Fish Sinking, Swimming Sporatically, Heavily breathing

[mr_noodles]

Exactly what the title says. Left for walmart for an hour and came back. Swimming upside down, darting into liverock and dang near dead. Water was cloudy yesterday with white long slimey stuff from canister. Did 40% water change and everything was fine last night and this morning. Go out to buy stuff and come back and found this. Protein skimmer is haywire - foam took the lid right off and all over the place.

 

[ndrwater]

Check ammonia. How old is the tank?
Sounding like a bacterial bloom. Is the canister the only filtration on the tank>

 

[mr_noodles]

Check ammonia. How old is the tank?
Sounding like a bacterial bloom. Is the canister the only filtration on the tank>

Did water tests last night after the issue. All within param - Phosphates were between 1-2. Did water change and it was around 0.5

Canister and protein skimmer and power head

got one fish remaining. he's about to go. looks like a 100% kill-off. this sucks

 

[mr_noodles]

Did water tests last night after the issue. All within param - Phosphates were between 1-2. Did water change and it was around 0.5

Canister and protein skimmer and power head

got one fish remaining. he's about to go. looks like a 100% kill-off. this sucks

tank is about 1 year old.

 

[ndrwater]

If the canister filter is the primary source of biological filtration, and has been cleaned recently, there may be an issue with your biological filtration.
This is one of the reasons many a reefer opt for a sump. Yes, I know not everybody has room for or can afford to upgrade their equipment.
The issue with a canister filter, without having LOTS of live rock in the tank and LOTS of flow is, every time you clean out the canister, you are disturbing the biological. Which, sounds like it may be the case here.
There are other things like Brook and Velvet that can and do wipe out a tank quickly..
Have you added any new fish lately?

 

[mr_noodles]

If the canister filter is the primary source of biological filtration, and has been cleaned recently, there may be an issue with your biological filtration.
This is one of the reasons many a reefer opt for a sump. Yes, I know not everybody has room for or can afford to upgrade their equipment.
The issue with a canister filter, without having LOTS of live rock in the tank and LOTS of flow is, every time you clean out the canister, you are disturbing the biological. Which, sounds like it may be the case here.
There are other things like Brook and Velvet that can and do wipe out a tank quickly..
Have you added any new fish lately?

No fish for the past 3 months. I did clean the canister yesterday with just a rinse. The only change to the canister was the removal of the seashells on the top media - it was covered in white slime.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Did water tests last night after the issue. All within param - Phosphates were between 1-2. Did water change and it was around 0.5

Canister and protein skimmer and power head

got one fish remaining. he's about to go. looks like a 100% kill-off. this sucks

When you say "all within param" can you give us numbers? What may be perceived as within param by you might be way off to another

 

[ndrwater]

That was removing some (all?) of the bio media. Anything that isn't carbon or something like Purigen will be surface area for biological activity to do what it does.. Specifically break down Ammonia to lesser harmful compounds.
The "white slime" was also bacteria.
Go for some Dr. Tims or something similar to help get things back on track

 

[mr_noodles]

When you say "all within param" can you give us numbers? What may be perceived as within param by you might be way off to another

Amm: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm
Grav: 1.024
pH: 8.3
Phos: 1ppm
Alk: 12dkH
Temp: 72

 

[ndrwater]

Amm: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm
Grav: 1.024
pH: 8.3
Phos: 1ppm
Alk: 12dkH
Temp: 72

What test kits are you using?

The other things that grabbed be a bit were temp.. 72 is a bit chilly.. Not the end of the world, but chilly.
And.. ALK of 12. Not an issue if that is normal for your tank, but... if you were 8 prior to a water change and now 12... That in and of itself can have less than desirable effects

 

[mr_noodles]

What test kits are you using?

The other things that grabbed be a bit were temp.. 72 is a bit chilly.. Not the end of the world, but chilly.
And.. ALK of 12. Not an issue if that is normal for your tank, but... if you were 8 prior to a water change and now 12... That in and of itself can have less than desirable effects

I usually sit around 10-12

 

[ndrwater]

Just for the record, a 2 point swing in Alkalinity is not insignificant.. Keeping things as stable as possible, whatever the number, goes a long way towards success.