Help please

[tpohl24]

I haave a 180 tank I had a coral beatuy angel that I had over a year... pretty much my first fish in the tank after its cycle... an tonmi tang, pair of black and white clowns and an atlantic blue tang... I was out of town for 3 days came back and my atlantic blue was dead... the clowns had white spots looked like ich maybe... so I pulled them both were dead the next morning along with my coral beatuy and tonmi tang...
I checked my water all is normal PH 8.2 nitrites 0 nitrates 15ppm ammonia 0 salintiy 1.024
I had started adding corals... my mushrooms are all great... leathers great zoo's great and my rose tip anemones it doing great... all the crabs snails, shrip and start fish are ok... what the heck happened?
How long before I add fish again... how can I prevent this from happening again?
FYI I have 180lbs of live rock and live sand in the tank... overflo with sump...
sock filter msx extreme 200 skimmer and a ca reactor... (CA was 400)

 

[kingsmith]

I think you have to either take all the fish out forn something like 3-4 weeks because if it was a parasite they are still there (despite the fact you cann't see them) this will starve them, and treat the fish in a hospital tank/container or you need to lower salinity to I believe like 1.08 for six weeks to kill it but with corals and inverts Lowering the salinity would be a problem I am pretty sure.

 

[tpohl24]

yeah I already lost all 5 fish I had in about a 3 day period... not even sure if it was ich... I took the tomni tang to a LFS and they said it showed no signs of ich... that maybe I had a water spike...
now that all i have are corals shrimp crabs snails and star fish how long should I wait to add fish again?
this is the part of the hobby I hate... I hate losing fish

 

[calaxa]

Let it run 6-8 weeks before adding fish again. Hopefully it will have disappeared without any hosts available. It does sound like some type of disease. If not Ich, maybe marine velvet?

 

[steelytom]

This may sound simple, but what about temp. It has been getting colder everywhere. Did your temp drop. what kind of thermometer are you using. Get a cheap glass floating one to confirm your temp. I had a heater fail and my temp dropped to 72 before I knew. Ended up with an outbreak of ich and lost 3/4 of my fish.

 

[tpohl24]

I have a cheap one that is attached to the tank... like I said I was out of town for 3 days but as far as I know the tank temp didnt drop... I check my tank (watch and enjoy it) nightly... it is something that helps me relax... what happened during my time out of town I dont know... but I would guess not much????

 

[bionicarm]

Could you have had a power failure? With no pumps. filters, or PH's circulating the water for a log period of time, could've stressed out all the fish. Probably wouldn't affect the inverts as much.

 

[aquaknight]

When was the last fish/coral/piece of anything added to the tank? An outbreak of Marine Velvet can easily wipe out a tank in 3 days.

 

[tpohl24]

the last thing added was about 10 days prior and it was QTed for 14 days...
from everything I read ich doesnt wipe out a tank in 3-4 days...
what does marine velvet look like???
well I guess I can google it
thanks for all the response so far this really sucks

 

[anonome]

Any new corals, rock, etc. added? Even these can harbor ick parasites or other diseases if taken from an infected tank.

 

[calaxa]

The fact that all his inverts survived would indicate to me the water is fine. It's definitely some sort of disease that hit the tank. Chemical warfare is probably out too as no coral got affected. Do what I indicated before, running the current setup without any fish for 6-8 weeks. Do a couple of water changes as well. Monitor the health of your corals and slowly add the fish back to system. Good time to revisit your stocking plan.

 

[tpohl24]

Thanks for all the help... I have again tested the water and it all looks fine I did a 30 gallon change and will do another 30 in two weeks...
I typically do 30 gallons every other week....
I guess it is a good time to revisit my stocking list...
will I need to cycle the tank again once the 6 weeks is up?
Can a powder brown and yellow tang both go in a 180 if I get them at the same time?
Thanks again everyone for all the help!