Help dead tangs and sick clown

[salsells]

:help: :help: :help: Two days ago i lost my kola tang, no apparent reason, today my yellow tang is gone, now my clown seems sick and has bulging eyes. My water tested this morning is:
PH 8.2, Temp 80, Nitrate 10-, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, salt 1.021 and i did a 5% water change yesterda, 40 gal tanks with about 30lbs live rock and ls.
Inhabitants are: two black and white damsels, very small, a cleaner shrimp who has been loosing his antenni slowly, a brittle star, 2 petual clowns, a coral banded shrimp who is thriving well, a skooter bleeny, several snails, crabs including 3 emralds. Soft corals. I have a seaclone protein skimmer, fluval filter 204 and a wave maker. Am at a loss, tank set up 9/10 and clowns been in since 2nd week and seemed fine up intil just yesterday. What do I do????Please help?????

 

[drea]

i'd hate to say it, but looks like u may be over stocked dude. how big were the fish?

 

[salsells]

the tangs were not big at all, perhaps 1-2" and the damsel's are very small, not even an inch and the clowns about 1-2 ". I know everyone says the lfs sometimes sells you things they shouldn't, but these guys seem to be really qualified and there are things they would not sell me because of the size and lighting etc.
"

 

[miked0523]

Sounds like something is up with your water. Maybe you had a small ammonia spike,because your tank is so new. Tangs are pretty sensitive and clowns are pretty hardy and if they have Popeye something is not right.

 

[clown123]

your clown is most likely goin to die mine had the same thing and it died this morning.

 

[hot883]

Sounds like the water to me too. That tank is way overstocked. Tangs need really pristine water and alot of room. I won't even go there. Probably need to take a sample of the water to the LFS for a test just to confirm your test equip. is good.

 

[littlebuck]

well depending on the food that your LFS gave you that might be a big reason like was said in the other post. also not feeding tangs algae is a big one also. Even though your LFS gave you food and said its good food for fish and inverts unless you know what it is it might be messing with your tank. maybe they dont eat some of the stuff in teh food and then it sit on the bottom of the tank and rots. Was tank was fine untill you started useing that food?

 

[salsells]

i am so sad, lost both clowns now, they are coming out from lfs to check the tank and see what in the world is going on. I a really new at this and this is just heart breaking. My lfs did not sell me the clowns, damsels, cbs, i just fount the lfs recently, was buying from *****, never again, have know idea what they are doing, as dumb as me. I found some guys that run a all saltwater store, have loads of tanks and seem very knowledgable, hopefully they can get me on the right track. Today is a day of mourning.....

 

[ricks280]

sal, problem 1= 40 gal tank to small even with a mature tank (6 months plus) your tangs will not survive stress will knock them off big time plus the parameters in such a small tank will varie so quick that the fish will not tolerate. sorry but thats the way it is with tangs
and many other fish, keep away from tangs, angels, and butterflies with that size tank .
jmo.(rick)

 

[drea]

just make sure you acclimate right and do everything slowly.... everyone in this has made mistakes as a beginer......... its just part of it......... there is a lot involved
get the drip method down
get all the best food
get a test kit
make sure that when u do water changes, the water is mixed w/ salt at least a day b4, and that salt and temp are almost the same as the tank
dont over feed,
make sure you have good filtration
and good water movement
thats all for now, but there is much more to know, just keep reading