Tank smells, fish dying

saltwater4life1

saltwater4life1

Member
Hey guys,
I'm really at a loss I have had this tank running for about 3 years and up until this summer it was a beautiful mixed reef with lots of life! But every has slowly died. What I don't understand is it all test fine... Now one thing I did change when this started happening was turned off my skimmer but I've done it before and never had this problem or this smell... I'm running rox carbon GFO and slowly been kicking the skimmer on but it fills with bubbles so quick that it overflows all over the place... Does it sound like the skimmer being off for a few months caused this problem?
 
Can you list your water parameters and give some more information about the tank. How often do you do water changes? How much water are youchanging? Did you empty and clean the skimmer when you took it offline or did it sit there with stagnant water in it?
 
Not sure why you would go that long without skimming? If there are too many bubbles either the valve is too far open or there is so much stuff being skimmed out that the cup is overflowing.

Water changes should be 20% weekly at a minimum IMO if you aren't skimming...
 
Get all that's alive out into a qt tank: mix water fast with a mag 5 if you can manage it. Sounds as if you've got a bacterial bloom with dieoff. You might also see if you can beg or borrow a Vortec Diatom Filter and run it. Does it smell like hydrogen cyanide? Rotten eggs? Black spots under sand? How's the ammonia? Nitrate?
 
Does it sound like the skimmer being off for a few months caused this problem?
Click to expand...

Did you remove and drain the skimmer? If not all the waste sitting and rotting in the skimmer could have easily released a toxic soup once you turned it on. That would also explain the skimmer overflowing .......
 
This may sound simple but what does the smell well smell like?

If you say like dead fish it probably won't mean much but if you smell rotten eggs or a metallic smell it could mean something else.

For example you may have stray current in your tank that is irritating, stress out and killing the fish and that is what you are smelling vs. the smell coming from the problem like H2S gas.
 
Sk8r said:
Get all that's alive out into a qt tank: mix water fast with a mag 5 if you can manage it. Sounds as if you've got a bacterial bloom with dieoff. You might also see if you can beg or borrow a Vortec Diatom Filter and run it. Does it smell like hydrogen cyanide? Rotten eggs? Black spots under sand? How's the ammonia? Nitrate?
Click to expand...

I guess you could say it smells like rotten eggs, and yes as far as i know there are a few black spots in the sand. Can't really tell atm because it's covered in algae. Ammonia is 0, Nitrate was near 0. Can't remember will double check. The smell has gotten better, replaced carbon and GFO along with running the skimmer again, Had to dump it about every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes and then it stopped, Running it wet alittle over an hour and the cups almost full.
 
89Foxbody said:
Not sure why you would go that long without skimming? If there are too many bubbles either the valve is too far open or there is so much stuff being skimmed out that the cup is overflowing.

Water changes should be 20% weekly at a minimum IMO if you aren't skimming...
Click to expand...

Long story, broke my back, mom was in hospital all summer, no time for tank etc.... So as far as the wc's there wasn't many made... I have done 2 or 3, 10gal waterchanges the past few weeks.

Also the scum was drained but there was maybe a gallon of water in the skimmer, I did flip it on and off once a week to keep the water from sitting but now that i think about it that was probably bad...
 
You are right...starting the skimmer only once per week was a bad idea. I would think that with the situation being so dire, a very large water change would be in order. Good luck.
 
Hey Greg,
It seems to be going better, although it's hard to tell. I have noticed my tang has become really active but I did just lose my female clown 2 days ago and she bullied the tank...
 
KeMo said:
I would do what SK8r said to do. Sounds like your tank is crashing..
Click to expand...

Thanks I too believe that is the case, but how do I move on? Will the tank have to cycle again or.... What? Sorry not sure what happens most stuff died like 2 months ago 3 fish lots of corals... I though the crash was over until I bought 12snails and a new fish last week, they all started acting weird during acclimation and died with in 24hours and then slowly lost my clownfish.
 
Lots and lots of water changes...Consider doing like 10% a day or 20% 2x a week. I know it's a pain in the butt and it's expensive with the salt but it'll still be cheaper than the rest of your livestock dying.
 
...take out some of the load, fishes etc. Take them to ur LFS or something...once a system is used to a certain filter, like ur protein skimmer, and u the owner r used to the same habits, i.e., feeding, cleaning and then u unplug ur skimmer, the system will be effected unless you lighten the load...adding the snails or anything at this point will make things worse.This is just my opinion...hope all turns out well....
 
Yeah, It's not even the cost of the livestock that i'd be upset over it's the value of their life. I love everything in my tank and upset that i lost so much.
Anyways.. How will i know when my tank is better? Do i have to test it on livestock or is there any other way for the average reefer to tell?
 
Well today during cleaning I found out one of my powerheads were leaking electricity... Wonder if that caused any of this? I guess God made hangnails for a reason. Lol
 
Sorry but at least you have an idea.

I would check using a volt meter what the readings are and the possibility of more than one piece of equipment leaking.
 
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