Need some help diagnosing an issue. I have a new-ish (4 mos), 180G DT with ~45G in a sump. Running skimmer, relatively large fuge with decent macro growth, and I started running a BRS GFO/Carbon reactor a few weeks ago (really just because I had one). I seeded the tank with Pods from Algaebarn a month or so ago, and they are doing well in the fuge and DT. I did a 20% water change last Wednesday after I had a large anthias die on me (suspect Uronema - uggh), and tested my water on Sunday night to see where things were - nitrates/nitrites/phosphates were all testing 0, salinity was right at 1.026/35ppm.
All seemed fine on Wednesday night. My corals (I had added some frags two weeks ago) were all open, and the fish ate mysis and were swimming as normal, etc. I did have some light growth on the glass, and before bed I cleaned it off with a magna float.
I came home last night to very cloudy water, my GSP frag had completely retracted, and I had two dead fish (a tang and a mandarin). My salinity was also low - closer to 1.020, which was bizarre because I see no leaks anywhere and my ATO is functioning normally. I have an ammonia warning badge on the tank, and that was in the "safe" zone; I did a stick-dip test of the water, and nitrate/nitrite still at 0.
I removed the dead fish and did another water change (40 gallons, about 20%) last night to get my salinity back up.
I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what I have done wrong. I have had a bunch of fish die on me over the last few weeks, most of which I attributed to stress or, more recently, Uronema getting into my tank through some infected anthias or chromis. Now I am not so sure, since neither the tang nor the mandarin are particularly susceptible to Uronema, and neither had the red sores you associate with it. (The mandarin, by the way, had been eating both mysis and pods).
I am wondering if I am experiencing ammonia spikes/bacteria blooms, and if so, what the cause could be? Is it because my tank didn't cycle properly? It was what I thought to be a "quick" cycle - I started with dry rock, "live" sand, bacteria supplement, and phantom fed in the dark for about 20 days before testing the water and adding some chromis. All seemed great. Now, not so sure.
One other fact to put into this, my skimmer did work hard that week - I had thought it might have been because I superglued my first frag down, and I heard that glue/epoxy can make a skimmer go crazy for a little while. Now I'm not so sure.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to get the "facts" out there. Right now I am going to sit tight for a while and just monitor, without water changes.
All seemed fine on Wednesday night. My corals (I had added some frags two weeks ago) were all open, and the fish ate mysis and were swimming as normal, etc. I did have some light growth on the glass, and before bed I cleaned it off with a magna float.
I came home last night to very cloudy water, my GSP frag had completely retracted, and I had two dead fish (a tang and a mandarin). My salinity was also low - closer to 1.020, which was bizarre because I see no leaks anywhere and my ATO is functioning normally. I have an ammonia warning badge on the tank, and that was in the "safe" zone; I did a stick-dip test of the water, and nitrate/nitrite still at 0.
I removed the dead fish and did another water change (40 gallons, about 20%) last night to get my salinity back up.
I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what I have done wrong. I have had a bunch of fish die on me over the last few weeks, most of which I attributed to stress or, more recently, Uronema getting into my tank through some infected anthias or chromis. Now I am not so sure, since neither the tang nor the mandarin are particularly susceptible to Uronema, and neither had the red sores you associate with it. (The mandarin, by the way, had been eating both mysis and pods).
I am wondering if I am experiencing ammonia spikes/bacteria blooms, and if so, what the cause could be? Is it because my tank didn't cycle properly? It was what I thought to be a "quick" cycle - I started with dry rock, "live" sand, bacteria supplement, and phantom fed in the dark for about 20 days before testing the water and adding some chromis. All seemed great. Now, not so sure.
One other fact to put into this, my skimmer did work hard that week - I had thought it might have been because I superglued my first frag down, and I heard that glue/epoxy can make a skimmer go crazy for a little while. Now I'm not so sure.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to get the "facts" out there. Right now I am going to sit tight for a while and just monitor, without water changes.
