tank is crashing!!!

[hawaiiguy]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I didn't think I'd get such a great response! So, I'll change about 30% of the water when I get home tonight and do a bunch of testing.
Dufferdan, I've been trying to catch my bicolour for a few days now... Sometimes I can flush her out of the rocks, but she still has enough energy for a fast break back in! And yes, she does have a patchy spot at the top of her head just in front of her dorsal fin. It's not a growth or anything, she's just lost her colour there. Its not her regular vibrant yellow, it's a dull whitish yellow colour.

[TheReefGeek]

Test the new water you mix up before adding it to your tank to make sure that is not the problem.

[hawaiiguy]

Right, I'll test the new water too... The salt mix I'm using is RedSea (I've been using RedSea since I started) and the water is RO/DI.

[hawaiiguy]

...and I'll run carbon. I don't have a canister filter (used to but I sold it) but I have a HOB filter so I'll use that.

[dufferdan]

I think your Angel has Ick. It could have been brought on by the stress from the water conditions. You will need to treat this fish and probably your others as well. Do some research on the symptoms of ick and treatments. Hyposalinity or copper. Don't treat the fish in your display tank.

[hawaiiguy]

ok here are the parameters:

pH: 8.4
nitrate: 10 mg/L
phosphate: 0.5 mg/L
ammonia: 0.05 mg/L
KH: 160 mg/L
salinity: 1.024

no one here carries Ca test kits... I'm going to have to wait until I head up to Calgary to get one. After dinner I'll measure the new water that I make for a water change.

[DEAD_BY_DAWN]

i think from the fact that you have any ammonia in your tank,and i would assume some nitrite that there is a cycle going on,the best thing you can do is remove all fish and inverts till it is finished,then slowly start putting them back in,i have personaly found that doing as you said massive water changes can cause more harm than good if you are shifting from one extreme to another,testing you cal level is not super important at this point ether from what you have listed for corals etc,you dont seem to have any stony corals so i would take a guess and say that you cal level will be high,and finally for the cyano covering your tank this should dissaper when things return to normal ie low nutirents if not them chemi clean will kick its ass within twenty four hours..good luck things should work out fine with a little bit more time ..john

[dufferdan]

Are you reading your Alk properly. It should be around 8dKH or 22.4mg/l.