Everything in my tank is dying! Help!

[rah-rah23]

My hubby and I have had freshwater and saltwater tanks for years. This year we decided to be adventurous and start using live rock, corals, anemones, etc. We have a 200 gal with all aggressive fish and no live rock or sand or corals. The use of live things came with my nano and so far, so good almost 9 months into it. I have had a bout with aiptasia, but other than that, ok.
We recently inherited a 55 gal tank, and all the rock, fish and coral with it from a family member who was not taking care of the tank properly [he was going to put it out on the curb with fish still in it-nice, huh.]
Okay, now here’s where the story gets complicated:
We talked to someone at the lfs and they said it would be okay to add some of that rock to our 200 gal with all our meanies. We did and within a 2-week span, we lost our humu trigger and our porcupine puffer. We took the rock out and treated the tank for parasites, just in case. Knock on wood, no casualties since then and that was over a month ago.
Since we put the 55 gal tank up, we’ve lost 3 scooter fish, 1 coral beauty and I don’t even know what else inside that tank. The water has been tested and is fine!
Everything seemed to be going okay and so we purchased a dwarf lion. We finally got him eating ghost shrimp and he was fine. It’s now a week later and he’s dead.
I see that one of the damsels appears to have pop-eye, which is a recent development, and I can’t catch him to get him out. The percula and the other damsels, who have been in the tank since day 1, are fine and have been fine.
I used one drop of phytomax and 1 drop of chromomax in the tank for the mushrooms, unknown corals and the featherdusters. Is it possible this is the cause for my lionfish’s death or is there something else seriously wrong here?
I’m ready to toss all the rock and coral in the trash and start over. I hate having the fish die and I don’t want anything else to lose its life to my “deadly” tank.

 

[mpls man]

Need some more info on your tank.
params .
nitrates
nitrites
ammonia
etc...
if you had some fish die in the tank and didn't find them it could cause a ammonia or nitrate spike, i've used a medication called Prime, it removes chlorine, ammonia , and nitrites, and nitrates, it may help to do a water change to get some of the toxitty out of the water.

 

[squidd]

We talked to someone at the lfs and they said it would be okay to add some of that rock to our 200 gal with all our meanies. We did and within a 2-week span, we lost our humu trigger and our porcupine puffer. We took the rock out
Sounds like you may have put "un-cured" Live rock in the tank and caused an ammonia cycle from die off...???
We recently inherited a 55 gal tank, and all the rock, fish and coral with it from a family member who was not taking care of the tank properly [he was going to put it out on the curb with fish still in it-nice, huh.]...
Since we put the 55 gal tank up, we’ve lost 3 scooter fish, 1 coral beauty and I don’t even know what else inside that tank....
This sounds like a cycle from disassembly, move and resetting the established tank...
The water has been tested and is fine!
Fine meaning what ??(numbers) and when was it tested, during the die off or since then now that things may be stabilized...??

 

[rah-rah23]

By fine, I mean I actually brought the water into the lfs and had them test it. I don't know what the #s are. It was tested during the "die-off" and about a week before we got the dwarf lion. BOth times, everything was in the right area, according to two different guys at the lfs. They said they think we had parasites and like I said, we treated the tanks for such.
As far as "un-cured" rock, the 55gal tank had been set up for months with the same rock before we placed it into our 200 gal. But that tank's fine now. It's the 55 gal where everything is dying. We actually pulled out all the live rock to look for dead things and to examine the rocks for unknown critters. Nada.
My husband is doing a water change tonite and removing a lot of the rock. I hope this helps.
And does using the phytomax or the chromamax cause harm to anyone's fish? Does anyone have knowledge in this area?

 

[hagfish]

Do those medicines contain copper?
I highly recommend you get your own test kits. And for that I highly recommend Salifert brand test kits. They are a little more expensive, but at least they give you correct feedback. Don't trust the LFS guy. Most of them are just out to make money and as a result they will often give you answers that help them to do just that. And that may or may not help you out. And it will likely cost you more than it should have.
I agree with what squidd said about mini-cycles in both tanks.
If the 55 was not being taken care of properly (as you put it), it stands to reason that it already had some problems. If they weren't taking care of it I would bet there is at least a significant amount of nitrate in the water. That, coupled with the stress of moving the tank might have been enough to start a landslide of problems so to speak. As was mentioned, best short term fix is water changes. Also, run some fresh carbon. Since the tank isn't too big I'd consider changing close to half the water.

 

[hagfish]

What fish came with the 55 and what are in there now? It sounds like it was overstocked when you had it. Some careful reading suggests that there were 3 scooter blennies (they had no chance anyway in a 55, maybe 1, but not 3 that's another story), 1 coral beauty, one damsel (that now has pop-eye, one percula clown, and some other damsels (how many). It looks like there were 6 fish at least and since you say "the other damsels" I assume there must be at least 2 more which would make 8, most of which are pretty aggressive. That's too many fish, and those damsels are mean enough that they alone might have caused some deaths in a small tank in which there's not much room for territories.
Also, what timeframes did things take place (how long to move tank, how long before fish died, how long before adding new fish, etc.).

 

[rah-rah23]

Originally Posted by hagfish
What fish came with the 55 and what are in there now? It sounds like it was overstocked when you had it. Some careful reading suggests that there were 3 scooter blennies (they had no chance anyway in a 55, maybe 1, but not 3 that's another story), 1 coral beauty, one damsel (that now has pop-eye, one percula clown, and some other damsels (how many). It looks like there were 6 fish at least and since you say "the other damsels" I assume there must be at least 2 more which would make 8, most of which are pretty aggressive. That's too many fish, and those damsels are mean enough that they alone might have caused some deaths in a small tank in which there's not much room for territories.
Also, what timeframes did things take place (how long to move tank, how long before fish died, how long before adding new fish, etc.).
1 yellow tang, 1 coral beauty, 1 percula, and 3 damsels. The tang didn’t even make it through the first week. I’m sure the stress of the move is what hurt him. We then had the tank stabilized and 2 weeks later bought 3 scooters. They died in less than a week. No other fish have been purchased since then, with the exception of the dwarf lion. Which leads us to only having 1 perc and 3 damsels now that the lion is dead.
I agree whole-heartedly that the tang shouldn’t have been in the tank but I’m not really understanding your theory about only MAYBE keeping 1 scooter in a 55. To my understanding, it should be one gallon of water per inch of fish. Which is plenty to house that few amount of fish in the 55. I understand that you should only keep one species of fish per tank sometimes, but I was assured by two of the books and several people that 3 scooters in a 55 was fine. But anyway, I digress. I just want my tank to be healthy and for the fish to stop dying off.
I don’t know what our family member used in the tank before we had it. He purchased coral after coral and had a gazillion fish in there that shouldn’t have been. That’s why almost all the coral and the fish died. Who puts a trigger in a reef tank with small fish and inverts?
Grrrr.
The move took about 6 hours. Huge buckets filled with the tank water and all 100+ lbs of live rock. Fish all in one bucket. Back and forth across the street. I know it’s a bit ridiculous, but I just couldn’t let the tank and the fish freeze to death outside. It’s extra work and in a whole new area of s/w tanks I don’t know much about, but letting any living thing die because you feel it’s property or expendable is inhuman. I’m trying my best here. Like I said, we have aggressive tanks without all the l/r and coral and so on. And my 24gal nano only has 4 itty bitty fish in it and the l/r is doing fine, as is the coral.
I’m all ears here, trust me. I’m all about your advice.

 

[hagfish]

Again, if you haven't done any water changes, I'd do some and then wait a while before putting anything else in.
The reason 3 scooter blennies is too much for that tank is that they rarely eat anything other than live food found on live rocks (copepods, amphipods). In a 55 gallon tank you can't really have enough live rock to support 3 scooters because they would run out of food to eat. Then, to top it off, even if they were to take frozen or flake food, the 3 damsels and clown in there are so fast and efficient at getting to the food that the scooters would hardly have a chance anyway. Also, damsels are mean. Scooter blennies are far from mean. So that would also make it tough on the scooters (even 1 of them) because they would likely be harassed and possibly attacked by the damsels. You will probably have a hard time adding any timid fish at this point.
Did the coral beauty die too? If he was alive along with the 3 damsels and the clown when you put in the 3 scooters then that probably was a little too much bioload too, especially right after a move which had killed a fish and may have put the tank at risk of a mini-cycle. IMO, those 5 fish probably have that tank maxed out. Take into consideration their full-grown sizes which is going to come to 17 or so and that puts you at over 3" of fish per gallon.
I would just take it real slow with this tank for now. I'd do some water changes and get my own test kits so that I would know what was going on with the tank at all times if necessary.
What kind of filtration and water movement does the 55 have? And what, and how much are you feeding?