Please help urgently!!! Fish Dead

[sterlingace]

I have no idea what is going on and Im desperate to save my fish.I have been keeping fresh for 8years and started marines at the end of January.I currently have 3 setups:
100gal Reef setup:
5 Common Clown
2 Green Chromis
1 Coral Beauty Angel
1 Midnight Dwarf Angel
1 Royal Grammar
1 Yellow Tang
2 Bangaii Cardinal
2 Fire fish Magnifica
1 Decorated Firefish
1 Rocket Goby
2 Hermit Crabs
2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Fire Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Decorator Crab
4 Turbo Snails
50kg Live Rock
Water:
23.7C
pH 8
SG 1.022
NO3 0
NO2 0
GH >16d
KH 10d
55gal FOWLR
2 Lionfish Volitans
1 Zebra Eel
1 Tesselated eel
1 Marine Betta
7kg Live Rock
23.4C
pH 8
NO3 25
NO2 0
GH 16d
KH 3-6
SG 1.021
43gal FO
Niger Trigger
2kg Live Rock
NO3 less than 10
NO2 0
pH 8.2
SG 1.027
Temp 26C
GH 16d
KH 6-10
Now to my problem,on Monday the black lion started developing a cloudy eye.I did a 50% water change and added epsom salt.The next day his eye looked 50% better,but I still did a 25% wc and added epsom salt.Yesterday both his eyes were completely white,did another 25% wc.This morning I found him dead.

Just did another 50% wc and added some sera products.I know this is a very small setup for them but I have a external canister filter and an internal filter running.Also This weekend Im going to look at a 410gal tank to buy for them.
Also this morning I found my midnight angel lying on the bottom gasping and a few hours later he was also dead.
This afternoon I was planning on selling the trigger because he is aggresive and I wont be able to keep him in a small setup.As I was talking I placed a finger against the glass and like usual he tried to attack it.About 6hours later I found him dead underneath the filter with no obvious signs of illness.
All of the fish have been eating well,this is what I feed them : Hake fillet,octopus,squid,mussels,crab,bloodworms,lance fish,shrimp and prawns.The trigger and the FO setup only get fed every second or 3rd day.Does anybody have any idea what is going and what can I do to prevent any more deaths?

 

[beth]

Way too many fish for both tanks. Tangs, lions, betta, and different eels is so over the top or what your tanks can handle.
Also, epson salt? Why are you doing this? Stop adding "cures" to your marine tank. You just can't dump chemicals into a marine tank. I'd suggesting doing small water changes daily over the next week, with water that has been aged (mixed with sea salt for at least 2 days before adding to your tanks. Don't use any meds, or cures in your tank. See about thinning out the population.

 

[sterlingace]

Luckily the tank size issue will be sorted out this weekend since I'm going to buy a 410gal in which the tang,eels,lion and betta are going to live in.The epsom salt was the only consistent remedy that I could find on the web that would/could help with the cloudy eye.Also I have been doing daily water changes for the whole week and I intend on keeping this up until I have the new tank up and running.I have about 500gal of aged and mixed water on standby.The "chemicals" that I added was Sera Ammovec and Sera Aquamarin which is a water conditioner,helps alleviate stress and protects the mucous membrane of the fish.
If I cant use any cures or meds what should I do that I'm not already doing?Sit back and wait for them to die.Maybe it's just me but try to be less harsh in the future.Like I said I know the setup is over stocked and I did say that I am getting a larger setup.Also concerning the predator setup,the lion is only 6",betta 3.2",tesselated 16" and the zebra is 40".S atleast I dont have fully grown fish in a tiny setup.

 

[sepulatian]

I am glad that you are getting a larger set up for these fish. Beth was not being harsh toward you. You made a classic mistake that a lot of people that are new to salt make. You added way too many fish too quickly. Some of the fish on your list require a lot of swimming room (tang, trigger, lions), others require aged tanks with at least 100 or so lbs of mature LR. They are the angels, tang, and marine beta. New tanks have a lot of fluctuations. How did you cycle these tanks? Most people add one fish every two weeks or so. This gives the biological filtration time to cope with the added bioload. There is not much you can do until you get your larger tank other than keep doing the water changes. If you can sell some of the fish or see if your LFS will hold some for you, that would help out a lot. When you set up the 410 it would help you if you could buy about40lbs or more of very mature LR from somewhere. Some of your fish need to be able to graze on the rock in addition to eating the prepared foods. As for the health of your fish, what kind of filtation do you have on these tanks? How much water flow? Pop eye is a common ailment and does not need chemicals to be treated.It comes from lack of nutrition, poor water quality, or from damage due to scraping it off of a rock or the fish being netted. It clears by itself with proper water quality and by adding vitamines to the fish's diet. I noticed in your list of foods that they are all meat. Some of your fish require vegetation. You can buy nori sheets in a supermaret (dried seaweed used to wrap sushi) and add that to the tank. If the fish do not have a proper diet their immune system will be lowered and they will not be able to fight off minor infections by themselves.

 

[renogaw]

adding epsom salt is a way to DIY raise your magnesium and is not a cure for salt fish. You probably raised your mag so much you threw your PH or ALK out of whack, resulting in killing some of your already fragile fish.
beth's reaction was not harsh, its just you are feeling frustrated about loss of life and i can see how you could think it. adding medication to your tank could be insanely detrimental due to the biological filtration.
if you use antibacterial meds in your tank, you'll kill off beneficial bacteria that break down the ammonia/nitrites as well, causing your rock (hopefully you have some) to die off, causing ammonia/nitrite spike, causing death to your tank.

 

[beth]

Ace, if you are investing in a tank that large, then use your smaller tank as a quarantine tank. You just can not be in this hobby and have fish with any piece of mind without first quarantining fish.
Check out the info on quarantine here

 

[sterlingace]

Ok my apologies Beth.Thanks for all the info guys.The reef setup was at my local lfs up and running for about 3months.We took it apart but kept the filter media,live rock and all the gravel/sand wet.The trip to my house took about 1.5min.We also kept the water from the tank and added that.I still let it cycle for about a month by adding a little bit of food every day.Then when I setup the other 2 tanks I let their filters run in the main setup for 2 weeks and used some seeded gravel from the main tank.I never added more than 4 small fish every 2weeks to the main setup. Luckily I didnt add any antibacterial meds.
Sorry I forgot to add that I also feed a marine mix from the lfs that has plankton and algea and other plant matter in it.

 

[sterlingace]

Yes I will be using the 43gal as a quarantine setup. I went to look at the setup which is very nice.The dimensions are 120"x26"x32" Would this be ok for the lion,eels,betta and tang?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by SterlingAce
Yes I will be using the 43gal as a quarantine setup. I went to look at the setup which is very nice.The dimensions are 120"x26"x32" Would this be ok for the lion,eels,betta and tang?
That tank will be wonderful for those fish! They will be extremely happy in there. Did or do you work at an lfs? How are the other tanks doing? I am glad to see that you are feeding your fish a variety of foods. That is very imporant. How is the fish with the pop eye/ cloudy eye doing?