Tank Crash

mdhnatow

mdhnatow

New member
So I had a tank wipe out a couple days ago. 6 fish and an assortment of crabs and snails are all dead. Strangely they all died within 24 hours or so (I wasn't home at the time). I think I know what happened though.

The tank had been running fine for awhile. A few days ago, the heater went out and I couldn't get another one until today, but it was too late. The temperature was around 70 degrees when I returned. Do you guys think this was the reason for the mass extinction?

I tested the water a couple of minutes ago.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10 ppm
pH - 8.2
Salinity - 1.025
 
uh yeah id say that probablly did it! i would say from what i have read anything below about 74 degrees for more than 8 hrs is gonna be deadly especially if your livestock has been use to an environment with 78 or degree water, the change was probablls what killed them more than anything.
 
Sorry to hear :thumbdown 70 seems pretty low, other parameters look o.k so I bet that was the culprit. I have not found a heater that I have liked after about 6-7 years. I have decided that I am going to switch over to either a dedicated heat controller such as the ranco or I am going with something like the reef keeper lite. I would suggest looking into those options, I am going that way I just haven't made up my mind as to which one yet.
 
Aporia said:
Sorry to hear :thumbdown 70 seems pretty low, other parameters look o.k so I bet that was the culprit. I have not found a heater that I have liked after about 6-7 years. I have decided that I am going to switch over to either a dedicated heat controller such as the ranco or I am going with something like the reef keeper lite. I would suggest looking into those options, I am going that way I just haven't made up my mind as to which one yet.
Click to expand...

+1, i use heaters with adjustable thermostats and on top of that they are controlled by my RKE incase they fail! seems expensive until you compare it to the aftermath of a tank crash
 
I kept the temperature at 78 degrees normally. And it never budged for months. I guess that was the culprit. I bought a much nicer heater with a lifetime warranty and an adjustable thermostat...
 
I don't think the 70* temp itself caused them to die, but the fact that they (( the fish )) never experienced any temp swing lead to it. My tanks go from 75 to 84, depending on the time of year/day (( with about 5* swing per day, though that swing is less in the winter time )).
 
I'd agree with Todd, It seems odd for everything to go into shock so suddenly, the water isn't just going to suddenly freeze it takes time to gradually get colder and 8 degrees isn't drastic, I've had coral and fish go through worse and normally the heat affects them worse than the cold... It's a possibility but for only one day it seems a little odd that that would be the only factor. From your tank info I see it was a 30 gal so perhaps the smaller size of the tank could have contributed to the inability of the tank to maintain stability over a longer period of time as they are more sensitive than larger systems but still seems weird.
 
Mad_Reefer said:
I don't think 70 degrees alone would do it.
Click to expand...

i kinda agree based on my own experience. I had a 20gH right in front of a window a few years back. It was winter time, i left window cracked about a foot, forgot about it, next morning looked at stuff and everything looked like dookey. All i remember was my decent sized torch looked like it had been run over. It was atleast in the 50s outside, so imagine all that cold air blowing on my tank. I immediately threw in a heater, warmed it up and everything survived. I honestly cant remember if i had inverts or fish i just remember my torch since it was atleast three may be four years ago.

could you may be have gotten a contaminant in the tank? ie aerosols, cleaner, etc????
 
i bet the thermometer played a role, but not because it stopped working.. im guessing something leached out of it
 
Definitely don't think the temp drop was the sole culprit. The temperature on reefs drops 5 or more degrees in seconds as the currents move through. Not enough to kill your animals. This is also why it's good to allow your tank to swing naturally. Mine runs about 80-82 during the day and down to about 76 at night...Never had any problems.
 
I don't think the tempature was the reason either.I have ordered fish in the winter and the water was colder than 70 and the fish are fine.Did you add anything different?Change any routines?
 
Is it possible your home heat is setback to a colder temp during the night that it could have dropped even lower at night and warmed back up as the house warmed up?
 
I don't think any cleaners/chemicals were introduced to the tank since I haven't changed my routine at all.

I have a smaller heater for water changes, but it won't warm up the tank.

I think I'm going to blame it on the temperature drop until I can add another fish. I personally think I may have been the temp since it was a "drop" rather than a "swing." Adding another damsel when the water is right should let me know if the water is polluted...
 
mdhnatow said:
I have a smaller heater for water changes, but it won't warm up the tank.
Click to expand...

Sure it would, it would just run more.

If you really do have a 30g tank, even a 50w heater (or probably smaller) would have easily kept it 8 degrees above room temp. It just would have run constantly.
 
I'd think that perhaps your heater malfunctioned and electrocuted some stuff in there in addition to the temp and ph issues with the drop in temp.
 
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