Major Coral Die-off (lots to talk about)

[pcsimon]

I have recently experienced my first massive wipe out. I am still struggling to find answers as well as cope with the loss of so much time and money. I had a sebae anemone that was struggling, and the day before the wipeout, it perished and was removed. I have heard conflicting reports that this could have caused the wipe out. This seems unlikely in my mind since my ammonia spike was minimal (<1) and the anemone was very small in comparison to my 75 gal. tank. Other than the ammonia spike, there was only a slite drop in pH, down to 8.0, but no other tests returned anything abnormal. Other ideas are possible airborne contamination from an open window, or unintended contamination by myself. This has all been very strange given that the wipe out has only effected the corals and inverts, but the fish have suffered no ill effects what-so-ever. If there was something powerful enough to kill every coral in a matter of hours, wouldn't the fish feel it just a little? Also, as of yet, there has been no major coralline alge or live rock dieoff, and hardly anything has been collecting in my skimmer. My questions then are these:

1. How do I know when my corals are dead and should be removed? We are talking LPS and softies.

2. What do I do now? How long till things return to normal? Does the tank need to be cycled again? I have done two water changes in the first two days after the wipeout, comprising a total change of 50 gallons. (75gal tank). Should I do more? I have been running Chemipure and extra cabon, as well as a few airstones for extra aireation. How long do I need to leave these additions in place?

3. Was it the anemone or not? I have noticed a somewhat odd smell permeating from the tank. It reminded me faintly of a red tide I experinced in Florida. I realize that the smell is most likely my dead or dying corals, but it got me thinking about the possibility of an algal or bacteria bloom in the water column (obviously not actually red tide). Is this possible in a more or less closed system, or was it really just some fluke or accidental contamination on my part?

Any other thoughts, sympathies, tips, or donations would be more than helpful. Thanks a lot.

 

[Youngsilver]

Dontation sent.

Could a faulty heater be the cause? What if a heater got stuck on, and shot the water up to 100*F or so, would this be possible? Could this even happen in theory?

 

[tinyreef]

how did you remove the sebae? i mean, did you have to wade in there to find it?

a more detailed narrative of what you did could help re-trace the problem (if it even was you/contamination via your actions). for instance, did you reach in there with your bare hands? if so, what was on your hands/what do you do for a living that may affect the tank? (e.g. machinist, painter, etc.)

could be one of the other variables you mentioned but again without details or even a pic, it'd be very difficult to even come up with possible culprits.

sorry to hear about your crash from the decription so far i'd guess invert poisoning versus simple out of whack water parameters, i.e. nitrate et al. have you run Poly-Filters? they may indicate something via their change in color, e.g. copper.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

As mentioned above, it could nearly be anything. I'm sure you are quite experienced but go ahead and list the current parameters. pH, Alkalinity, Calcium, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. Temperature and specific gravity, too please. What do you dose? Do you dose anything that you do not test for. Iodine comes to mind as something that is not needed in a reef tank. As Youngsilver said, what about your heater. Fish can withstand a wide range of stresses. Heat, chemical imbalances, lighting, etc while invertebrates and corals can suffer greatly from the slightest change

 

[Sk8r]

I'm very suspicious that the cause of coral death was the anemone: I'd defer to anyone with better knowledge of anemone physiology or tank chemistry, but by my own experience, once a big one goes, some stuff really objectionable to corals gets loose---possibly the stinging cells: I've been stung by dead man-of-war tentacles in a seaweed pile on the beach, and if anemone stings work similarly, even 'dead' cells could sting. The fish 'slime-up' when irritated---so do corals---but they can't move away from the source of the irritation, so they might have been more affected. That smell I do associate with demised anemone. After one experience with a big one going, which lost me several corals, I limited the size of anemone I'd allow in my tank, and became willing to pull it at the first sign of collapse.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Dead anemones and jellyfish alike use nematocysts to sting their prey and inject the venom. So, true it doesn't matter if the animal itself is dead or alive. What type of flow is in the tank, too?

 

[GroYurOwn]

you'll know your softies are dead because they melt away. lps has a skin that coats their skeleton, as they die off that skin retracts, eventually its just a skeleton. sorry about your loss, we have all experienced terrible losses, goes with the hobby, hope you find out what it was as to avoid it in the future. my moneys on the anemone.