INSANE outbreak in my tank. HELP!

[gatormoto]

Hey everyone, just to give you some background... I have a 180g reef tank and have not added anything to it in 3 months. It's been running for 3 years without a hitch. Well, something happened this weekend and all of my corals died. I came into work and there was what looked like a white cloud of death sweeping over all the corals.

Checked the water and everything was perfect. Did a 60% water change just to be safe. Siphoned out all the white cloud that I saw. Within an hour, it was all back again. When looking closely, it looks like they are little bugs or fleas of some sort, very hard to see with the naked eye. I took a sample and put it in a clear container and they indeed are moving. Any idea what this is? I've had my local supplier come out and have had two different people with reef tanks come over and no one has ever seen anything like this. None of the fish seem to be effected, it's just swarming over all the corals. Wiped everything out in 48 hours!

 

[jimmy frag]

it dosnt look like there is much water movement going on for that web just to lay there

 

[taku]

Are all of your pumps still running? did one of the pumps short out? How can that super soft looking stuff stay on the rock/coral without getting blasted off by water flow?

 

[gatormoto]

it's the same water flow i've had for the last 3 years with no issues. got a new pump 6 months ago. working great. this picture is taken on the far side of the tank. water blows in from the far other side of the tank. the web is almost sticky. when i remove it, it clumps up.

 

[jimmy frag]

i would double check your flow. what size pump are you using also power heads ?

 

[taku]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your corals Still doesn't look like enough flow, no matter how sticky that fluffy stuff is.

 

[csmfish]

Looks like something equivalent to spider mites or something. TTT for a distressed reefer!!

 

[lordofthereef]

Do you have lots of vermetid snails?

 

[ravenmore]

hmmm - not sure what that is. Yes, tell us what kind of flow you have in the tank.

 

[lighthouze08]

i've seen that before, it's not the flow, i have 2 mp40w es in my 75. It's more like the tissue of the coral melting into that fluffy stuff. I had a couple of acans that did that and i have no clue what the problem is.

 

[gatormoto]

don't have a lot of vermetid snails, that was one of our first thoughts. have a Rio Hyperflow 20HF... same pump size I've had since the beginning

 

[philosophile]

Could the white fog be slime from the dying/dead corals?
The white bugs could be either something that was eating the corals.... or maybe something that is eating the slime that the corals are giving off? Now that the corals are dead, (and assumedly you've removed them) do you see the white fog still?

 

[gatormoto]

We just put a sample under a microscope. They are still hard to see but they are moving and alive. What kind of little bug can swarm in this insane amount in 48 hours and just eat every coral in the tank?

 

[gatormoto]

The fog is thousands/millions of these bugs so close together that it looks like a rolling fog.

 

[gatormoto]

someone on another board suggested water spiders. i've never heard of or seen these before. any chance that is what it is?

 

[jacob.morgan78]

Man that sucks! Please keep us updated if you find out something...

Wish I could help :-(

 

[kenjung]

I think its from the dying coral. I would suggest you check your Kalk level. My Acan perish due to low kalk it does the same thing white gooey thing and swept away by power head.

 

[jimmy frag]

I think its from the dying coral. I would suggest you check your Kalk level. My Acan perish due to low kalk it does the same thing white gooey thing and swept away by power head.

i agree. +1

 

[Giglamesh]

is all the circulation you have your return pump?

 

[jimmy frag]

i think all he is running in the 180 is about 900 gallons total from his previous posts