Help, my tank is crashing!

fire_06786 · #1 05/02/2006, 01:36 PM

Can anyone tell me what is happening to my tank....last night everyone was fine eating well and all. This morning we wake up to all the fish breathing heavy and lieing on there sides. We just purchased a white faced tang Sun, but he was doing wonderful. as of the afternoon my fiance went home to check and said we lost the white faced 2 yellow tangs and 1 cleaner shrimp. Our trigger, lion fish, blennies, starfish, tube anemone, and damsels are doing ok. I think my puffer is going to fade away too, he is breathing very heavy right now. I can't figure it out we checked the levels they are all fine, not flat but ok. I also checked the temp that is also fine. Some please help I am not sure what to do.

peregrinus · #2 05/02/2006, 01:38 PM

50% water change frist thing. you'll see that it will help the rest of the creatures in there. then do smaller water changes maybe 10 to 20 % daily. how long has the tank been up and running? what all is in there?

HippieFish · #3 05/02/2006, 01:48 PM

[welcome]

Might have better luck posting this in the "new to the hobby" section.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...s=&forumid=104

fire_06786 · #4 05/02/2006, 01:50 PM

The tank has been up for 3 months, it is cycled. I have about 130 lbs of live rock. I just did a 30% water change last weekend

Habib · #5 05/02/2006, 01:52 PM

[moved]

rustybucket145 · #6 05/02/2006, 02:02 PM

Do you have a skimmer? Sounds like the oxygen levels are depleated in the tank.

fire_06786 · #7 05/02/2006, 02:09 PM

I have a skimmer, I don't think it would be an oxygen problem I have a 150gal with two filter one for 100 gal tank and another for a 400 gal tank, also two power heads and a skimmer. I had in the tank 2 yellow tangs, 1 white faced tang, 2 damsels, puffer, trigger, and 2 blennies.

techigirl78 · #8 05/02/2006, 02:40 PM

That seems like a lot of fish in a 150. Is it running open top or covered? What are your readings? Have you QT'd all newcomers?

fire_06786 · #9 05/02/2006, 02:50 PM

it is covered and i have not been QTing, ammonia is at 10, nitrates are at about 20, ph is around 8.0 everything else is flat. Temp is 80 degrees

jnb · #10 05/02/2006, 02:55 PM

nitrites?
any ammonia is a problem indicating there is a cycling of sorts happening - your last water change was sigjnificant? how are you measuring your salinity? are you sure your temp is being measured correctly? did you recently put in new rock? what fresh water are you using for makeup water? tap?, ro?

fire_06786 · #11 05/02/2006, 03:25 PM

ammonia is from the puffer, he is a messy eater. My salanity is at 1.019, it's kinda low due to having an ich problem in the past. i do use tap water, but have it filter in a 30 gal can for 2 days

fire_06786 · #12 05/02/2006, 05:04 PM

I just lost the puffer, poor thing! We just put some air pump in the tank hoping it's an oxygen problem

Heinz · #13 05/02/2006, 06:58 PM

your biofilter is not working properly or something died and your biofilter can't keep up with it,

fast breathing shows that you have a ammonia spike,

count for all the fish and see if someone is missing and might stuck under the rock dead,

dont know how fast you stocked your tank, it can also be that you put to fast to many fish in your tank, and got a new cycle going,

in any case, dont put anything in the tank, do a few WC 50% make sure temp and salinity match your tank,

Sk8r · #14 05/02/2006, 09:21 PM

Add fish one at a time (or in case of pairs or small school, togther), but avoid mass additions, because each fish creates a spike until the tank adjusts to the new load.

So sorry for this. Rough. Try not to feed any fish more than one mouthful, period, per feeding, and don't let them con you: they're bottomless, and it isn't good for the tank, particularly a young tank---you can get away with more when the tank ages, but not at first.

PatMayo · #15 05/02/2006, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fire_06786
I have a skimmer, I don't think it would be an oxygen problem I have a 150gal with two filter one for 100 gal tank and another for a 400 gal tank, also two power heads and a skimmer. I had in the tank 2 yellow tangs, 1 white faced tang, 2 damsels, puffer, trigger, and 2 blennies.

It could still be an O2 problem. What kind of filters are you talking about? If they are just particulate filters they will not add much O2 to the tank.

What type of skimmer do you have?

Regards,

Pat

fire_06786 · #16 05/02/2006, 11:17 PM

We have not been adding fish at a fast rate, but we talked to the store we go to and he also thinks it is a oxygen problem, we have the prism skimmer and the brand new fluvel RX5 for 400 gal systems, but we where unaware that it does not put oxygen in the take like a sump would. We now put an air pump and stones in the tank and the survivers look like they are doing better. We where debating going with a sump or canister due to someone selling use a filter that was too small originally and we where told that we are better off with the canister, now I am wondering if this is true.

phil5613 · #17 05/03/2006, 01:33 AM

Quote:

fire_06786 The tank has been up for 3 months, it is cycled. I have about 130 lbs of live rock. I just did a 30% water change last weekend

Quote:

fire_06786 Can anyone tell me what is happening to my tank....last night everyone was fine eating well and all. This morning we wake up to all the fish breathing heavy and lieing on there sides. We just purchased a white faced tang Sun, but he was doing wonderful. as of the afternoon my fiance went home to check and said we lost the white faced 2 yellow tangs and 1 cleaner shrimp. Our trigger, lion fish, blennies, starfish, tube anemone, and damsels are doing ok. I think my puffer is going to fade away too, he is breathing very heavy right now. I can't figure it out we checked the levels they are all fine, not flat but ok. I also checked the temp that is also fine. Some please help I am not sure what to do.

Quote:

fire_06786 it is covered and i have not been QTing, ammonia is at 10, nitrates are at about 20, ph is around 8.0 everything else is flat. Temp is 80 degrees

Fish load is too high tank is too new and water parameters are whacked. Time to slow down and let tank cycle again dont add anything do water changes and wait till this all settles down

bertoni · #18 05/03/2006, 01:41 AM

I agree. Too many fish, added too quickly.

Also, the Prizm skimmer gets poor reviews, generally, and I would consider it far too small for that size tank. Maybe a CoraLife SuperSkimmer, ASM, or Euro-Reef would be a good choice. The CoraLife might function as a hang-on unit. The others require a sump.

130 lbs of live rock might not be enough filtration for such a heavy bioload. A big wet-dry would aerate and process more ammonia.

How much water circulation does the tank have?

A sump and a canister do different jobs. The sump can add flow and surface area, and hold a skimmer, but it won't do any ammonia processing. The canister can process ammonia, if set up properly.

Ken-21 · #19 05/06/2006, 07:04 AM

Sounds like your Bio-filter isn't cycled enough. I would do a 20% water change and add future fish only after a week in a QT.

Paul B · #20 05/06/2006, 08:10 AM

Although it is way too soon to add even 1/3rd of those fish I think you have an ich problem along with other things. A cycled tank means that it is cycled enough to add a fish. After "a" fish is added the bacteria will build enough to add another fish and so on. The bacteria do not automatically grow enough overnight to accomidate all those fish, especially those predators you have. The shrimp will most likely be eaten and should not be there. Anyway, after that I believe as was said you need to change some water and you really need to get most of those fish out of there and let the tank cycle one fish at a time with a couple of weeks in between. The fish have ich and are extreamly stressed.
I don't know of an easier way to save this tank except to remove fish. The puffer is a very messy eater and a large waste producer. Wait a year or longer for him (or another one if he died)
As for the ich, there are many posts on that, it is a simple disease to cure and in your tank I would cure it in your tank itself. You would have to remove the inverts and look for space for any other surviving fish.
Sorry for the bad news.
Paul