saltwater tank problems

william bales · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of my
eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30% water
change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and the
butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills. I
didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity at
1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days go
by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took the
butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before. He
has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want to
kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly welcome.
I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps anymore
along with a water test.
Thanks
William

Archived from group: alt>aquaria

~Vicki ~ · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 172

Being pretty new to salt water I am not sure what is wrong. I do know
that tangs are the last fish to add to an established tank, because of
their aggressiveness. Try doing more water changes to correct any
imbalance in the tank since your eels left. The tank could be going
through a mini cycle now that you removed the fish and since inverts add
very little to the bio load that could also be a problem. How much
protein is your skimmer removing on a daily basis?

One other suggestion is to ask your LFS if they will hold your new fish
for a few weeks while your tank re stabilize and add a few green chromis
(nice damsels) to your tank to help with your cycle. DO NOT ADD COPPER
to your tank tho, it will kill your inverts quickly and you will really
have an ammonia spike with all the die off.

Vicki

I have a snowflake moray in my tank and she is great. She eats squid
and raw shrimp (bait fish) and does not bother with my other fish.

Ron H · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

add more fish, !!!
this will break up the dominancy in the tank
"william bales" wrote in message@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
> years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
> turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of
my
> eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
> acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30%
water
> change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and
the
> butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills.
I
> didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
> LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
> freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity
at
> 1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days
go
> by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
> trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took
the
> butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before.
He
> has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
> have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
> treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want
to
> kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
> for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly
welcome.
> I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps
anymore
> along with a water test.
> Thanks
> William
>
>

william bales · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

butterfly died this evening Sad

I am about to switch this tank over to
freshwater and breed my oscars as I have about had it with expensive salt
fish and no help whatsoever from my local fish stores as all they have are
freshwater.

"william bales" wrote in message@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
> years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
> turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of
my
> eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
> acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30%
water
> change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and
the
> butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills.
I
> didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
> LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
> freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity
at
> 1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days
go
> by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
> trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took
the
> butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before.
He
> has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
> have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
> treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want
to
> kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
> for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly
welcome.
> I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps
anymore
> along with a water test.
> Thanks
> William
>
>

David Scott · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

This just in! Field correspondent "william bales" reports this latest
development!

>butterfly died this evening Sad

I am about to switch this tank over to
>freshwater and breed my oscars as I have about had it with expensive salt
>fish and no help whatsoever from my local fish stores as all they have are
>freshwater.
>
Sorry to hear. Do you have an option for another LFS? I know the only
one I trust is 60 miles away. (for salt) AND even there, I've gotten
different "advice" from different employees. It is an expensive hobby,
but there is one thing that I've been told, that I find to be true.
Once you get the tank "set" it is incredibly easy to maintain. It took
me over a year to get mine cycled, but now I look back at the spent $
and the time and the conflicting advice and I think it was worth it.

Good luck.

Deus benedicat vestrum quamvis.
Dave.

TRAVIS FORD · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

Sorry to hear the news but you need to test your water parameters to see if
there is problem before you put the tang in the 125. I will be more than
happy to help you since I used to try to get Petco to correct their big salt
water mistakes when I headed their Houston area Aquarium division.

Gordon James · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 31

check for stray electricity.

Is salt building up near any filters / heaters?

"william bales" wrote in message@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
> years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
> turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of
my
> eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
> acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30%
water
> change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and
the
> butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills.
I
> didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
> LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
> freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity
at
> 1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days
go
> by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
> trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took
the
> butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before.
He
> has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
> have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
> treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want
to
> kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
> for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly
welcome.
> I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps
anymore
> along with a water test.
> Thanks
> William
>
>

MikeG · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

So sorry to hear about the loss. Don't give up. Here is some info that
kept me from leaving the hobby MANY times.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
They have a faq section where you e-mail them and they post the answers
there. The guy that wrote the Concisous (sp?) Aquarist - Robert Fenner and
some others answer questions there.

"william bales" wrote in message@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
> years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
> turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of
my
> eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
> acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30%
water
> change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and
the
> butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills.
I
> didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
> LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
> freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity
at
> 1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days
go
> by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
> trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took
the
> butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before.
He
> has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
> have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
> treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want
to
> kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
> for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly
welcome.
> I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps
anymore
> along with a water test.
> Thanks
> William
>
>

wolfhedd · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 60

a tang always needs creful consideration before buying, in your ccase sound
like hes just being territyorial. some how he feels threatened by your
other fish, or just feels that the other fish is in his space, indicating
there isnt enough room in your tank for him. if this is not the case then
you got yourself a sick tang maybe, sick in the head due to stress.
wolfhedd
"william bales" wrote in message@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 125 that is a saltwater tank and it has been running for a couple
> years with live sand and rock, canister eheim,wet/dry filter, and a
> turboflotor 1000 skimmer. I recently added 2 fish as I finally got rid of
my
> eels. I added a tang and a racoon face butterfly fish. The tang started
> acting weird immediately. Smimming fast and rapid gilling. I did a 30%
water
> change and checked the levels. This didnt help. Woke up next morning and
the
> butterfly fish is the same way now swimming sideways and scratching gills.
I
> didnt see any ick or velvet on them but I knew something was wrong anyway.
> LFS couldnt be of any help for saltwater. I gave them both a 5 minute
> freshwater bath and put them in a 10 g quarantine tank with the salinity
at
> 1.011 for Osmotic shock therapy and added copper to the water. A few days
go
> by and the fish are acting much healthier. The only problem is the tang is
> trying to kill the butterfly fish spearing him with his tail. So I took
the
> butterfly fish out and put him back in the 125. Same sysmptoms as before.
He
> has been acting this way for 5 days now. I dont know what to do as I dont
> have money or room for another tank setup and I dont know what to try to
> treat the 125 with as it has ALOT of invertabrates in it that I dont want
to
> kill with copper. I cant stand to see the tang kill a fish I paid 60 bux
> for(butterfly fish=aptasia eating machine Smile

)All ideas are gladly
welcome.
> I am going to do anothert water change tonight to see if that helps
anymore
> along with a water test.
> Thanks
> William
>
>

Dragon Slayer · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 440

"wolfhedd" wrote in message$wc3.2158@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> a tang always needs creful consideration before buying, in your ccase
sound
> like hes just being territyorial. some how he feels threatened by your
> other fish, or just feels that the other fish is in his space, indicating
> there isnt enough room in your tank for him. if this is not the case then
> you got yourself a sick tang maybe, sick in the head due to stress.
> wolfhedd

the tang was just introduced to the tank, he is in shock from something that
was dramatically different from his normal conditions and the conditions of
this person's tank. I'd just take a stab in the dark and say his 2 1/2 yrs
old tank (with having eels in it I'd call it predator tank, and they are
very nasty eaters so..........) has extremely high NO3 levels. fish will
get accustomed to high levels of NO3 but cant be shocked into it quickly.

kc