Now I am become death the destroyer of “fish”

Dsdman

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I’m a bit discouraged. I set up my tank about three months ago. Started it with donor sand and an algae barn infusion. It’s a 65 with a 20 gal refuge. I have the Orbit, current marine lights and power heads. Tank cycled fine. All test parameters zero.
so first fish three green chromis. Dead in two days! Chalked it up to transport stress. Waited a week and added a small clown, and small coral beauty. All seemed well and then one morning after 4 days- all dead! Ok really! I have a clean up crew with snails and 4 hermit crabs and a conce, there are three colonies of green zoanthids and a few mushrooms, all from the donor sand. And I just saw a bristle worm last night. So waited a couple of weeks and got boreda couple weeks ago and got a small yellow tang. He hid for a day then went to town on the hair algae in my DT. He ate like a cow for a week solid and looked great. Then this weekend I’m thinking ok we are ready for more. So I got a small Flame and a small clown, and a bubble tip. The new guys are all doing well but the Tang started hiding after the first day. Two days later, today, dead. Oh yeah I got a cleaner shrimp as well. The clown cozied right up to the anemone and the shrimp stands guard. The Flame seems happy but won’t eat much, and today I did see him swipe a rock. I don’t see any visible spots on him. I’m worried though.


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ndrwater

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The yellow Tang in the picture looks super thin. Did you QT any of the fish?
Even at 3 months, the tank will still need to catch up to the new inhabitants.
Sorry for your losses, but the slower you go, the better luck you will have
 
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Dsdman

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That picture was right after I got him from the LFS. He was full of algae after a day or two. He had been at the LFS for two weeks before I got him. No I have not quarantine any of them. I just bought a used 14 gal bio cube and set it up with copper to use as a QT. Now I suppose I should get a copper test kit.
 
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Dsdman

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With deaths that quickly I have two guesses. Velvet or ammonia. Have you checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Yes I checked them and had two different LFS check them. All zero, PH at 8.2 and sal at 1.026. Temp at 79.
 

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Sorry for your losses. I don't really have an answer for you, other than to suggest that you stick to fish known to be hardier and more disease resistant until your tank has matured some (clowns, damsels, gobies, etc). And add fish slowly, no more than two at a time, to give your biological filtration a chance to keep up.

I lost quite a few fish at first myself. We started calling it "el tanko del muerte". (Apologies to Spanish speakers!). But I haven't lost anything in the past 6 months.

Kudos on the Edward Teller reference, and good luck.
 

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Angel's and clown tend to get flukes, rock or sand rubbing is usually a sign of that in them. You can use prazipro in a reed tank as long as you dont have feather worms, its safe to use in reef. I've used it myself with no issues
 

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Quick question, you said you started with donor sand, was it used and wet? If so, could have introduced something bad.
 
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Sorry for your losses. I don't really have an answer for you, other than to suggest that you stick to fish known to be hardier and more disease resistant until your tank has matured some (clowns, damsels, gobies, etc). And add fish slowly, no more than two at a time, to give your biological filtration a chance to keep up.

I lost quite a few fish at first myself. We started calling it "el tanko del muerte". (Apologies to Spanish speakers!). But I haven't lost anything in the past 6 months.

Kudos on the Edward Teller reference, and good luck.
Thanks! Good input, and it was Oppenheimer that said that one. My favorite Teller quote is “ Secrecy once accepted becomes an addiction “
 
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Dsdman

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Yes
Quick question, you said you started with donor sand, was it used and wet? If so, could have introduced something bad.
yes it was wet and full of all kind of stuff...some good some apparently really bad!

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Dsdman

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Angel's and clown tend to get flukes, rock or sand rubbing is usually a sign of that in them. You can use prazipro in a reed tank as long as you dont have feather worms, its safe to use in reef. I've used it myself with no issues
I’ll try it!
 
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Prazipro in the tank. Flame angel is eating but not a bunch. Clown and Anemone seem content. Fingers crossed.
 

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Hello, sorry to hear about your loss.

If you think it's velvet, you should take all the fishes and treat with copper, and even som Ruby Reef Rally dips. That and let the tank fallow for 45 to 76 days. Best of luck mate.

Ed
 
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Yes it’s hard to say. The remaining clown shows no signs and neither does the Flame. I’ve heard and read that the Flame can’t tolerate copper at levels high enough to eradicate ick, or velvet or brook. I just bought this stuff with something phosphate called reef caviar. Sorry can’t recall the name. Anyway it’s food saturated with the drug. I may try it if they make a turn for the worst. I’ll keep posting their progress, I do now have a QT set up with 2.0 ppm copper power. Ready to go in case.
 
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Yes it’s hard to say. The remaining clown shows no signs and neither does the Flame. I’ve heard and read that the Flame can’t tolerate copper at levels high enough to eradicate ick, or velvet or brook. I just bought this stuff with something phosphate called reef caviar. Sorry can’t recall the name. Anyway it’s food saturated with the drug. I may try it if they make a turn for the worst. I’ll keep posting their progress, I do now have a QT set up with 2.0 ppm copper power. Ready to go in case.

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Just an update for those that might care. Just returned from a 5 day trip and much to my surprise both clown and Flame are still swimming! I did feed with the medicated food for a few days. Like many have said the fish ate some of it but not much, it must taste horrible. I also did another treatment of prazi pro. I have a bit of a cyno outbreak but will clean up today and do another water change and add the carbon pad back in. I think my shrimp must have gotten some of the medicated food. He did not survive. Anem and other corals look ok.
 
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Dsdman

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So I stopped by PETCO near the house just because I’m curious. They had 3 columns of salt water tanks. 3 tanks each column. Two columns had no fish just live rock. They were running fine. The one column had fish and live rock and porcline crabs and about 15 clowns, a sail fin tang and a few others. All lying in the tanks gasping, pumping gills hard. They had turned the pump off to that entire column and just left it! So I tell the girl at the front hey all your fish are dying. She has no clue, so I look around a bit and in the bottom find a switch for the pump, flip it on and it starts pumping water. Which starts spraying out of the top tank because the water is so low. So basically the water got low and started making a mess and they just switched the pump off and forgot about it! I asked the girl to go find the manager and we then left. If they are going to keep selling saltwater fish they gotta do better. My 2 cents.
 
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Dsdman

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Just an update for those who have helped out with advice. Tank and fish doing well.
 
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