Algae cleaning kills fish?

[John3]

Hi Guys,

I haven’t posted in forever and that’s mostly because I have seen both of my tanks just slowly crash over the past 10 months. I have looked into almost everything and still to this day don’t know why my tanks just won’t respond in any positive way.

I did notice something today that clicked a bit. I have a lot of algae and if I let it grow during the week it develops gas bubbles in it. When I scrub my once live rock the algae comes off fairly easy and the bubbles pop. I did this about 2 weeks ago and my wrasse went into dying mode on his side with heavy breathing almost immediately. I thought he had a heart attack from me stirring everything up. I put him in my other tank where he recovered.

today I cleaned again but this time I had to run out right after the cleaning when I came back my wrasse was dead. I can only think those bubbles in the algae are poison? I dunno. This is so frustrating I have lost everything in my tanks at this point. I am down to a single Royal Gramm in my larger tank…….. I can see why people just give up in this hobby.

many ideas?

 

[blaxsun]

You'd have to provide a bit more information, like tank size, complete water parameters, what if anything you dose, etc. Images of the tank would also be helpful.

 

[John3]

Yeah I’ll get some more info and pics in here. The sad part is I have 2 tanks (29g biocube and a reefer 350) and both crashed starting around the same time. The only thing common is the Di water and salt mix, yet both have had the same issue.

I had a thriving biocube for 5 years before all this. This is what it used to look like. Just wait til you see the current state of things.

 

[John3]

Alk 10-10.5 range
Ca 420-450 range
Mag 1250-1300 range
Salinity 1.26
Nitrates 15-20 range
Temp ranges 76-80
Radion xr15 lights, same schedule for years.

mall these parameters are inline with how I ran the tank great for years.


when I would test for ammonia I always got none. My Di system reads zero PPM. I did start making my Di water in my basement vs upstairs around when things went downhill. I use Reef crystals and I did also start on a new box when things headed downhill.

I used to have so many bristle worms, limpets, brittle stars, and all kinds of worms and crawly bugs from my rock. My cube was an established system running great for 5 years and never had an issue like this.

I lost 60-70 coral species and at least a dozen fish through this slide. Snails can’t stay alive. They seem to eat the algae and just hunker down paralyzed and then die.

 

[DaJMasta]

Given the before and after and the relatively normal parameters (you do mean 1.026 specific gravity and not 1.26, right?), I would immediately suspect poisoning of the tank in some form.

Possibilities could include slowly accumulating something (from the air? did a pump start rusting and dumping something into the water? bad TDS meter giving a false reading? complete lack of a nutrient not being tested for?), and my first instinct would be to inspect your equipment and to send in an ICP analysis sample.

I've never heard of cleaning algae, even in large quantities, to be a problem, but perhaps if there was a layer of something in the sediment that was dangerous, stirring it up could cause issues.

Two crashing around the same time makes me suspect input water or particulate in the air doubly, since a failing piece of equipment likely would only effect one.