Sometimes reefing really sucks...... 

So sorry for your losses, reefing can be absolutely brutal at times. Looking forward to the product spotlight series and what you do with it

The smart thing to do is to always immediately remove the aggressive fish because it’s simply not worth losing other animals over. Find it a new home, say goodbye and don’t look back

Thanks for the Shoutout on the Reef Moonshiner's, keep up the great work, and sorry for these losses. Hurts to loose species you cared for so much...................

Sorry to hear! Im in the same situation with a Flame hawk that after a year has recently turned heel, and is slowly picking off everything smaller than it. Mother Nature is a crazy thing.

Sorry for the losses. I'm in the middle of setting up my new build and have lost fish I had for 15 years. I'm in a similar situation where I have a white tail that I'm eventually adding with a yellow and purple tang. I'm praying all goes well. Fish are not as easily replaced these days. They are way more expensive now and you never want something to die that you are responsible for.

Glad Billy jumped on board, Fantastic service and quality at aquaristic

I’m sorry for your loss!

You corals look amazing!! So sorry for your loss, makes me worry about my Purple Tang who is still quite young but without a doubt the king of the tank. Need to keep a close eye on him. If I were in your shoes I would no doubt pack up the Purple Tang and give him to a friend with an even larger tank and start collecting again…

Had the same thing happen literally this month, and it all came to ahead today. Had both a Purple and Yellow tang and I have had the Yellow probably 7-8 years and I have had the Purple about 5-6 years and they had always done really well. And for some reason all of a sudden the Purple decided he did not like the Yellow and was on the verge of killing him. Tried separating them for a few weeks to see if the aggression would go away, but it was not to be. Made the heart wrenching decision to rehome the Purple before he killed my Yellow tang.

Sorry for your loss Sam. So heartbreaking…

Sorry to hear this, I just went through the same experience in my tank this past week. I have had a diamond watchman goby for a while along with a lawnmower blenny. Well, the lawnmower blenny decided he didn’t like the goby anymore and started pummeling him. Its a real shame too because I could watch that watchman sift through the sand all day long. I too feel the same way about my tank and my wife actually cleaned the glass because I hadn’t. I hope you have a good experience from here on out.

Lost all of my fish, Tangs etc that were with me for almost ten years, part of the family. The culprit was Marine Velvet, in a space of hours, all gone!! How or why was a struggle, ripped the tank down. Now up and running with a new system getting on for a year now. It absolutely broke me losing my pals so feel for you. 🇬🇧

Sorry for the losses Sam. You'll bounce back stronger!

Know exactly how you feel mate! Lost my potters angel, kole tang and mystery wrasse all within 2 weeks. Atlantic blue decided to go to town on everything and anything that looked at him wrong...Stepped away from the hobby for a few months and now slowly getting the groove back. Can be so brutal at times

I feel you I had a few issues myself lately, I like to remind myself of a Winston Churchill quote, success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm

Sorry to hear Sam. When I moved my tangs into my 320 from the 190 system my Gem tang terrorized my Purple to the point that I rehomed the purple to a friend’s tank. Sometimes the switch just flips…😪

Sorry to hear that Sam. I think I'd be rehoming the purple tang as he is a big fish even for your tank and he'll probably do it again out of the blue. Keep smiling

You really inspire me man. Super wholesome dude. The only thing I can kind of relate to is I had a Clownfish that would chase around my Dartfish, and it relaxed once I added a smaller clown.

Well said. I'm only a year into reefing and I have nearly given up due to the brown crap covering my sand so I can't imagine how heartbreaking it is to have so many losses in such a short span of time specially when you are doing everything right and providing a wonderful habitat for your fish. ❤

If it's any consolation my 'dream tank' went in a skip about 20 years ago and I've not kept fish since. I've been binge watching your videos and although I've never kept marine fish before it's certainly inspired me to start at some point in the future! 🙂 And get my dream tank v2 lol

Keep your head up king. Focus on everyone thats still alive and thriving

Hard to push that thumbs up button for something like this. Really sorry Sam for you loss. I know the feeling all to well. Lost 3 fish recently as well. Achilles, Blonde Naso and a Mimic tang. For me it's not so much about the money loss but more about losing the beautiful animal.

great vid as always sorry for you losses thou buddy

Long time freshwater scrub here. Got laid off in December and decided to use the extra time to set up a reef tank. Tank was fully cycled and I bought some dream clownfish, including this gorgeous Wyoming White. Tank parameters were pristine, fish were eating like pigs, and they were paired up perfectly. One morning I woke up and the extreme misbar was dead on the sand. Yet again pristine parameters. My other clown other than acting lonely and hiding near my heat was eating fine. I left for a trip for 3 days and on the second day my brother called me freaking out that the Wyoming had also passed. It was like a punch in the gut because that was my first saltwater fish and one that I wanted so bad. Now I’m a little shell shocked and scared to get more fish…. 😵‍💫

sorry to hear Sam it always sucks when you loose fish, it’s one thing i don’t miss. the tank is looking fantastic though hopefully no more agro from the purple.

I feel ya. Sorry for your loss. I've lost all my wrasses over the last month from my six line Scott's, melanurus, 3 Leopards to my favourite beautiful lennardi over the last 4 months. Something in the tank killing them

Sorry to see this! I hope you replace the purple tang. I would also say it's more proof that just because you have a bigger tank that you're safer with tangs. I have 9 tangs in a 120g and it helps to have more tangs than less to spread the aggression. More tangs is the answer to keeping tangs.

Sorry for your fish loss, I feel your pain. Lost my white tail, black tang and polyzona when i set up a new tank. Gutted.

Sucks when you lose a fish. My purple tang did a similar thing to my Copperband. Then a few weeks later the Purple tang jumped out of the tank the night before we went on holidays. Found him a week later on the table under a book and stinking the house out. Looking forward to your collaboration with Aquaristic. They've got all the gear.

I have been so close to closing my tank down and still consider it now. Things can be going so smooth for so long and out of nowhere, disaster strikes. We put in so much time, effort and money so when something bad happens, it really hurts. For a while now I’ve been battling cyano, Dino, fish aggression, aiptasia and parasites. I think I’m on top of everything, and BAM, something goes wrong. I’ve done the same as you and just stepped back and left it alone. I’m not adding any more fish or coral and just letting what I have grow out. Your tank is looking absolutely stunning mate.

I’m so sorry Sam, that is heart-wrenching. I feel real pain when a creature I become “god” of dies poorly. The pain is real, and I tend to kick myself around after the fact. I’m new-ish, but have been living with 9 tangs to include Achilles, Brown and Blue for a year. Here is one observation I have after seeing your beautiful tank, built for coral display. There is nowhere to hide (from what I remember pre-coral, I watch all your vids and am a huge fan) in this tank. I remember a curved aquascape without a lot of caves and crevasses. Tangs can defend themselves from attacks from the rear. So with the scalpel on the tail, it needs to be in a narrow crevasse, that can be defended with the tail (all tangs know the danger of the tail). Here is the trick though, if this crevasse has 2 ends the defender needs room to do a 180 inside, and defend the other entrance. If nothing else this will give you time to intervene before permanent damage. I have a Purple named Bubba, ‘cause he so big. #2 Build your aquascape so that you can drop a divider in and segment off/trap fish. You have one large beautiful scape, it’s also the only home in there? Maybe it’s time to build more fish houses. So here is the question i ask myself as I go to toss 20 fish all at once into my new 300gal,,, “will everybody have a cave to sleep in”. Maybe your Purple needed a little more elbow room on the reef, and others needed a place to hide for a few days. I cry when my fish die bro,, I’m just trying to be helpful and provide actionable advice in a time of pain. Peace

I had a 180 gallon for more than 5 years. I found my foxface did a good job of keeping the peace. They can be harder on corals (acans), but maybe another one to help keep the peace? Just a thought.

Man this is the shit part of the hobby. Had more than my share of bad luck with fish this year so feel for you. Thanks for sharing both sides of your experience.

It woulda been purple tang soup on the second day. 🤣

It's tough and heartbreaking, fox face and purple tang get along and do evil things I know !.

Man that does suck they where beautiful and healthy looking fish sorry for your loss I have a yellow Tang I had for just over 8 years that I'm extremely attached to n it would break my heart if she diy.

If you ever decided to catch the aggressive purple tang (especially in a tank as big as yours) I suggest you to check out the NYOS floating fish trap.

Hello! How do you mount those flexible arms onto the outside of your fixture?? My AquaticLife fixture also has those channels on the outside.

I tried mirrors when I got my Achilles but it made my purple tang furious the whole tank was getting pissed of so I took the mirror down and everything settled down just my 10cents worth sorry for your losses 😥

Known that feeling :( I just lost my original purple torch coral out of no where in the space of 2 days. Just melted away to nothing!

Sorry about your loss, it's not nice to lose fish or coral for that matter, all I can say is try to put the purple tang in your frag tank for a while and when you put him back in the DT he will be the new kid on the block and might leave the others alone, good luck buddy 👍

One of the best tanks I’ve seen mate it’s horrible I spent 150 pounds on a yellow tang and 2 weeks later he just twitched and died infront of my eyes nothing bothering him eating normal all other stuff fine in the tank hopefully I can own a tank like that one day

Sam, sorry to hear that you lost some of your coveted fish. I’ve noticed with tangs if you’re going to introduce one or two, make sure they are larger than the existing group of tang you have already. I am going to be in the same dilemma as I am going to be adding more tangs to an established group I have already. You might want to take your purple tang out of the main display and put him in a frag tank for two or three months then introduce some more larger tangs if you can acquire them. Once they are established then put the purple tang back in. Just my thoughts.

Hey man, about your whitetail, do you have a feed mode on your MP60? Cause I have a cover on my mp10 and lost an angelfish once from him swimming into it in search of algae when feed mode was on

What I do in your situation. I use diy container with many drilled hole for water to go in. Put new fishes inside for weeks or longer. Let fish see each other this way sometimes fish will get use to each other. Also try print some real size fish photos and place on the glass every where, this also helps sometimes.

Been there man. Seems like when it goes bad things come in spades. Sorry to hear you lost some nice ones.

A year late! Almost seems like a mating thing the way it came and went. Once I had to remove a tang to another tank for 2 weeks from aggression. When I put it back things went well always a risk though. Did it ever happen again or just a once thing?

If you was to add 3 medium to large yellow tangs the aggression would stop almost immediately Sam

OHHHHH dude that sucks, feel for for you mate,,,,,,, I'd be finding the Purple a new home, his own tank or something like that at your place if possible so you still have him and don't have to get rid of him, you don't want him to do it again and loose more, especially the Gem!!!

Needed this man just lost my favorite Coral when everything else is completely fine

Tank is getting into some nice reef. Hmm why not remove purple tang and saved all those fish? Too bad. Good luck with restocking the tank.

Hey man! You know how fish are and how this hobby is. Don't be so hard on yourself. Take some deep breaths and a step back and realize its just part of the hobby we signed up for. It's not the fun part, but that's how every hobby is.

Was there a possibility that some of the trace elements you dosed in the tank poisoned the fish?

Parker, the Purple Tank would be gone for me, no matter how long I had it. Like a dog once it bites it will bite again.

I keep reef 2 and sounds of it it looks like the purple tang could tell that the butterfly fish was weak and decided that it would make a meal

I think for as much as we keep adding fish , our system find their own balance, I recently had to remove a tang ,due to wars breaking out . Even thou all the fish had been together for 9 months with no issues , all sudden I had tang wars going on . It’s sad but life ,chin up

Sorry for your loss. I have no idea why your purple went physco for a short while, my Purple Tang and Copperband are best mates, swim round together, feed together etc. Just part of reefing like you say. I banged a mirror on when i introduced the copperband, the purple went mad at itself for a few days then when i removed the mirror the purple was like 'Ohh hi mate, nice in here, just dont like the other purple tang' lets swim together?

I feel your pain mate, i have had long term tank mates turn on each other before for no reason, i guess sometimes there is nothing we can do about this, when i intro new fish in my system i remove my tangs and flame angel with a fish trap who are the agressors in the tank, add new fish and then re introduce removed fish 4-5 days later. Can only imagine carnage otherwise.

how are you able to have the fox face and the bellus angels without LPS disappearing? also, why not remove the purple tang if it's so aggressive with other tangs that aren't so aggressive?

use the mirror on the side of the tank trick, distracts the aggressive fish and the other fish can live happily. then after a few days the aggressive fish just gets over fighting. worked with my purple tang from murder to carless bimbo.

I lost my naso last week. Had her nearly 2 years. Total gentle giant. And just stopped eating and died.

Hey Sam, what icp tester are you using, looks like triton although moonshiners indicates to use ATI for their calculator? I have used ATI although sending to Germany is pain.

Hi Sam, sorry I've just viewed this video. I hadn't seen it when we caught up today at Deer Park, so i hope you didnt think i was rude when you were asking how my own problems were going and i didn't ask about your challenges. So sorry to here about your losses. It is so hard when you lose a fish. I know we love our coral but our fish are members of our families all with their own personalities. It seems to hurt even more when we have named them and been caring for them for months and years. We recently sold a Purple Tang that had been a model citizen with us but did some damage to a friend's fish in his tank. I noticed you didn't mention the possibility of moving the purple on but maybe something to consider? Keep your chin up mate and focus on the good i.e. it's great to see the Blonde Lipstick Tang doing so well.

Mate, I’m so sorry…. I’m gutted for your loss. It might be a long shot but did you change/ stop seaweed feeding? I’ve heard different types in f algae have different minerals and those help against aggression. Or the rocks were toooo clean and it was fighting for what is growing.

Also you can remove purple tang and keep in small aquarium for a month, and put it back. Fish will forget where is their territory belongs. He will acts like a new fish in your aquarium.

Like you said very strange, been in the hobby a fair few years, seen plenty if aggression, but for fish to swim into a powerheard weird, obviously mirror it what's have slways used with tangs especially, but I think we're be scratching our heads for while on this one

hello friend. sad to hear that. purple tangs are known to be super agresive. did you change the feeding routine by decreasing the feed

Feel for you mate, I got a mandarin which was eating frozen food and purple went after it, I wasn’t expecting this in my wildest dreams and it killed Mandarin within a day.

A good idea would of been taking out the purple tang put him in the sump for about a week. Then put him back in can change the attitude of the fish sometimes.

That sucks about your losses Sam. Devastating. Your setup is still top shelf. Mind if I ask about your PO4 in that Triton test? Are you happy with 0.1, or is it too high?

sorry for your lose over 20yrs with tangs and its always the purple. I recently lost a fish to a mp60 any chance of letting me know how to obtain the covers? by the way my battery backup I copied like for like with you works a treat thankyou

So sorry Sam.

So you have a serial killers in the tank😢

My purple tang is a great fish until I add a new addition, it doesn’t matter if it’s the size of a penny or the same size as the purple tang he becomes an arse. The only fish that’s been defending it’s self well is my magnificent fox face it uses it’s spines as protection. The purple is really really easy to trap but I just can’t move it on.

reason i said find new home so you could try to replace tangs you lost. with new ones. problem with purple tang they are very unpredictable with there temperament and could kill fish off.

Sorry bro and yea you’re absolutely right sometimes this hobby can really kick u in the pants , great vid great tank 💯

Sorry you've had these losses. I can agree that sometimes this hobby sucks. I'm only 3 months into my first ever tank and I have dinos. Sucks. Also lost a goby who managed to jump through my tank top net that my son was really attached to.

Sorry bro. It sucks losing fish in general. Especially ones we’ve had for a long time.

purple and yellow tangs are psychopaths :)

I had to remove my purpe Tang, she killed my coral beaty for no reason at all, i decided to give her a pass, then started bullying almost to death my yellow tang which they have been together for 3 years and that was it. I pulled out the purple tang and rehomed.

Just to be sure catch the purple tang and put him in the cade for 2 weeks or 3

Sorry for your fish losses Sam. I actually think the intro of the gem tang, although not recent, is the issue. Two Zebrasoma is one too many or should be 3 to five together (to disperse aggression). The purple knows the gem will become more aggressive than it and the purple will be the target (as no other Zebrasoma). So the purple has taken out those other fish to make a statement to the gem not to mess with it. Solution: change Zebrasoma numbers up or down from two.New intros 3 plus at a time. Still no guarantees of working, but a better chance to succeed.

I consider myself a tang expert - I currently have a very large purple, yellow, naso, gem, and Achilles all doing well in a smaller tank than yours. The way I was successful was by having a good plan - I introduced the purp/yellow/gem all at the same time - they QT'd together. The naso went in before them and the Achilles was last, but smaller. It was important to keep mirrors on the tank for a few days so all aggression could be gotten out on the mirrors and not eachother. I also moved rocks around with the introduction of each new fish. Now, what you can do in your situation - place the purple in the sump for 2-3mo. Acquire the other tangs you want and let them establish territory. When ready, introduce the purple again. If he's a jerk it's time to sell him and buy a small one.

Purple are known for doing this , as for the mirror trick it's never works for me

I’m surprised that you left a bully of a fish of any kind never mind a tang in your tank, regardless of its previous track record of being calm towards other tank mates, you should have pulled it as soon as you seen it’s showing aggression, would have saved you and your family any heartache. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but in this case it’s a very expensive lesson for sure Sam, and I’m sure you will be wanting to add tangs in the future, I’d say to you get rid of the bully tang now buddy, cause history will repeat itself for sure if you don’t. 😔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Why wouldn’t you just get rid of the culprit - The Purple Tang! And get replacements for the ones that had passed! That Tang has issues

Purple tang is eviiiiiilsssss

Shit mate - sorry- that's a bummer

Horrible horrible event. In Europe the White tail kole is still fairly easy to obtain. Dunno about the import rules to Australia and such but might be worth checking into De jong via cairn or somesuch

My yellow I added shredded my sailfin and killed him was verry upsetting

We stopped giving fish names, it helps not getting too attached to them. A little bit less devastating if they go to fishheaven one day.

That sucks Sam

Time get new home for purple tang

and I don't think copper bands shouldn't really be in the Hobby anyway is most of the time they don't intend to last longer than a few months

Sucks man time for another tank for the fish you love!!

Sounds like the purple tang need to go to a new home

Purple Tangs are mean MoFoes. I had to get rid of mine.

Geez white tails are like 70$ stateside

PARKER!!!!!!!! I just sent you an email. I have a white tail for you!

An aggressive animal needs to be gone period. I have seen it time and time again in multiple pet hobbies. Like a Dog that gets aggressive and bites, its NOT worth it for him to get that way again.