Clown fish cloudy eyes?

[starionesir]

I recently started back up my 100 gallon tank that I used a couple years ago for a reef tank but took down after having kids. Just didn't have the time to keep up with the maintenance on a reef tank and take care of two small children. Now they are older I started it back up and am doing fish only saltwater and have had two clown fish in a 20 gallon tank for a couple years and 2 days ago added them to the new tank. It has a sump that I reused a old 40 gallon breeder that I added panels to make a sump.

Now this is what I am unsure of. All the water parameters are good before I put them in but I used the wrong silicone for the sump by accident. Wrong tubes were put on the shelf at my local home depot and I didn't look at the tube which I should have checked that it was the one listed on the shelf. Anyway they have been in the tank for approx 3 days and yesterday I found both have very cloudy puffy eyes and one was laying at the bottom of the tank breathing very heavy. I still had the 20 gallon tank going with no fish in it so I took them out of the new tank and put them back in the 20 gallon so I could remove my sump and remove all the caulk to start over. They seemed to be doing better in a couple hours and were back to swimming around. This morning got up and again both very cloudy eyes and one was just laying on the bottom of the tank. Chemicals from the wrong caulk to blame? I've added plenty of carbon to try and help remove any chemicals from the water. I'm kinda of stumped? Also the water I always use if from my ro/di filter. Any ideas or help will be appreciated. Trying my best to save them.

 

[starionesir]

I know some caulks give off ammonia as they cure but the odd thing is when I tested the water I have 0 for ammonia.

 

[starionesir]

Both clowns in the small original tank have now died??? They went through times where they swam around pretty normal still with cloudy eyes though and other times laid on the sides breathing very heavily. I am unsure what had killed them? Nervous now to buy new fish as I don't know what killed them. Any ideas.

 

[Deinonych]

Really hard to say. Could have been a chemical leaching out from the silicone, I suppose. If it were me, I would clean out both tanks with vinegar, rinse and allow to dry for a couple days (removing the bad silicone first, of course). Then, refill with fresh salt water and let it aerate for a couple more days. Maybe even run some Polyfilter to make sure any remaining toxins are removed. Sorry for your loss.

 

[starionesir]

I've already taken the sump off my 100 gallon tank and removed all the baffles and cleaned all the silicone off them and the tank. I then cleaned all the glass with a razor blade to get all remaining silicone off. I sealed it this time with marineland aquarium sealant so I know for sure its fine. Gonna wait the a couple days before I put it back in to use. It says 48 hours but gonna wait a little longer. Last time I waited 24 with the wrong caulk which is another possibility for causing the issue. Just hoped with moving them to the old tank they would come back but I guess if they were exposed to long it might have been too late to help. Just scared to add fish again to the new tank. Gonna start with some cheap chromis or something before anything nice goes in.

 

[starionesir]

Biggest thing is not knowing. I almost wish a test would have showed up way off so at least I can say that caused the issue and then can be easily fixed.

 

[Deinonych]

I know what you are going through - I have been there myself. Hopefully you'll be good to go from here on out.

 

[starionesir]

I've just finished redoing my sump now with the marineland sealant so gonna wait at least 2 full days for it to cure and then gonna start it back up. Thinking maybe should run some carbon for a day or two before I add anymore fish back in?