Whats killing my fish.

Recently I added a healthy blue tang and cleaner wrasse. The blue tang got itself wedged in rock and couldn't get out without my help. When he died i thought bummer but put it down to 'damage' in getting him out.

A couple of days later - the cleaner wrasse disappeared; strange given it was eating frozen brine/mysis. Just to be sure i checked the water -- All fine very faint traces of nitrate however.

Then my butterfly --> has been settled for about a month (eating out of hand ect..) dropped dead. He seemed to have red 'vein' like patches on one side. (not sure whether this happened before or after death).

I then took my water down to my trusted LFS --> got the same results as me, fine water but still with very low nitrates.

Now my flame is sick and won't eat, he just keeps swimming in front on the pump. Just for a kicker --> My corals are fine and my inverts also seem fine so whatever it is it whacks fish but leaves corals :S.

Paramas:
PH Between 8.2-8.4
Nitrite ~0
Nitrate ~5-10
Ammonia ~0
Salinity ~ 1.025


PS - Setup in Sig. Any other info needed just ask

 

What kind of skimmer do you have, and are there any powerheads aimed somewhat at the surface? Do you cover the display tank? Is there a sump? Sounds like it might be a lack of oxygen in the water.

~Will.

 

Could be lack of oxygen, but when that's the case, the fish usually are gasping at the surface. It sounds like you introduced some sort of bacterial infection or virus into the tank when you added the hippo tang, that's if everything was fine before that. You could try to treat with an antibiotic. I did this before by adding a few drops to the food when my yellow tail had pop eye, it cleared it up in a day or two.

 

What makes me point to that is the flame angel hanging out by the powerhead, but if it had something attacking its gills (like a bacteria infection, ich, etc) I suppose it would be doing anything possible to get oxygen into its gills.

~Will.

 

No skimmer; Overflow and down into the sump.
There is a power head in the front right which blows across the tank to the far left corner (where the over flow is). Yes the display tank is covered with glass --> cleaned every other week with a damp cloth (no chemicals).

I'm not sure whether its oxygen because they have only gone towards it since fish started dropping off. Making me think that is was fine and now that they are sick they are trying to get more...

I'm assuming its possible that you can get reef safe anti-biotics ? I've never 'medicated' fish before.

 

Try leaving the top uncovered for a couple days to see if that helps any, do you have any plans for getting a skimmer?

~Will.

 

yes, it was on the list with a new powerhead after i settled the tang and wrasse.... sigh i hate fate sometimes...

 

This sounds very similar to an issue I had early on, and I really got it narrowed down to oxygen. My fish were fine and then I added one more and suddenly there was an oxygen emergency. I know that doesn't seem to make sense but adding powerheads helped. try dropping a airstone into the mix if you can't afford a good powerhead right away (or even borrow an air pump from someone until you can get one).

How long has the tank been up and running?

 

Furan-2. Agreed on the air stone.

 

Blue (Hippo) tangs and butterflies are usually the first to go when something is wrong with a tank. Whether is a parasite, lack of oxygen, or heart attatack (yes it happens to alot of fish).Cleaner wrasse on the other hand are a different matter. They are one of those species that have such a specific need that even if they are eating like crazy, if they are not "cleaning" as in eating infestations off other fish then they are not receiving what they need to survive. Just food for thought