1 tang down.. 1 tang hangin.

[To(meany)Tang]

Hey reef family. I'm looking for honest opinions/facts about my situation. All feedback is welcomed.

I have a 55 gallon reef which I have to update everyone on later but for now I came home from work and found my philippine tang deceased and my kole tang laying breathing super heavy. I have an air stone..I have surface movement/agitation with a fluval fx4 canister. Did some tests and the results were.
Nitrate 40 (api)
Temp 79 (hanna)
Ammonia 0 (api)
Nitrate 0 (api)
Salinity .028 (refractometer)
All other fish are doing great. Recent changes to tank are.
4 fish added 2 days ago
3 corals added 3 days ago
A couple pieces of old live Rock I had sitting out for a month.

As of now I just added a protein skimmer to up the oxygen and did a 10 gallon water change to bring Salinity down to .026. Can anyone rattle my brain pls. I know the Salinity was a stressor but what else would only cause the tangs to be affected and everyone else is ok. The tangs are 3 inches each. Thank you for your time and knowledge.

 

[Brandont21]

That first picture, (cant see second), that fish looks super thin. Did you visually see them eating at all?

 

[fishguy242]

ammonia spike w the dry rock ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey reef family. I'm looking for honest opinions/facts about my situation. All feedback is welcomed.

I have a 55 gallon reef which I have to update everyone on later but for now I came home from work and found my philippine tang deceased and my kole tang laying breathing super heavy. I have an air stone..I have surface movement/agitation with a fluval fx4 canister. Did some tests and the results were.
Nitrate 40 (api)
Temp 79 (hanna)
Ammonia 0 (api)
Nitrate 0 (api)
Salinity .028 (refractometer)
All other fish are doing great. Recent changes to tank are.
4 fish added 2 days ago
3 corals added 3 days ago
A couple pieces of old live Rock I had sitting out for a month.

As of now I just added a protein skimmer to up the oxygen and did a 10 gallon water change to bring Salinity down to .026. Can anyone rattle my brain pls. I know the Salinity was a stressor but what else would only cause the tangs to be affected and everyone else is ok. The tangs are 3 inches each. Thank you for your time and knowledge.

What are the other fish?
The tang on sand looks thin and fins are shredded from what appears to be aggression
Using API kits, I would encourage you to recheck your levels by taking a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

 

[To(meany)Tang]

That first picture, (cant see second), that fish looks super thin. Did you visually see them eating at all?

Yes he's thin but he's been eating everyday since I got him which is about a week ago. I feed nori and selcon.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

ammonia spike w the dry rock ?

I got a zero reading from api kit but may be a bad reading. I would think the other fish would be affected as well.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

ammonia spike w the dry rock ?

I also dosed ammo lock just in case

 

[To(meany)Tang]

What are the other fish?
The tang on sand looks thin and fins are shredded from what appears to be aggression
Using API kits, I would encourage you to recheck your levels by taking a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

Other fish are
Neon goby
Leopard wrasse
Clownfish
3 Damsels
Royal gramma
2 blue green chromis small

I got the philippine tang about a week ago yes he was skinny but has been eating everyday. I fed nori and selcon as well. I will definitely get my water checked at the store thank you. But don't you think the other fish would be affected as well especially my leopard wrasse

 

[OrionN]

That is an extremely thin tang and very collapsed stomach, in addition to shredded fins. I think he died of starvation and possible infection.
55 gal is very small of a tank. It does not seem like you have a sump or skimmer. Low O2, starvation, aggression all contributed to the death of the one, soon to be two tangs.

For a 55 gal tank, I only recommended small fishes. may be one mid size fish (less than 2 inches)

He has such collapsed stomach that he can't eat very much at all.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

That is an extremely think tang and very collapsed stomach, in addition to shredded fins. I think he died of starvation and possible infection.
55 gal is very small of a tank. It does not seem like you have a sump or skimmer. Low O2, starvation, aggression all contributed to the death of the one, soon to be two tangs.

For a 55 gal tank, I only recommended small fishes. may be one mid size fish (less than 2 inches)

That's definitely a true story in lots of cases. But he had perfect fins last night and he couldn't be fighting with the other tang because he's about to die as well and his fins are perfect. I haven't seen them all day until i got home from work in the afternoon...I have a hefty clean up crew that I'm sure got to him. And maybe a couple bully fish that took final picks at him but I feed them a whole cube of frozen with tons of pellet and nori. I was thinking low O2 which is why I put the skimmer just now. I'm just so torn. What an unfortunate day. Thank you for your reply brother.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Other fish are
Neon goby
Leopard wrasse
Clownfish
3 Damsels
Royal gramma
2 blue green chromis small

I got the philippine tang about a week ago yes he was skinny but has been eating everyday. I fed nori and selcon as well. I will definitely get my water checked at the store thank you. But don't you think the other fish would be affected as well especially my leopard wrasse

Nori is just not enough as I notice many relying on nori. These fish need meats as well as vegetation and while likely not the issue is of importance. Some foods to offer tangs are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef

The shipper to ship a fish this thin is also unacceptable. I hope its not a fish from Sri lanka or Philippines which May have been cyanide caught. As for aggression, my suspect would be damsels and/or clowns. As for water, assuring not a dissolved oxygen issue or higher nitrate than you are seeing

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Thank you for your advice as always. I just loo

Nori is just not enough as I notice many relying on nori. These fish need meats as well as vegetation and while likely

Nori is just not enough as I notice many relying on nori. These fish need meats as well as vegetation and while likely not the issue is of importance. Some foods to offer tangs are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef

The shipper to ship a fish this thin is also unacceptable. I hope its not a fish from Sri lanka or Philippines which May have been cyanide caught. As for aggression, my suspect would be damsels and/or clowns. As for water, assuring not a dissolved oxygen issue or higher nitrate than you are seeing

Nori is just not enough as I notice many relying on nori. These fish need meats as well as vegetation and while likely not the issue is of importance. Some foods to offer tangs are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef

The shipper to ship a fish this thin is also unacceptable. I hope its not a fish from Sri lanka or Philippines which May have been cyanide caught. As for aggression, my suspect would be damsels and/or clowns. As for water, assuring not a dissolved oxygen issue or higher nitrate than you are seeing

Yes I feed frozen and Pellets soaked in vitachem as well but I was just looking further and saw my clownfish covered in dust I've seen enough pictures and now seeing I have a baby half inch chromis is laying down now breathing heavy. I'm leaning towards velvet. I pray it's not. There's nothing I can do to QT with the situation I'm living in. I guess my final question is. If you had a choice to give up your reef or give up your fish. Which would you choose. I can dose copper and sacrifice my reef but save my fish or I can let my fish die and keep my reef hoping it stays healthy because I don't dose or do any test for trace elements.

 

[Lavey29]

How old is your tank? 55g means 40g with rocks so way to small for some of those fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for your advice as always. I just loo



Yes I feed frozen and Pellets soaked in vitachem as well but I was just looking further and saw my clownfish covered in dust I've seen enough pictures and now seeing I have a baby half inch chromis is laying down now breathing heavy. I'm leaning towards velvet. I pray it's not. There's nothing I can do to QT with the situation I'm living in. I guess my final question is. If you had a choice to give up your reef or give up your fish. Which would you choose. I can dose copper and sacrifice my reef but save my fish or I can let my fish die and keep my reef hoping it stays healthy because I don't dose or do any test for trace elements.

There's too much reflection from surrounding room in video to see fish clearly and the light intensity needs to be white of you dont mind
As for question, both would be ideal but see if your lfs would take the coral while you focus on fish.
This is where you have to ask yourself moving forward, what do you enjoy more- the fish or coral and go from there.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

How old is your tank? 55g means 40g with rocks so way to small for some of those fish

I don't know if your able to see the video but there isn't too much rock I don't think but there's lots of caves and swimming room. The tangs were just temporary grow outs..but my tank rock and sand are almost 2 years old. The setup right now at my new apartment was almost 2 months ago.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

There's too much reflection from surrounding room in video to see fish clearly and the light intensity needs to be white of you dont mind
As for question, both would be ideal but see if your lfs would take the coral while you focus on fish.
This is where you have to ask yourself moving forward, what do you enjoy more- the fish or coral and go from there.

Unfortunately he just passed. I got a picture you can see he's covered in either ich or velvet. The clown has hundreds of them peppered all over I tried but he won't let me get a good picture. You can barely see it in the pics.

Honestly that's the best answer you could've gave me thank you. I would rather have my fish. Before it was possible but given my situation now it's not so I'll have to let go of the reef :/

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unfortunately he just passed. I got a picture you can see he's covered in either ich or velvet. The clown has hundreds of them peppered all over I tried but he won't let me get a good picture. You can barely see it in the pics.

Honestly that's the best answer you could've gave me thank you. I would rather have my fish. Before it was possible but given my situation now it's not so I'll have to let go of the reef :/

Pics dark but in expanding them, its does appear to be velvet and you now for sure have a big decision to make. A couple persons have mentioned tank size. You can keep coral only and Later add a couple of SMALL fish or go coral only or focus on fish tank only and trade in coral for store credit and treat tank first with copper safe for 4-5 weeks and add aeration during treatment and start with fish again.
Sorry to hear but velvet works this quickly

 

[Lavey29]

I don't know if your able to see the video but there isn't too much rock I don't think but there's lots of caves and swimming room. The tangs were just temporary grow outs..but my tank rock and sand are almost 2 years old. The setup right now at my new apartment was almost 2 months ago.

Ok, I hope you identify your source problem. Sand and rock just looked very white indicating a new set up and with your style of filtration first thing that comes to mind is 02 deprivation. You did indicate adding multiple fish recently so disease is another probable source.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Pics dark but in expanding them, its does appear to be velvet and you now for sure have a big decision to make. A couple persons have mentioned tank size. You can keep coral only and Later add a couple of SMALL fish or go coral only or focus on fish tank only and trade in coral for store credit and treat tank first with copper safe for 4-5 weeks and add aeration during treatment and start with fish again.
Sorry to hear but velvet works this quickly

Would my fish be ok overnight or should I pull all the coral and treat right now? Luckily I have a Hanna with reagents from my battle with ich long ago. Can I just put the corals in a bucket with heater and air stone? Thank you for your love.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Ok, I hope you identify your source problem. Sand and rock just looked very white indicating a new set up and with your style of filtration first thing that comes to mind is 02 deprivation. You did indicate adding multiple fish recently so disease is another probable source.

I believe both of those to be correct. I have some decisions to make. :/ thank you for input. Everything helps!!