Near tank disaster today

[stephish]

short version....I left the house at 9:00 am everything in the tank was fine or appeared to be. I got back home at 12:15 and disaster! very cloudy water with lots of little pieces floating around (looked like someone had dumped a 1/4 cup of mysid in the tank) further investigation revealed the sea cucumber was MIA and some of the bits that were stuck to lr were the same color as his skin was. 2+2= deceased sea cucumber

It's a 20 gallon tank with about 30 pounds of lr. it's normal filtration is a 350 bio-wheel and a prizm deluxe protein skimmer. I added a 100 bio wheel from the qt tank and did a 40% water change out. It has now been 7 hours and I just checked water params

sg 1.026
temp 80
pH 8.3
nitrates 5
nitrites 0
ammonia 0

is there anything else I need to check or do? everyone in the tank is seems fine, not acting out of the ordinary in any way.

 

[joekr]

I'd run some carbon to be on the safe side...

 

[Victor1046]

sorry to jump on .....
but how exactly do you run carbon?
Thanks newbie dewbie here!

 

[BurntOutReefer]

get a carbon pouch for your filter ......

 

[Krazy]

what color sea-cuke was it?

I guess some colors are more toxic then others when they die

 

[stephish]

Krazy K he was a tiger tail, tannish pink with yellow spines and a green crown.

joekr, running carbon in the filter and the protein skimmer both

so far so good. I rearranged all of the lr to get a particular chunk out (xanthid crab's residence) and cleaned up any remaining floating pieces. Water params are still looking good, hopefully the nitrates go back down to 0 in the next day or so.