Fish Died - What to do now?

[PeterG]

I have a fairly new 90 gal mixed reef tank; started up in August. Lost a couple of fish along the way but everything doing well for the most part. In the past 2 days I’ve had two Tangs, a Kole and a Powder Grey, die within 24 hrs of each other. I purchased them less than 2 two weeks ago from a lfs other than my go-to guy. This store came highly recommended by a good friend who has worked with them for some 30 yrs. I did not put the new additions into QT. I noticed the Kole in distress on Sat. morning and removed him to a small tank where he died while I was trying to ID what was ailing him using the Fish Disease Index Pictorial Guide here on R2R. I could find nothing out of the ordinary. No spots, no torn fins or missing scales, no bruising or swelling or discoloration. Nothing. Prior to Saturday, his behavior was normal, he was a bit shy but came out at feeding time.
The Powder Grey was acting normally on Saturday, mingling with the other fish, swimming around and eating. On Sunday morning he was in deep distress, swimming irregularly and floundering before sinking to the bottom. By the time I netted him, he was gone. I examined him for some sign of illness or injury and again nothing.

Everyone else in the tank is behaving normally and show no signs of anything being wrong. My questions: First of all any ideas as to what might have affected these two? Secondly should I do anything in the tank preemptively? Dose some medication? If so what?

I know I should QT all new fish. I’m new to the hobby and have not gotten around to buying a second setup to act as a QT tank. All water readings and live-stock population are listed below. I appreciate any & all input.

Water parameters:

pH - 8.2; Salinity - 1.023; Nitrates - < 2ppm; Nitrites - 0ppm; Ammonia - <.2; Alkalinity - 8.3dKH; Calcium - 425ppm; Magnesium - 1240; Phosphates - <.03ppm

CURRENT FISH POPULATION:
2 – Banggai Cardinals
1 Serpent Star Fish
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Orbic (Pajama) Cardinals
2 Firefish
2 Ocellaris Clown Fish
1 Purple Firefish
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Coral Beauty Angel


20 Assorted Snails
15 Reg Leg Hermit Crabs
6 Tiger Sand Conch

CURRENT CORAL POPULATION:

Cespitularia Soft Coral
Discosoma Mushroom
Hairy Mushroom
Green Star Polyp
Frogspawn
Nuclear Green Grande Palythoa
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea (SPS)
Stylopora (SPS)
Zonanthid (Soft)
Favites Pentagona “War Coral” (LPS)
Duncan Coral (LPS)
Trumpet Coral (LPS)
Montipora (SPS)
Acropora – Green Slimer (SPS)

 

[rockstarta78]

Sorry for your loss. Don't take it the wrong way, but 90g is not big enough for 1 tang (btw I am not a tang police), let alone 2. Plus, you already have way too many fishes for a 90g tank, and your ammonia is tad high. It should read 0 but <0.2 is not too bad per se. Now I wonder what your ammonia level was when you lost those 2 tangs. Your tank hasn't matured enough to handle the bio load. If you really want to add a tang, I'd wait until the tang is at least year old, and even then add a smaller tang. You have to consider tang aggression as well. With the bio load you have, the tang will have very little room to swim which will aggravate the tang. IMHO, I'd stay away from tang for anything less than 150g. Just my thought.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have a fairly new 90 gal mixed reef tank; started up in August. Lost a couple of fish along the way but everything doing well for the most part. In the past 2 days I’ve had two Tangs, a Kole and a Powder Grey, die within 24 hrs of each other. I purchased them less than 2 two weeks ago from a lfs other than my go-to guy. This store came highly recommended by a good friend who has worked with them for some 30 yrs. I did not put the new additions into QT. I noticed the Kole in distress on Sat. morning and removed him to a small tank where he died while I was trying to ID what was ailing him using the Fish Disease Index Pictorial Guide here on R2R. I could find nothing out of the ordinary. No spots, no torn fins or missing scales, no bruising or swelling or discoloration. Nothing. Prior to Saturday, his behavior was normal, he was a bit shy but came out at feeding time.
The Powder Grey was acting normally on Saturday, mingling with the other fish, swimming around and eating. On Sunday morning he was in deep distress, swimming irregularly and floundering before sinking to the bottom. By the time I netted him, he was gone. I examined him for some sign of illness or injury and again nothing.

Everyone else in the tank is behaving normally and show no signs of anything being wrong. My questions: First of all any ideas as to what might have affected these two? Secondly should I do anything in the tank preemptively? Dose some medication? If so what?

I know I should QT all new fish. I’m new to the hobby and have not gotten around to buying a second setup to act as a QT tank. All water readings and live-stock population are listed below. I appreciate any & all input.

Water parameters:

pH - 8.2; Salinity - 1.023; Nitrates - < 2ppm; Nitrites - 0ppm; Ammonia - <.2; Alkalinity - 8.3dKH; Calcium - 425ppm; Magnesium - 1240; Phosphates - <.03ppm

CURRENT FISH POPULATION:
2 – Banggai Cardinals
1 Serpent Star Fish
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Orbic (Pajama) Cardinals
2 Firefish
2 Ocellaris Clown Fish
1 Purple Firefish
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Coral Beauty Angel


20 Assorted Snails
15 Reg Leg Hermit Crabs
6 Tiger Sand Conch

CURRENT CORAL POPULATION:

Cespitularia Soft Coral
Discosoma Mushroom
Hairy Mushroom
Green Star Polyp
Frogspawn
Nuclear Green Grande Palythoa
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea (SPS)
Stylopora (SPS)
Zonanthid (Soft)
Favites Pentagona “War Coral” (LPS)
Duncan Coral (LPS)
Trumpet Coral (LPS)
Montipora (SPS)
Acropora – Green Slimer (SPS)

How did you acclimate them to your system? Was there any evidence that the coral beauty was picking on them? 90 Gallons is not big enough to have two tangs and a coral beauty, and she may have become territorial.

 

[PeterG]

Sorry for your loss. Don't take it the wrong way, but 90g is not big enough for 1 tang (btw I am not a tang police), let alone 2. Plus, you already have way too many fishes for a 90g tank, and your ammonia is tad high. It should read 0 but <0.2 is not too bad per se. Now I wonder what your ammonia level was when you lost those 2 tangs. Your tank hasn't matured enough to handle the bio load. If you really want to add a tang, I'd wait until the tang is at least year old, and even then add a smaller tang. You have to consider tang aggression as well. With the bio load you have, the tang will have very little room to swim which will aggravate the tang. IMHO, I'd stay away from tang for anything less than 150g. Just my thought.

Thanks for your input. I showed the LFS guy my list of inhabitants. Wish he had advised against adding a tang although he did say these tangs were smaller than most and should be OK. I'll keep an eye on the ammonia. I'll using the red sea ammonia test kit and it always shows slighly darker than 0 but lighter than .2.

How did you acclimate them to your system? Was there any evidence that the coral beauty was picking on them? 90 Gallons is not big enough to have two tangs and a coral beauty, and she may have become territorial.

Acclimated them to water & temp over a period of approx 1 hr (hanging them in water and then changing out small quantities with tank water. Coral beauty showed no signs of aggression at all. Also the tangs were larger than the coral beauty.