fish dying in SPS reef please help

[cultivatedcoral]

I would not continue to add multiple tangs. Tangs will stress easily and multiple tangs are never a good idea IMO unless in a very large tank (i.e. 500++ gallons). When I added my Achilles to my 180g it had one or two spots of ich on it and with a few days it was gone and never had any ich on since in over 2 years. I would never add another tang in my tank. Not enough room and a 180g is probably too small for an Achilles.

Naso's, Achilles', Power Blue's and even yellow tangs need a lot of swimming space especially length wise. Height of the tank does not matter as much. With too many tangs and not enough room there will be stress issues and then ich breakouts.

Here is my advice: Do not add any more fish to your tank. Make sure your ammonia is zero for a couple of months. Make sure your nitrites are zero for a couple of months. Make sure your nitrates are under 20 for a couple of months.

Once your parameters are under control for a couple of months then consider adding your next fish of small to medium size. Use quarantine as others suggested. Do not add any more tangs ever if you still have any in your tank. No more additional tangs period (no Naso's, no Unicorn tangs, no achilles or powder blues, no more tangs)!

Once you have added your next small to medium fish and it has been kept alive for a number of months consider your next fish. Plan out the fish you want. Do not be impatient or spontaneous and buy large or aggressive fish that will stress out your other fish. At some point you will have to decide you have enough fish and be satisfied with what you have.

If you plan correctly and take your time all of your fish will live very long lives.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Yea i have all I need to Todd i have a qt up and running. Gonna put them through copper and prazipro. Any other suggestions?

Hey man, good to hear and once again apologize for rather blunt first response. I'm 52+ maybe going through Man-a-pause... lol
Sounds like you're off in the right direction for the whole QT process so only advice to give at this point is to be prepared for MMA style battle against Hair Algae in the Display while running Fallow. For my 125g It took 100+ mix of Astrea and Margarita Snails, 4 Sea Hares and 3 Cowries to finally knock it out. You don't realize just how much algae four Tangs and two Blennies eat until you take them out of your system. For hiding places in a QT besides the typical PVC pipe and fittings I've siliconed marbles to the bases of FW plasctic plant decorations and found it helped a lot in keeping Tangs from crashing into glass when spooked and for Anthias and Fairy Wrasses to dart into. Also leaving a part of one end of the tank covered in algae (not cleaned off) giving a sense of security there.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Vmacisback]

I would not continue to add multiple tangs. Tangs will stress easily and multiple tangs are never a good idea IMO unless in a very large tank (i.e. 500++ gallons). When I added my Achilles to my 180g it had one or two spots of ich on it and with a few days it was gone and never had any ich on since in over 2 years. I would never add another tang in my tank. Not enough room and a 180g is probably too small for an Achilles.

Naso's, Achilles', Power Blue's and even yellow tangs need a lot of swimming space especially length wise. Height of the tank does not matter as much. With too many tangs and not enough room there will be stress issues and then ich breakouts.

Here is my advice: Do not add any more fish to your tank. Make sure your ammonia is zero for a couple of months. Make sure your nitrites are zero for a couple of months. Make sure your nitrates are under 20 for a couple of months.

Once your parameters are under control for a couple of months then consider adding your next fish of small to medium size. Use quarantine as others suggested. Do not add any more tangs ever if you still have any in your tank. No more additional tangs period (no Naso's, no Unicorn tangs, no achilles or powder blues, no more tangs)!

Once you have added your next small to medium fish and it has been kept alive for a number of months consider your next fish. Plan out the fish you want. Do not be impatient or spontaneous and buy large or aggressive fish that will stress out your other fish. At some point you will have to decide you have enough fish and be satisfied with what you have.

If you plan correctly and take your time all of your fish will live very long lives.

I understand your point, no more tangs. After the fallow period I will have no tangs and probably give my yellows to a friend if they make it.

 

[Vmacisback]

Hey man, good to hear and once again apologize for rather blunt first response. I'm 52+ maybe going through Man-a-pause... lol
Sounds like you're off in the right direction for the whole QT process so only advice to give at this point is to be prepared for MMA style battle against Hair Algae in the Display while running Fallow. For my 125g It took 100+ mix of Astrea and Margarita Snails, 4 Sea Hares and 3 Cowries to finally knock it out. You don't realize just how much algae four Tangs and two Blennies eat until you take them out of your system. For hiding places in a QT besides the typical PVC pipe and fittings I've siliconed marbles to the bases of FW plasctic plant decorations and found it helped a lot in keeping Tangs from crashing into glass when spooked and for Anthias and Fairy Wrasses to dart into. Also leaving a part of one end of the tank covered in algae (not cleaned off) giving a sense of security there.

Cheers, Todd

Good idea. something that I am wondering is after the fallow period how do I go about adding back in. Say I have 10 fish that have all been through the proper qt and my fallow period is over. What would you suggest as far as adding them back in. There will be no tangs and mainly wrasses, blennies and small guys like that.

 

[Vmacisback]

Todd or anyone with fallow knowledge,

Should i remove my sea hare? I just got all the fish out yesterday and in their qt home for the next couple months.

Whats the plan when I am fallow? Just normal water changes and keep my hands out of the tank? Can I still feed my coral? i.e. oyster feast

 

[TJ's Reef]

Hey Man, been wanting to see how things have been going with your Reef so sorry I did not see this earlier today. As far as the Sea Hare he/it and some additional CUC will be your 'Best Friends' over the next several weeks. I found that the Common Sea Hare and Cowries were the best at keeping the Hair Algae under control and Scarlet Hermits and my Yellow Cucumber best at keeping the sand bed clean. If you have a routine of feeding your Coral continue to do so or if not I'd suggest at least occasionally feeding ground up pellets or similar to replace the missing Fish poop/food. You can continue normal water change schedule to get ahead of the curve on nutrient export or relax it a bit to remain stable with the lack of fish waste. You will need to do plenty of WC's on the Fish Only system for a bit so with an adequate CUC the DT can go on Auto-pilot for a month or so. If you'd like to talk about any of this in more detail shoot me a pm with your # and will give you a call. The one advantage of the 'Fallow DT' is that you can do a little aquascaping without fish being in the way and also freshly glued/attached corals can encrust without fish disturbing them.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Vmacisback]

Hey Man, been wanting to see how things have been going with your Reef so sorry I did not see this earlier today. As far as the Sea Hare he/it and some additional CUC will be your 'Best Friends' over the next several weeks. I found that the Common Sea Hare and Cowries were the best at keeping the Hair Algae under control and Scarlet Hermits and my Yellow Cucumber best at keeping the sand bed clean. If you have a routine of feeding your Coral continue to do so or if not I'd suggest at least occasionally feeding ground up pellets or similar to replace the missing Fish poop/food. You can continue normal water change schedule to get ahead of the curve on nutrient export or relax it a bit to remain stable with the lack of fish waste. You will need to do plenty of WC's on the Fish Only system for a bit so with an adequate CUC the DT can go on Auto-pilot for a month or so. If you'd like to talk about any of this in more detail shoot me a pm with your # and will give you a call. The one advantage of the 'Fallow DT' is that you can do a little aquascaping without fish being in the way and also freshly glued/attached corals can encrust without fish disturbing them.

Cheers, Todd

Understood, only part I have questions on is when you said " You will need to do plenty of WC's on the Fish Only system for a bit so with an adequate CUC the DT can go on Auto-pilot for a month or so."

Are you referring to WC on the QT tank? I just started the remaining fish I am going to keep on copper in the qt then going to do prazi pro and then let them sit and possible repeat these 2 meds a month or so after to be sure. Let me know if this seems like a good idea or not. Meanwhile the display will remain fallow for 8-10 weeks.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Yes the QT, and as for WC's on it you will want to every few days to start for best results because of lack to much biological filtration at beginning. Its common to have Ammonia spikes in new QT's and always having a 20-50% by volume of fresh SW on standby is wise. You also want to be sure to replace the correct dosage of Cupramine with each WC so measure exact as you can on what water is changed out. If you go the full duration/dosage with Cupramine you should not need to repeat and a good idea following up with Prazi-Pro and should take care of any other parasite or worms present.

Cheers, Todd