Lost a Yellow Tang for no reason?

[sumpmonkey]

Hello with a brand new tank just getting it going save a little money.buy instant ocean salt I've been a happy customer of theirs for 25 years.never used anything but straight I.O. or I.O. reef krystals And have never had a problem.But the salt debate is just as heated as the sand bed debate

 

[hurdbird]

Ya, from what I read its worth the extra 25 dollars to establish my tank with a good salt. I'll give it a shot. An extra 25-30 bucks for salt at this point is not a concern of mine after what I have already invested trying to get my set up right. Soo glad I got a good deal on my initial set up though. Thanks Craigslist.

 

[jamesdong009]

How is the H2Ocean pro salt? An LFS that I trust was telling me that even though its more expensive, he said he would never think about starting a reef tank without it. He said in 80-90% of his reef tanks that he used that salt, he does not have to dose at all so I think its completely worth it but what are you guys' experience with it? I would obviously like to keep my dosing to a minimum if possible. I've read alot of good reviews with that salt.

I don't have experience with that brand but I'm content using the cheaper stuff. Ask 5 reefers what brand of salt they use and you'll get at least a few different answers. As for dosing goes, this depends on what corals you're keeping and the demands of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium in your tank.

Remember to take it slow. Nothing good ever comes fast in this hobby.

 

[Turbosnail]

+1 to everything Anthony said nothing good ever comes fast in this hobby except for a crash.

 

[hurdbird]

Water is still testing perfect. I am going to wait a couple more days to do my first water change. Need to bring my salinity down still. I am starting to see green alga form on the top of my rocks. Is this normal? Thanks.

Sean

 

[JBarry471]

From my experience, I have 2 theories...both are directly related to each other

My first guess is stress. Fish don't like dramatic change or being picked on. It raises their heartbeat and breathing. It makes them more prone to illness like Ich. This could be caused by tank parameters or other fish. It's possible the clowns may have picked on it. Female clowns are particularly mean. Ask anyone that has a mated pair of clowns, they will defend their turf ferociously. And though their bite may not do much damage to us, it can really hurt a fish. Are your clowns Clarkii's? They are terribly aggressive!!!

My second guess is that the tank did not fully complete the cycle. What is your test kit? Some are obviously better than others (I prefer Elos). The tang probably was unable to handle the dramatic change of the system and simply dropped dead. Such things happen, but most of the time it can be narrowed down to stress. Clowns are super hardy and I'm willing to bet they could survive such distress (granted I would not want to test this). However, I do agree with the others, sometimes the tests are misleading (it happened to me with my first tank). A month is a good rule of thumb for a cycle. If you're starting from scratch, I normally add inverts at week 2, chromis at week 3 and normal fish at week 4. I normally wait to put in show fish at the end of month 2.

The exception to this is of you already have 50% (minimum) of cycled water at your disposal. In my case I already had a 45 gallon tank that I transferred directly into my 90. I threw in 6 frozen shrimp and let them rot for 2 weeks. Added inverts after 1 week, chromis at week 2 and normal fish at week 3.

You will discover patience is a virtue in this hobby. Keep an eye for extreme changes, and space your modifications over a series of days. Too much too quick only leads to stress. Thankfully it was only a yellow tang this time and not an achilles tang.

Good luck and happy reefing!