yellow tang death

[medic]

hey everyone, im new to this site but have been keeping salt for about 4 years now, i just started keeping corals and putting reef supplements into my tank, after the first dose my yellow tank died over night, i checked all possible problems gravity, etc and nothing, i had purchased the fish from saltwater fish.com and was healthy, had it for about 6 months. after the initial dose of supplements it died, any ideas?

 

[bdhough]

What did you dose? And do you even have corals yet? Welcome to the world of water chemistry......

 

[sid2003]

The additives sound like a pretty concrete explanation regarding the tangs death. Sorry to hear it! Good luck with the corals just double check your measurements in the future.

 

[slofish]

What were the additives and how much did you put in over what amount of time.
BTW <WELCOME TO THE BOARD>

 

[slofish]

oops
BTW, WELCOME TO SWF.COM

 

[medic]

thanks for responding, the chems i added were reef plus vitamin and amino acid supplement, reef complete calcium, and reef carbonate raises carbonate alkalinity, all from seachem. read the instructions several times and then added them EXACTLY how i was instructed
had noticed that all my fish were breathing heavily including the tang, no others died, anymore ideas?

 

[medic]

sorry for the double replies,
yes i do have corals, leather finger, mushroom polyps, and im thinking the third is a ricordia, my lfs isnt very good w/ supplying the names, scientific or otherwise.
i added the supplements over about a 10 minute span for each chem, and for the carbonate i mixed in w/ a cup of freshwater, as directed then added over about ten minutes.
and as far as double checking the dose, no offense, im a medic, i do i.v's and give drugs, ive never given anything to a person (or a fish tank) without double and triple checking the dose befor giving.
my other fish are doing great, havent had a problem yet, just a quich run down,
heniocus, tabacco basslet, royal gramma basslet, curlyque anemones, serpant star, various hermits, and a recently rediscovered horseshoe crab. correct me if im wrong but a couple sensitive species at least who knows? anymore ideas?

 

[jb1]

didi you test before adding those supplements, because the instructions are usually nothing to go by
sorry about your loss

 

[medic]

sorry for the double replies,
yes i do have corals, leather finger, mushroom polyps, and im thinking the third is a ricordia, my lfs isnt very good w/ supplying the names, scientific or otherwise.
i added the supplements over about a 10 minute span for each chem, and for the carbonate i mixed in w/ a cup of freshwater, as directed then added over about ten minutes.
and as far as double checking the dose, no offense, im a medic, i do i.v's and give drugs, ive never given anything to a person (or a fish tank) without double and triple checking the dose befor giving.
my other fish are doing great, havent had a problem yet, just a quich run down,
heniocus, tabacco basslet, royal gramma basslet, curlyque anemones, serpant star, various hermits, and a recently rediscovered horseshoe crab. correct me if im wrong but a couple sensitive species at least who knows? anymore ideas?

 

[bdhough]

Hmmm. Interesting. Did he come over to the water streams when you did the doseings? I.E. did he think you were feeding him something and he came swimming over? Chems, i've heard, and seen, can burn a fish especially the alk's and calcium supplements. Are they powders or liquids? Maybe the tang took in a swallow of something and it burned his insides? I know the alk buffers can raise the ph quite a bit. At least i think they can. Not to mention when you dose pure calcium and pure alk you need to spread out the doseings over hours not minutes, if not days.... Thats the only thing i can think of and even that may be wrong.
No spots,discolorations, anything on the fish? Any thing around the gills? If he was burned that area would be red or look off color.....

 

[medic]

no, he didnt come to the stream when i was adding them. he just swam around like an active tang should. i guess that it was the amount of time that i didnt give in between the dosings. no crypt, or oonidum, the others ar doing just fine, just the tang that died. its been two weeks now i think since this happened, and have put in another dose and the other fish are still fine. maby just bad luck?

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by medic
...
had noticed that all my fish were breathing heavily including the tang, no others died, anymore ideas?

Sounds to me liked you either kicked off a cycle or dropped the ph. Best to check before adding anything. You could be doseing stuff that is already ok.
Hope the system and rest of the fish recover shortly.

 

[bdhough]

Then that would be it. What do you use for calcium and alk? You can throw things off pretty quick if you do them all at once. I'll agree with beaslbob nothing else seems to be the culprit.
Your ph may have tested fine but if it went from 7.8-8.2 or 8.3 in the space of a few minutes then that can kill a fish....