emergency tank help

R

richib86

New member
I have a elos system 70 I've been breaking down for some time now but the conditions have taken a turn for the worst in the water quality. At this point I only have 2 clowns left in the tank that are about 5 years old at this point and I'd really hate to lose them.
About a week ago I set up a 20 gallon nano that was going to house just those two clowns and some coral eventually. I used new rock/water/live sand to set this one up as I didn't want to seed it with anything from the old tank. How soon is too soon to transfer my clowns over to the new tank in an emergency situation? I don't think I'll have the time to wait for it to fully establish. So far the parameters all look good and don't expect much of a spike since the live rock is from a mature tank(friends tank).
 
If it is an emergency, do the transfer. Keep an eye on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Have 10 gallons of salt water available just in case you need to do a quick water change. GL

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TokiHacker said:
Did you cycle the tank? (The new one)


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the live rock had been cycled in a different tank, the live sand was new, two containers of nutri sea water and two containers of home made salt water using RO/DI and reef crystal
 
What about the tank has taken a turn for the worst? What did your tests show? How long did you QT that "new" rock? I don't really care where anything is from, I'd QT it for at least 72 days in a heated bin with a power head to make sure nothing gets in your tank. What size is a "container"? You're being very vague with everything right now. If you want help you need to be more specific.
 
FishN00b83 said:
What about the tank has taken a turn for the worst? What did your tests show? How long did you QT that "new" rock? I don't really care where anything is from, I'd QT it for at least 72 days in a heated bin with a power head to make sure nothing gets in your tank. What size is a "container"? You're being very vague with everything right now. If you want help you need to be more specific.
Click to expand...

its a really bad ongoing bacterial bloom that i believe stemmed from silica in the sand that spread to the rock and everywhere else in the tank. the rock is "new" fiji live rock that was originally fully cured and came out of his live rock holding tank. i have not QT'd it on my end as i didn't see a need to.

By container, i meant the standard 4.4xx gallon jugs that premade salt water comes in
 
Silica wouldn't cause a bacterial bloom, it would cause diatoms, cyano, or other problems. If you are in-fact experiencing a bacterial bloom are you over stocked? How long was your tank running for before you experienced this? Did you recently add anything to the tank: fish, coral, anything? What are your test kits showing?
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? Bacterial blooms usually go away with some water changes and good maintenance.

If you are transferring everything to a new tank, you have a great opportunity to make sure nothing you dont want in the tank makes it in there. You can slow down, TTM the fish, QT corals, and QT the live rock and be 100% sure nothing bad makes it to the new tank, it doesn't take a lot.

A new tank isn't going to make everything go away. If you don't find out what caused the issue the first time, you're most likely going to face it again down the road. I'm not really convinced you need to move everything over to a new tank. If you want to downsize that's a different story, but more information would be helpful.
 
FishN00b83 said:
Silica wouldn't cause a bacterial bloom, it would cause diatoms, cyano, or other problems. If you are in-fact experiencing a bacterial bloom are you over stocked? How long was your tank running for before you experienced this? Did you recently add anything to the tank: fish, coral, anything? What are your test kits showing?
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? Bacterial blooms usually go away with some water changes and good maintenance.

If you are transferring everything to a new tank, you have a great opportunity to make sure nothing you dont want in the tank makes it in there. You can slow down, TTM the fish, QT corals, and QT the live rock and be 100% sure nothing bad makes it to the new tank, it doesn't take a lot.

A new tank isn't going to make everything go away. If you don't find out what caused the issue the first time, you're most likely going to face it again down the road. I'm not really convinced you need to move everything over to a new tank. If you want to downsize that's a different story, but more information would be helpful.
Click to expand...

the tank has gone unchanged for quite some time now, havent added anything in over a year because ive been dealing with this bloom(its a clear slime that grows faster than anything ive ever seen). ive scrubbed rocks, tried gfo. the parameters in the tank are all spot on, no ammonia no nitrites Ph is around 8.1. im not looking to transfer anything over other than my two clowns. i've gotten rid of everything but them.
I am looking to downsize for a while and will eventually set up the elos again in the future but plan to fully cook my rock.
my tank was established for about 5 years and then i moved and have to move the tank too. the tank has since been set up for the last two years with the bloom happening about 6-8 months ago. Ive since done water changes every 1.5-2 weeks but the slime always comes back in full force. I've dialed my lights back to 4-6 hours per day and still nothing. I've done black out periods to see if that would do anything and nothing there either.
I've always operated under the no fish before cycling notion but don't think i have that kind of time in this particular situation hence why i want to get them out as soon as possible.
my quirky clowns have begun to bond with this slime and love swimming in and out of it like they would a nem lol
 
If this has been a long term issue for the tank something is going wrong. I would see how the new tank is cycling and take it from there. Putting them in an uncycled tank is really going to put them in a similar situation. Ammonia burns the gills and makes it very hard for them to breath. You can use prime for a very small spike, but you'll be fighting ammonia for weeks. Dr Tims bacteria has worked for me in a QT tank, but its a 55 and I wasnt in a rush to put anything in so I was able to check it.
 
FishN00b83 said:
If this has been a long term issue for the tank something is going wrong. I would see how the new tank is cycling and take it from there. Putting them in an uncycled tank is really going to put them in a similar situation. Ammonia burns the gills and makes it very hard for them to breath. You can use prime for a very small spike, but you'll be fighting ammonia for weeks. Dr Tims bacteria has worked for me in a QT tank, but its a 55 and I wasnt in a rush to put anything in so I was able to check it.
Click to expand...

yea my elos is beating me up pretty good, thats why i want to brake down completely and cook the rocks and start that over from scratch where ill be in no rush and can cure the rocks and throw them back in a holding bin with water, heater, powerheads, etc.

the last few tanks ive set up over the last 10 years, not one had an ammonia spike during the cycle but ive also never had to rush in a situation like this.

very torn on how to proceed from here as i'm super attached to my clowns :(
 
The important thing to match when moving fish is salinity. Read the sticky on acclimation-kills.
The slime sheet you reference is not that uncommon, but to recur again and again is bizarre. I'd check the ATO reservoir to see if it's coming from there.
Are you feeding this tank anything at all? This slime USUALLY manifests when there's a bit of an overdo on carbon dosing. A nutrient spike.
As for moving the clowns, if the setup is temporary, just get them into a bucket of clean water and keep it warm and aerated. Cycling is NOT necessary for fish to live: it's just a means of growing bacteria to clean the water. If you have to move them into an uncycled tank, you risk their exposure to ammonia, which is lethal in small doses. I'd put the clowns in a carefully monitored bucket until that second tank is ready.

Then re-curing the rocks, and a new sandbed and a hard-restart seems your best course once your fish are safe.

HAVE you been feeding this tank? The continuance of that slime stuff with no carbon source from outside is just bizarre.
 
Sk8r said:
The important thing to match when moving fish is salinity. Read the sticky on acclimation-kills.
The slime sheet you reference is not that uncommon, but to recur again and again is bizarre. I'd check the ATO reservoir to see if it's coming from there.
Are you feeding this tank anything at all? This slime USUALLY manifests when there's a bit of an overdo on carbon dosing. A nutrient spike.
As for moving the clowns, if the setup is temporary, just get them into a bucket of clean water and keep it warm and aerated. Cycling is NOT necessary for fish to live: it's just a means of growing bacteria to clean the water. If you have to move them into an uncycled tank, you risk their exposure to ammonia, which is lethal in small doses. I'd put the clowns in a carefully monitored bucket until that second tank is ready.

Then re-curing the rocks, and a new sandbed and a hard-restart seems your best course once your fish are safe.

HAVE you been feeding this tank? The continuance of that slime stuff with no carbon source from outside is just bizarre.
Click to expand...

It has plagued me and two of my highly trusted fish stores, ive had both come out and look and they are always speechless. the 20 gallon is not a temp tank. im downsizing for now but do plan to run both tanks eventually but for now the elos goes down.

I clean my ATO res once a month and my RO/DI source is clean.

I stay away from chemicals in the tank, only things i ever use are carbon and gfo in a reactor in the sump.

other than light feedings for my clowns, nothing else goes into that tank.
 
That's bizarre. Only other source I can think of is that reactor, if it got started in there and keeps re-supplying stuff.

I'd wipe that elos down, every surface, with bleach, then Prime.
 
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