Long story but please read (I'm getting to feel defeated)

[JumperAlex]

I am curious to see if anyone can help me figure out why all of the fish I have added to my 90g FOWLR tank has died. After cycling the tank I added blue spotted puffer. Then after a bit of time I added a small kole tang and fox face lo and banana wrasse and a flame angel(not together but over time). All went well for about 3 weeks with them all in the tank together but then within one week the puffer,flame angel and tang all died. After consulting with some people, forums and lfs I decided to treat the remaining banana wrasse and fox face lo with Kanaplex in their food. Again all seemed to be going well so I decided to add a regal angel who survived about a week and a half and died. I next decided I wasn't going to add any fish for a while and see what would happen so I added about 15lbs of cured "ready to go" LR to my tank, my LFS sent it home in a styrofoam cooler with water and said that it would be fine to add directly to the tank. I was checking the parameters in the tank daily after adding the rock and my ammonia didn't spike until the 5th day, at which point I did a 15g water change that day and another 15g water change the following day. The day after all of this my parameters were normal again but I noticed that banana wrasse appeared to have a divot missing out of his head and was starting to lose color on his face. So I moved him out of the tank into qt where he lived for 2 days being treated with a broad spectrum antibiotic then died. Back to the main DT where fox is the last fish swimming with his 2 starfish buddies a CC and a green brittle. Fox is very active and eating.

Now that you have the history I will say that I am good about doing my PWC's and I clean my skimmer cup twice a week. I want to know how or why fox and starfish are surviving everything and what I should do to move forward.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I am curious to see if anyone can help me figure out why all of the fish I have added to my 90g FOWLR tank has died. After cycling the tank I added blue spotted puffer. Then after a bit of time I added a small kole tang and fox face lo and banana wrasse and a flame angel(not together but over time). All went well for about 3 weeks with them all in the tank together but then within one week the puffer,flame angel and tang all died. After consulting with some people, forums and lfs I decided to treat the remaining banana wrasse and fox face lo with Kanaplex in their food. Again all seemed to be going well so I decided to add a regal angel who survived about a week and a half and died. I next decided I wasn't going to add any fish for a while and see what would happen so I added about 15lbs of cured "ready to go" LR to my tank, my LFS sent it home in a styrofoam cooler with water and said that it would be fine to add directly to the tank. I was checking the parameters in the tank daily after adding the rock and my ammonia didn't spike until the 5th day, at which point I did a 15g water change that day and another 15g water change the following day. The day after all of this my parameters were normal again but I noticed that banana wrasse appeared to have a divot missing out of his head and was starting to lose color on his face. So I moved him out of the tank into qt where he lived for 2 days being treated with a broad spectrum antibiotic then died. Back to the main DT where fox is the last fish swimming with his 2 starfish buddies a CC and a green brittle. Fox is very active and eating.

Now that you have the history I will say that I am good about doing my PWC's and I clean my skimmer cup twice a week. I want to know how or why fox and starfish are surviving everything and what I should do to move forward.

90 gallons....how much water movement do you have towards the top of the tank? This is how oxygen is brought in.

I saw the picture of your banana wrasse. If you will look closely it looks like it had some ich. I'm not sure if that wasn't sand though however I wouldn't think the sand would stick to it.

When your other fish died, were their gills red? Did you see any laying on the side and rapid breathing? Was their color normal or did they look as though they were losing color?

Foxface tend to be fairly hardy fish.

 

[JumperAlex]

the sump return is half in and half out of the surface of the water supplying plenty of surface movement and oxygen I would guess. Other then that I have about 3,500 gph movement between the other 3 power heads.

The other fish that passed were all of normal color no red around the gills except for puffer who had some pale areas but not spots or grains (ich looking stuff) and the regal angel who's eyes clouded over (see earlier post).

the qt for the banana wrasse was rather crudely thrown together and still had some salt resting on the bottom of the tank, I don't know if that is what was on him but in the DT he didn't have any visible white specs on him.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

What is your pH??

So the foxface has poisonous spines when touched, enough so that it's sent people to the hospital, caused swelling and pain, and i've heard feels worse than a bee sting. He uses it as a defense mechanism and generally is a very easy going fish. I find it a little too ironic that he isn't dying if you have parasites. I know he is a hardier fish but seems too ironic. Let him sit in there for another week or more. If this were my tank, I would wait two weeks, go buy another fish if the fox doesn't get sick, and I would QT the fox for a few weeks to see how my new fish did.

Do you QT new fish before adding them? White places on your puffer sounds like fungal infection,

 

[JumperAlex]

I didn't until recently have a qt. I pulled the regal angel into qt and then cleaned it out but he was the first.

 

[JumperAlex]

Ph is between 8 and 8.4

 

[Trueerfan]

I had the same issue after adding my Fox face first my bristletooth Tang died and then my 2 clowns. I am very meticulous about my water quality so this was not making me happy. I did not add another fish for 4 weeks. I bought a UV sterilizer I have not had a fish death since. Looking back I do believe I know what happened to the 3 fish. I believe the Fox face stressed out the bristletooth and made him die. I was new to the hobby at the time and was chasing my PH and I do believe I raised my ph too fast and that's what killed by 2 clowns. I am still new to the hobby but I have learned that slower is better. So don't get frustrated.

 

[Rutrag]

I'd also add the regal angel is in no way an easy fish to keep. I heartily recommned quarantining any new fish for at least two weeks to get them eating and to observe for any disease. That way if they are carrying something, you can treat it and keep your other fish from getting sick.

I don't think I saw a nitrate or nitrite reading in the thread. What are those parameters specifically?

 

[JumperAlex]

Nitrite-0 and nitrate between 0 and 5

 

[Trueerfan]

I have found it's never water quality. And you'll get so many different answers on here. I keep a log of everything I do to my tank. Think back to what you did different. If you did nothing, you probably introduced to many fish too close together or one brought something in.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

The quarantine of new fish will help you rule out parasites for sure. I agree that a lot of time it isn't water quality only because most people at this point understand the importance. There are a few things it could be. The puffer having white blotches could be a fungus. Aquariums have fungus spores but fish are protected by their mucus coating on the skin. If they are stressed, handled roughly, have poor water quality, or not getting proper nutrition the fungus has an opportunity to grow. I'm not saying this killed all your fish. Honestly, I'm still really leaning towards your foxface. He may of stressed them out.

What is the temp in your tank?

 

[nikki_kaiser]

How much live rock do you have total?

 

[JumperAlex]

Temp stays between 76 and 79 degrees and I have about 90lbs of live rock. I also run a media reactor in my sump with matrix media for additional biological filtration.

 

[mr_X]

How did you cycle this tank?

 

[JumperAlex]

Ammonia.

 

[mr_X]

What was the procedure exactly?

 

[JumperAlex]

I dosed 1 cap full a day directly into the DT for about 4 days until I had an ammonia reading just shy of 4ppm. Then I played the waiting game.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I dosed 1 cap full a day directly into the DT for about 4 days until I had an ammonia reading just shy of 4ppm. Then I played the waiting game.

Hmmm...I know that sometimes a carrier for parasites or fungus won't get it until everything else is gone. Have you thought about buying something you want that's inexpensive (QT before adding) and putting the foxface in QT when you introduce it to your tank for a bit? You could partition him off from the new fish for a few weeks just to make sure it's not aggression or stress. I can't help but think that the foxface is the issue only because he isn't sick and is doing

 

[JumperAlex]

Just a short update, it's been about a week and a half and fox face is swimming around his 90 gallon mansion all by himself and seems to be as healthy as ever. Eating like a pig and no signs of stress.

 

[Trueerfan]

Give it another week and half.