Urgent help please

[bighead]

I have a 90 gal with 40 breeder sump i have a reef octopus nw 110 skimmer and reef breeder led lighting
my problem is a couple weeks ago i started getting dinos and cyano around the same time neither is overtaking the tank but both are pretty aggressive three days ago i lost 3 fish a scopes tang, coral beauty and a chromes in one day tried saving the tang in hospital tank but no good today my clown is hanging at the top of the thank not looking so good i grabbed her and put in qt dont really know what is wrong with here or the others that died the other one I also can not find my PJ cardinal ( no death confirmed yet but most likely dead) dont know what to do all my coral looks fine actually pretty good rite now
par
temp 78
alk 7.6 steady
cal 440 steady
mag 1320
nitrrates .2ppm
sg 1.025
phos reads 0 i dont buy it

my tank is around 18 months old do regular water changes run carbon and gfo on and off i feed homade food every other day and seaweed everyday i have had very few and minor problems in the past nothing like this I can give any other info you need just let me know what you need and what you think i dont dose anything i keep up with water changes i will drip calk sometimes in my makeup water which is an ato system

 

[Sk8r]

Something's wonky perhaps with your oxygenation...or somehow something like ich has gotten in; and I lean toward the water being a problem. Your alk is a point low: 8.3 is better. The other readings are ok. I'd recommend a massive set of water changes. Put the surviving fish into quarantine and make sure they have a jump screen and plenty of oxygen...a bubbler behind an eggcrate screen isn't too much.

Next, your tank: do a 30% water change as soon as you get the fish safe. Wait a day, then do a 20% water change.

You don't have any black spots in your sandbed, right? Those are nasty. If it's just dinos and cyano, probably you've got a buildup. Doing massive water change now and a 10% the next week going forward, each week, should work to clear out some of the accumulation: as the water gets 'cleaner' and 'emptier' of whatever's dissolved in there, it can dissolve more of it, and thus your tank gets washed clean. Continue your kalk drip if you have stony.

 

[MondoBongo]

phosphates could be 0 due to the dinos and cyano using it as fuel.

what about ammonia readings? stray voltage? low oxygen in the water?

what did you fish die of? did it seem to be disease? did they exhibit any symptoms?

 

[ReefKeep66]

It's sounds to me like you have a phosphate problem going on even though it's testing zero which I think you already know about that. As to why it's causing such sudden fish lost I don't know. Could you put some pics?

 

[ReefKeep66]

phosphates could be 0 due to the dinos and cyano using it as fuel.

what about ammonia readings? stray voltage? low oxygen in the water?

what did you fish die of? did it seem to be disease? did they exhibit any symptoms?

These are some good questions. A pretty generic symptom of disease can be abnormal swimming such as swimming low close to the floor, etc. As far as feeding goes, you said something about home made food? I lost a couple fish one time when I didn't realize the food I was feeding had gone bad.

 

[bighead]

Sk8r you r the second person who says lo o2 at the moment a have a power head pointed at the surface agitating the water a lot what would cause low o2 (the cyano Dino prob)
Do you think I should treat my qt with any meds no apparent probs on surface of fish

 

[Sk8r]

Your oxygenation sources: the downflow to your sump, your skimmer, which oxygenates heavily, your refugium (cheato algae produces oxygen), and surface aeration. I have a 100 gallon aquarium, pump outputting 2136 gph with a head of 15 feet (15 feet of hose: basement sump: most people have a head of about 3-4 feet) and I still use a powerhead for water movement. Don't know what your pump is like.

I wouldn't treat until I saw evidence of what to treat FOR---the wrong guess can set you back considerably while you clear one med out to put another in. Selcon (vitamin-mineral) soaking their food might be a good thing, though.

I'd also wonder, with this sudden sand problem, what your issue might be down subsurface, and if you stir it, you're likely to provoke a cycle. The water changes are a way of getting nastiness to dissolve out and leave the tank. You might consider a fighting conch, which works sub-sand, and can keep the sandbed clean. I'm trying a small!!!!! sand--sifting star in my own sump, which needs some help. Cleaning sand is something best done by a cleanup crew.

 

[bighead]

Well I got my 2 clowns into QT The rest will not be easy I noticed the eye on one clown is hazy I'm my DT both looked fine in QT they have ick don't know if the eyes are a symptom but they have white dots on them
I am starting to dose copper in QT hopefully they will be ok