Tank TURNED UPSIDE DOWN!

[JasonZ219]

So let me start with saying my tank is around a year old at this point, it is a 36 gallon Reef tank at the moment there are just corals in it.

I had woke up the other day to my urchin in my sand bed along with my bi color blenny, and one of my clowns missing dead in the rocks and the other in the sand bed. The other clown ended up recovering and at the time the only thing high was the nitrate levels. I brought a sample to my LFS to be tested and they said everything was okay which baffled me. In one day I had almost everything in my tank die, including a cleaner shrimp. The most i noticed were my nitrates were very high and my alk was around 9. All other levels seemed to be just fine.

Another strange thing I noticed is that while my fish were all bothered by this catastrophe my corals seem to be doing better than ever, I also noticed a bunch of serpent stars that mustve crawled out of my rock and were all over my sand bed seemed as if they were dying.

As of now my levels are
Calc. - 450
Alk - 9
Nitrates - maybe 50 ppm
mag 1400

Any help/advice is appreciated, Im only around a year into all this.

 

[j_mazzy]

electricity?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Salinity??

 

[JasonZ219]

Salinity is between 1.024-1.025

 

[792404]

Phos?

 

[kevin21]

Phosphate levels, even if very high, wouldn't kill off all his fish, shrimp, and serpent stars in one day though?

 

[Long Island Andy]

Welcome to the hobby

 

[Editour2]

That's crazy...ammonia spike? Did you change anything recently? Add anything?

 

[JasonZ219]

The only thing that was changed was my filter, I had an aqua clear 70 hang on and upgraded to an eheim canister filter but it ran fine for a week or two, i think it may have been from me cleaning the glass, i wasnt aware even if you spray the cleaner directly onto the rag it could cause damage to the fish, i have been cleaning the front glass like that for almost a year now though and never anything like this, currently I am dosing with Nopox and just did a 10 gallon water change lastnight, gonna continue with the water changes and dosing for another week or so

 

[Editour2]

The only thing that was changed was my filter, I had an aqua clear 70 hang on and upgraded to an eheim canister filter but it ran fine for a week or two, i think it may have been from me cleaning the glass, i wasnt aware even if you spray the cleaner directly onto the rag it could cause damage to the fish, i have been cleaning the front glass like that for almost a year now though and never anything like this, currently I am dosing with Nopox and just did a 10 gallon water change lastnight, gonna continue with the water changes and dosing for another week or so

You cleaned the OUTSIDE of the glass or inside the tank? If outside....I don't see how that can effect the fish, especially if you sprayed the cleaner directly into the rag, (and not over the tank or near the tank where some of the cleaner could get into the water, (still a stretch). Sometimes changing both parts of the filter instead of 1 element at a time...(media and carbon) can eliminate the biological filtration which can cause a spike.

 

[JasonZ219]

Yes I was surprised too when told it could penetrate the glass but supposedly the molecules can and it can cause an ammonia spike, I just did a water change of 10 gallons and changed the filter pad because it had a bunch of detritus buildup which is prob why my nitrates spiked up, still doesnt explain everything getting wiped out down to my snails

 

[Exceptionrule]

What molecules are you referring to?

How much and what kind of live rock did you have when you swapped filters?

 

[kevin21]

You can eliminate the glass cleaner. If you sprayed it onto the rag and not directly over the tank you are fine. That is not the culprit. The cleaner can not penetrate the glass. That is false info that was given to you.

There could be something to changing multiple parts of the filter at the same time? I wouldn't even bother running the filter anymore. Skimmer and water changes on your size tank are more than enough.

 

[MikeC120]

Not sure about "molecules" penitrating glass but I recommend cleaning your glass with diluted vinegar & water in a spray bottle and wiped off with crumbled up newspaper.
Trust my it does wonders.

 

[JasonZ219]

Thanks for the replies. My tank is back to normal now and I just added a wild black onyx clown who is doing well too! hopefully it was just a spike that i am able to move past, i changed out a filter pad which was COVERED in detritus and ran carbon as well. Took a few rocks out of the tank and rescaped it since the fish were gone and gave it a nice clean without disrupting the sandbed too much. hopefully its smooth sailing for here on out, i will try that vinegar trick too, someone else told me about that, no more glass cleaner/chemicals for me
:headwally:

 

[Editour2]

Best of luck............

 

[JasonZ219]

Thanks everyone, tank is back to normal!