Beginner with problems please help

I have run into a problem with my reef tank I have had 3 blue chromis living happily in my tank for a year untill last week when out of nowhere one by one they have become weak looking hanging out on the bottom of the tank because of this the other fish have been picking on them and causing stress related injurys like some mild ick that i took care of with a daily dose of reef vital dna (a marc weiss product) recomended for the LFS . this has worked to get rid of the ick but they are now showing signs of fin rot. Also I have noticed that my mushroooms are slowly disapearing(I have always had a hard time keeping mushrooms alive for longer than a couple of months) and that in the last week my 2 bubble tip anemones are staying very small but no other anemones are affected. As for my tank paramiters
Temp steady at 79
ammonia untraceable
nitrate about 10ppm
ph 8.2
nitrite untraceable
alkalinity 1.025
as for content of the tank I have
2bubbletip anemones
1carpet anemone
1pinktip anemone
1 leather finger
1 koran angel(4inchs)
2 cleaner wrasses(2inchs)
1 Maroon clown(2inchs)
1 yellow tang(2.5inchs)
1 percula clown (.5inchs)
3 blue cromis (1.25inchs)
my tank is a 120gallon D.A.S systemwith 2 4foot blue itinic super vho bulbs and 2 5000k metal halide bulbs. Nothing new has been introduced for about a month and my last water change was 2 an da half weeks ago
I am at a loss and can't figure it out and am not getting much help from the local fish store other than buy more stuff to replace it.....
Sorry for being so drawn out but I have been relying on my local fish store for the 2 years that I have been in this hobby and I have had enough of "Oh it must have been old or sick or you must be doing it wrong buy another and try again " I want help to understand What it is that I need to do to make this tank with these inhabitants work .

Please help

Thanks to all.... ???

[Jason McKenzie]

Welcome Dave,
Feel free to join up, This place is full of great people that can and will share all there wisdom with whom ever needs it.
It's not often you hear of Chromis being picked on, it's usually the other way around.
First I would have to say you have quite the divers Tank inhabitants. As a rule I would say you are about two Anemones too many in your tank. Also the Maroon and Perc clowns usually don't get along very well together. My thoughts are your Maroon or Yellow tank are picking on the Chromis. It may not be fin rot but something nipping at their fins.
Have you witnessed any aggressive behavior in the tank? and by who?
Also I have know Cleaner Wrasses to be a little too aggressive at cleaning smaller fish.


Good Luck and I'm sure others will chime in soon

J

[Craig Manoukian]

Any change in status Dave?

After watching the tank for a while the tang is definitely being agressive towards the chromises(mostly right after the lights go out) so I have set a trap to try and remove him from the tank also i have removed 2 of the anemonies and put them into my hospital tank for the time being to see if that helps the remaining ones in the tank. Also I have found a higly recomended aquarium maintanace company that deals with a lot of local bussinesses with their show aquariums ( that is NOT afiliated with any of the LFS's)and have talked them into coming by and giving my tank a once over and seeing if they see anything that I'm not. He will be here tomorrow so I will let you know how that goes other then that no real changes

Thanx for the help
Dave

[reiple]

Dave I am not sure but the Koran Angel is a coral picker (not sure). Has it done any damages?
Also it might be a bad idea to put anemones in tanks with medication (hospital tank) or tanks that were used for that purpose.
If the mushrooms (these are the easiest corals to keep so if they keep dying, it's more than just something amiss!) do not survive then maybe something in the tank is killing them.
Your parameters is not even close to harmful. My tank reached 40ppm nitrates and still the little mushes survived.
You did not indicate how you supplement your tank.
How do you supplement -
a. calcium?
b. iodine?
c. strontium?
d. magnesium?
e. trace elements?

Frequent replacement or water change is not a replacement for supplementation as it is exponentially raising. That is as time goes by the actual nutrient remaing goes down no matter how often you do water change. Unless you do a 100% water change (shock...trauma...dead corals and sick fish!).
Good luck!

i supliment withstrotium

The maintenance guy came by and has recomended that i put in a under gravel filter system and a sump under the tank also he said to replace my corals and with a rougher crushed coral to increase flow throught hegravel
He has offered to build the sump and undergravel filter
Take down and rebulid the tank (after drilling holes for sump etc and maintain my tank on a weekly basis for 4 months for $1000 and in doing so teaching me how to properly maintain this new system

Anyone opinion on this would be appreciated before i go signing anything or changing my tank

Thanx Dave

[dirtyB]

now I'm a member YEAH!!!!!!!!!

IMO Dave or dirtyB,
The underground filter will do nothing but crash the tank in a year or so.
Stay away from crushed coral as it is worthless. Use Aragonite and live sand.
I would put in a big sump and I think your DAS skimmer is located in the back of the tank right?
If it can be moved then put in the sump area.
If you want to drill holes for the tank then go ahead but for right now use a pre-filter box with the hose going to the sump area.
The only thing I can imagine why he would tell you to do all of this is because he suspects filter issues.
Do you have Live rock in the tank and if so how much? You should have 1.5 of live rock per 1 gallon of water. Live rock is your filtering system. It will also let your fish hide.
Also a refugium would help.

For right now things I would do some water changes. 20% or alittle more every other day for 8 days.

Now remember that is just my opinion.
PM Matt for help if this is an ASAP issue.

Frequent replacement or water change is not a replacement for supplementation as it is exponentially raising. That is as time goes by the actual nutrient remaing goes down no matter how often you do water change. Unless you do a 100% water change (shock...trauma...dead corals and sick fish!).
Good luck!

I am sorry but I totally disagree here.
weekly water changes do put back in supplements. 20% weekly seems to be the trick.
Not only are you replacing the supplements but refreshing the water. new water is a good thing!

Oh I hope you use RO/DI water.
What salt do you use?

IMO again

[dirtyB]

i am going to get this guy to put in a sump without drilling any holes at this time his idea for a under gravel filter system is up in the air but i will have him put in the screen under a 1 inch layer of crushed coral and then a 2 inchs of the sugar substrate that i already have i am not going to use the under gravel fitler unless i have to and at this point i have not formed an opinion as i have even numbers for and against from people in the hobbie
perhaps the open area under the sand will help in denitrification??? i don't really know i am just speculating also i have 140 pounds of live rock in my tank(120gallons)also he has said that he can move my protien skimmer from the box at the back of the tank to the sump under it the sump he is making is "as big as can possibly fit under the tank" any opinions would be greatly appreciated as i would like to know as much as possible from people instead of books before i start once again at this


Thanx
Dave