herbivores dying

jeffk

New Member
This is my first time to post on a fish forum, but I have nowhere else to turn. My lfs is at a loss for our situation.
We have a 75 gallon reef tank. Its been up and running for about a year and a half now. Every herbivore we introduce in our tank does not live very long. It doesn't matter if it is a angelfish, tang, etc... We have tried several times and are tired of wasting money.
I test my water parameters weekly, do 10 gallon water changes weekly, and everything looks great. I have my lfs do the same tests and she confirms my numbers. After adding a skimmer a few months ago, I immediately noticed a huge difference in the health of our tank. Our hair algae is all but gone and the corals starting going crazy.
Here is what we have in the tank that is thriving:
Maroon clown hosting a rbt anemone. The clown has been in the tank for a little over a year.
Mandarin goby, fat and happy, been in the tank for 10 months
Royal gramma, in the tank about a year
Several corals, zoas, candy canes, frogspan, hammer, and recordias...all are multiplying wonderfully and have great color
Our latest addition was a little 2 inch blue hippo tang. After about a week in our tank I noticed he was hugging the bottom and was breathing rapidly. The next day I was unable to find the tang. Yes...I know a 75 will eventually be too small for a blue hippo. Our plan was if all goes well, we would upgrade our tank once the fish outgrew the 75. Our lfs quarantines all her fish for one week before selling. When I was talking with her today, she pointed out the tank that the fish came from and there were 4 other blue hippos from the same shipment doing fine.
Any type of angelfish we introduce ends up dying, even turbo snails end up dying. Anything that eats algae.
So...anybody have any ideas of what might be going on? Fish that don't eat algae thrive and corals thrive.
Thanks in advance!
 

spongeycrab

Member
This is my first time to post on a fish forum, but I have nowhere else to turn.  My lfs is at a loss for our situation.  
We have a 75 gallon reef tank.  Its been up and running for about a year and a half now.  Every herbivore we introduce in our tank does not live very long.  It doesn't matter if it is a angelfish, tang, etc...  We have tried several times and are tired of wasting money.  
I test my water parameters weekly, do 10 gallon water changes weekly, and everything looks great.  I have my lfs do the same tests and she confirms my numbers.  After adding a skimmer a few months ago, I immediately noticed a huge difference in the health of our tank.  Our hair algae is all but gone and the corals starting going crazy.  
Here is what we have in the tank that is thriving:
Maroon clown hosting a rbt anemone.  The clown has been in the tank for a little over a year.
Mandarin goby, fat and happy, been in the tank for 10 months
Royal gramma, in the tank about a year
Several corals, zoas, candy canes, frogspan, hammer, and recordias...all are multiplying wonderfully and have great color
Our latest addition was a little 2 inch blue hippo tang.  After about a week in our tank I noticed he was hugging the bottom and was breathing rapidly.  The next day I was unable to find the tang.  Yes...I know a 75 will eventually be too small for a blue hippo.  Our plan was if all goes well, we would upgrade our tank once the fish outgrew the 75.  Our lfs quarantines all her fish for one week before selling.  When I was talking with her today, she pointed out the tank that the fish came from and there were 4 other blue hippos from the same shipment doing fine.
Any type of angelfish we introduce ends up dying, even turbo snails end up dying.  Anything that eats algae.
So...anybody have any ideas of what might be going on?  Fish that don't eat algae thrive and corals thrive.
Thanks in advance!
I mean is there any algae you can see in the tank? Cuz I'm stumped.
 

jeffk

New Member
There is some green hair algae on a few rocks... We did have a bad problem, meaning on every rock, but its 95% gone. The tank looks great, we are happy with the appearance, just so frustrated because we would like to have a angel and a tang. We tried 2 different coral beauties with no luck. This was our 2nd tang. Our lfs is highly respected in the state and today when I told her the tang didn't make it was the I give up, hands in the air moment.
 

spongeycrab

Member
There is some green hair algae on a few rocks...  We did have a bad problem, meaning on every rock, but its 95% gone.  The tank looks great, we are happy with the appearance, just so frustrated because we would like to have a angel and a tang. We tried 2 different coral beauties with no luck.  This was our 2nd tang.  Our lfs is highly respected in the state and today when I told her the tang didn't make it was the I give up, hands in the air moment.
Ya know maybe it's not because a lack of algae... Do you see any aggression? Did you add the maroon before or after your first attempt?
 

geridoc

Well-Known Member
Spongey may have an idea there - maroon clowns can be very territorial and may be harassing new additions. Small juveniles (like the hippo) would be easily bullied, and have a poor survival record anyway in captivity. Are you offering nori to the herbivores?
 

jeffk

New Member
Yes...plenty of nori. We never saw the clown bully anything in the tank. He just sticks close to the nem. I don't think its a stararvation issue. Most of the fish didn't make it a week.
 

bang guy

Moderator
IMO Hippo Tangs are not really herbivores. I know they will graze a little algae but they are mostly planktivores. I agree it's not starvation. Algae does tend to sequester toxins which can build up. Generally this just protects the algae because it starts to taste bad but it is certainly possible with the right toxin that it could kill animals, it's just not very common.
Have you checked your RO filter to see that it's still functioning?
 

jeffk

New Member
Keep in mind, it is not just tangs. Snails and angelfish don't make it much more than a week.
 

mr. limpid

Active Member
The common denominator here is anything new added. Maybe your tank is at its limit bio load wise. Existing inhabitants are not stress can handle the environment change new ones are stressed can not couple with the change so death. May explain them ding so quickly. Just a thought.
 

jeffk

New Member
I might also add the we had a six line wrasse for several months. It looked happy and healthy until it decided to jump out of the tank. Again...a non-herbivore that did fine. I plan on replacing the wrasse as soon as I build a screen for the top of the tank.
 
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