Almost Instadeath

[deahttub]

No dosing of anything. Sorry, ph runs around 7.4 to 7.6. Bit low

ph is a bit low. Maybe an excess of co2? Could explain the heavy breathing

 

[9975]

#reefsquad. I wouldn't do this if I had any notion of what's going on

 

[9975]

Just for S&G I'm going to check alkalinity tonight and put new carbon in. Anyone have any other ideas on what could have happened? I Put filters with carbon in the baffles of my sump. Could carbon that's been in there say 1 1/2 to weeks be an issue?

 

[Jase4224]

Just for S&G I'm going to check alkalinity tonight and put new carbon in. Anyone have any other ideas on what could have happened? I Put filters with carbon in the baffles of my sump. Could carbon that's been in there say 1 1/2 to weeks be an issue?

I change my carbon monthly. I think you can leave it in permanently and it just becomes a biological filter. Just make sure you are using a reef spec brand.

Do you have a refugium? Would definitely help with producing oxygen, absorbing CO2 and raising PH if you haven’t already got one.

 

[9975]

My refugium is about 25g within my sump that has a big chunk of chaeto. The chaeto filled the whole chamber a couple weeks ago and I three at least half of it away as it was getting massive.

I'm truly at a loss right now. I've been searching for a clue that will lead me in the right directions but not having any luck.

 

[tnc112105]

You mentioned you had crabs and snails in the tank. When were they added? Were they QT’d as well? I have heard reports of parasites hitchhiking in on inverts. Velvet kills very quickly and causes many of the symptoms you described. Are you running copper or any prophylactic treatments in the QT that the remaining fish were moved to? If so, it could be why you might have seen a recovery after they were moved to QT.

I’m so sorry for your losses.

 

[9975]

I added a few snails a few weeks back with the Trigger and they were from TSM as well. I was thinking velvet earlier but two things make me think that's not it:

- All of the fish were acting perfectly fine at 1030 and 5 hours later they all were lethargic and breathing a little heavy or so it seemed

- I know velvet doesnt always show signs but there were zero signs at all even on the dead fish hours later. I would think it would show on at least 1 of 11 but I could be way off base here

I'm far from an expert and will listen to all theories. I was thinking about getting a bigger QT and letting the tank fallow for a while just in case its velvet but as an engineer I'd like to put a hard countermeasure in for the root cause

 

[Big G]

Agree with the possible CO2 poisoning for all of the fish to suddenly be in distress: lethargy, breathing hard. And then the salt poured into the tank possibly doing some chemical burning to the fishs' gills already in distress.

 

[tnc112105]

I am certainly no parasite expert, but I know that many diseases attack the gills first and ask questions later. It does seem odd that none were showing outward signs. I hope you figure it out.

 

[9975]

So if its CO2 poisoning what can be done to help? I have oxygen exchange with the xf350 and one of ss18.0 along with the C2C overflow and return in the sump. Is that not sufficient?

 

[bevo5]

***I definitely have no idea.

But - if the one variable is that salt was poured straight into the sump then we have to maybe start there right? Would fish being exposed to the crystals cause harm to their gills by chance?

I remember, very early in my reefing experience, I poured a cup of salt into my biocube to raise the salinity a bit. Oh man - every coral immediately started to slime and melt away. A big rose tip just sucked itself down to the size of a penny and stayed there for a week.

If the salt was dropped near the return, I could see it just spraying the tank and hitting the gills...maybe causing problems?

 

[9975]

She did the salt after she noticed they were acting lethargic. I asked that several times just to make sure as I thought similar

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Still 1.023

Wait did you say was 1.023 before she put 2 cups of salt in and 1.023 after she put 2 cuts of salt in? My guess is it was not salt then if no change

 

[bevo5]

Wait did you say was 1.023 before she put 2 cups of salt in and 1.023 after she put 2 cuts of salt in? My guess is it was not salt then if no change

Think he said it's 400+ gallon system and they added some top-off RO? He could probably pour three times as much salt and maybe not see an uptick. It takes me one cup of salt to raise .01 in my 55g mixing station.

 

[sfin52]

Wait did you say was 1.023 before she put 2 cups of salt in and 1.023 after she put 2 cuts of salt in? My guess is it was not salt then if no change

I know it's been asked could it have been something other than salt. Calcium or alk powder or something like that

 

[9975]

I dont have any other type of powder except salt. I dont have anything for dosing yet. She even walked me down to the basement to show me what she used. And yes 2 cups vs the 400+ gallons is a drop in the bucket so to speak.

Thanks for the help trying to figure this out everyone

 

[austibella]

I have had something like this happen twice.
The first one was cause by a large carpet anemone that decided that it was going to get into my overflow box at night. These thing are like Octopuses, they can squeeze through the small gratings of the overflow. Long and short was that he got stuck about half way through and then he started to let of toxins. It killed every fish except for one kind. Yep it was the clown fish! I woke up and everyone else was stone dead on the sand but the clowns where swimming around like nothing had happened.

The second time was the biggest disaster of all and it was caused by insecticide sprayed in the house. It took almost 24 hours to start killing the fish and by the fourth day all fish and corals were dead.

So sad.......

 

[austibella]

I dont have any other type of powder except salt. I dont have anything for dosing yet. She even walked me down to the basement to show me what she used. And yes 2 cups vs the 400+ gallons is a drop in the bucket so to speak.

Thanks for the help trying to figure this out everyone

When in doubt do a big water change is what I do. Sorry your going through this. Its sucks not knowing and loosing fish and or coral...we have all been there one time or another..

 

[jsvand5]

Wait did you say was 1.023 before she put 2 cups of salt in and 1.023 after she put 2 cuts of salt in? My guess is it was not salt then if no change

Two cups of salt in that large of a tank is not going to be enough to notice a change with hobby grade refractometers. The salt is definitely not what caused the issues here.

 

[9975]

I've been reading up on CO2 levels and how to calculate them in water. I'll take new ph and alk readings when I get home. PH was 7.4 before which i know is considered pretty low