help identifying mystery sickness

[pureconcept]

hi im new to this hobby and have had a tank for about 2 months. i have a 100 gallon tank that finished cycling a few weeks ago. i rusged it with ammonia, bacteria solution,live rocks and live sand. i had 2 clownfish and 1 blue tang in the tank for a few weeks. the tang was there for about a week longer. the fish were healthy and eating yesterday. today when i arrived home from work 1 clown is normal (swimming eating not flashing) 1 clown was laying in the sand breathing very fast and the blue tang was hiding in the rocks breathing very fast. i did not see them acting oddly except the sick clown didnt eat alot the day before.i dont see any signs of anything. the fins are good,they have no spots or dusting, the gills arent red and there are no red streaks on the body, and there are no cloudy eyes or growths on them. within 2 hours after i arrivwd home one clown died and the tang is still hiding,often falling onto its side and breathing quickly non stop. the only new things is i made a polycarbonate lid ,i built a shelf over the tank and i forgot to turn on the filter after feeding yesterday but i still have 2 powerheads agitating the water . the lid is raised an inch along the back and i turned the filter back on when i arrived home. im baffled because it happened so fast almost like it was a poisoning but if that was the case i would think the third fish would be sick too.according to the tests of the water i ran when i got home my ph is about 8.1 the ammonia is between 0 and .25 . nitrite is at 0 and nitrate is at 5ppm. the temp is at 78 and the salinity is at 1.023.only other i am baffled by the quickness of the death,the fact that 2 out of the three are sick and the lack of behavioral or phyaical symptoms prior to today. my water quality is a bit off buyif it was water quality i wouldnt expect it to be so fast or 2 fish to get sick at the same time. they were introduced to the tank 1 week apart too.im wondering if piece of the edges of the plastic lid might have flaked off and was eaten but i dont imagine that would cause breathing issues. i considered that maybe the sheetrock debris from the shelving might be an issue but i read that its non toxic online.if it was a poison i would expect all three to get sick.
if anyone has made it to this far into my post i thank you for bearing with my ranting and for any info you may offer.
i would like to identify what may be the cause so i can decide what to do next. i am afraid of a water change because i dont want to stress the struggling tang and i dont feel its water quality.if the other clown gets sick and i lose all my fish i will go fallow for 12 weeks though i hope i dont have to do that.

 

[lelandmarine]

How long was the filter off? Why is there elevated ammonia?

 

[MarsWulf5]

Youre tank hasnt cycled completely. Sounds like an ammonia spike. You can buy an ammonia blocker for marine fish that will chelate the ammonia and make it nontoxic to the fish without an instant water change.

You are going to have to change some water and get the level down while the tank cycles.

The downside to the chemical ammonia treatment is that it will throa off your ammonia tests for a long time.

The ammonia and nitrits spike will pass. The fish will survive it - just change some water.

Also running carbon and GFO will help clean the water of toxins and phosphate.

UV sterilizer will kill any protozoa in the water - and will help manage ich if you did not quarantine for 76 days etc...

Figure out a plan of action. I would change 20%of the water... And run carbon. Need a pump (Sicce 1.5) and a single reactor or carbon and GFO mix. Running the carbon and GFO is an investment at first but worth the benefit of fish not dieing.

A UV sterilizer (40 W Pentair) and a Sicce 2.0 will for that. Also need 2 x 1.5" spigot to 3/4 female reducing bushings and 2 x 3/4" male thread barbs - and enough 3/4" vinyl tubing to make the run. The UV sterilizer is 4ft tall and mounts vertically.

I just had to blow $470 on all that becuase I saw a couple ich cysts on my fish after 10 months of quarantine battling it.

I started this a year ago... My 2nd reef tank. Its a lot the first year... A lot. Go piece by piece. Try not to get overwhelmed. You will get there.

 

[pureconcept]

the ammonia i think is because ive been overfeeding a bit the last couple days. the little ones in the house wantd to feed them and the fish have only been in the tank for a couple weeks so i figure the bacteria are catching up. i saw the nitrates spike then drop to 0 and the nitrates spike then brown algea started to form and the nitrates came down. i thought i was done cycling.
the filter was off for about 14 hours. the clown died quickly and the tang is still hiding and breathing fast with the filter on for the last 15 hours. the tank is 100 gallons and with the powerheads on i wouldnt expect 3 fish to deplete the oxygen significantly.
thanks for the info and im surprised people actually read all that to help.
i am using a canister right now but im going to order a hob overflow and a sump pump ans baffles.what is a gfo?
does a spike of ammonoa that low cause 2 of the fish to get hurt so badly at the same time and the third act normally when two are the same species? thags scary that over feeding can kill the fish so quickly.
ill look into the uv light and other stuff you mentioned mars. this hobby really os expensive to start.

 

[lelandmarine]

I wonder about the filter going anaerobic when it was off for that long and then possibly putting hydrogen sulfide into the tank when it turned back on

 

[lelandmarine]

GFO is a compound to remove phosphate. It stands for granulated ferric oxide.

 

[lelandmarine]

It is expensive hobby

 

[pureconcept]

yea it is a pricey hobby. my fiance is freaking out and i wabt to upgrade from a canister to a sump now lol.
thanks for the replies
update: the blue tang recovered already only 24 hours after the other one died. it isnt breathing hard,its exploring the tank, and it ate when fed.
as far as i can surmise. it had tp be a toxin. any parasites or sickness wouldnt progress so fast or recover so fast. i was only thinking about oxygenation when the filter was off but i realized today its also where the avticated carbon is. i also realized i havent been using gloves and i was washing my hands. maybe its the soap or something from my hands that poisoned them. the one that disbt get sick was the larger fish. so maybe without the filter caebon the toxins built up and it took the night of filtering for the tank to refresh itself. i am not sure if its from my hands but some sort of poisonong makes the most sense to me. its amazing that my tang looks loke 100 percent now

 

[lelandmarine]

Agree, good luck

 

[vetteguy53081]

Youre going to have to change water.
Speaking of water- are you using RODI or tap water ? What test kits are you using to check water quality?

Dropping in liquids like prime are alternatives- Not solutions to tank issues. This tank really needs to run fishless at least 4 weeks yet . Would pet store take tang back or even hold it for you?

HOB overflow would be ideal VS canister unit and gfo not needed for quite a while yet. Rather than carbon, run chemipure blue or elite which will rid of toxins, polish water and keep your nitrite/nitrate in check

temp 77-79
salinity 1.024-1.025
ph 8.0-8.3
ammonia < .03
Nitrate < .04

 

[pureconcept]

i brought tbe water to the fish store and they said they disnt read ammonia. i was within all those ranges except their reading for salinity was 1.020 i need to calibrate my device i guess.i was hoping i just needed some water changes since the tang is acting normal again already