Thanks Jay for the clarification. Unfortunately my aquarium was doomed from the start. I reused some equipment that had been in cold dry storage for 2 years. when I started my new 340 gallon. The equipment was in a storage unit, but temps got to -40 degrees outside. I didn't think anything of it, and reused my skimmer, some powerheads, and heaters.
I taken 3-5 months to ensure everything was running smoothly, cycled and ready to go for fish. Then started adding a few per week. My black tang had been stored at the LFS for 2 years until I could get the new tank setup. I took him back and was up to 15 fish, when like now, fish started dieing randomly. One day 1 fish would die, then 5-6 days later 2 died, then a few days later 3 more. And the deaths kept increasing, the final days were when a batch of cardinals all had popeye at the same time, then a powder blue tang erupted with raised nodules all over its body, then anthias had purple burn marks on them. My corals grew faster than ever. I had LPS and SPS that tripled in size in a month.
I talked to the owner of the LFS and he said, you know what, google electrified grates in the Atlantic ocean to repopulate reefs. I Searched it and discovered that it was scientifically proven that electrified metal cages were used to rapidly regrow dieing reefs.
He said get a volt meter or do it the old fashioned way and ground yourself and stick your hand in the sump. I Had had my hands in the tank many times never was shocked. He said, of course not, if you're not grounded you're not going to feel anything. So, I touched something I thought was grounded, my furnaces aluminum ventwork. And stuck my hand in the sump, my hair stood up on my head. I felt a slow vibration through my nerves. I wasn't sure if I imagined it, but, I turned everything off and did it again and felt nothing, then I turned things on one at at time and discovered one of my two heaters, when they were heating was electrifying the sump and the display.
Just to see the impact, I turned everything off and watched my last two remaining fish that were still alive and they seemed so much more at peace. I went back and turned the heater back on and went and watched the fish. My black tang, I kid you not, swam in circles repeatedly only making left turns. I went and turned the heater off and he swam normally.
I had a large fox face that survived the shocks as well, but he later jumped out. He went a bit crazy. I was so devastated that to save a couple hundred dollars I had destroyed several hundreds of dollars of life. I nearly gave up then too.
I left the tank with one fish in it, the black tang for about 8 months. No other infections, diseases, no signs of ich, nothing emerged. The fish swam and lived healthily and normally until now 6 years later. I bought brand new finnex heaters. Have had the same two heaters in there since then. I'm starting to wonder if they've reached the end of their life and causing this again the symptoms are very similar.
I'll get picks of the mimic tang.
