My tank is going up in smoke-Please help!

[clschaefer23]

I just read Beth's post on how to properly post on this specific board so I hope I get it right. First off, I have had a 55 gallon tank set up now for about 6 months. I have a Whisper 170 filter(I think that's right), a 6 inch dsb, and about 40 pounds of live rock. I don't have water readings to post. I don't have a test kit but I do have test strips for nitrates and ammonia. I had 2 damsils, a fuzzy dwarf, snowflake eel, Yellow Tang, and a honeycomb puffer. I also have various hermits and snails who seem to be unfazed. I know we are supposed to qt our new fish but I must admit that I don't do this. Keep in mind these fish were added over the course of the last 6 months, not all at the same time. My latest addition(and what was to be my last) was the Yellow Tang. He has been in the tank for about a month now. Anyways, a couple of days ago my lion starts to look sickly(whiteish looking with cloudy eyes). I do water changes about every month . I took a reading and they were very high. I immediately did a 25% water change and the lion looked better. I did another reading and the readings were still high. I again did a 25% water change about 1 hour later and then went to sleep. The next day the lion still looked bad and my two damsils were starting to look the same way. I freaked out and did a 40% water change. The readings at that point were good but the 3 fish still looked bad. Since then, the damsils(Pookey and Ray-Ray-god bless em') are dead and the lion might be next. I have read several posts on high nitrates and the effects(labored breathing and cloudy eyes) and this seams to be the case but now the puffer and tang appear to be sick. Not sure if anyone can help me here. Does anone have info on contagious diseases? I am thinking that the tang might have given the rest something?

 

[beth]

Nitrates is not going to cause this problem. Are you talking about NitrAtes? With and "A" or NitrItes, with an "I". Nitrites can be lethel.
Look on your test kits and make sure you carefully read the box label.
Give me your ammonia reading as well as your nitrite reading. That is nitrite with the "i" not "a".
Have any deaths in your tank resently, besides the ones you know about already?

 

[clschaefer23]

Let's see...actually the test strip bottle says nitrate/nitrite. I don't get it? I know this might sound stupid but is nitrate and nitrites the same thing? But now that I look at the bottle, I do notice nitrite and nitrate's are different. God, I am a bonehead...based on my readings my nitrites were at .5, and my nitrates were 40. My amonia is safe at .25. I can already hear the replies to this post..."gotta do your homework!" Alright so those are my readings after 3 water changes. Now my puffer is critical but my tang is doing fine. To update the situation-2 damsils down, 2 fish critically ill, and 1 steady yellow tang. Again, do you think that maybe the tang had something? Forgot about the eel. He appears to fine as well. No one else has died recently to cause a spike. The only thing that I can think of is around the same time that I got the tang(about a month now), there was a rash of red algae that caused a good portion of my sand bed to turn red. I also noticed that some of my live rock developed clear like tubular things. I know that's a little vague but....they started with one rock and eventually spread. They then appeared to die but remnants of them are still on my galss and rocks. Could the die off have caused a spike? I am writing a book here. Any thoughts?

 

[clschaefer23]

I do feed the lion guppies about every other day. The other fish usually the same with a diet of krill and something I bought named "Marine Cuisine". The tang gets Fomula 2 flakes and algae selects. I had a problem with high nitrates about a year ago and a few fish died from what I thought was overfeeding. I try to feed only 4 times a week. I am pretty sure now that this might not be good eneough for the puffer. The measurements are: Tang-3", puffer-1.5", damsils(r.i.p.) were a combined 3". The lion is about 4". Is that overstocking? Like I said before, I didn't add these all at the same time. The damsils were fish that I have had for 3 years now and they were the only tankmates for a couple of months and the rest were added slowly. This is all very frustrating for me. I sound like a rookie here but I thought after 3 years, I had a firm grip on this hobby. Guess again!

 

[clschaefer23]

Alright, here's an update: after everything the puffer and tang appear to be doing well. The lion still appears to be stressed. His eyes are cloudy and his breathing is labored. He has had these symptoms now for 3 days and he continues to struggle. By the looks, it doesn't look like he's going to make it. As far as feeding lions goes, I know what your saying. From what I have been told lions will only eat feeder fish unless they are introduced early. He will eat krill when desperate but he doesn't eat much. My general feeling is that the feeder fish and algae blum caused a spike. I do change the media filters when I do the water changes monthly. One last idea is that my lfs told me that if the sand is not vacuumed and sifted regularly, this can cause big problems. I really haven't touched the sand in the 6 months the tank has been up. Could this be the problem? Water conditions are back to normal.