Fish mysteriously dead

[Jlsardina]

My buddy is having an issue (really it is my buddy) where all of his fish are croaking. It all started a month ago when he took his lion out of the tank to start reef. Once his lion came out all his fish died but the foxface. No ick. No disease. He then added 3 LARGE Schooling banners and the fox face beat them all up til they died. He then added a 7 inch powder blue- that died 3 days later. Then he added a Blonde naso (6 inches with banners) and it died 3 days later. I had him test his water and he had a nitrate problem. So we fixed his water over several water changes. Now- he added a 4 inch atlantic blue tang, a male blonde naso (7 inches) and a female naso (8 inches) all at the same time. The male naso died the next day. The female naso and the Atlantic blue died 5 days later. But the fox face is still alive.

I am at a loss to help my buddy out. The only thing I can think of is that e is testing his water wrong, the fox face is killing everything, or something that is not able to be tested is getting in his water. Does anyone else have any ideas?
This guy has lost over 500$ of fish in a month.

 

[Sniperhank]

Id test for thinga lile copper. Prob not the case but feels more lile a toxin release to me. He should have put everything on hold at the first die off. Leave the foxface there and do daily pwc daily with carbon filtration to try and get whatever is in there out.

 

[Jlsardina]

Thanks for your response. I don't think it's copper because there are inverts that are healthy. But I agree that it seems there is something in the water.

 

[Sergie]

To figure out if it is the foxface, I'd buy a chromis or two, put them in the DT and take the foxface and place him in a seperate tank for a week or two. See if the chromis survive. If they do then he probably has an angry foxface. He's also buying sensitive and stress prone fish.

 

[Jlsardina]

To figure out if it is the foxface, I'd buy a chromis or two, put them in the DT and take the foxface and place him in a seperate tank for a week or two. See if the chromis survive. If they do then he probably has an angry foxface. He's also buying sensitive and stress prone fish.

Great idea. Thanks

 

[ccCapt]

What's the nitrate at? Fish can live in high nitrate water if they have been in the tank for a long time and it gradually got high, whereas a new fish introduced into high nitrate water can die quickly.

 

[Sergie]

Disclaimer: only try my suggestion if you can't find anything wrong with the water. Always test your water first. Hope you find the answer.

 

[Jlsardina]

What's the nitrate at? Fish can live in high nitrate water if they have been in the tank for a long time and it gradually got high, whereas a new fish introduced into high nitrate water can die quickly.

Nitrates are at 2.5 ish. A-0 Trites-0. Ph 8.3. But I know these readings could be wrong cause he has a small red slime breakout.

 

[Sergie]

Just because he has red slime doesn't mean that the readings are wrong. Cyanobacteria can thrive with little nutrients. Does he have a test for phosphates? You could check those. If he's feeding flakes foods or not rinsing frozen foods or overfeeding or using tap water which may contain phosphates, he could be introducing phosphates into the tank. While this won't remedy the dying fish issue, this could help with the red slime.

 

[Sergie]

Clarification: REMOVING phosphates will help remedy the red slime outbreak.