Need to raise PH, can't get to the store for a while!

[92Miata]

I'm shocked by the killing capacity of these little gnats. How in the world can they destroy a tank in the span of 2 days? I'm just about back to square 1 with losses, only a few fish left alive that I could find. I may take this opportunity to phase out a little bit, maybe downgrade. I'm done paying for re-starts that I didn't even cause, it's very discouraging.

I don't see any evidence of dinoflaggelates in any of your photos - so I don't know why you're going down that path. And 6dkh isn't killing anything.


Did you do anything to the tank yesterday or the day before? Anything happen in your house? Any cleaning? Etc

 

[sixty_reefer]

I'm shocked by the killing capacity of these little gnats. How in the world can they destroy a tank in the span of 2 days? I'm just about back to square 1 with losses, only a few fish left alive that I could find. I may take this opportunity to phase out a little bit, maybe downgrade. I'm done paying for re-starts that I didn't even cause, it's very discouraging.

I know how you must feel right now, I was in the exact same situation a few years back, I’ve lost everything I had to a similar species of dinoflagellates, most likely the same. All I can tell you is once the dust sets down you will find the courage to do it again and better, have patience, don’t loose hope, better days will come.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I don't see any evidence of dinoflaggelates in any of your photos - so I don't know why you're going down that path. And 6dkh isn't killing anything.


Did you do anything to the tank yesterday or the day before? Anything happen in your house? Any cleaning? Etc

Looking around i don't see much, however I see them in the water (it's slightly opaque yellow) and on the skeletons of the dead coral, as well as a couple spots on the sand.

 

[92Miata]

Looking around i don't see much, however I see them in the water (it's slightly opaque yellow) and on the skeletons of the dead coral, as well as a couple spots on the sand.

Why do you think slightly yellow water is dinoflagellates?

I would expect yellowish water after a crash like this. When you see dinos kill tanks, everything is covered. I don't see any significant dinos in the photos.


What I do see a ton of are brown photosynthetic flatworms/planaria - which can absolutely kill a tank if they start dying.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Looking around i don't see much, however I see them in the water (it's slightly opaque yellow) and on the skeletons of the dead coral, as well as a couple spots on the sand.

Dino’s are toxic , especially the osteo kind , are you running carbon ? Need to run extra carbon with Dino’s to help along , keep elevated nutrient and with time things will settle. You sure you don’t have flatworms ? I’m not sure what I am seeing on the acros / rocks , looks like red planaria which are also toxic when they die

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Dino’s are toxic , especially the osteo kind , are you running carbon ? Need to run extra carbon with Dino’s to help along , keep elevated nutrient and with time things will settle. You sure you don’t have flatworms ? I’m not sure what I am seeing on the acros / rocks , looks like red planaria which are also toxic when they die

Why do you think slightly yellow water is dinoflagellates?

I would expect yellowish water after a crash like this. When you see dinos kill tanks, everything is covered. I don't see any significant dinos in the photos.


What I do see a ton of are brown photosynthetic flatworms/planaria - which can absolutely kill a tank if they start dying.

I do have a very large population of flatties, yes. I haven't noticed any dead ones, but I wouldn't be surprised if some have died. About to do another water change, then another after that. I'm going to take this opportunity to get the pests and algae out for good.
I have my UV & a pound of carbon running, as well as a brand new fresh poly-filter. All I can do now is take stuff out and hope for the best.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I do have a very large population of flatties, yes. I haven't noticed any dead ones, but I wouldn't be surprised if some have died. About to do another water change, then another after that. I'm going to take this opportunity to get the pests and algae out for good.
I have my UV & a pound of carbon running, as well as a brand new fresh poly-filter. All I can do now is take stuff out and hope for the best.

It took some time to get to this situation it’s gonna take some time to get out, what I would do is solve one at a time - Dino’s first by elevating nutrient (less frequent water changes to allow biome to mature) then for the flatworms you can vacuum them out daily / six line wrasse and eventually they’ll fall

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I think that flatworms are the actual cause of the mass deaths. I'm hard pressed to find any in the tank, which is really unusual since I've been fighting them for so long. My bet is that the nutrient drop (still no ID on cause) caused some to die, which triggered the rest of them to follow suite. Makes the yellow water tint make sense, as well as the similarity between fish deaths over the years!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Total confirmed death toll up to 4, 3 tangs and a cleaner wrasse. Unaccounted for fish are as follows:
2 zebra dartfish
1 yellow banded possum wrasse
1 giant pajama cardinalfish

My trio of clowns all seem totally unphased by the whole ordeal, as do a couple of hammer coral frags that I lost in the rocks. They are irritated, but I'm not seeing any necrosis. The exact same thing for an old plug that is encrusted with pink caddy acro, it was buried in bryopsis and the parts that were shaded are totally unaffected. It's the strangest thing.
EDIT:
Snails, hermits and asterina stars are also seemingly unaffected, as are copepods and amphipods in the sump. The poly filter that I put in about 3 hours ago is already totally stained orange, which tells me it's the flatties. Tried to remove as many as possible with a water change, I found a few of them actively dissolving on the rocks.