My Powder Blue Died today.

[rzande1]

Something went crazy with my tank last night. I dont know what.
I came home last night and my powder blue tang was not doing well. He didnt touch the food last night and this morning he had little white spots everywhere. Then he died an hour later. This is strange since he was my second fish in the tank. He wasnt starving and had a nice belly. All of my other fish are doing great. The only thing I can think of is my Yellow tang and my powder blue were fighting when the yellow was put in but this ended the next morning. Last night I checked my water because I saw he was doing badly. My water was crazy. Somehow in a day it went from 8.2 ph to 8.8. My nitrites jumped to .25 and my ammonia went to .25. My one coral even closed up. I couldnt believe it. I quickly started a cycle for new salt water. I also put in marinemax, stability, and prime. This morning the ph is back down to 8.0 and I added buffer trying to raise it back to 8.2. The nitrites and ammonia are still at .25. The coral is starting to open a bit and everyone else is doing good. The only thing I can think of is I had to pull out two snails yeasterday. I am not sure if they were dead but they havent moved for a few days so I pulled them out. So right now:
1.026 salanity
.25 Nitrites
.25 ammonia
0 Nitrates
80 temp
8.0 ph
500 calcium
0 phosphate
Living
2 cleaner shrimp
2 fire shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp
6 Large Turbos
11 Narcillis snails
2 false clowns
1 yellow tang
2 lawnmower bennies
95 pounds of lr
64 pounds of ls
72 gallon bowfront with 20 gallon sump
eheim pro2 wetdry with two trays
eheim canister
2x 250 w heaters
octapus protein skimmer (constantly pulling brown trash out)
Mag7 return
Been up since apr 21, 2008

 

[t316]

That's a lot of inventory for a tank less than one month old. One possibility is that you are overloading the system to rapidly. Your tank has not even stabilized yet. Are you putting these fish in a QT tank before adding them to your display tank? How did you acclimate the fish?

 

[aquaknight]

Sounds like two seperate issues. Seems like the Powder Blue came down with Ich and died (all the little white spots). Secondly, if your tank has only been up since April 21, 2008, meaning that's when you first added water and rock, it's far too young to handle a sudden load of two tangs. That's where the ammonia and nitrates are from.
I would suspect something might be up with your test kit for pH. I would stopped buffering, and buy another one (SeaChem, ELOS, Sailfert).

 

[rzande1]

The tank had actually cycled in a week and a half originally due to all the live stuff i put in. I was putting in stuff a week at a time so space it out. cuc was first then clowns then power blue with two lawnmowers and recently the yellow tang. Quaranteen was not an option for me. I was barely allowed to get this tank much less another tank for that. It simply is not an option for me. I float in the tank and slowly add tank water till bag is full.

 

[crimzy]

This is called a cycle. Do a quick search for more info. The real bad news is that it will get worse in your tank before it gets better. Good luck.

 

[mr.clownfish]

ur calcium is a little high. 450 is perfect

 

[t316]

I understand what you are saying about the QT. Don't buy anymore livestock right now. Let your tank settle down and stabilize. A bigger issue for you, is the ick that is now in your display tank (assuming that's what the white spots were on your PB, and seeing how you acclimate, it probably was). Do some research on here about ick. Unfortunately, you will never get it out of your tank with all of those fish in there, unless you set up a QT, or return the fish.

 

[srfisher17]

A dead fish will also quickly increase ammonia and nitrite. A PB tang is one of the last fish I would get if I couldn't QT; they don't acclimate easily and are very likely to carry parasites from the lfs to your DT. Also, they can really take a dislike to other tangs and IMO, your tank is too small for a PB, and way too small for two tangs. Sorry for your loss; I'd do a lot of research before adding any more fish. I hate to continue with bad news; but if it was ich (probably was, PBs are very prone to get it); all your fish are at risk. I'd suggest you read this thread about ich, from this forum, and watch things closely. Ask for help as you need it; this forum, IMO, is the best place to find it. There's a lot of great info on this thread, the ich info is a ways down. https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007

 

[mr. limpid]

Let me first sorry to hear of your loss. I have been where you are at, I lost 6 fish do to ich and not having QT. First thing please set up QT tank you must have room somewhere for a 10gal tank thats all you need for one fish. Second the bad news you have just introduced ich into your DT, your yellow tang will be next to get ick. You'll need to set up the 10 gal for all your srimp, crabs and snail. And use the DT as you hospital tank Hypo is the way to go. And if anyone woried about the criters on the live rock they will survive, I had my DT in hypo for 6weeks straight and know after 2 months I'm finding copods in the over flow filter pads. Third and last is the health and well being of your fish. We all love fish thats why we are keeping them. But if you tring to keep fish that will not thrive and be happy in the inviroment that you are providing for them, then dosn't that defeat the purpose of keeping them. Yes they will live for awhile but soon the will not. Different fish need different inviroments please research and ask question B4 you buy. Not trying to be mean just want you to have health tank and enjoy watch them. Good Luck

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by rzande1
http:///forum/post/2610806
The tank had actually cycled in a week and a half originally due to all the live stuff i put in. I was putting in stuff a week at a time so space it out. cuc was first then clowns then power blue with two lawnmowers and recently the yellow tang. Quaranteen was not an option for me. I was barely allowed to get this tank much less another tank for that. It simply is not an option for me. I float in the tank and slowly add tank water till bag is full.
There is no way to add "live sand" without most of it dying, just from it being distrupted and if you bought the 'live sand' in bagged form, that's been around the ringer a time or two. Also unless the LFS sold you live rock and bagged it full of water, there will be some die-off, even a 15min trip from the LFS.
If you can't quarantine, nor have a big enough tank for a Powder Blue, you definitely should have taken a different route for what fish you planned on keeping.

 

[rzande1]

This is crazy already. I go from a nightmare 29 gallon that everything just endlessly died. Now I have this same thing with my new dt. I got home and one of my lawnmower bennies has croaked. One of my cleaner shrimp was going to town "cleaning up". I am getting to the point of just ripping everything apart and quitting with this stupid hobby. I have kept fish for at least 15 years now and this is the first time I am actually at the point of just saying this is stupid and a waste.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by rzande1
http:///forum/post/2610893
This is crazy already. I go from a nightmare 29 gallon that everything just endlessly died. Now I have this same thing with my new dt. I got home and one of my lawnmower bennies has croaked. One of my cleaner shrimp was going to town "cleaning up". I am getting to the point of just ripping everything apart and quitting with this stupid hobby. I have kept fish for at least 15 years now and this is the first time I am actually at the point of just saying this is stupid and a waste.
Why not take the time to learn whats causing the problems? I understand frustration; but its hard to blame the hobby when you haven't done your homework. Two minutes( not lfs advice)of research would tell you that a PB tang is a very poor choice to add to your set up,for several reasons...especially without QT. I don't mean to be harsh, but something just sounds wrong. 15 years in the hobby and you don't know ich when you see it? (assuming that's what it is) I doubt that any book on SW fishkeeping has ever been published that doesn't have warnings and pictures of this parasite...and its a very common topic on this forum.

 

[crimzy]

Wow is this frustrating to read. Your tank did NOT cycle in a week, it's cycling now... Fully stocked. Ich is NOT killing your fish, your impatience is! Your ammonia spike will probably kill everything in your tank.
This is not bad luck, it's called human error... Learn from it!

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2611047
Wow is this frustrating to read. Your tank did NOT cycle in a week, it's cycling now... Fully stocked. Ich is NOT killing your fish, your impatience is! Your ammonia spike will probably kill everything in your tank.
This is not bad luck, it's called human error... Learn from it!
Yeah, I missed the start-up date;I just noticed from another post that it was new...but not that new.

 

[ophiura]

I am sad to say you have a young, overstocked tank and you are "reactionary" which would be normal when you see animals suffering - of course - but typically causes more trouble than help.
For example, adding buffer when your pH was 8.0 was a big mistake. 8.0 is fine, first off, and you did not test alkalinity. Just adding buffer may not help pH and in fact can cause serious problems.
PATIENCE is critical in this hobby and no amount of money can buy it. So I am afraid you will have to slow down and learn from these problems (and you can learn...because there are problems)...or will be doomed to repeat it. People here will be happy to help you straighten things out, but you must be patient and listen to get it.
Your fish are dying because the tank is FAR too young for them - certainly for a powder blue tang, one of the most delicate fish you can get. It is (IMO) unsuitable for the tank size to begin with...but definitely the tank was way to immature to house one as well. Even then, those with big tanks and mature tanks frequently watch them die.
Please slow down, because only then will you find success in this hobby

 

[spiderwoman]

I don't have much to add to the above. If I were you I'd take the remaining fish back to the LFS for them to hold on to. They will most likely not survive the end of the cycle. You still have ammonia and nitrite in your tank and that is bad for your living things.
The best advice that can be given to you is SLOW DOWN and do your research. Patience is the best thing you can give your tank.

 

[barngirl]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2611047
Wow is this frustrating to read. Your tank did NOT cycle in a week, it's cycling now... Fully stocked. Ich is NOT killing your fish, your impatience is! Your ammonia spike will probably kill everything in your tank.
This is not bad luck, it's called human error... Learn from it!
It is TRUE!!!
Take it with the "GRAIN" of saltwater...

 

[rzande1]

See that is the issue. I already had my ammonia spike and my nitrite spike. That happened already. I watched it go up with my dead shrimp to 1 and then I pulled it out just like other threads have said. I watched the nitrite go up to 6 and they dropped to zero.

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by rzande1
http:///forum/post/2610806
The tank had actually cycled in a week and a half originally due to all the live stuff i put in.
I must be missing something. Earlier you said that you cycled by putting a lot of "live stuff" in the tank. Now you are saying you cycled with a dead shrimp. Something's amiss here.
Irrespective of your methods, you should read up a bit about cycling. Cycling is the process by which you introduce ammonia into the tank so that beneficial bacteria can develop that break the ammonia down into nitrites. More bacteria breaks down the nitrite into nitrates. The amount of beneficial bacteria is generally referred to as the biological filter, or bioload. In your tank, even if you did get spikes, you did not develop enough bacteria to break down the waste of this stock when added over 3 weeks.
2 cleaner shrimp
2 fire shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp
6 Large Turbos
11 Narcillis snails
2 false clowns
1 yellow tang
2 lawnmower bennies
1 powder blue tang
Not sure why you claim to have spaced everything one per week. It's pretty clear this wasn't done. After your "week and a half cycle", you added 6 fish in 10 or 12 days. When you add the fish slowly, you allow more bacteria to grow that can accomodate more fish. Adding too many fish this quickly creates more ammonia than can be broken down.
You also mention that you have corals. Do some reading next time. Sounds to me as if you decided what you wanted to do regardless and simply want to justify the mistake. There is no shortcut here. Accept that and use it in your future decisions.

 

[rzande1]

Ok here is an update. My coral was looking like mega crap. ONe of the polups was even melting off. Now as the numbers work themselves out it seems like it is coming back very slowly. I did a 33 gallon change of water and that seemed to revitalize everything. My fish are doing great and the snails are doiing their thing. One of two fireshrimp shed its shell and I havent see it for a day. The other is doing its thing along with the coral banded shrimp. I did notice that my yellow tang and my two clownfish stay together like crazy. Most of the day I would say they are no more than 4 inchs apart at any point in time.
Alkalnity 4.25
PH 8.1
salanity 1.027-1.028
temp 80
ammonia .5
nitrite .25
nitrate 20
calcium 520
phosphate 0
copper 0