Lost a Yellow Tang for no reason?

[hurdbird]

I've had a medium sized yellow tang in my tank for 3 weeks now. I added a large pair of clowns yesterday. My water tested perfectly before and after adding the fish. My salt seemed to creep up to about 1.027 from 1.025 where it has held steady for 3 weeks. I planned on doing my first water change today. When I came home from work, my yellow tang was upside down and dead. My two clowns seem to be fine. The yellow tang was hiding more than usual yesterday but I figured it was just because of the clowns I added. The tang didn't even touch my algae sheet I had in the tank for him. It appears that I lost a crab as well over the night. What the hell is going on? I'm stumped. Thank you in advance.

Sean

 

[tommy6905]

how olds this tank

 

[Turbosnail]

have you check your water since the fish died?

 

[lisa foster]

Sounds like if this is your first water change the tank is new. Did you check your levels before you added fish. Also how long did you cycle your tank. Whenever you change the salinity in a tank it is important to do it over several weeks.

 

[hurdbird]

Just checked the water again. The only thing that changed since yesterday was the salt creeping up to 1.0275 from the 1.025 I had it holding it for almost three weeks now. That doesn't make much sense either. I add RO water to my sump that isnt mixed with salt probably once every two or three days to make sure my protein skimmer has the right amount of water. I'm dumbfounded. Just lost my first favorite fish though, <explicit removed>.

Sean

 

[lisa foster]

How long has this tank been set up. How did the salinity creep up like that. Are you using a refractometer?

 

[hurdbird]

My tank did not cycle. That is the weird thing about it. I transported 120 lbs of live rock from a guy I met on the internet who was breaking down a reef tank. I kept all 120 lbs of rock fully submerged in his salt water with powerheads for the 20 minute ride to my house. I kept the rock in the plastic bins with heater and powerheads for 12 hours then added into my full tank that had been running for a day or two. I waited two weeks and tested everyday then added two cleans to see if I could jumpstart the cycle. Nothing started to cycle and after talking to my local LFS store owner for a while, we concluded I was probably good to add fish. This was multiple weeks ago at this point.

 

[lisa foster]

Did you disturb the sand bed during the move? It takes more than two weeks to see a cycle. I would guess you had a mini cycle and it was to early to add the tang also the crab dying is a sign something is going on.

 

[delta]

Your tank is 2 weeks old no matter what the test kits are telling you your tank is not ready for fish. Regardless of the fact you used
LR from an established tank you really need to wait longer.

 

[Edward]

there will be die off no matter what, if you used his sand and moved it, it was disturbed and i assure you there was a significant temperature change during the tank transition. I waited a month before i added fish to make sure everything had cycled. When I started my new tank a year ago I waited two months for the tank to cycle fully. My advice? leave the tank as is and do a water change. Maybe wait 3 weeks before adding anything else so the tank can adjust to the new bioload. How big is the tank also?

 

[hurdbird]

The tank is a 90 gallon with overflow running to a 30 gallon sump with SWC 160 cone protein skimmer. I am running 2 - 1400 Koralias for flow. I am going to vacuum and do a 20% water change tonight and I guess just run the tank for a month as suggested even though my levels haven't moved at all still. Still dont understand why the tang and everything was fine for over two weeks then just croaks overnight? Also, still have no idea why or how my salt creeped up but I will be working the salinity down slowly again. Refractometer is on its way in the mail as we speak.

 

[lisa foster]

Doesn't make since the salinity would rise like that for no reason. The refractometer will be much more accurate than a hydrometer. What are you going to vacuum I have never vacuumed my sand bed. I would just let the cycle run its course testing water every few days. I would wait to do a water change just my opinion I could be wrong.

 

[beckbrass]

I always thought is was bad to do water changes durring a cycle then i read this and turns out water changes during a cycle is ok to do here is an article about it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php

 

[JayM]

The tank is a 90 gallon with overflow running to a 30 gallon sump with SWC 160 cone protein skimmer. I am running 2 - 1400 Koralias for flow. I am going to vacuum and do a 20% water change tonight and I guess just run the tank for a month as suggested even though my levels haven't moved at all still. Still dont understand why the tang and everything was fine for over two weeks then just croaks overnight? Also, still have no idea why or how my salt creeped up but I will be working the salinity down slowly again. Refractometer is on its way in the mail as we speak.

Salinity will creep up from evaporation.

I wouldn't vacuum before your water change, but I would blow the detritus off your rocks with a power head. I would also skim wet.

 

[lisa foster]

That is a large jump overnight even with evaporation.

 

[stingythingy45]

Those swing arm hydrometers are not that accurate.So a S.G. swing of 1.025-1.027 doesn't surprise me.

 

[hurdbird]

My salt jump is absolutely not from evaporation. I topped my tank every 2-3 days to keep the water level right for protein skimmer with RODI water not mixed with any salt that I took from my storage water tub so I don't understand that either. I have fish poop all over my sand bed. How would I clean that out besides vacuuming? Also, my tank isn't cycling though, thats the thing. Unless it can be cycling without the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates rising because I have had perfect levels for a month now with no change whatsoever. So unless everything I have read is wrong, my tank is not cycling because I would be seeing changes in my parameters. I went out and bought Elos test kits for PH and Nitrates today to retest. I have a refractometer and Elos tests kits for magnesium, phosphate, calcium and alkalinity on the way. Should be here by Friday. I will get to the bottom of this. Why would I not do a water change to start lowering my salinity down and start to replace the instant ocean with the new H2Ocean pro salt mix I picked up this weekend from another LFS that I was discussing my problems with?

Sean

 

[stingythingy45]

"I have fish poop all over my sand bed. How would I clean that out besides vacuuming?"

Flow,flow and more flow.
You have to get that stuff up in the water column so the skimmer can get it.

 

[hurdbird]

If I face my 1400's anywhere near the sand it creates a massive sand storm. It wouldn't make it to my skimmer anyways as of right now I don't think. It would get caught in my filter media that the water runs through before the skimmer. Should I even be using the filter media?

 

[lisa foster]

What kind of filter media in a skimmer? I point my 1400's at the surface but I don't know why you would have poop everywhere unless you are lacking flow. I think that the hydrometer is giving inaccurate results on the salinity. From my understanding the salt is not raised with evaporation if anything it may over time go lower. Mine stays at 1.025 all the time. When you lower your salinity do it very slowly and I would not do it until you have a refractometer. I found I had alot of trouble when my tank was new to keep a tang. I don't know how you would have avoided a cycle your water is still unstable I would just hold off adding anymore livestock.