Puffer and tang dying!

[fishsticks7]

My puffer is lying on the bottom of the tank breathing really really heavily and my tang is lying on its side breathing real shallow. I have a 75g sw and my ammonia is at .1 and the nitrites are at 0 and my ph is a little low at 7.9 and the salinity is fine. what could've gone wrong? I added some ammonia clear yesterday cuz my ammonia was at like .3, could that have done this? anything i can do to help my fish? :?

 

[Hara]

The ammonia could definitely have done this. Especially if the test kit doesnt read properly and the ammonia was higher. The ph is pretty low. Normally, water changes and not chemicals are the preferred way to treat toxic tanks.

 

[Guest]

I suspect Ammonia poisoning. This can be remedied hopefully with a 50% water change... How were the feeding habits before their actions at this time?

The only way to get the water back to the right params without additives is doing a water change. This should bring the water back to proper PH as well as reduce the amount of free ammonia in the water...

 

[fishsticks7]

The tang and puffer died I dunno what happened. Poor little guys now I have no fish left. What should I do to the tank before adding anything else? I'm afraid to have fish now!

 

[PrettyFishies]

First wait till the ammonia is at ZERO ... then it would be okay to add a new fish. I use the drip method of acclimation and usually take about an hour or less to acclimate my new inhabitants. I would look into purchasing cleaners... red legged scarlet hermit crabs and Astrea snails...they do a good job and they'll eat the excess food. You probably fed them too much. Once a day is fine... and Do you have Live Rock in your tank.... Tell us more about how the tank is setup....

 

[fishsticks7]

its a 75g tank, no live rock (i was told its not necessary) I have a canister filter. It's a fluval 404. I also have an aquaclear 402 powerhead. I use crushed coral for my substrate. I probably overhead the fish and thats what spiked the ammonia. I had lots of algae until i did a water change and now its already coming back. Maybe I should use LR and live sand? But my tank is already cycled. Maybe i can take the crushed coral out and put live sand in and start some corals? I'm not sure what to do.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Well... I can truly only speak as to how my setup is. I use LR and LS because I was told that bio balls would raise the nitrates. Not good... LS takes care of that problem. Plus... you CANNOT overfeed...especially without a cleanup crew. It just decomposes and has no where to go except the filter...which results in ammonia.

Here's the question... What do you want to do? If you ask me... the LR/LS method is the best... it works for me, but this is my first SW tank so I didn't do another method. The next question is, what is your budget? LR will cost... probably about $300 for the 112 # of LR you need... If you want to go that route I'll help with what know about...

Check out my website... I chronicled my tank from start to finish...

 

[fishsticks7]

Alright I did a water change and cleaned everything up. I think I'm going to get a hermit crab, a snail, and maybe a starfish. I might let them do their work this weekend while I'm out of town and then Sunday or Monday after I get back check all my levels and start with a percula clown. Then maybe after a week I'll get a heniochus black and white butterfly or a copperband or both. Then after that I'm planning on waiting a couple weeks and picking up a yellow tang. Then maybe a dwarf lion, then a porcupine puffer. I'm hoping those work together. After some time the inverts may be eating by the fish, but I'm hoping they won't.

 

[PrettyFishies]

My best advice is to slow down and do some research. There are problems with the fish that you have chosen. Lions can be incompatible with Tangs and Butterflies. Lions are NEVER comaptible with Clowns. Butterflies need pristine water conditions and are normally reserved for an expert. (http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm)
Add to that you are talking about several large fish in a moderately sized tank. You're going to deal with overstocking problems and ammonia again. You've got to decide whether you want peacful or agressive first and then tailor your tank accordingly... Slow down my friend...all that rushing will do is cause more headache and result in losses.

Take some time a get a good book. I still think your tank is not setup properly.

 

[fishsticks7]

ok so i talked to the guys at the LFS and they told me to put some damsels in so thats what i did. they said that since my tank sounds like its already cycled this wont harm the fish. they said to then wait about a month so thats what i'll do. in the meantime i'll do some fish reserach. Thanks for the advice