Everything is dead..

Chris444 · May 27, 2019

Woke up in the morning to change the tank's light to white and noticed that everything is dead. The parameters are looking all fine, the water is a bot cloudy. I have no idea how this happened in one night as the fish was all healthy and looking well. What I had:
2 clownfish
Blue cheek goby
Firefish
Red clown cucumber
Snails and crabs
Xenia
Condy anemone

I was thinking if this could be the cucumbers poison. There is also something black on the powerhead ive never seen it before. What should I do in this situation to start over again? Do I clean the rock,the substrate?

Demonic · May 27, 2019

Is that your anemone on the power head

WVNed · May 27, 2019

Check your heaters and see if one exploded.
See if the tank is energized
Anybody else around that could have dumped something in the tank.
Heater stick on and overheat the tank
What you have to do depends on what caused it.

Auquanut · May 27, 2019

Sorry for your loss. Following.

Rover · May 27, 2019

What is on your powerhead is a dead something. Coral? Anemone?

Sorry for your loss, without knowing the cause of deaths its hard to tell you how to safely restart... If it was a locked-on heater overheating its very different then if someone put a chemical in you aren't aware of, or if a heater exploded and shocked the tank, or any number of other things.

KirstenB · May 27, 2019

So very sorry as well. Heartbreaking.

(( what could it have been guys?

Dilan Patel · May 27, 2019

Looks like your anemone decided to go on a walk and ended up in the powerhead shredding it. Anemones can nuke a tank if it gets shredded up unfortunately. Sorry for your loss.

Chris444 · May 27, 2019

I dont think it could be anemone in the powerhead as its in the exact same place for some time. The same thing that is on the powerhead is coming out from clown cucumber.

AcroNem · May 27, 2019

It's also possible your cucumber has ejected it's guts, it's either that or your anemone that ended up in the power head. In either case, I'd get fresh carbon in there and do a few big water changes over the next week or two, you can vac your substrate with each water change if you'd like. Monitor all of your levels closely while things settle down and once it's stable again you can slowly start over.

AcroNem · May 27, 2019

Chris444 said:
I dont think it could be anemone in the powerhead as its in the exact same place for some time. The same thing that is on the powerhead is coming out from clown cucumber.

Then yes, it was your cucumber. Sea apples are incredibly hard to keep long term without a dedicated filter feeding system. It ejected it's gut, which can be highly toxic especially with sea apples, and this was the result.

Auquanut · May 27, 2019

How big is your tank? How long did you have the cucumber?

Chris444 · May 27, 2019

@Auquanut
Its a 80g with 15g sump. I have it for about a month. And its the only thing that survived.

Chris444 · May 27, 2019

If it was cucumber that caused it, is some water changes going to be enough to start again?

AcroNem · May 27, 2019

Chris444 said:
If it was cucumber that caused it, is some water changes going to be enough to start again?

Some large water changes and good quality carbon changed often will take everything out. It'll be ready again in time, sooner than you think.

philosophile · May 27, 2019

1 month old tank, with a sea apple in it. that's your problem.

So you're new to this hobby. please research everything you buy before you buy. sea apples are almost impossible to keep, and you just killed your entire tank because you didn't know what you were doing. otherwise, you'll nuke your tank again, doing something else you aren't prepared for, lose a bunch of money, and more importantly kill a bunch of animals for no good reason.

At this point I dont know if anything is going to survive in your tank. but you can try to salvage this. first run some carbon in your system to help get the toxins out. and do a large water change. maybe like 50% if you can. take out all the dead and dying things. take the sea apple out.

For the next few days continually do 10 g water changes, until the water is clear.

If there is nothing alive..... then drain the tank, start over with new water. run carbon. turn out the lights, and cycle your tank anew. dont put anything in the tank for at least 2-3 weeks. at that point, you can add a small clean up crew, and buy a bottle of copepods and throw it into the tank. you can turn on the lights.

After another week or two, do a water change, and slowly add livestock. nothing more than one animal at a time, per week, at least initially. so one coral or one fish. research before you buy.

Auquanut · May 27, 2019

Don't get too discouraged. Sometimes it's hard to know what questions to ask. Absolutely don't let this setback stop you! Just go slow and research everything.

vetteguy53081 · May 27, 2019

never good news. Looks like a chemical reaction from both the Anemone getting sucked in and reducing water flow and the Sea Apple which is what you have that is both known to release toxins and definitely NOT recommended especially for a newer tank which you have.
Shame on the LFS selling it to you and IMPULSE got the best of you ( happens to all of us).

You will need to remove all dead specimens, major water change and regroup and most of all - GO VERY SLOW with stocking.
NOTHING GOES FAST WITH SALTWATER AND IT IS A GAME OF PATIENCE AND WAITING FOR EACH ADDITION.

Demonic · May 27, 2019

philosophile said:
you just killed your entire tank because you didn't know what you were doing. otherwise, you'll nuke your tank again, doing something else you aren't prepared for, lose a bunch of money, and more importantly kill a bunch of animals for no good reason.

This part of the comment isn't needed here. You may have the wrong forum if you think it is.

AcroNem · May 27, 2019

Demonic said:
This part of the comment isn't needed here. You may have the wrong forum if you think it is.

I agree 100%, this is not the place for comments like that. @philosophile let's try to keep this positive and a real teaching moment instead of ridiculing. He may have bought this system already set up and had it for a month. Honest mistakes happen, everyone messes up there are better ways to teach and learn.

GThompson · May 27, 2019

philosophile said:
1 month old tank, with a sea apple in it. that's your problem.

So you're new to this hobby. please research everything you buy before you buy. sea apples are almost impossible to keep, and you just killed your entire tank because you didn't know what you were doing. otherwise, you'll nuke your tank again, doing something else you aren't prepared for, lose a bunch of money, and more importantly kill a bunch of animals for no good reason.

At this point I dont know if anything is going to survive in your tank. but you can try to salvage this. first run some carbon in your system to help get the toxins out. and do a large water change. maybe like 50% if you can. take out all the dead and dying things. take the sea apple out.

For the next few days continually do 10 g water changes, until the water is clear.

If there is nothing alive..... then drain the tank, start over with new water. run carbon. turn out the lights, and cycle your tank anew. dont put anything in the tank for at least 2-3 weeks. at that point, you can add a small clean up crew, and buy a bottle of copepods and throw it into the tank. you can turn on the lights.

After another week or two, do a water change, and slowly add livestock. nothing more than one animal at a time, per week, at least initially. so one coral or one fish. research before you buy.

I believe he meant the cucumber was one month old. Maybe he can clarify