Angel Trouble

ramasezz · 11/12/2016, 12:57 AM

Hi All,

This is my first post on any forum so please grant me the allowance of a few beginner mistakes and accept my apologies.
I am from India and I have been a hobby aquarist for 20 years but with fresh water aquariums only.
In June of this year I decided to upskill myself into the delights of a marine aquarium.
My tank information is as follows:
DT: 60 X 30 X 30 (L X B X H) 220 gallons
Sump: 54 X 18 X 18 (L X B X H)

My DT has 2 inches of aragonite sand substrate that I bought of Amazon. I have dry reef rock (approx around 40 kilos and 20 kilos of red and black lava rocks). I got the rocks dead as live rocks are banned in India and I don't want to be on the wrong side of the law. I also thoroughly washed the rocks and dried them up before scaping them into my DT.

My sump has 4 compartments. The first which is the inlet of from the DT has the outlet covered by filter socks that I clean every week. It is bedded with a combination of white wool and black sponge. This overflows into the next compartment that has 10 kilos of ceramic rings, 10 kilos of lava chips and seachem MATRIX for 220 gallons. This overflows into the 3rd compartment where I have a small proteing skimmer (Sea Aquatics) a few small lava stones and chaetomorpha algae which then comes to the last compartment that has a Boyu WG 502 protein skimmer and a Sunsun reverse pump.

My tank denizens are as follows:
1 maroon clown (2 inches)
1 Hippo Tang (2.5 inches)
1 Blue/green chromis (2 inches)
1 Electric blue damsel (2.5 inches)
1 Lunare Wrasse (3 inches)
1 Yellow and purple wrasse (3 inches)
2 Blue Gudgeon dartfish (4 inches)
2 Yellow foxface rabbitfish
2 Indian finger star (4 inches each)
1 Green bubble tip anemone (This just split into 2 and is healthy)
2 heteractis magnifica anemone (4 inches and 9 inches)
15 Nerite snails
6 Feather duster worms

I feed my fishes 3 a day with a mix of purple seaweed on veggie clips, Hikari extreme seaweed pellets, New Life Spectru pellets and artemis shrimp cubes

For lighting I have a couple of Sunsun ADH 600 marine aquarium LED light fixtures that totals to 300 Watts of light.

Didin't do any of the above in one go, it was a very gradual build up over the past 5 months.. Last week I wanted to introduce angels and bought the following:
1 Juvenile Koran Angel (4.5 inches)
1 Juvenile Emperor Angel (3 inches)
1 Blue Ring Angel (3 inches)

I don't keep a quarantine tank but I take about 2 hours to acclimitize the fishes for temperature and water (drip acclimitize method). This is what I have used for all my livestock till date.

They were very active and feeding well on what I was providing.

My water parameters were steady at
Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate at 0
PH was between 7.8 and 8
SPG was 1.020

Now my angels suddenly developed cludy eyes yesterday morning and died in the next 12 hours. I am at a loss to understand what could be the reasons fo rthis and have been driving myself up the wall trying to investigate and rectify if I am doing something incorrectly.

So this is kind alike my SOS to the fraternity on the net to help me figure out on what's going on and what I can do.

This is kinda long but I wanted to be able to provide as much information that I could cram into this thread that would point out to what's wrong.

Thanks in anticipation of the advice.

oseymour · 11/12/2016, 06:55 AM

I'm sorry for your loss. It's always hard to tell with new fishes. It could be stress. But in my opinion the cloudy eyes is a clued that these new fishes had a bacterial infection.

I'm glad that whatever they had where not passed on the the rest of your livestock.

barrysalt · 11/12/2016, 10:07 AM

One of the basic truths of this hobby is that you should always set up a QT protocol for your purchases--especially so with someone like yourself who is a newcomer to the process. Sometimes you can get away without a quarantine tank for new fish, but in the long run, you will suffer the consequences. The more you read about this hobby, especially on this forum, the more you will be convinced that QT is a basic requirement! Good luck...

ramasezz · 11/12/2016, 01:07 PM

Tks for the tip. I did spend a couple of hours on the net and voraciously read up on various sites and blogs... Have picked up a couple of QT (10 and 55 gal). Space constraints have also dictated that I use a cannister filter instead of a sump filtaration. I hope that will do. I also read that keeping it bare bottom may help the finicky eater to find food a little easier and may help in the overall acclimatization.I'll also pick up some nano type skimmers to help maintain the QT to a habitable level.

11/12/2016, 12:57 AM	#1
ramasezz Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 3	Angel Trouble Hi All, This is my first post on any forum so please grant me the allowance of a few beginner mistakes and accept my apologies. I am from India and I have been a hobby aquarist for 20 years but with fresh water aquariums only. In June of this year I decided to upskill myself into the delights of a marine aquarium. My tank information is as follows: DT: 60 X 30 X 30 (L X B X H) 220 gallons Sump: 54 X 18 X 18 (L X B X H) My DT has 2 inches of aragonite sand substrate that I bought of Amazon. I have dry reef rock (approx around 40 kilos and 20 kilos of red and black lava rocks). I got the rocks dead as live rocks are banned in India and I don't want to be on the wrong side of the law. I also thoroughly washed the rocks and dried them up before scaping them into my DT. My sump has 4 compartments. The first which is the inlet of from the DT has the outlet covered by filter socks that I clean every week. It is bedded with a combination of white wool and black sponge. This overflows into the next compartment that has 10 kilos of ceramic rings, 10 kilos of lava chips and seachem MATRIX for 220 gallons. This overflows into the 3rd compartment where I have a small proteing skimmer (Sea Aquatics) a few small lava stones and chaetomorpha algae which then comes to the last compartment that has a Boyu WG 502 protein skimmer and a Sunsun reverse pump. My tank denizens are as follows: 1 maroon clown (2 inches) 1 Hippo Tang (2.5 inches) 1 Blue/green chromis (2 inches) 1 Electric blue damsel (2.5 inches) 1 Lunare Wrasse (3 inches) 1 Yellow and purple wrasse (3 inches) 2 Blue Gudgeon dartfish (4 inches) 2 Yellow foxface rabbitfish 2 Indian finger star (4 inches each) 1 Green bubble tip anemone (This just split into 2 and is healthy) 2 heteractis magnifica anemone (4 inches and 9 inches) 15 Nerite snails 6 Feather duster worms I feed my fishes 3 a day with a mix of purple seaweed on veggie clips, Hikari extreme seaweed pellets, New Life Spectru pellets and artemis shrimp cubes For lighting I have a couple of Sunsun ADH 600 marine aquarium LED light fixtures that totals to 300 Watts of light. Didin't do any of the above in one go, it was a very gradual build up over the past 5 months.. Last week I wanted to introduce angels and bought the following: 1 Juvenile Koran Angel (4.5 inches) 1 Juvenile Emperor Angel (3 inches) 1 Blue Ring Angel (3 inches) I don't keep a quarantine tank but I take about 2 hours to acclimitize the fishes for temperature and water (drip acclimitize method). This is what I have used for all my livestock till date. They were very active and feeding well on what I was providing. My water parameters were steady at Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate at 0 PH was between 7.8 and 8 SPG was 1.020 Now my angels suddenly developed cludy eyes yesterday morning and died in the next 12 hours. I am at a loss to understand what could be the reasons fo rthis and have been driving myself up the wall trying to investigate and rectify if I am doing something incorrectly. So this is kind alike my SOS to the fraternity on the net to help me figure out on what's going on and what I can do. This is kinda long but I wanted to be able to provide as much information that I could cram into this thread that would point out to what's wrong. Thanks in anticipation of the advice.

11/12/2016, 06:55 AM	#2
oseymour Euphyllia Addict Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 1,424	I'm sorry for your loss. It's always hard to tell with new fishes. It could be stress. But in my opinion the cloudy eyes is a clued that these new fishes had a bacterial infection. I'm glad that whatever they had where not passed on the the rest of your livestock. __________________ Just started Red Sea Reefer 350 (75 Gallon) Build Thread - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2555495 Current Tank Info: Red Sea Reefer 350

11/12/2016, 10:07 AM	#3
barrysalt Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Warren, Ohio Posts: 274	Angel trouble One of the basic truths of this hobby is that you should always set up a QT protocol for your purchases--especially so with someone like yourself who is a newcomer to the process. Sometimes you can get away without a quarantine tank for new fish, but in the long run, you will suffer the consequences. The more you read about this hobby, especially on this forum, the more you will be convinced that QT is a basic requirement! Good luck... __________________ I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. Current Tank Info: mngr of 3 tanks, 8,000 gals total

11/12/2016, 01:07 PM	#4
ramasezz Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 3	Thank youu for the tip Tks for the tip. I did spend a couple of hours on the net and voraciously read up on various sites and blogs... Have picked up a couple of QT (10 and 55 gal). Space constraints have also dictated that I use a cannister filter instead of a sump filtaration. I hope that will do. I also read that keeping it bare bottom may help the finicky eater to find food a little easier and may help in the overall acclimatization.I'll also pick up some nano type skimmers to help maintain the QT to a habitable level.