help!went away, now take a mess!!

[scrmom]

Long story short. I have 75g tank that has been running for 6 weeks now. Purchased lights two weeks ago, purchased peppermint shrimp, 6 snails, 6 hermits crabs, and 2 emerald crabs monday. My water parameters as of tonight nh3 0, n02 0, n03 5, ph 8.4, phospate 0, salinity 1.25. We went away last wednesday night. My sister was baby/house sitting while we were gone. Sunday morning my sister said something undertank (sump, protein skimmer?) making noise. She said sunday night it was making a lot of noise, so she looks underneath cabinet and there is water everywhere so she turns everything off. She couldn't contact us so that is only thing she knew to do. We were able to talk to her monday morning 12 hours later. My husband told her to unplug protein skimmer and turn everything else back on, so she did. Well, we got home tonight at 10pm, to find the tank looking like a rusty color all over, a dead peppermint shrimp, a dead snail, and haven't found one of the emerald crabs.

Is it an algae bloom? What should I do? Should I remove the critters? Clean the rock? I am lost, please help. Their are pics to look at, you can click on them and see a close up.

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[TKByrnes]

I would do a water change, and watch params closely. Did the snail start to disolve? they will polute a tank quick if you dont find it and they STINK!! get the skimmer up and running asap. you might have to do a couple of water changes but for the most part it looks like a diatom bloom. nothing to really worry about. just keep and eye on things.

 

[scott0615]

Brown algae always happens in a new tank..just a bloom that goes away on its own. Turning everything off leads to lack of oxygen which is bad for anything that needs it [everything in the aquarium]!

 

[scrmom]

I know turning everything off was bad idea, but my sister didn't know what else to do. My husband and I were out in the middle of the ocean so we weren't reachable. Should I buy more snails to clean algae? If so, what kind? As for the snail that is dead, it is still in the shell, but it closed up inside? I am still looking for the larger emerald crab.

 

[scott0615]

Do nothing....buy nothing. Your tank will probably go through a little "cycle". Just run your filtration for about 7 days and monitor ammonia and nitrite levels...when they a both 0 for at least 48 hours SLOWLY start to add life back to the tank. Find a store in your area you are comfortable with and put their card under your tank for issues like this when you travel. This probably could have been avoided if your sis had a "go to" person.

 

[outy]

the brown diatoms are a normal cycle. if anything your sister just jump started things a bit.

just keep an eye like your doing and test as you would.

your snail and other livestock just may have been hungry in a new tank with no food.

if this was real bad all your livestock would be lost