Reef Crash HELP!!!

B

bluemonster

Premium Member
I have a 90 gallon reef. 6 years old. Just the other day I notice brain coral slightly bleaching around the edges. One fish missing too. Then I came home 2 days ago and all corals were closed, brain was totally bleached, one fish missing and tank look horrible. All xenia dead and melted within a few days. Water had bad smell too. Immediately took out brain, put new large bag or carbon in and called VIP water for large water change in tank. Did water change yesterday, ran more carbon and ammonia remover, ran Magnum filter, put in some new filter floss to catch debris. Today noticed serpent star with all legs falling off, body in bad shape, removed him. Notice corals are giving off skin like shedding floating in tank.

Temp has been steady, did not make any changes to system.

What can cause this and how long should I wait for corals to open till I full blown panic?

Any advice....Im freaking!!

Thanks
 
ahh thats aweful to hear, im sorry.

theres a number of things that can cause your tank to crash. from your post I can only put together that it was a chain reaction. do you remember doing anything out of the ordinary?? need more information
 
Nope, I keep things pretty simple. Tank doors are locked so none of the little bugger kids can't get in it. Top off comes from RO/DI unit. I havent changed a thing. Hoping the monster water change will level out the problem.

Ive always heard of this happening. Guess its my turn.
 
roughly 80%. In Miami we have VIP which brings filtered reef water. About once a year I have them come in a do a large water change (now I know what most think) but believe, the corals explode and start to grow like crazy. I know a few reef owners who do the same and it is really amazing how the tank reacts to it.
 
Did you find the dead fish? Have you checked you water parameters? Maybe he is in a hole somewhere in your LR rotting away?
 
+1 on rraiders comment. you need to find that missing fish, that is just reversing all of your water changes and filtration.

i use a canister filter and clean mine every other day during normal use. just make sure you clean debris daily or maybe 2x a day for now.
 
Been looking for him but cant find him. Theres lots of rock in there and figure if I start pulling out rock Ill just stir the tank and stress everything even more.
 
What was going on with the tank prior to this? Where you doing water changes, and what was the numbers of the last water test before this happened?
 
It sounds to me like a poisoning event. Whether it's a metal, pesticide/household cleaner, a pureed anemone, or something else, it sounds like something went very wrong with your water quality. Perhaps it was just all the xenia rotting and spiking the ammonia, or perhaps something else. But without knowing your tank's specific water parameter readings (current tests) and EXACTLY what you have done recently, we can't tell you much.

Carbon, water change, poly filters (better for metal poisoning) and current tests (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, Alk, temp and S.G.) are all I can recommend.

Kevin
 
That was my thoughts and I thoroughly grilled the 5 year old and 2 year old but i have child locks on the doors. My thought is maybe something got into my top off bottle but no way of finding out. What would cause a metal poisoning? Thanks for all the advice. It is truly appreciated.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12395612#post12395612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluemonster
What would cause a metal poisoning?
Click to expand...

Water contact with copper of some sort, primarily. If you weren't using RO/DI water, I might be concerned about copper content in your topoff water - many municipalities add copper-based algaecides in spring and summer to stop algae blooms in their reservoirs...

Pesticide of some sort is also a big concern. Has your house been recently sprayed? Dogs/cats recently been given flea/tick treatments of some sort?

How about your RO/DI cartridges/filters? Have you changed them recently? Some manufacturers have used an anti-mold/fungal treatment on the filters that isn't bad for people, but can cause issues for invertebrates...

Any anti-mold or fungal sprays used around your home lately?

Kevin
 
Bruno thanks for the article. Running fresh carbon, going to change ro/di filters and pray. Corals all still closed. Fish dont sem stressed so I all I can do is wait it out. Bug spray sevice knows to stay clear of tank, cleaning lady knows to stay away from tank. may just be "Old tank syndrome" Tank was getting a bit of ditritus build up lately. I dont overfeed but maybe underfed. Waterflow is good. Its a mystery
 
Nope. Now snails and 2 urchins dead. This sucks. Hopefully corals are just stressed and need a few days to recover. Corals are all closed and dont appear to be dying. Fish seem happy, no signs of stress or ich. Foul water smell is gone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Alk consumption low tech/coral tank
Replies
9
Views
344
Uncle99
Uncle99
T
Tank Crashing
Replies
19
Views
641
brandon429
brandon429
Reignfire
Stray current
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
griss
griss
oceangopher
Tankpocalypse Now
Replies
2
Views
177
Reefing102
Reefing102
F
Icp high iron phosphate and iodine help
Replies
4
Views
339
wvned
wvned
Back
Top