Advice needed badly

[Jeremy6714]

Recently my wife bought a dwarf angel(flame) for our 55 gal tank. We acclimated it the same way we've acclimated all our other fish in the past. Once added to our tank it seemed to be doing fine for the first few hours. The next day all it would do was float in one spot breathing rapidly for a few minutes and then lay down on the sand again breathing get rapidly. Long story short it died after approximately 26 hours in our tank. Now an established fish(Falco hawkfish) is acting in a very similar way, he won't eat(usually first to come out at feeding time) and is sitting in the same spot breathing rapidly...neither fish had/have spots or other visible issues other than the lethargy and the rapid respiration...all other fish, inverts, and corals are behaving normally. Any recommendations would be appreciated, thanks

 

[flower]

Hi,

Welcome to the site... We need more info to be able to really be of any help.

All other fish, inverts and coral???? How many other fish are in the tank? A 55g is a very small SW tank, and you have to be careful to not overstock. It really sounds like either an ammonia spike, or a lack of oxygen.

• Do you have live rock, and how much?
• What are the test results? ...we need exact numbers, not a everything is fine response.
• How many power heads are you running? SW has less oxygen then freshwater, the wave is the life of the ocean, and your SW tank
• Is the top open, or do you have a lid on it? To get the best oxygen flowing (gas exchange) you need an open top.
• How many fish are in the tank, and how fast were they added at one time? Too much too soon is a common mistake.

 

[Jeremy6714]

Hi,

Welcome to the site... We need more info to be able to really be of any help.

All other fish, inverts and coral???? How many other fish are in the tank? A 55g is a very small SW tank, and you have to be careful to not overstock. It really sounds like either an ammonia spike, or a lack of oxygen.

• Do you have live rock, and how much?
• What are the test results? ...we need exact numbers, not a everything is fine response.
• How many power heads are you running? SW has less oxygen then freshwater, the wave is the life of the ocean, and your SW tank
• Is the top open, or do you have a lid on it? To get the best oxygen flowing (gas exchange) you need an open top.
• How many fish are in the tank, and how fast were they added at one time? Too much too soon is a common mistake.

It was a pre-established tank of more than 2 years when we got it in July, we keep it without a lid, one home constructed filter pump(that's what has always been in it, made from an outdoor fountain pump) that keeps the top of the water broken at all times and an 850 gph powered fan that keeps the tank in good circulation... the tank came already with two cleaner shrimp, two perculas, a yellow tang, two neon hermits, 4 snails, a Kenya tree and approximately 60 lbs of live rock. All of which have been a healthy part of the tank and have been thriving in the tank which our friend had previous(as I said for several years). Since getting the tank we have added a bubble tip anenome, a feather duster, and a Falco hawkfish,(hawk and feather duster added in late july, anenome added in September) all of which have done great. However, as I said, we recently added a flame angel, that did not do well right off the bat, and it died in around 26 hours. Now, our hawkfish appears to be struggling in a similar way...I did a water change late last night and the hawk seems to have perked up some but still isn't swimming much like normal... As far as numbers go im testing the water as soon as possible after work today, and will update you with them asap.

 

[2014FishKiller]

"We acclimated it the same way we've acclimated all our other fish in the past"

When I brought first fish from *****, what they said was put the bag into the tank about 15 minutes, than you could put the fish in, but when I brought fish from here, it requires 2-3 hours acclimated, and I always wonder which way is corrected.

 

[beth]

At 55 gal tank, it is way too small for a tang. Tangs need to have a good deal of space to hard swim otherwise they will become o2 deprived. For a yellow tang min tank size would be 125. Other tangs might require larger tank depending on species.

Do you have adequate lighting to keep an anemone? Most anemones require high output lighting, and that includes the bubble tips.

What are your water readings: ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, salinity, temp, pH. How do you mix your salt water and for how long?

Water circulation at the top of the tank does not mean the tank is getting adequate circulation. You should be getting good water movement throughout the tank, including at the bottom, and that can't be accomplished with just one pump hitting the surface water.

Does your system have a protein skimmer?

 

[1guydude]

+1 to all of the above. You asked for advise and u need it.
Sounds like you added to much to quickly...
Your tank is lacking in oxygen if u don't run a skimmer. Or u added all the critters and your bio load jumped. Without proper bacteria to keep up...you prob did have an anmonia spike followed by nitrates.

Easy but $ fix... 1st get a good skimmer. 2nd NO pond jimmy rig pump. Get a pair of powerheads.
With the protein skimmer, you will have more filtration for the critters you wanna add.
Hths
D

 

[flower]

Hi,

We need those test result numbers. Re-home the tang, your tank is way too small to keep any tang, a 55g is a very small SW tank. As a yellow tang matures it will become aggressive and start killing off the competition ... AKA, other fish that want's to eat the food, and hang out in his 6 foot mandatory territory.

The surface water breaking is fine, but like Beth said, you need circulation of that water throughout the entire tank. From your description of the fish in distress, the problem is oxygen, from either an ammonia spike (caused by overstocking, too many fish at one time), or lack of circulation of the water.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, and some folks insist a skimmer is a must have piece of equipment. I am of the opinion that all a skimmer does is remove organic waste, it doesn't oxygenate the water...although it will stir up oxygen, that isn't it's purpose. You don't have to have a skimmer, it removes the organic waste, and helps curb how much nutrients are in the water to feed corals, filter feeders and nuisance algae, most people overskim and waste their coral food additives. At any rate, I don't think a skimmer will fix your problems... but another power head will certainly be a plus, set it low in the tank to circulate the water at all levels.

Anemones are beautiful, however they eat anything stupid enough to get too close, and what they don't eat, they sting to death. They also can go mobile, they have no eyes or even a brain, just a mouth and an anus. They follow the water flow, and will get sucked up into the intake tubes and commit sushi, poising the tank as it dies. So cover all intake tubes and power heads. The type of anemone you have requires powerful lighting to survive, if you don't have heavy duty lighting, it will live for a short time, and then begin to die a slow death..