What is happening to my tank?!

[Eddhordley_UK]

Good morning everybody!

I am having a lot of issues with my tank, which is costing me an arm and a leg. I feel like I am doing everything correctly, but clearly something isn't just quite right!
I own an AquaOne 200L system, with a filter sock, a BubbleMagus Curve 5 Skimmer, and a Pellet Reactor for filtration. The heat is also set at 26C, and I keep the salinity at around 1.025. I have a test kit at home for Nitrites and Phosphates - Both which only show a small trace - Something which my LFS has said is not the end of the world.

Well, at Easter, 8 weeks ago, I went home to my family, and left my tank on its own for the week. I had a Magnificent Foxface, Yellow Tang, Dwarf Fire Angel, Coral Beauty, Royal Gramma, 2x Clownfish, and 5x Green Chromis, and One Chalk Goby. For my cleanup crew I have 2x Cleaner Shrimps, 1x Blood Red Shrimp, and some Turbosnails and 6 Hermit Crabs.
For feeding the fish as I was away I also put three 'Holiday Feeding Blocks' in the tank - which said they were marine safe.

When I got back from my holidays, Dwarf Fire Angel, Royal Gramma, and Clownfish had all died, with the Yellow Tang, Coral Beauty, and One Chromis. The Foxface had also contracted what appeared as 'Black Spot' - So I ordered some PraziPro from the USA.
This left just the Foxface, Chalk Goby, Four Green Chromis, and the Cleanup Crew Left in the tank.
Unfortunately, the Foxface died the day which the PraziPro arrived, and the Chalk Goby got what can only be described as an 'Infection' on his side (Which looked like internal bleeding)... He died the same day. The LFS told me that the Holiday Feeding Blocks can be Toxic for the tank, and as well as that, drive the parameters crazy - the probable cause for this...

So, this left me with just 4 Green Chromis, and the Cleanup Crew... Which I have had alone in the tank since the Crash, and have been doing fine! Also, I must point out that I have some corals in the tank. Some Mushrooms, a Toadstool, A Torch, A Duncan, A Hammer, and some Green Star Polyps, all of which are thriving, growing, and are 'out' most of the day until the lights go off.

In the time I left the tank after the crash (With just the 4 Chromis, the Corals, and the Cleanup Crew), I have observed many Brittle Starfish, Asterina starfish, and Amphipods in the tank, all which showed me signs of good water quality, and a tank which has settled down since the 'Crash'. Also i have had some 'FeatherDusters' appear and grow in my tank. It had also been around 6 weeks since the crash, so I thought any diseases would have died off. After some more water changes, and constant monitoring of the tank, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce some fish back into the tank slowly. So around a week ago, I brought myself another Goby, who has been sifting through the sand ever since.
As the Goby was doing so well, and parameters were fine, just three days ago, I brought myself a pair of Clownfish, as the next fish to introduce. As always, I drip acclimated them, and put them in the tank. They have been eating VERY well, and seemed to enjoy their new tank. I actually felt like everything was going so well...

I woke up this morning, and the Clownfish look to have contacted what looks like WhiteSpot (See Attached Image). And not only that, the Goby has seemed to have gotten a similar infection as the one I had before the crash (See Attached Image). Literally overnight, the Clowns have contracted whitespot, and my active Goby has got this infection, and has deteriorated. What is happening to my tank!? The Chromis are all fine, as are the corals and my Cleanup Crew, but it seems any other fish I have added seem to get complications? I have just dosed the tank with some PolypLab Medic and some Garlic XTreme for the Whitespot, and I am about to do a large water change.


I'd appreciate any help - as this is all starting to get expensive, as well as upsetting!

 

[cuprajake]

u got any full tank shots and can you list all your parsms.

 

[Phil077]

It will remain a Mystery why you lost so many fish! But if it is ws.
The pic of your clownfish looks like it.
You need to wait and see how your remaining fish get on. imo there is nothing out there that will clear your tank of ws ?(Reef Friendly products
Are a waste of time imo. money out of your pocket
See how you go on, But ultimately tank fallow 8 weeks to be sure. if you have a small q/tank treat your remaining fish with copper
The only way imo. The very best of Luck

 

[penzo]

It will remain a Mystery why you lost so many fish! But if it is ws.
The pic of your clownfish looks like it.
You need to wait and see how your remaining fish get on. imo there is nothing out there that will clear your tank of ws ?(Reef Friendly products
Are a waste of time imo. money out of your pocket
See how you go on, But ultimately tank fallow 8 weeks to be sure. if you have a small q/tank treat your remaining fish with copper
The only way imo. The very best of Luck

Sorry to hijack,but my tank is empty at the min,by the time I put my fish back in it will be 16weeks.I was advised yesterday by my lfs,that its a good idea to also treat the empty DT.

 

[cuprajake]

dt should be clear then if theres no fish in there.

 

[warby]

agree with Jake longest living parasite recorded was 72days which is why 12 weeks is recommended to leave the tank free of fish.

it could be that the clowns you introduced had it from the shop. it's very hard to tell what it is as the pic is blurry.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Bluez_01]

You can try fresh crushed garlic which may help, I have had really good results from it in the past against w/s, 1 clove crushed over the tank to allow the juice to go in to it, then whats left over chop it in to fine parts, and put that in as well, repeat this twice over a week and see how it goes.

If you are running carbon then you will need to remove/turn that off for a week, as this will effect the concentration of the garlic treatment, any media (phos/carbon/etc...) will need to be thrown and refreshed, as this will be contaminated with w/s spores no doubt.

Run UV if you have it, reduce normal feeding down a bit, as the fish wont really be that hungry and "normal feeding" will most likely end up with food on the bottom rotting away which may cause more issues, as stated above, copper is the only sure way really to kill off w/s but with corals this can not be added, so fallow is the only last option really if the garlic does`nt help.

Going forward, invest in a battery operated feeder that goes over the tank, but avoid the ones that "tumble" as over a few days they get moisture in them and the food doesn`t come out, the best ones I have found are the ones that turn flat (like a record player), as the food doesn`t get moist with these (flake or pellet).

Try and wet skim if you can, this will help pull out any spores as well on the w/s, floss/socks/ etc... will need to boiled or replaced, dont add any more fish for now, and see how it goes over the next 4 weeks, if the current fish start to show signs of getting rid of the w/s then repeat the garlic treatment every week until they are totally clear of it, then you can stop the garlic treatment and monitor them for a further couple of weeks to see if there is any signs of it coming back, if they are clear then you have managed to get on top of it, if not you have tried your best and the only option would be to go fallow.

Forgot to mention, obviously keep up with your water changes, and if you can increase the size of the water change this will also help, but dont increase how often you do it, (most of us do a weekly change, which is what I am basing this on, if you dont weekly change, then this is what you should aim to do while you are treating this.) add the garlic after the change obviously.

HTH.