Tank Crash? All fish dead, corals are very not happy

[kahjun896]

Hi Guys,

I have a around 80 gal bare bottom tank, which was up running for allmost 2 months. All my fishes was in for at least 3 weeks and the corals were slowly added, corals i had were just like 10+ frags of zoas and around 6 frags of assorted LPS with 2 colony of birdnest SPS . All of the corals are doing and so are my 2 damsels and 5 Yellow tangs, feeding fine. it was until yesterday night i did a thorough scrapping of the tank, and boom today the fishes seems lethargic at morning and not swimming well, it was so bad that 1 of the yellow tang was sucked to the wavemaker. I then transferred all the yellow tangs to one of my old tank, but all 5 of them did not made it, they all went dead 1 by 1 hours later, what i could observe on the tangs is they seems to be gasping for breath and on the ground...later that night my 2 springeri's damsel did not make it either, what i found on the damsels are somewhat signs bitten tails and fins..

I did test for ammonia using Salifert's test kit, and they were 0, no3 was at 10 and po4 almost undetectable, did not test for nitrite as i don't have the test kit. All my corals are closed up, including my hardy zoa frags, the lps had some tissue recession which i transferred to my other tank.

Did some water change and added activated carbon, but the zoas are still closed up..

My snails and reef abalone are still alive thou, and i'm still observing copepods alive on the glasses

Anyone could help to identify what could be a possible cause ? is it nitrite ? I am having no idea what could have done this over night...

 

[Jekyl]

Can you explain your quarantine method? 5 tangs in a small tank which are usually culprits for illness is my concern.

 

[KQuillan]

You had all these fish in a new tank? The tank isn't ready for all of this load. Five tangs in a 80 gallon tank alone isn't going to work.

 

[KQuillan]

Do you have a test kit to test alk, ca?

 

[MnFish1]

Snails are the least likely to die from a problem like this - which sounds like either low oxygen or another toxin. Are you using activated carbon? can you send a picture of the tank?/

 

[Tamberav]

Nitrite is not toxic to fish.

The breathing sounds like lack of oxygen or disease. The corals being closed up could just be coincidence potentially.

5 yellow tangs in an 80 was is not going to work long term, not sure if this is a grow out or what not.

What sort of filtration and flow do you have?

 

[MnFish1]

You had all these fish in a new tank? The tank isn't ready for all of this load. Five tangs in a 80 gallon tank alone isn't going to work.

this is nog necessarily correct, depending on the size of the fish. But - it does seem like a lot for a nw-ish tank

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi Guys,

I have a around 80 gal bare bottom tank, which was up running for allmost 2 months. All my fishes was in for at least 3 weeks and the corals were slowly added, corals i had were just like 10+ frags of zoas and around 6 frags of assorted LPS with 2 colony of birdnest SPS . All of the corals are doing and so are my 2 damsels and 5 Yellow tangs, feeding fine. it was until yesterday night i did a thorough scrapping of the tank, and boom today the fishes seems lethargic at morning and not swimming well, it was so bad that 1 of the yellow tang was sucked to the wavemaker. I then transferred all the yellow tangs to one of my old tank, but all 5 of them did not made it, they all went dead 1 by 1 hours later, what i could observe on the tangs is they seems to be gasping for breath and on the ground...later that night my 2 springeri's damsel did not make it either, what i found on the damsels are somewhat signs bitten tails and fins..

I did test for ammonia using Salifert's test kit, and they were 0, no3 was at 10 and po4 almost undetectable, did not test for nitrite as i don't have the test kit. All my corals are closed up, including my hardy zoa frags, the lps had some tissue recession which i transferred to my other tank.

Did some water change and added activated carbon, but the zoas are still closed up..

My snails and reef abalone are still alive thou, and i'm still observing copepods alive on the glasses

Anyone could help to identify what could be a possible cause ? is it nitrite ? I am having no idea what could have done this over night...

Bioload is likely the issue and oxygen .
How are the tanks filtered and with corals affected, it reduces the likelihood of disease being the culprit but rather the water conditions itself despite the readings you have howwever with inverts alive and well, the gasping, lethargy all point to either velvet or flukes.
With velvet, you will see
fish will scratch body against hard objects, lethargic behavior, Loss of appetite and weight loss, Rapid, labored breathing, Fins clamped against the body, and typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium.
Ich always shows spots at first. They are less visible in some species, and long term, the spots coalesce into mucus, but it is never seen in just the gills. After flukes, bacterial gill disease is probably the second most common of these symptoms.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

........

 

[TBSB2019]

Possible contaminant on hands/scraper?

 

[kahjun896]

The tank is set as a frag tank, and the tangs are 1.5 inch max in size biota, only for temporary loading.

For filtration, i am having a reef mat 1200, with 1 brightwell no3 brick , 3L sera siporax , 4L seachem matrix as the media, skimmer rated up to 220 gal

since the tank is not loaded much with corals currently, the alk is maintained ~9 , i don't think calc / mag would be the cause causing the coral to be not happy so i did not test for that but it should be within range as i am dosing AFR

as for flow, i am using a maxspect gyre xf330 and a jebao gyre 1800gal/h tuned at 70/85% , using a 2600gal return pump at 65% ,

water surface agitation should be ok, it's a 4ft x 2ft x 1ft tank , i did test for ph using salifert test kit, it's showing 8-8.2.

A fellow friend of my pointed that it could be soap on the new tank, but since the tank has been running for almost 2 months, if the tank had soap stain in it, wouldn't the tank crash earlier causing the fish and corals to die at an earlier stage ? at current point, i have transferred out most of the LPS, only zoas, birdnest, rainbow chalice and a plate coral are still in, they are still not happy as i observe

For the yellow tangs, i am observing them everyday, the day before they are still actively feeding, did not notice and ich/white spots on them.

 

[MnFish1]

The tank is set as a frag tank, and the tangs are 1.5 inch max in size biota, only for temporary loading.

For filtration, i am having a reef mat 1200, with 1 brightwell no3 brick , 3L sera siporax , 4L seachem matrix as the media, skimmer rated up to 220 gal

since the tank is not loaded much with corals currently, the alk is maintained ~9 , i don't think calc / mag would be the cause causing the coral to be not happy so i did not test for that but it should be within range as i am dosing AFR

as for flow, i am using a maxspect gyre xf330 and a jebao gyre 1800gal/h tuned at 70/85% , using a 2600gal return pump at 65% ,

water surface agitation should be ok, it's a 4ft x 2ft x 1ft tank , i did test for ph using salifert test kit, it's showing 8-8.2.

A fellow friend of my pointed that it could be soap on the new tank, but since the tank has been running for almost 2 months, if the tank had soap stain in it, wouldn't the tank crash earlier causing the fish and corals to die at an earlier stage ? at current point, i have transferred out most of the LPS, only zoas, birdnest, rainbow chalice and a plate coral are still in, they are still not happy as i observe

For the yellow tangs, i am observing them everyday, the day before they are still actively feeding, did not notice and ich/white spots on them.

The usual comment is that if both corals and fish are affected - especially if no symptoms on the fish (i.e. spots, etc) - a toxin is more likely. This does not rule out a disease. FWIW, I would either add activated carbon to your filtration to help mitigate any toxins, and would leave that tank fallow in case it's a disease. I would also - just to be sure - treat any remaining fish with copper/prazipro per protocol

 

[kahjun896]

The usual comment is that if both corals and fish are affected - especially if no symptoms on the fish (i.e. spots, etc) - a toxin is more likely. This does not rule out a disease. FWIW, I would either add activated carbon to your filtration to help mitigate any toxins, and would leave that tank fallow in case it's a disease. I would also - just to be sure - treat any remaining fish with copper/prazipro per protocol

Yea that's what i could think off too, is activated carbon enough? how long can the carbon last before it needs to be replaced ?

Am still leaving some coral frags and zoas there just so i could observe if the water quality are back to normal. hoping that i would not need to reset the tank..

 

[MnFish1]

Yea that's what i could think off too, is activated carbon enough? how long can the carbon last before it needs to be replaced ?

Am still leaving some coral frags and zoas there just so i could observe if the water quality are back to normal. hoping that i would not need to reset the tank..

I think a good quality carbon would be a good idea - whether it's 'enough' is hard to say 'for sure'. I would definitely use it