This is my tank chronicle. Why does everything keep dying in my tank?

Tank Parameters​

Age: 2 months
Salinity: 1.024 (Hydrometer)
Temperature: 78-79
pH: 8.2-8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-15
Calcium: 380
Phosphate: 0

Filter:
Emperor 280

Flow:
Besides the Filter

Koralia 1

Livestock:
1 Percula Clown
1 Six-Line Wrasse

Coral:
Xenia
Assortment of Zoos
Favia Brain

Also, I drip acclimate everything!

Alright here is the story,

I began my tank on October 25 this year. I started with a 29 Gallon Tank with the Eclipse 3 Filter Hood.

I waited about a week then added about 29-30 lbs of live rock.

I then changed my lights from PC to Coralife 2 bulb T-5 kit.

After about 2 weeks I noticed my Ammonia spike up and by week 3 the Ammonia and Nitrite were at 0 while the Nitrate was around 20.

I then added a cleaner shrimp.

After about three days I got my CuC in from ReefCleaners and added them in.

I think the day after I added another cleaner shrimp.

When week 4 rolled around I added a small piece of Xenia.

I began to notice a lot of hair algae growing on one of my big pieces of live rock and that piece was huge so I took it out broke it apart let it sit in high salinity water to kill off the GHA for a day.

I came home after that day to find one of my cleaner shrimp had died.

I put the rock back into my tank after removing the shrimp and this began my really cloudy water phase.

After two days had passed since the shrimp died I added some Zoos.

Then I waited until about half way into week 5 and added two Percula Clowns to my tank.

About a week later I notice they both have hole in head. This begins to worry me.

After about another 4 days one of the fish passed away.

I thought it was due to the fish coming to me sick, so I go and buy another percula from a different store and add him.

I also get a small piece of favia brain to add to the tank also.

After about a week and a half after adding the new clown I add a Six-Line Wrasse.

I discover a few days after that the percula that I got first has Brooklynella.

I switch my filter from the hood to the Emperor 280 hang on, this clears my water.

A few days after adding my 6 line the other cleaner shrimp dies.

I notice the clown that doesn't have Brooklynella starts to leave his mouth open and breath very hard.

The "new" percula clown died this morning and I have no idea why.

My Xenia doesn't look good anymore and also the brain has its mouth opened all the time.

I feed Mysis, Brine, and flakes soaked in Galric Guard and Zoe.

Can someone tell me where to go from here? I mean my one percula is still a live from the beginning and the 6 line looks to be doing fine but I need to know why everything is getting sick and dying?

I have tested and tested and tested and they all come out the be correct. How do I move on from here? What should I do before adding new livestock?

I just need help on how to stop this from happening so my tank can support livestock. Thanks.

 

area all of these fish from the same vendor? if so they way have come to you sick already. the coral situation is different. how many watts total did you say you had from teh lights? it may not be enough for the brain. it may also be too early to add coral to your tank. cleaner shrimp can be tricky to keep alive at times.

 

How are all of the snails and the rest of your cuc doing? If they are dying as well, then that could be a sign of copper, how it got in there I'm not sure, but you can test for it. Also, is your six-line eating frozen/prepared foods as well? If not, then I fear it may starve in your tank. They like to dine on copepods which in a 2 month old tank, there probably won't be a big enough population to keep him fat. Are you making sure that all of the fish you buy are eating and healthy? If they come to you sick, then your chances of keeping them drop. I think you need to get some more testing supplies and check alkalinity, magnesium, and some other things to make sure those aren't out of line. Just a few ideas I have.

 

I'm not positive, but as I read through it seems like a lots of additions without too much time in between for things to stabilize and the bacterial colonies to catch up. Try slowing things down and waiting a few weeks between additions for things to catch up to the new bio load.
Just my two cents, best of luck.
Jake

 

Do a big water change as precaution that test kit may be off to restore everything to normal as possible. When you bring fish home, do NOT pour the water from the bag into your tank, as angp said it may contain copper because the lfs often treat the fish with low dose copper. Get this product called selcon and soak ur food in it, I swear by it. I havent lost a fish since I started using it. Let the tank chill for a month or so and only add one specimen every couple weeks or so. I know its tempting but jus take your time and you will be much happier in the long run.

 

The CuC is doing great which is what I find to be strange.

The lights are each 34 watts.

So everyone says to do a big water change then wait about a month before adding anything else right? How many gallons of a water change should I do?

As for the 6-Line he doesn't seem to be eating the food I add in but I do have a lot of copepods on my glass that I can actually see so hopefully that is ok.

I really want to switch from crush coral to Aragonite sand, can I do this? If so how?

Does API offer tests for Alk. Mag. and what else should I test for?

 

API has a reef master test kit that has calcium, alk, phosphates, and nitrates. The other test kits you're going to have to get from a different supplier I think. I would check, copper, alk, and mag. As far as switching from crushed coral to aragonite, I would advise against doing that. If you want to do something like that, you would be better off starting over IMO, but then again I have never switched substrates before. I agree with doing a decent sized water change, say around 5-6 gal, that would be about a 20% change. Definitely wait to add anything else, I know you said that your spikes and everything happened with your cycle, but sometimes there are other things that need to balance out and silicates that need to get used up before it's all said and done.

 

Well...my last clown died today...Do you think that I should now just take everything out of my tank and start over i I want aragonite sand?

 

Agreed. I think you should leave the tank alone for another few weeks and just monitor your levels. I don't see any need to do a water change as it will only slow down the cycling process.

 

You can remove the crushed coral, just do 1/3 at a time. Don't change it all out at once as this will cause another cycle. But with all the problems your having I would wait on changing to sand. Just let the tank chill for a bit.