Flashing Hippo Tang

[randyrags]

I woke this morning to my tang flashing on the rocks. I have been trying to figure out what is going on for weeks. He started a couple weeks ago splashing on the top of the tank and slapping the glass on the sides. I thought he was fighting with his reflection. He also seems like he has seizures. The black parts of his body turn yellow and he swims really fast doing laps around the tank. Here is a video of his behavior today. I also have a puffer that has been acting strange. He has been lethargic and not eating, but this is the third time he has done this in the year I have had him. So I thought it could just be how puffers are. Both fish seem to have diarrhea. The puffer seemed really fat for many days and then a very thick white stool that turned to white almost powder as it dissipated in the water. Please help!
It is a 90 gallon fish only.
As far as water parameters:
Salinity:1.026
Temp: 85.2
Ammonia:.25
PH: 8.0 (added Buffer)
Nitrite:.25
Nitrate: 80
Mixing water to do water change ASAP.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3eV0hsbfWHU

 

[beth]

You're temp is a bit high. Why so high? It should be around 78-82.
You have ammonia and nitrite. You need to get this down to zero ASAP.
You have 80 nitrates which is way too much nitrates, especially for tangs. What kind of filters are you using, and what kind of substrate do you have? Did you set this system up recently?

 

[randyrags]

Purchased it as an established system jan 2012. It has about 2-4 inches of crushed coral. It is in my great room with 18 ft of windows on one wall so it gets real warm in the afternoon. I have had the air conditioning running for a couple weeks. As far as filter I have a 30 gallon sump. I have constantly struggled with nitrates so I cleaned out the sump 4 weeks ago by pulling out bio balls and rinsing. Also removed about three inches of crap from the bottom. Protein skimmer only works for one day after I clean it.

 

[beth]

You didn't say what was in the sump. Just the protein skimmer?
You will always have high nitrates because you have crushed coral. Crushed coral will not allow the break down of organic waste fast enough, so it gets trapped in the substrate. The end result is high nitrates. Why does your tank have ammonia and nitrites? Perhaps from the heavy cleaning.
What do you use for water movement within the tank? Do you have pumps?
If it were my tank, I'd start over using the correct substrate, which is fine particles of sand, and add live rock.

 

[randyrags]

Yes, nitrites and ammonia were 0 before deep clean. The sump has the filter pad then goes through the bio balls then returned to tank through uv sterilizer. Skimmer on the outside pulling from the sump and returning to sump. As far as water movement I just have one power jet in addition to the sump return. Could I slowly remove crushed coral? With out taking tank down? Would that cause to much stress on fish?
I really appreciate your help! Thank you!! Temp down to 83.7 still working on that...

 

[beth]

Crushed coral is notorious for its razor sharp edges, which is why sandbed invertebrates can't survive in them. Generally, you don't want suspended particles of substrate in the water as this will get into the gills and tissues of fish.
You might just want to plan it out so that you can make the change from CC to sand and then add some live rock as well doing it all at once. That is what I'd recommend.
Also, systems set up with bioball filters also cause high nitrates unless you are cleaning the filter out every couple of weeks.