Before all my fish die!!

[robvia]

I have a 90 gallon. Did some changes weekend before last. Added a Bangii Cardinal, a Heniochus Butterfly, small clown and puesdochromis. Last weekend, a week after the change, the Cardinal died. It seemed to eat OK and swam like I expected it to. Mostly hovered. Didn't look like it was attacked by other fish. Last night the Butterfly died. Tuesday night I saw that it had white spots. I assume that was ich. I did a fresh water dip on it to try and get the parasites off. The next night it was really not swimming at all, and the yellow tang was nipping at it. It's fins were pretty beat up by the time I got home last night. I put him in a bucket to get him away from the other fish. I don't have a QT right now, but that might be the next purchase. He was about died when I took him out and died shortly after. The other fish look OK except the tang has white splotches. It has had them before, but I don't really know what they are. I am leaving Friday morning and won't be back until Sunday night. Not sure what, if anything, I should do at this point. I don't want to come back to a tank of dead fish.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Rob

 

[beth]

Well, you obviously need to treat the ich, but you can't do that very effectively without a QT, unless your tank if fish-only. Is it? What are your water readings after the change? How long has your tank been setup?
Is someone going to take care of your fish while you are out? What about lights? How will that be regulated while you gone?

 

[robvia]

I was going to feed them a little heavy Friday morning before I left and then Sunday night when I return. That means one day without food. That won't be a problem. The lights automated, so no problems there. I don't see any ich, small white spots, on any of the fish. The tang has larger splotches. I don't know if it's a bacterial infection or not. Tang has had off and on problems since I got him. At least so far he hasn't died. I have snails, crabs, soft corals and anemones. Nitrates are high. Have been around 30 ppm. I just got an RO/DI and have been changing as much water as I can. Big question is do I get a 10 gallon QT tonight or not. I really don't have time for that, but if I had to I could get something done. The timing of this is aweful.
Could my tank be wiped out by Sunday night? Would taking the tang out really make any difference?
I could take the inverts out if I had to, but treating a 90 gallon tank with hypo would be a pretty large pain.
I don't knwo what to do.

 

[beth]

No, I can't see doing that since you're not going to be around to take care of it. A new QT will require a good deal of babysitting, especially since it won't be cycled.
Try re-setting your lights to being on for only a few hrs. Let the fish hypernate a bit while you are gone. You may face fish dying in your tank while you are out, but I don't see any other solution right now unless you can get someone to check in on your tank.
The problem with have fish tanks is that you need a tank sitter whenever you leave the home. And good sitters are not easy to find.

 

[robvia]

My in-laws would do it, but they are going with us. Will the corals die from not having the lights on? They don't look great now. I guess I don't have much choice right now.

 

[beth]

The only reason I suggest significantly reducing the light is to try and keep aggression down in the tank if that is a problem. Corals won't die overnite from no light. I can't promise that your fish won't die, though.

 

[robvia]

It looks like they all lived through the weekend. I can't find the peppermint shrimp, so I think the grouper might have gotten it. The only aggression problem has been with the sick butterfly. The tang had been in the tank for a while, so I guess is isn't liking new additions. My Sebea clown was showing signs of ich before I left. Thursday night I gave it a freshwater dip because it was all I could do at the time. This morning the tang is hovering around the sprayer outlet. I guess he now has ich from the dead butterfly. Very frustrating. I don't know what I will do in the long run.

 

[beth]

From the looks of your tank, you don't seem to have that much LR. What about inverts/corals??
If you don't have inverts/corals, setup a nice size rubbermaid with good circulation [using PHs]. Place the rock in the rubbermaid and then do hyposalinity in the main tank.

 

[robvia]

I do have some crabs and snails. Also a few soft corals and anemones. I didn't want to do hypo on a 90 gallon tank. That's a lot of water. I used green-x before and seemed to have success with it. I know you don't recommend it because it doesn't usually work, but I gave it a try. Still thinking about options.