Help! First BTA shredded overnight!

[Phyber]

65g tank, lightly stocked, just got a ~3" BTA yesterday. It acclimated well and lodged itself deep in rockwork on the opposite side of my 3' tank from the power head.

I wake up this morning to a crazy clouded tank, overflowing filter sick, and my skimmer is dead. I only see pieces of the BTA left.

I'm in the process of doing a 20g change, but my skimmer still isn't foaming. Looks like it makes bubbles but never a head (looks like it's in freshwater). I double checked my salinity and that's still good. I took apart the skimmer pump and all was clean, as was the body of the skimmer. The neck had some gunk but I wiped that out and cleaned the cup.

I'm also running a bag full of fresh carbon...what else can I do? What about my skimmer? I've never seen that...

 

[ScottB]

Sorry to hear about this. Maybe look into some foam covers before replacing the BTA.

I wouldn't worry too much about the skimmer at this point. Keep it running for gas exchange. What other animals are in the tank? If you have an ammonia test kit, probably not a bad idea. At 65G you are likely going to be fine, but keep on changing socks and carbon. Net out all the BTA bits. Take a powerhead to the rock work and blow the flesh bits out of there too. Prepare for another WC just in case.

Keep an eye on your other animals.

 

[Phyber]

Sorry to hear about this. Maybe look into some foam covers before replacing the BTA.

I wouldn't worry too much about the skimmer at this point. Keep it running for gas exchange. What other animals are in the tank? If you have an ammonia test kit, probably not a bad idea. At 65G you are likely going to be fine, but keep on changing socks and carbon. Net out all the BTA bits. Take a powerhead to the rock work and blow the flesh bits out of there too. Prepare for another WC just in case.

Keep an eye on your other animals.

Thanks! My fish, corals and inverts all are waking up and looking fine. Just got thru the water change and it's slightly clearer.

I'm still concerned about the skimmer...I get that oils and whatnot can cut foam, but this is like it's not even trying? And this should be the perfect event for a skimmer to go into overdrive, not shut down, correct? Ive attached a pic... notice the big bubbles and not a normal fine bubble with foam and a head...

 

[Max!]

You would think they would know not to go touch the big spinny things of death... lol
Water changes are your best friend when this happens and visual observation will do a lot. Passively implementing the carbon as opposed to actively implementing (like in a reactor) will be less effective but should still help clear some stuff up.
Good luck!

 

[ScottB]

Thanks! My fish, corals and inverts all are waking up and looking fine. Just got thru the water change and it's slightly clearer.

I'm still concerned about the skimmer...I get that oils and whatnot can cut foam, but this is like it's not even trying? And this should be the perfect event for a skimmer to go into overdrive, not shut down, correct? Ive attached a pic... notice the big bubbles and not a normal fine bubble with foam and a head...

Different contaminants make skimmers do different things for a while. Carbon (GAC) is probably a more effective contaminant removal tool than your skimmer at this point. Socks also for the debris. The BTA remains have not yet become a dissolved organic that can attach to the foam.

Would not hurt to soak/wash the skimmer with some vinegar at some point. But I'd be more worried about getting all the remnants out, work the GAC hard to remove potential toxin, and check for ammonia.

 

[Phyber]

I appreciate it! I'll give it a bit and let the skimmer work, hopefully it'll come back.

I'm kicking myself about all of this. I have a foam guard for my mp40 and didn't think I'd need to put it on

 

[ScottB]

Yeah, most of us are similarly guilty. I lost a nice fromia sea star to my MP40. And an engineering goby. Since putting the guards back on, no problems.