Losing everything!

[jeff31293]

150 gallon new tank was set up and cycled with bottled ammonia for a month. After a month, added a Foxface and scopas tang. Several weeks later, added a powder blue tang, pair of clownfish, and a melanuras wrasse. During that time I also added a clean up crew and several small coral frags.

The corals all appear to be thriving but yesterday I lost one clown, the powder blue tang, and scopas tang. Checked ammonia and it was through the roof! Did a 30% water change yesterday evening and ammonia had dropped to almost 0. Woke up today to another dead clown! Once again the ammonia has spiked.

All water parameters seem good besides the ammonia spike. I can confirm there are no hidden dead fish rotting away. I’m assuming I added fish to quickly and my tank is recycling?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

150 gallon new tank was set up and cycled with bottled ammonia for a month. After a month, added a Foxface and scopas tang. Several weeks later, added a powder blue tang, pair of clownfish, and a melanuras wrasse. During that time I also added a clean up crew and several small coral frags.

The corals all appear to be thriving but yesterday I lost one clown, the powder blue tang, and scopas tang. Checked ammonia and it was through the roof! Did a 30% water change yesterday evening and ammonia had dropped to almost 0. Woke up today to another dead clown! Once again the ammonia has spiked.

All water parameters seem good besides the ammonia spike. I can confirm there are no hidden dead fish rotting away. I’m assuming I added fish to quickly and my tank is recycling?

Welcome to Reef2Reef and sorry for your trouble!

For clarification here, did you add just ammonia, or did you add bottled bacteria too? (If so, what bacteria did you use?) Did you check the ammonia levels before adding the foxface and scopas?

How long were the powder blue, clowns, and wrasse in the tank before they died?

How high exactly is "through the roof" ammonia?

What (if any) disease preps/Quarantine methods did you use? Did you notice any aggression, fast breathing, white spots, gasping at the surface, swimming into the flow in the tank, etc.?

What equipment do you have in the tank to move the water (pumps, powerheads, filters, skimmers, etc.)?