fish and zoas not happy overnight.

Jason13

New member
Ok. so all dat yesterday was fine. I get home with a couple free zoa frags, pieces of montipora and a couple mushrooms.

The zoas were in rough shape, but most of them will pull through.

I top off the tank like i do every night and all is well.

5 hours later half my zoas are going wonky. closed, half closed, not something that usually happens.

I kill the lights and go to sleep.

Woke up this morning and the zoas seem a little sluggish, my flame angel is hiding and breathing heavy, my orchid dottyback is hiding and wasnt too excited when i fed them.

The clown, firefish, cleaner shrimp and barred goby all seemed normal.

Tested ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and kh...all were fine.

No clue what to do now. any advice would be awesome.

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Ooops.. .

75 gallon
90 lbs rock
Api test kits
System up since January.
Cycled it with all the live rock
Flame angel and firefish added in march.
Dottyback added in april
Clown and bar goby added 2 weeks ago.
25-30p zoas/paly's. Added over last 45 days.

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Did you happen to have any temperature swings? What kind of filtration are you running? Maybe the oxygen exchange isn't as good as it should be.
 
could be disease, could be predation there just isint enough info, zoas and fish could be related, not related....
 
I'm stumped...but for kicks lets talk temperature. I'm not running a heater and i know the temp can float between 72-78 unregulated. It stays in that range but shifts 2-4 degrees up and down ob a daily basis...could that be a factor?

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I'm stumped...but for kicks lets talk temperature. I'm not running a heater and i know the temp can float between 72-78 unregulated. It stays in that range but shifts 2-4 degrees up and down ob a daily basis...could that be a factor?

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I have the same temp fluctuations, so I wouldn't blame the temps right off the bat.
 
Ok..next unknown. I noticed a week or 2 ago that the very tip of the angels tail looked a little nipped.
I blamed it on a particular fish and removed the offender. the tail has not gotten worse, but it hasnt gotten better either. its just the very tip of the tail.

In addition, i have suspicions on whether my crappy hydrometer is accurate. my friends tank reads 1.020 on it abd he swears he is at 1.025. my water is at 1.025 on it. would high sg account for any of this? like 1.030?

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Salinity is definitely a factor. I accidentally bumped mine to 1.028 and my frogspawn and leather would not open during that time. I have since corrected it back to where I normally have it, 1.026m and everything is back to normal. The higher the salinity the less oxygen that is in the water, which can make it harder for fish to breathe, which can stress them, which then makes them more prone to parasites and diseases. To me $40 is worth the investment to buy a refractometer to make sure my salinity is accurate.
 
To me $40 is worth the investment to buy a refractometer to make sure my salinity is accurate.

+1 for refrac. I've had it at 1.030 and coral was still okay, and I've had it at 1.021 and noticed coral starting to get pissy. If you can, invest in a refrac and an ATO; those 2 combined will help with salinity stability (say that 5 times fast).
 
Well, the flame angel bit it by the time i got home from work. everything else looks ok though. Im confused.

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Side note. I bought a tank from a guy with 5 fish, 2 shrimp, and some soft corals. When I tested his water his salinity was 1.036...lol..everything was healthy
 
This is crap. what are the chances the angel just randomly died? everything seems normal in the tank...i think i might be over thinking it.

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