Tangs dying and I don't know why

[starjtj]

I am having trouble with some fish, mostly tangs and I can't seem to pinpoint the cause. My tank is:

156 gal
~175 lbs LR
2 1/2 sand bed
refugium, skimmer, etc
SG 1.023
Ca 400
dkh 10
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
pH 8.2
temp 77 degrees

I am using Tropic Marin pro reef salt mix and have 0 ppm on my TDS meter.

The tank has been running for approx 6 weeks. It was set up with 220 lbs live sand and cured live rock. The tank was monitored for about two weeks to see if it needed to cycle but didn't due to using the live sand and cured rock. I added a 5 reef chromis, 3 of which survived. I later added a blue dot jawfish and an anthias. Then added a powder brown tang and a sohal tang. After 3 weeks in the tank, the sohal and powder brown died. Prior to their death, they had ich and were being treated with Metro and Focus. After several days, I added a yellow tang, two false percs, and a clown tang. The tangs lasted 2 days and are now dead.

Throughout this time i have tested pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate every couple of days. All readings were perfect. Living in the tank are false percs, watchman goby, 3 chromis, various sps and lps corals. Corals are doing fine and growing.

Any idea what might be killing my tangs?

[hybridazn]

Sometimes certain fish dont take well to such a new tank, even if its setup with lr and ls. I would just say allow the tank to cycle a few more months and try again. First with a yellow tang then go from there. I had this same problem before with a young tank, a yellow tang lasted about 3 days before dying. Now i have a yellow, salfin, blue hippo and pbt and all are doing just fine. The tank has been up for almost a year now

[snorvich]

What do you feed? How often? Nori? However you are taking on some highly aggressive tangs (e.g Sohal and Clown) that do not really fit your tank size. That is not what is killing them, although stress may contribute. I would suggest SLOWING DOWN!

[pugbreath13]

+1 on slow down. You didn't say anything about what you are feeding. Tangs like algae so in a new tank you probably don't have much. Please don't add another one until your tank matures.

[sedor]

I agree I ran through the same sort of problems when I first got into the hobby. New tanks aren't as stable and although tangs aren't delicate fish, they aren't nearly as hardy as a lot and they attract ich like no other which makes them susceptible to an early demise in stressful situations.

Tangs are large fish and also tend to add a lot to the bioload, which a new tank may not be able to keep up with. You probably had an ammonia spike which took them out. With time the chemistry in your tank will build up and you will be able to add larger fish without problems.

[davelin315]

I am assuming that since your tank is 6 weeks old that you're fairly new to the hobby (no offense meant). Anyway, you picked some of the more difficult tangs to introduce. The Clown/Linneatus Tang is one of the notoriously difficult fish and should only be attempted by experts with a reef tank due to their dietary needs. They often come in and are already suffering when you buy them due to deficiencies in their diet since collection. The Powder Brown is not that difficult a fish, but combining it with a Sohal and ich at the same time, you're looking at a somewhat peaceful fish in the Powder Brown which is stressed out enough to allow ich to take a strong foothold and then adding on the stress of one of the meanest fish out there in the Sohal (reputation only, no personal experience with them because of this reputation) and then medicating on top of that with tangs which sometimes can really suffer from medications. The second set of fish probably died the same way, and yellow tangs are pretty hardy fish.

Don't take offense, but try adding fish slowly, one at a time, and make sure your tank is ready for them. A 6 week old tank (which was only at 1-2 weeks when you added the first set of tangs) is a far cry from a stable or mature tank and is not suitable yet for difficult to keep fish. I'll be the first one to admit that I will often set up a tank and toss the fish in there right away, but I've been at this a very long time and use rock that is already what I consider to be seasoned by supporting lots of life already, rather than just cured and newly added to a system.

One measure of whether a system is mature enough to handle more advanced life in it is if it has gone through an algae cycle yet (talking going through the initial film, then diatom and possibly dinoflagellates, then maybe some more aggressive hair, and then back to film algae with some cyano possibly sprinkled in there). Keep in mind there could have been other causes of death for the tangs, collection, husbandry as they were collected and transshipped, improper medicating, etc., but from what you have said, it sounds like they were stressed out too much to survive for the first set and then the second set sounds like they were placed into a tank that proved it was not mature enough to handle these fish yet.

[Wolverine]

As mentioned, first thing is to slow down. This is not a hobby for the impatient. As mentioned, sohal and clown tangs are not a good idea for your tank. Clown tangs can be difficult to keep alive, and if they are, they can be extremely aggressive. Sohals are definitely hardier, but they've been known to kill everything else in the tank. Powder Browns can be ich magnets. Last time I had an ich outbreak (9ish years ago), I had the tank fish free for about 2 months before adding anything new, not several days.

Also, as mentioned, your tank will probably not have enough algae at this stage to be a great place for any tang.

[nikon187]

What are the demensions of your tank? I agree with everyone else that the tank is too small for a sohal or a clown tang and def not together. I would slow down as others said, try adding a fish every 2 weeks and monitor levels in between. regardless of tank demensions i would stick to a max of 2 tangs for that size tank. ( smaller tangs in the zebrasoma or bristletooth family)

[iFrag]

Nothing good happens to a fish tank when you rush things.

[starjtj]

Thanks for the responses. The tank is a 156 Oceanic which is 60 x 24 x 25. The clown tang was added after my sohal died. I was not adding them together. I agree that I was being impatient with adding the fish but thought that by going with the LR and LS that maybe could go ahead and put some fish after a couple of weeks along with the advice of a LFS.

I did have an algae cycle and there is hair along the back wall and rock that the tangs were grazing on.

Since i statrted this thread, I have invested in a UV sterilizer and more importantly a QT tank. I am going to wait a couple of months before i try to add anything. Then probably start with a yellow and see how things go.