. About 40ppm. The yellow eyed tang would stay alive for 2 weeks then die. We kept the tank low on fish for over a month, boosted the micro in the fuge, and installed a protein skimmer (reef octopus rated up to 150G). We got another yellow eyed tang when nitrates went down to 20ppm and he stayed alive for 2 weeks and died.

I believe something is in our tank that kills clownfish and the yellow eyed tang. They do fine at first, then start getting a little milky looking. Not speckels like ich, but more of a slime coating. We had 2 black clownfish for over 2 months and they got whitish color and died. 2 maroon clowns stayed alive for 2 months and got the slime coating. Got a skunk clown, got pop-eye, recovered fromt he pop-eye, then got white slime and died. We talked to our LFS and explained everything and they agree that it isn't ich.

So the question is, do fish just normally die like this when your nitrates are 40ppm? Or is there a bacteria in the tank that needs to be addressed?

Keep in mind that we have chromies and a marine beta that are still living and been in the tank for over 4 months. The BTA has been alive for almost a year. Cleaner shrimp fine, and all coral is doing great.

The 90G tank has been nothing but trouble and my 30G tank has no casualties in the last 6 months. And the 30G doesn't even have a skimmer!

again, parameters are fine, just high nitrates. PH is good.

thanks for reading

 

no 40ppm will almost never kill a fish, my dad had some fish acclimated to nitrates over 150(do not recommend).

if you could post a picture of the effected fish it may help.

 

I don't know man, but that's a lot of fish and a little data. Sounds like it's over my head. Did you get any other input on what you think might or might not be the case that could help people know more about it? Have you done a observation log on the fish to really compare what is happening? You think the same thing happened to all the fish?

 

Possibly the clowns dieing and the tangs dieing are not related. It sounds like the Clowns had Brooklynella. Many times tangs just don't make it.

 

The fish store had no idea?

 

Sounds a lot like Marine Velvet marine velvet - Google Search

Marine Velvet/Amyloodinium ocellatum: A Discussion of this Disease and its Available Treatment Options - Reefkeeping.com

 

If your buying your fish from the same LFS I'd try a new one. JMHO

 

I thought that too, but wouldn't it have killed all of the fish?

 

First let me say I am not knocking any LFS. We all use them and love them.

If it were me the first thing I would do is purchase a decent saltwater test kit. API has a decent one at a good price (buy it at that same LFS). I highly suggest having your own test kit when it comes to SW. Run the battery of tests, right before you turn the lights off at night, log the results and do it again the following night. Repeat the process every other night for a week. You will soon develop a archive of how your tank is running. At the same time, throw a nitrate sponge in your filter. During your tests you should start to notice the decline.

Point being, with the costs of having a SW, it is a good idea to have knowledge of all your levels and the ability to test at any time. Get to know your investment and don't leave it up to a LSF to determine if you should invest $$$ on their livestock. Chances are they will always say your tank is good to go. It is what it is.

I would agree with the problem possibly being Velvet. Nasty little experience to witness. There are cures for it and eventually everything will work out. I cringe on the thought of treating a whole tank but it usually works out but I hope that isn't the case.

Anyway, put the destiny of your tank in your own hands and remove all variables such as a LFS...at the same time buying said test kits from them.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. One of my LFS said it sounds like Velvet. But its strange that everything dies in the tank except the marine beta, chromies, blenny, etc. The fish that have been dieing are mainly clown fish, tangs, and one angel.

We have a test kit that measures everything except calcium, mag, phosphates.

If we took out all the fish, and left the corals in there for 4-6 weeks, should this kill off the parasites? Or should we be doing hyposalinity or copper treatments in a QT tank?