Please Help! Several fish keep dying and IDK why

[Omri]

I have a 140 gal Red Sea Reefer that has been up and running for 5 months. I had no lights on the tank for the first 4 months. After cycling the tank and letting it run for about 2 months, I added 6 fish. All we’re doing great. All we’re doing great. A month and a half later I added about 8 more fish. Along with a clean up crew of snails and shrimp. Most recently, I added a juvenile emporer (about 2 weeks ago) and have tried to put several frags and softies in the tank. Those all seem to be doing great as well. This week, I lost a powder blue tang, one of the clownfish I had, and a blood shrimp. All were stuck to my mp40. Today, I see one of my anthias stuck there as well. (I put that one in a cup with holes in it to separate it and keep it out of my mp40.)
Also, my red tuxedo urchin seems to be shedding a great deal of its needles and I saw one of my snails letting out a gas looking liquid. I’m attaching photos and videos below.
current parameters:
ca - 400
Phosphate ULR - .36
dKh - 6.9 (just dosed a little b-ionic ESV 2 part to raise this)
Mg - 1380/1390
Nitrate - 4ppm (using the Red Sea my pink was darker than the darkest option. Not sure what that means or if I’m supposed to dilute my sample - could use help with this too!)
Nitrite - 0

 

[Justin]

Did you see any signs of ich? Could have been a strain that takes a bit longer to kick in. Stray voltage maybe from something would be another guess if you don't see signs of ich?

 

[amado]

Ok so anthias and powder blue tangs are very hard to keep alive.
the anthias needs a lot of feeding multiple times a day. The shrimp mightnot be dead
Maybe what you saw on your mp40 is the skin. From them molting. If you don’t have algae the pinchushion will die. It has no food source if you don’t have algae you can feed them nori.

also are you feeding nori? The tang doesn’t have enough algae on the rocks so you have to give a sheet a day of nori

 

[Omri]

Did you see any signs of ich? Could have been a strain that takes a bit longer to kick in. Stray voltage maybe from something would be another guess if you don't see signs of ich?

Not that I’m aware of. I’m fairly new to the hobby so I wouldn’t be sure but the fish all look good aside from some fins being a little worn which I thought could be from being stuck to the mp40.

 

[Trio91]

Did you check your ammonia levels? Maybe there was a possible spike?

 

[MadReefer]

Did you cycle fishless?
Cause it seems to me a mini cycle after adding fish which produce waste and then uneaten food. Double check nitrate, phosphate and ammonia.

 

[Mark_C]

Beautiful setup!
Unfortunately this hobby is a live and learn situation. If you cycled the tank for those 4 months with the rocks and some sort of additive (a few pinches of food occasionally, a dead shrimp from Shop-rite, or even urine) in that amount of time it should have cycled. Those rocks look awful clean. We're they cycled in the tank or added later? Most rocks need to be 'cured' for a few weeks before being added to the system, the curing allows dead organisms on the rock to rot and brings in the bacteria needed for a healthy tank. IF they were in the tank for that 4 month period that should have been more than enough.
Silly thought - MP40s are POWERFUL. I have 2 in a 120 gallon and they're set between 40 and 60%, if you're running them full blast maybe thats why your finding corpses attached to them, usually in this hobby fish that die just seem to disappear with no evidence left behind.
Though you do have a larger tank, you are adding quite a lot of fish at once, usually one or two fish, then let system settle, then another one or two. This may, as Trio mentioned, caused an ammonia spike. FIsh = waste = ammonia = dead fish.
Overfeeding may be another issue. If you're using frozen cubes, with 14 fish you're talking 2-3 cubes per feeding, but thats subjective. I have 10 fish and just under 2 cubes seems to be right for my tank.
You also have parameters listed but no temp (76-80F is good) or salinity (1.025 - 1.026 is best).
Also, that urchin isn't looking too great. If you go to any standard shop, pick up some nori (seaweed) for sushi rolls. You can drop some of that in the tank or secure it to the glass as food for the urchin. Might be best atm to adopt him out or ask someone to hold for a bit.
Best of luck with all.

 

[Omri]

Did you check your ammonia levels? Maybe there was a possible spike?

Not yet but I will shortly. If that’s the case how do I protect the fish still in the tank?

 

[Goodair]

From the look of the tank, the urchin is probally starving. Either that or your parameters aren't stable. He can grow them, back once he has steady food and you got reef parameters.
Do you got any macros in a sump to help balance phospahte/nitrates?

Try to tuck fish scraps/pellets and seaweed under the urchin, see what he nibbles at.

 

[Omri]

Thanks for the advice. I added a bottle of copepods a couple of months back but I’m not sure if it was successful. I just noticed some small thing stuck to the glass of my sump. I’m attaching a pic. Is that copepods and if not, what is it?

 

[Omri]

Beautiful setup!
Unfortunately this hobby is a live and learn situation. If you cycled the tank for those 4 months with the rocks and some sort of additive (a few pinches of food occasionally, a dead shrimp from Shop-rite, or even urine) in that amount of time it should have cycled. Those rocks look awful clean. We're they cycled in the tank or added later? Most rocks need to be 'cured' for a few weeks before being added to the system, the curing allows dead organisms on the rock to rot and brings in the bacteria needed for a healthy tank. IF they were in the tank for that 4 month period that should have been more than enough.
Silly thought - MP40s are POWERFUL. I have 2 in a 120 gallon and they're set between 40 and 60%, if you're running them full blast maybe thats why your finding corpses attached to them, usually in this hobby fish that die just seem to disappear with no evidence left behind.
Though you do have a larger tank, you are adding quite a lot of fish at once, usually one or two fish, then let system settle, then another one or two. This may, as Trio mentioned, caused an ammonia spike. FIsh = waste = ammonia = dead fish.
Overfeeding may be another issue. If you're using frozen cubes, with 14 fish you're talking 2-3 cubes per feeding, but thats subjective. I have 10 fish and just under 2 cubes seems to be right for my tank.
You also have parameters listed but no temp (76-80F is good) or salinity (1.025 - 1.026 is best).
Also, that urchin isn't looking too great. If you go to any standard shop, pick up some nori (seaweed) for sushi rolls. You can drop some of that in the tank or secure it to the glass as food for the urchin. Might be best atm to adopt him out or ask someone to hold for a bit.
Best of luck with all.

Sorry I forgot to post temp and salinity. They have been stable for a couple of mo the at least at 79 and 1.026

Thanks for the advice. I added a bottle of copepods a couple of months back but I’m not sure if it was successful. I just noticed some small thing stuck to the glass of my sump. I’m attaching a pic. Is that copepods and if not, what is it?

 

[Omri]

Sorr

Beautiful setup!
Unfortunately this hobby is a live and learn situation. If you cycled the tank for those 4 months with the rocks and some sort of additive (a few pinches of food occasionally, a dead shrimp from Shop-rite, or even urine) in that amount of time it should have cycled. Those rocks look awful clean. We're they cycled in the tank or added later? Most rocks need to be 'cured' for a few weeks before being added to the system, the curing allows dead organisms on the rock to rot and brings in the bacteria needed for a healthy tank. IF they were in the tank for that 4 month period that should have been more than enough.
Silly thought - MP40s are POWERFUL. I have 2 in a 120 gallon and they're set between 40 and 60%, if you're running them full blast maybe thats why your finding corpses attached to them, usually in this hobby fish that die just seem to disappear with no evidence left behind.
Though you do have a larger tank, you are adding quite a lot of fish at once, usually one or two fish, then let system settle, then another one or two. This may, as Trio mentioned, caused an ammonia spike. FIsh = waste = ammonia = dead fish.
Overfeeding may be another issue. If you're using frozen cubes, with 14 fish you're talking 2-3 cubes per feeding, but thats subjective. I have 10 fish and just under 2 cubes seems to be right for my tank.
You also have parameters listed but no temp (76-80F is good) or salinity (1.025 - 1.026 is best).
Also, that urchin isn't looking too great. If you go to any standard shop, pick up some nori (seaweed) for sushi rolls. You can drop some of that in the tank or secure it to the glass as food for the urchin. Might be best atm to adopt him out or ask someone to hold for a bit.
Best of luck with all.

y I forgot to post salinity and temp. They have been stable for a couple of months at 1.026 and 79 degrees. The mp40s are operating at below half power and have been since I started the tank.

 

[Trio91]

Not yet but I will shortly. If that’s the case how do I protect the fish still in the tank?

Water changes will be your best bet. But test 1st to rule that out.

 

[NikkiT]

The new tank is lovely!
A couple of questions.
When you bought the rock, was it wet or dry? If it was wet, did you feed while the rock was cycling, and go through the ugly algae stages?

Copepods are great, but they are not enough to start a cycle. If you skipped that step by accident, an instant cycle product may help your tank by providing bacteria to eat the ammonia, and water changes will help. Instant cycle products are essentially bacterial cultures. If you have ammonia, a combination of a water change and adding bacteria will help. Some of the fish you chose are more delicate. Do you see them breathing hard? Are their gills red? How is their color and their behavior?

There is always a possibility you accidentally introduced disease into the tank, but fish diseases don't affect inverts, and you said you lost your shrimp, and your urchin isn't in good shape, so I'd suspect that isn't the only problem.