Very unhappy

[lpapagno]

I just got into Marine tanks about 1 1/2 months ago. I got a 90 gallon tank with 150lbs live rock. I won't go into all the details about the specs. All the parameters were correct. Salinity, PH, calcium, no trace of ammonia or nitrates or nitrites was putting Oceans blend in every night. I had a Purple tang and clown tang and powder blue tang I also had two clown fish. I also have a sebae anemone that the clown fish took care of. About a week ago my purple tang was showing signs of ich. I treated with Ick attack from Kordon. The ich seemed to be disappearing put there was still some specs on his body and the clown tang had a white cyst on its tail. Mean while the purple tangs eye yesterday seemed to be getting cloudy.
I went to work today and when I got home all my fish were dead except 1 clown fish that was barely hanging on. I found him nestled in the Seabae I could see it was suffering and its eyes were also cloudy. After I got all the dead fish were collected I got him last. It was heart breaking to have to get him out of the tank, but I didn’t want it suffering anymore so I put it out of its misery.
Now I’m wondering why I got involved in this now. I don’t care about the money I just hate that I caused them to suffer.
Has this happen to anyone else and if so what was the cause. I’m clueless to what could have gone so bad so fast. They were all swimming and happy and eating and now there dead.

 

[lando]

Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!!
first things first...we need current water parameters...Ph, NH3, NO2, NO3, SG, Temp. In all honesty, it sounds like too many fish added way too fast in a very young tank. My guess is the biological filtration in the tank could just keep up with the bioload. Consider this a starting over point. Let the tank cycel a bit longer and start by adding one fish. Wait a few weeks before adding another one. Remember that this hobby takes patience and things nned to be done very slowly. I also recommend returning the anemone as these creatures have no place in a young tank. They are very delicate and generally require a mature tank of 9-12 months. Can you describe your lighting set-up?

 

[lando]

I moved this topic to the General Discussion forum as it has higher traffic.

 

[melosu58]

Cloudy eyes is also signs of a bacterial infection. But I do believe Lando is right. Start slowly in this hobby

 

[john0087]

As a fellow newbie I have got to say.."Its hard man".......

You see all these beautiful tanks and you local store makes it seem all too easy. But I agree with others here, it takes a lot of time and patience. Its hard to be patianct, and I almost got caught in a simular situation But I got lucky....My first LFS said I can add my first fish after one week. He lived (don't know why I call all my fish "he"...but I do.. ) but there was a time that I was worried about him making it.

Anyways, stick with it and don't get too down. Listen to the advise of everyone here, it will save you a lot of heartache.

Its not all about money, but time. Its amazing to watch all the weird stuff grow in your tank. Watch your tank develop and take pride in that you had a part of creating this mini-eco system that can sustain life
.......and have fun. Hang in there, you'll be ok.

John

 

[lando]

About a week ago my purple tang was showing signs of ich. I treated with Ick attack from Kordon.

It is very possible your purple tang did have ick as they are highly prone to this. I do not, however, think this lead to the sudden demise of your tank. It gets back to taking things slow. If you think you had ick it is now great time to let the tank go fallow for 6-8 weeks so the parasite can run through it's life-cycle with no new host. read up on how to properly QT ALL new arrivals and once your fist fish is complete with the QT process your main should be done with the fallow period. You can start fresh and on the right foot. Products like Ick Attack will do very little to stop ick in a stocked tank. Best of luck, keep stopping by here with your questions. You have found the best aquarium advice site on the net.

 

[Salttanker]

Regardless of what the lfs says, 3 Tangs, especially the Clown Tang in particular is too much for a 90 gal. However, now that you have come here we can all help you with this hobby successfully.

Sorry about your experience. Many people have done the same thing and gave the hobby up. If you take your time and research, you will be successful. Ask lots of questions.

Mike

 

[AndyH5512]

I live locally to the writer's town, and saw a 90 gallon tank in the classifieds this weekend. Hope they didnt give up......

 

[Guest]

No offense, but you went too fast too soon. 1.5 months is just enough time for the tank to cycle, but nowhere near enough for the amount of fish you had. Suggest you QT all new fish for 6 weeks to prevent the introduction of ich to your ST and then slowly add one fish at a time. There's a lot to learn and many resources available. Good luck and happy reading.

KG

 

[seaham358]

We all have stories like your in one way or another. My tank cycled in about 5 weeks and the LFS said ok your ready to add some fish. I said ok how many, as many as you want you have a 125 with 125lbs of lr. So i got a sohal tang, bird wrasse, flame angel and 2 purple anthis all cost $200. Well after a week things started to go down hill, lost the anthis, then the flame, then the tang. I called the LFS and said my bird wrasse is looking bad now also, its upside down on the sand 8O
the LFS said oh, thats normal thats how they sleep.. he died a few days later.
So you not the only one with a bad start... Check out my gallery for pics of my tank today.. I'm glad I stuck it out. After reading on the net and talking to some GOOD LFS I believe I had a bacteria in the tank. Every thing I put in the tank died... I borrowed a 30 watt UV light and ran the tank empty with only a few chromis which lived (I dont know how) for about 3 months. i finally got a Scopus tang to live and it was all good hang in there and read , read and read some more.. The others are giving good advice so take things slow..

 

[flamingonhot]

theres was a lot of lr to provide biological filtration but adding that many fish kind of shocks the system.

and 2 other things....ick can sometime like more than 8 weeks...sometimes up to 3 months without a host....and two the medicines are close to worthless. it only kills free swimming ones and doesnt do a whole lot to already attached ones.