Coral problem.

[Bradley Crocker]

Removing the sand/rock may not be a bad idea. Before you decide, you may find something helpful here http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/

I don't want to jump to any conclusions. I only reference this because @saltyfilmfolks mentioned hydrogen sulfide, you mentioned the snail smelling "rotten" from a few months back, and the depth of your sand on the left 2/3 of your tank, coupled with the seemingly immediate death of all but one fish after that initial 50% water change.

The last half of the article is what you'll find more informative and useful. It talks more about hydrogen sulfide in reef aquaria and where it can form. One thing that caught my attention here was he notes to not let water sit in pipes or tubing for excessive amounts of time. I don't know anything about chillers. Do they pump water continuously, or only when a thermostat tells them to turn on?

I also don't know if your sand or rock could leach this stuff into the water at a concentration high enough to kill your inverts in hours, but low enough to not harm the fish. It appears, for the most part, fish do seem to have a higher tolerance, which would help support this theory though.

Let me know what you think.

 

[TinaMarie026]

Calcium is one of the more difficult ones to get consistently accurate readings.

What kind of salt do you use? It should say the water parameters on the bucket/box/bag. Your Calcium levels should be fairly close to what's advertised without any corals or inverts.

And sorry for the turbo, poor fella...I can only imagine how disheartening all this is for you. You'll get it turned around though.

I missed this question..I use Instant Ocean-Reef.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

At 1.026 sg, reef crystals contains 490 ppm Calcium. So your Ca test seems to be about right.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

At 1.026 sg, reef crystals contains 490 ppm Calcium. So your Ca test seems to be about right.

@MacQac, this would explain your high Calcium levels as well, right?

 

[nl5882]

I had my po4s up to 1.12 at one time after, I gave up on the hobby. Yeah that's a 1 in front of the decimal. I didn't have any algea on my sand or live rock. I did however have quite a bit on my glass. If the OP doesn't have strong light or long enough on time, they might not get much algea like I did.

 

[TinaMarie026]

Removing the sand/rock may not be a bad idea. Before you decide, you may find something helpful here http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/

I don't want to jump to any conclusions. I only reference this because @saltyfilmfolks mentioned hydrogen sulfide, you mentioned the snail smelling "rotten" from a few months back, and the depth of your sand on the left 2/3 of your tank, coupled with the seemingly immediate death of all but one fish after that initial 50% water change.

The last half of the article is what you'll find more informative and useful. It talks more about hydrogen sulfide in reef aquaria and where it can form. One thing that caught my attention here was he notes to not let water sit in pipes or tubing for excessive amounts of time. I don't know anything about chillers. Do they pump water continuously, or only when a thermostat tells them to turn on?

I also don't know if your sand or rock could leach this stuff into the water at a concentration high enough to kill your inverts in hours, but low enough to not harm the fish. It appears, for the most part, fish do seem to have a higher tolerance, which would help support this theory though.

Let me know what you think.

I will look at the arrival. The chiller has a small pump that is on 24/7 and pumps water through it. The chiller monitors the water temp and turns on when it reads a high temp.

 

[nl5882]

Fast forward the last 6 months of getting my tank back in shape. I got po4s down to .50, started trying to add a few corals, inverts, fish. Anything I put in there died within a week or so. Only the original inhabitants that stayed a
live are the fish and snails who have been acclimated to the harsh environment( sad to say that, but it was after my co2 crash) I've grown the most expensive sps in my tank prior to my tank crash, but I didn't realize what high po4s were capabe of, until I started to bring my tank back to life. Now I have all my parameters in check, down to .02 and still working to get back to 0.00. I only added my newest inverts and fish when I got back down to .08 po4, and everything is alive and fine.

 

[FishGuyBri]

@MacQac, this would explain your high Calcium levels as well, right?

I don't use the reef crystals, just regular IO. And why is my Ca climbing? If I do WC with something less than my total it should only stay same or go down slightly. Not up :-( so weird.

 

[TinaMarie026]

Removing the sand/rock may not be a bad idea. Before you decide, you may find something helpful here http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/

I don't want to jump to any conclusions. I only reference this because @saltyfilmfolks mentioned hydrogen sulfide, you mentioned the snail smelling "rotten" from a few months back, and the depth of your sand on the left 2/3 of your tank, coupled with the seemingly immediate death of all but one fish after that initial 50% water change.

The last half of the article is what you'll find more informative and useful. It talks more about hydrogen sulfide in reef aquaria and where it can form. One thing that caught my attention here was he notes to not let water sit in pipes or tubing for excessive amounts of time. I don't know anything about chillers. Do they pump water continuously, or only when a thermostat tells them to turn on?

I also don't know if your sand or rock could leach this stuff into the water at a concentration high enough to kill your inverts in hours, but low enough to not harm the fish. It appears, for the most part, fish do seem to have a higher tolerance, which would help support this theory though.

Let me know what you think.

Is there a test for hydrogen sulfide?

When I did my 50%water change months ago, a lot of debris came out of the sediment and now thinking on it, I think my fish were suffocated. Over the summer I had not done many water changes. I just replaced evaporated water which was not the right thing to do. They went to the bottom and laid on their sides and had labored breathing. My surviving clown (5 years old now) laid on his side and had hard breathing, then in two days fought it off and recovered. I lost a fire Hawk fish. A 6 year old blue damsel, a Niger trigger and a few more. Sad.

 

[TinaMarie026]

After my crash, all my live rock went baron and my reef was just gray rock. All the algae in the tank disappeared. I am just latley starting to see things growing in the rocks and grass again. All my little sand critters are gone. Tiny starfish, sand worms, all missing. Just my fish who are doing great.

 

[nl5882]

I wouldn't do ANYTHING else until you get a hanna p04 test. Id bet all my high end SPS on it, that your po4 are extremely high. Do you have a LFS that'll do it? If it's high po4, all you need is some brightwell export po4....and if that isn't it maybe your salinity was to low just topping of and brought it up to fast and shocked everything. Lower salinity makes it easier for fish to breathe, and invert are especially sensitive to salinity changes..

 

[Bradley Crocker]

Is there a test for hydrogen sulfide?

When I did my 50%water change months ago, a lot of debris came out of the sediment and now thinking on it, I think my fish were suffocated. Over the summer I had not done many water changes. I just replaced evaporated water which was not the right thing to do. They went to the bottom and laid on their sides and had labored breathing. My surviving clown (5 years old now) laid on his side and had hard breathing, then in two days fought it off and recovered. I lost a fire Hawk fish. A 6 year old blue damsel, a Niger trigger and a few more. Sad.

I don't think there is a hobby level kit.

Do you recall a foul smell when you did the first water change? I would imagine it would have been fairly potent.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

I wouldn't do ANYTHING else until you get a hanna p04 test. Id bet all my high end SPS on it, that your po4 are extremely high. Do you have a LFS that'll do it? If it's high po4, all you need is some brightwell export po4....and if that isn't it maybe your salinity was to low just topping of and brought it up to fast and shocked everything. Lower salinity makes it easier for fish to breathe, and invert are especially sensitive to salinity changes..

Is there a reason her new salifert po4 test won't be sufficient?

The lfs says her levels are fine.

 

[nl5882]

What test kit did LFS use? Ive never ran salifert po4, but i have used api and it was off. I wouldn't trust them it they said it was fine....do you trust your first doctor if he says you have cancer? I'd get a second opinion to confirm.

 

[TinaMarie026]

What test kit did LFS use? Ive never ran salifert po4, but i have used api and it was off. I wouldn't trust them it they said it was fine....do you trust your first doctor if he says you have cancer? I'd get a second opinion to confirm.

They all use API. I have one store that is a coral specialest. (Saltwater paridise)

 

[TinaMarie026]

Is there a reason her new salifert po4 test won't be sufficient?

The lfs says her levels are fine.

I have been adding 2ml/day for a while now.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

I have been adding 2ml/day for a while now.

I don't know the rules for linking to the other forums, hopefully there aren't any. Otherwise, I apologize...I came across this thread while researching as much as possible on this mystery. Maybe it'll help.

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/249312-hydrogen-sulfide/

This person had a similar problem, although the inverts/corals were lasting days, sometimes almost 2 weeks, before kicking the bucket. Their path to the solution isn't really clear, more by happenstance really, but it appears to be linked more to their source water.

 

[TinaMarie026]

I don't think there is a hobby level kit.

Do you recall a foul smell when you did the first water change? I would imagine it would have been fairly potent.

I don't recall. Maybe slightly. I know the snail almost made my lose my lunch.

 

[TinaMarie026]

What test kit did LFS use? Ive never ran salifert po4, but i have used api and it was off. I wouldn't trust them it they said it was fine....do you trust your first doctor if he says you have cancer? I'd get a second opinion to confirm.

I went to 3 LPS at the time. My Nitrates were very high and it took a lot of water changes to get it down.

 

[TinaMarie026]

I don't know the rules for linking to the other forums, hopefully there aren't any. Otherwise, I apologize...I came across this thread while researching as much as possible on this mystery. Maybe it'll help.

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/249312-hydrogen-sulfide/

This person had a similar problem, although the inverts/corals were lasting days, sometimes almost 2 weeks, before kicking the bucket. Their path to the solution isn't really clear, more by happenstance really, but it appears to be linked more to their source water.

Interesting. He changed his water supply to distilled and the type of salt mostly. Worth a try I guess. The only difference I noticed is when I introduce polyps, the NEVER open. And shrink up and die. Others like leathers let out distress strands and shrivel up. Shrimp and snails die in 8 to 10hrs.
My sand looks clean and I don't smell sulfur.

New test kit Monday!