fish are dying

[Mel28]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium with plenty of live rock, testings are good. I recently purchased a Sailfin tang that within 2 weeks bloated up and died. Now my royal gramma is dead. Have had this fish for 5 months among several others and no problems. Pet shop recently recommended keeping salinity a little higher than we were, could this be the problem? or something else?

 

[Chazwick]

You say testings are good, would you care to share them?
Otherwise, i can't help.

 

[Mel28]

Ammonia, 0 PH 8.0-8.4, Nitites 0, Nitrates <20.

 

[Chazwick]

Hmm, i really don't know... I'm not a saltwater keeper, and although i have read up about it... let's just say, an experiances saltwater keeper should be here in a little while

 

[Mel28]

Also both fish that died quit eating and hid all day and would come out at night to swim around tank.

 

[OCCFan023]

can you guve us some specs on the tank.

filtration
amount of rock
any other fish?
any corals?

Was the sailfin acting normally when you first got him or did he show signs of illness throughout the tenure he was alive? Also how long after the sailfin died did the gramma die?

 

[Mel28]

As far as the kind of filter and protein skimmer, not sure. My husband generally cares for the equipment,but I can find out. We also have a powerhead to move water. I have 2 percula clowns, spotfin lion fish, yellow tang, coral beauty angel fish, and the royal gramma before today. It was about a week after the sailfin tang died that the royal gramma died. We just recently got the coral beauty. There is no coral, just some polyps.

 

[Mel28]

The sailfin seemed to be Ok when we got him.

 

[dbacksrat]

like occ said, we need to know what other fish you had...also, did you quarantine him? it's likely that he brought something into your tank that could have been prevented with a simple quarantine

one more thing: a sailfin tang needs a lot of swim room, at least six feet (maybe 125 gallons minimum)

 

[wayne]

How often water changes? What salinity? how big are the fish?

My guess is the yellow tang killed the sailfin though the bloating might indicate a bacterial infection. The gramma? How are the other fish?