My entire tank was destroyed.....

[Teeb]

I have no idea what happened, the only thing that I can think of, is that my son stuck something in the tank and nothing liked it.

I've been checking my parameters nightly since I lost my wrasse and amonia, nitrates and nitrites were down. Everything seemed business as usual. I was outside with my wife for about 20 mins and my son wandered back in the house for a little bit. My wife went in a couple of minutes later and my son had the cup that defrost mysis shrimp in and was dipping it in the tank. She took it away from him and we came back outside. About 5 minutes later I went back in and my chromis was upside down at the bottom of the tank. I removed him and was looking at him for any signs of attack and by the time I got back, both clown gobies dead. My anthelia has withered into a grey mass, I lost 2 snails, and none of my zoas or GSP are opened up. I immediately tested parameters and came up with:
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Ph 8.0
SG: 1.021
My emerald and pom pom crab seem ok, and the bumble snails are still moving around, but I did lose a HH slug that has been in the tank since I first put water in it.

I did about a 60% water change and after shuffling the rocks around to remove everything that was dying, I started to see these white flecks in the water. They looked solid under water like specs of mysis shrimp, but would float to the top and dissipate. They had to have been air, but I've never seen a bubble like that.

I'm at a complete loss as to what happened. There were no chemicals around the tank except for some Purple Tech and it was right where it's supposed to be and my 2 year old doesn't exactly put everything back where it belongs. I don't know if any of the remaining coral is going to make it, but I'm going to try another large water change tomorrow and see how they respond.

This hobby can be frustrating.

[Robb_in_Austin]

Sorry to hear about that.

[demodiki]

I am sorry to hear about that. I had a meltdown and it was actually so slow I didn't see it until it was all over. I hope you stay in and come back stronger.

[Squiers007]

If you havnt already done so I would put a big bag of carbon in there to remove any chemicals that may have gotten in there and also do another large water change to get some good clean water in there. Good luck and hopefully you dont lose the whole tank. For future plans you may want to look into adding a canopy so noone can stick anything in there accidentally, just a thought.

[Teeb]

Do you think I would be benneficial at this point to try and find a hospital tank for the rest of the coral and cuc? I'm sure if they were able to survive the initial hit, it's only going to get better. I'm going to do another 60% water change today and retest and see if anything shows up.

[Teeb]

If you havnt already done so I would put a big bag of carbon in there to remove any chemicals that may have gotten in there and also do another large water change to get some good clean water in there. Good luck and hopefully you dont lose the whole tank. For future plans you may want to look into adding a canopy so noone can stick anything in there accidentally, just a thought.



I keep a 10oz bag of chemipure in there. It's a BC8, has a lid, but I keep the small feeder flap open to help keep the tank cool. Someone's just not allowed to be around the tank unsupervised. He seems a little upset this morning and has been pointing at the tank and saying "fish?" and shrugging. It's just frusterating that I was just getting the tank where I wanted it and now this.

[subsailor]

when was the last time you changed out the chemipure?
I have heard some horror stories about it.

[Teeb]

when was the last time you changed out the chemipure?
I have heard some horror stories about it.


Really? I hadn't heard anything negative about it. The bag is about 2 mos. old.

[Squiers007]

I would change out the carbon every month or so. I cant remember exactly but I know people have had some major issues when leaving carbon in there tanks long term. Maybe do a quick search and see if you can find any info on it

[subsailor]

I would change out the carbon every month or so. I cant remember exactly but I know people have had some major issues when leaving carbon in there tanks long term. Maybe do a quick search and see if you can find any info on it

chemipure is a whole diff ballgame than regular carbon.

[Squiers007]

All the more reason to do some more research on it.


chemipure is a whole diff ballgame than regular carbon.

[barderer]

can we say 100% water change.

[Teeb]

I did a 70% water change and 25% each day for 3 days and everything seems to be back to normal. I lost a couple of zoa heads, but everything else is happy. I'm still hesitant to put fish in there, but it is getting a little boring with nothing swimming around.

[recoiljpr]

I did a 70% water change and 25% each day for 3 days and everything seems to be back to normal. I lost a couple of zoa heads, but everything else is happy. I'm still hesitant to put fish in there, but it is getting a little boring with nothing swimming around.

lol, it sure does get boring! But do your wallet and the fish a favor and wait. I would test Ammonia levels every 3 days for at least 12 days. Do not add fish if you don't get 3 consecutive 0 ammonia readings. Then when you add, only add 1 fish, and then wait a month before adding another one. The reason you wait is to allow the bacteria ample time to multiply and grow so they can process the extra ammonia being generated by the fish. Each time a fish breathes, eats and excretes wastes it produces ammonia. If you don't give the bacteria enough time to colonize to the new levels, you will be right back where you started.

[Teeb]

UPDATE

Well, I didn't take it as slow as some of you would have liked, but I did let it sit a few weeks before starting to restock. Here's the tank today. I just picked up a bunch of the coral this morning and that will be my last addition unless someone can find some bumblebee shrimp around here. I now have the following in there.


1 - Percula Clown
1 - Yellow Clown Goby
1 - Green Clown Goby
5 - Bumblebee snails
2 - Astrea Snails
2 - Nassarius snails
2 - Emerald Crabs
1 - Pom Pom Crab (who sadly lost anemone's in the crash)

7 - different Zoa's - I know one is "Eye of Ra" and one is "Watermelon". I have no idea what the other's are.
1 - Green/Purple Mushroom
2 - Types of GSP
1 - Unknown Pink coral


It's looking complete now. The Frogspawn looked much smaller in the large tank it came out of. It definitely makes itself known in the little cube. My clown is very curious about it and looks like he may start "playing" in it.


http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww304/davisfamily2009/DSC00378.jpg

[rg]

sorry to hear about that

[corkyGramma]

when was the last time you changed out the chemipure?
I have heard some horror stories about it.
:what_smile: Like what? I would like to more about this. The lable says you can keep it longer than carbon-I definately rinse and check on it.

[Teeb]

I looked into and some people say (take with a grain of salt) that after so much time and build up it will release nitrates back into the water. After this bag is done, I probably won't get any more. Not that I was unsatisfied in any way, but at this point, I think it's glorified charcoal. Regular charcoal is cheap and can be replaced more often. I'll probably switch to a fuge light and cheato though.

[corkyGramma]

Well I use it to combat coral warfare. The one thing you cant test for...I had an episode and i will probably toss it out soon. I prefer natural filtration as well.

[RICKY81]

well sorry to hear what happend, and glad to know that u are up and going again..

well considering the picture that u placed, since u never mentioned the size of ur tank, it looks like a biocube or one of those in the approx. 30gal range..... well the only thing that i can think of is that maybe ur slug died and released a toxin and killed how bunch of ur fish, cause i have heard that those could get pretty nasty when they die kind of the mandarin goby, sea hare....etc.

so if that is the case in a very small tank, then the slug dieing it pretty much nucked ur tank...... just my .02cents.

[addboy]

Might be a bacterial thing...If there was some food left in the cup or bacteria...or cricket snot or something odd that collected some nasty bacteria, that could do some dammage, and the fact that you did large water changes,...getting rid of a lot of the good bacteria that fights off pathogens and what not.....Dunno....too much of a coincidence that they all died after he put the cup in the tank.