I need a full tank diagnosis.

[Miami Reef]

I’m going to write all my problems that I’m having with the tank.

1)I’m having a death problem with any new tang that I add to the tank. Currently, I have a blue tang, yellow tang, and scopas tang. I’ve purchased many tangs in the past year and they keep dying. I’m not seeing any ich on the fish. Only these 3 tangs are surviving.

2)I have this dark colored sand. Looks like algae of some sort. I’ll post pic in bottom of thread.

3) my corals are doing well, but I had 2 clams die on me in the past 2 months. I only have softies, lps, and anemones, and they look well.

The basic parameters that I can test are Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, salinity, and magnesium.
I will get these parameters checked by my LFS this Sunday and I’ll post updated test results. Is there anything else I can check for?

 

[foxt]

It would help if we knew a little more about the tank. What size?; how long has it been set up?; besides the tangs you mentioned and the corals, what else do you have in there?; do you have a sump, skimmer, fuge, etc?

One thing I will offer is that most folks do their own testing vs. rely on the LFS to do it for them. The basic kits required for this aren't that expensive, and having the ability to monitor these yourself at any time really makes a difference.

 

[zoalander1]

agreed with foxt. buy some test kits and stop adding fish

 

[Miami Reef]

I have the test kits. I use API for all the basic tests, salifert for magnesium, and Hannah for phosphates.
I guess I wanted a 2nd opinion from the LFS because when I test, things look normal.

I have a 300 gallon tank. It’s been running for over a decade, but I remodeled the plumbing in January this year. We put all the live rocks in brute trash cans for 1 week.

I have a sump with filter socks and skimmer. No fuge

I’m going to test right now and post my results.

 

[Miami Reef]

agreed with foxt. buy some test kits and stop adding fish

i stopped adding the fish a long time ago but my younger brother surprised me with the new tangs without even telling me beforehand. I spoke to him and we are not adding any more fish. Especially until we resolve the problems I’m having.

 

[BayouReefer]

Picture clarity not good but I see aiptasia on the rocks. Fairly large group of them. Curious what the ammonia test will be?

 

[Miami Reef]

Here are the results. I just tested all of this right now.

Ph: 8.2 API
ammonia: 0 API
Nitrite:0 API
Nitrate: 40ppm API
ALK: 9DKH API
CAL: 440ppm API
Magnesium: 1335 Salifert
Phosphate: .261ppm Hannah PPB checker.

I’ve always thought those were feather dusters...

 

[Miami Reef]

@BayouReefer can you circle where you see the aiptasia? I have some Xenia’s in the first pic.

 

[BayouReefer]

 

[Miami Reef]

That’s Xenia.

 

[BayouReefer]

Like I said picture not that clear hard to tell

 

[BayouReefer]

All your parameters look good other than Nitrates being a little high. Are you dosing anything? And you said you had remodeling and plumbing work done where are you getting your ATO from? Could the recent plumbing work be contributing?

 

[Miami Reef]

All your parameters look good other than Nitrates being a little high. Are you dosing anything? And you said you had remodeling and plumbing work done where are you getting your ATO from? Could the recent plumbing work be contributing?

The plumbing was for the main pump. We changed the system for the tank return pump to be in sump.
The ATO comes from an RODI unit. I honestly haven’t changed out the filters since I got the unit in January...

 

[BayouReefer]

@HotRocks may be able to help. See if we can get him

 

[foxt]

Nitrates and phosphates seem high, but it wouldn’t kill fish. What other fish do you have besides the tangs? What kind of tangs were added and then died? How long did they survive? Were they harassed at all by the others?

 

[BayouReefer]

What about O2 levels I know you said you have a skimmer and that helps but what about flow inside the tank? Do you have flow at the serface to break surface tension?

 

[Miami Reef]

Currently I have
3 tangs
5Banggai Cardinalfish
2 fire fish
4 clownfish
1 foxface
Safire damsels

My brother bought a huge naso, powder blue, and mimic tang. I personally saw my original tangs attacking the powder. He died first. Then naso disappeared. I couldn’t find his dead body until today, even though he was max size. Nitrates probably came from that. The mimic tang looked stressed a few days ago. My lights stopped working and there was a period that the tank had no lights for 3 days. He had stress marks since then. All these fish didn’t last a month.

ok, looking back, it appears they all did die for a reason. The naso was so big that I don’t think he was even eating the mysis shrimp that I fed, but he did eat seaweed.

And yes, I have a lot of power heads in the tank, with one strong one pointed towards the surface.

 

[HotRocks]

Do you do any type of quarantine with new fish? Tangs are very prone to parasites. Based on your test results I don’t see anything that would be an issue there.

Your tank is plenty big for the fish we are talking about. Stress will not kill a fish. However if there is a parasite affliction + stress things can go south quickly.

 

[foxt]

My brother bought a huge naso, powder blue, and mimic tang. I personally saw my original tangs attacking the powder. He died first. Then naso disappeared. I couldn’t find his dead body until today, even though he was max size. Nitrates probably came from that. The mimic tang looked stressed a few days ago. My lights stopped working and there was a period that the tank had no lights for 3 days. He had stress marks since then. All these fish didn’t last a month.

If the other tangs were attacking the pdt, did you see evidence of wounds on it’s body? Any sign of something else, like ich? Were the pbt And Nash behaving stressed, hiding,not eating? What were the stress marks on the mimic?

How are all the other fish doing now? Keep a close eye on them for any change in behavior or appearance.

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes. The PBT had its dorsal fin ripped out. He died pretty quick. I remember seeing a small patch of white dots on the naso. But it was only like a patch of it. The mimic tang looked the worse. He had the stress marks that you see when you type stressed tangs on google. Almost like white discoloration. Spotty blotchy appearance.

My tank right now is doing very well. I think my tank is immune to the ich. I remember my little blue tang had some ich spots, but I kept him eating a lot and he went through some cycles of having it and not, but he’s been clean for a very long time. Actually, the whole tank is clean. It appears only the tangs that I add die, but everything else is fine.