Fin and Tail Rot on 2 Fish

[doodle1800]

2 of my clowns - a perc and and a Sebae have their tails almost all gone. I went out and purchased a 10 gal and filled it 1/2 way with my tank water, the other 1/2 with fresh made sea water. I put a heater, a filter with no pad for circulation, and 2 pieces of white pvc for hiding place. I put the Sebae in there last night. I check things out this morning and my perc has it in my main tank. He's next to go in the hospital tank. I dosed the tank with a med that the LFS had - he didn't have marycin 2. (I don't have name of product at this moment).
I guess I don't have a question.
Any comments? Help!?
tank - 55 gal with 50 lbs of LR
Yellow Tang
2 damsels
2 percs
1 sebae - in hospital
various polyps and shrooms
inverts
PH level was down the last few days - put a buffer in there to raise it back up. - opened window in basement to get rid of Carbon Dioxide in area of tank - in basement also btw.
One other thing I've been putting in there lately is Phytoplankton for the soft corals.
All other chem levels are zero.

 

[doodle1800]

Is there a "tonic" or preventative I can put in my main tank to prevent the others from getting this without hurting anything else?

 

[beth]

Why is their tail almost gone? My bet would be aggression. More details needed. Also, do you have a reef, FO, Live rock?

 

[doodle1800]

I thought their tails were gone from tail rot.. maybe not...
I stated what my tank has in first post - 50 lbs of LR - now 75 after today, bught some more. Green star and butoon and yellow Polyps - shrooms - an arrow crab.... 2 emerald crabs, peppermint shrimp.
Beth - I'm wondering the same thing - aggression - but from whom (what)? Yellow tang? Hermits? Velvet damsel?

 

[beth]

Originally posted by doodle1800
2 damsels
2 percs
1 sebae
That's who! Any combination there can easily be the culprit for aggression. Perhaps the added LR will help.

 

[doodle1800]

Sebae is gone - yellow tail damsel is too small. Velvet is pretty big, I bet its him....
uuuggghhh.... he'll be hard to catch... -
thanks Beth...

 

[doodle1800]

I don't know about aggression now. The 3rd clown is laboring and his rear tail is thinning out...
I'm learning a 55 is harder to maintain than a 10gal. Parameters might change quicker than a larger tank, but I never lost a fish in a 10. Oh well...

 

[lesleybird]

Hi, In a hospital tank I would a three gallon water change every other day as with no cycling of bacteria on a substrate (where bacteria live in the tank), amonia can quickly rise and kill the fish. You can't put substrate with live bacteria in the tank as the antibiotics quickly destroy them anyway. As well as any bacteria in the old tank water. With all this in mind, feed very lightly until they get well because any extra food can cause enough amonia to kill the fish. Lesley

 

[doodle1800]

I lost all 3 clowns this weekend. I've had these guys for almost 8 months, so quaranteen is a moot point right now. No other fish (3) in the tank have any symptoms. All 3 lost their fins and when it hit them it didn't last long so a hospital tank wouldn't have much effect in my opinion.
Pretty discouraging..

 

[doodle1800]

I want to bring up what I found was the problem with my clowns a month or so ago when I first posted this thread.
I bought 2 more clowns this past weekend and put them in with the same 3 fish I had in there already. After a few hours I noticed both were in opposite corners of the tank. I stood back and noticed the velvet damsel chasing both into the corner and nipping at them. I took both out and put them in my 10 gal with LR only and they are fine this morning.
So.. Beth was right. Stress most likely killed both of them. Until I remove the damsel I won't be able to purchase any more fish.
good call Beth..