sad story must read

idareefer

New member
I feel I need to tell you this sad story, it's two parts, first I had a small spot of cyano, it came & went for about a month, finally I went into LFS and they recommended chemi clean, ya I know there are pro's & cons to using this product, so I went ahead with it, the evening I decided to use it I mixed up recommended dose & looked & observed, strangely things seemed odd, the tank water became very milky, after doing extensive research on this product before & quizing LFS owner he said it would mix up clear, I was very perplexed, by morning my tank was so milky you could hardly see into it, some of my fish had died, inverts dead, corals bleached, dead!, other fish gasping for air, star fish had climbed to top of tank and so on, I immediatly did 25% water change, already had made up, but to no avail, I called a good friend of mine and told of my situation and took my remaining livestock over to his setup to see what I could save, Now I have a 300 gal system, stocked with sps, 20 fish etc. I saved 5 fish, 1 star fish, 1 anemone, 3 sps, 6, zoa's/ pal'y's, lost about 15K!
Now the second part of my story, while I was taking out all of my rock, (I only saved a rubbermaid garbage can of rock for future reseeding) I had to take it out side to bake in the sun and dry, forgot about the paly's that were grown onto some of the rocks, well my best friend got to licking some of them, you know dogs, into everything! by nightfall he was so sick he was crapping blood, we rushed him to the vet, he was so lethargic, we had to carry him in, they did blood work, he had kidney failure, his whole system was shutting down, we lost him, PALY TOXINS ARE THE MOST LETHEL ORGANIC TOXINS KNOWN TO MAN!
A side note,
I was in such a hurry to get everything out of my tank that my hands got so scrathed and cut up from the rocks that they also became infected from the toxins, my fingers swelled up to the size of like hot dogs,I couldn't even bend them & boy did they hurt, the swelling did not go away for like 5 days, be CAREFUL! they are TOXIC WHEN OUT OF THE WATER! AND DIEING,
I love these colorful little things, but they can be dangerous.
This happened last summer, I am glad to say I am up & running again, we have a new puppy, she is great, but our loss was tremendous, we did call boyd enterprises about chemi clean, they too said it should mix clear, I think I got a bad batch.
 
my sympathy goes to you... I
heard a similar story of a vender that had zoas in a rubbermaid full of water, his dog drank so
me and also died... very scary stuff
 
I am sorry to hear about your loss....

Too coincidental that this post is put up now... I just treated my tank for a small outbreak of cyano this past Sat 11/24. This is the second time in a year I treated it. First time no issues at all - cyano was gone....

This time I was not so lucky... I treated it Sat morning and as you described the tank went white..... I performed the water change on Sun morning and put the skimmer back on with carbon... The water cleared to a tank of dead SPS... MY LPS Seem ok, but my clams are not so good - I am afraid to go home tonight and see how bad it is...

This thread, as tragic as it is, serves as a good reminder as to how dangerous things in the ocean can be. I have two dogs and will make sure what is removed stays clear of them. Especially the boxer puppy who loves to lick everything....

You mention you think you have a bad batch, The chemiclean I used was the same as the one I used the first time. The only thing different was the amopunt of cyano that was in my tank. I did not have near as much this time as I did the last time...
 
That is terrible.

I have seen about thread also where a guys dog ate some Zoo's and then passed away within a day. They are basty
 
Wow that is awful, i have heard another story about a dog dying from a similar situation. thats just sad... :(
 
Unbelievable. I can't thank you enough for sharing this very sad story. I knew that palys were potentially toxic, but never took it seriously before. Your story assures that I will take it seriously from now on. I'm so sorry for your loss.
 
Your tank can crash like that if you have a lot of cyano that you're trying to get rid of.

The cyano dies and the organics break down. You get a bacterial bloom that drops your dissolved oxygen.

Helps to maintain a lot of circulation and aeration. Especially since you tend to take your skimmer and carbon offline when chemically treating for cyano.
 
again thanks for all the replys, again to note, I had very little cyano, a very small patch which was bothering me, I should have just let it be & turned the lights out for a couple of days, I have been reefing for a number of years, ya I know about all this crapp, all for a $15.00 bottle of chemi clean, but I learned some valuable lessons, we usually do when something tragic happens, I added another75 gal sump, now have a total of 150 gal worth, one dedicated to grow out, the other for only skimmer, carbon, baffles, macro, etc. great set up! and phos is at 0, nitrates, 0, polyp extention is awesome!
 
Did you use all of the chemi-clean? If not, I would send a sample back to the manufacturer along with a copy of the bar code and lot numbers and where it was purchased. Don't think you would have any legal recourse unless it was a totally defective batch and no matter how it was mixed, the results would be the same. A heads up to anyone else, if chemi-clean mixes up white and milky, don't use it. I find a water change, turning off the lights and throwing a blanket over the tank for 2 days takes care of all if it. I find this happens if I feed too much. But keeping the tank in darkness for a couple of days does wonders. I do they about every 8 weeks and don't have any nuisance algae at all.
 
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