Poinsoned tank w/plastic decor. Help!

[Leslie Coleman]

I’m so upset right now, over the past 5 days I’ve had about 11 fish die from a plastic decoration I put in that was supposed to be safe for fish. I realize now that it was made in China where their standards on “safe” may be different.


My question is now what do I do? I did a 50% water change, then another 50% and then another 90% after fish continued to die. I got about 6 fish alive right now and I’m worried they’re going to die too. Should I drain all the water, rinse out the tank and sump, put in new filters? What about all the live rock and sand I have in there? Can that be cleaned? Please help! Can this tank even be saved? I just purchased Purigen & carbon and will try that but what else would you recommend me to do?

 

[Oscaror]

I’m so upset right now, over the past 5 days I’ve had about 11 fish die from a plastic decoration I put in that was supposed to be safe for fish. I realize now that it was made in China where their standards on “safe” may be different.


My question is now what do I do? I did a 50% water change, then another 50% and then another 90% after fish continued to die. I got about 6 fish alive right now and I’m worried they’re going to die too. Should I drain all the water, rinse out the tank and sump, put in new filters? What about all the live rock and sand I have in there? Can that be cleaned? Please help! Can this tank even be saved? I just purchased Purigen & carbon and will try that but what else would you recommend me to do?

Oh man that's rough #reefsquad can help

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R! I'm sorry that is happening to you. Best bet would be to move all your fish over to a quarantine tank with unaffected saltwater to get them out of whatever toxic chemical was introduced into your display tank, do a freshwater dip as you move them to get off of them whatever the chemical may be. Unfortunately whatever the decor piece leaked likely was absorbed by your rock, so you might need to either ditch the rock and get new stuff, or try to re-cure the rock by letting it sit in a bucket with a powerhead and heater and do water changes. It'll seep out the chemical and you remove it as it's seeped out. It may take time though.
another question, was anything else introduced to the tank recently that it could possibly be a parasite killing your fish? by the sound of it, velvet may be present in your system. Some pictures of the ill fish would help

 

[KrisReef]

I would use a polyfilter in this instance.

Oh, and Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Captain Quint]

I am really sorry this happened.

I hate to welcome you to R2R under such circumstances.

I have never use any of the troubled products you mentioned.

I agree with moving the remaining fishes to a safe QT/Hospital tank.

I do not know if spraying the decorations with Vinegar/water mix would help or not. Again, I am sorry.

 

[redfishbluefish]

How old is the tank? How big is the tank? Granted, plastics from China are known to have heavy metals, but I'd be surprised that the levels rose that fast to cause so much death.

 

[Foothill Corals]

Welcome to R2R


Are you sure it is contamination from the plastic decoration and not a disease?

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Sorry to hear that. It is a tough situation but you came to the right place for help. Will be good to know all of your tank details like size, sump or not, measurement etc.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Sounds like you’ve diluted the water the best you can with water changes.
Running carbon , poly filter , chemipure and gfo should bind most stuff that may have gotten in. Each of those will bind different things.

Most of the stuff that could come in “shouldn’t “ bind to rock and should I think stay dissolved in the water colom. Very small chance small particles dissolved and dusted the sand.

 

[Leslie Coleman]

It’s a 75 gallon tank and there is a 5 gal sump. I put the decoration in and within 12 hours I had my first dead fish. 8 hours later I had two more and then the next day 2 more dead ones. Every day there is more death. How would I know if it’s a disease killing the tank? I just found my longnose hawkfish dead and here’s a photo but I don’t know how long he’s been dead.

I had a saltwater tank in the past and in four years only lost one or two fish. All this sudden death is new to me.

Right now, I have a dogface puffer, 2 tangs, Picasso trigger, green bird wrasse, couple damsels, flame scallops, starfish, urchins, and anemones. How come I haven’t lost any inverts yet?

 

[Leslie Coleman]

Sounds like you’ve diluted the water the best you can with water changes.
Running carbon , poly filter , chemipure and gfo should bind most stuff that may have gotten in. Each of those will bind different things.

Most of the stuff that could come in “shouldn’t “ bind to rock and should I think stay dissolved in the water colom. Very small chance small particles dissolved and dusted the sand.

I put the carbon and Purigen in and will look into those others you mentioned. That’s great that you think the rock should be safe. I hope that is the case. Thank you everyone for the input and condolences, and I’d love to hear what any others have to say.

 

[Leslie Coleman]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Sorry to hear that. It is a tough situation but you came to the right place for help. Will be good to know all of your tank details like size, sump or not, measurement etc.

I replied as a new comment on accident. It’s a 75 gal with 5 gal sump.

 

[Greybeard]

Without a great deal of investigation, you're unlikely to ever know what it was that is/was killing your fishes. Can you visually see eroded parts of the chinese decoration?

Carbon, Polyfilter, ChemiPure... I'd start with those.

If those water changes were done BEFORE removing the possible offending decoration... I'd say water changes would be high on my TODO list.

 

[Foothill Corals]

When was the last time you added a fish, invert or coral? Do you QT your new livestock?

 

[Leslie Coleman]

Without a great deal of investigation, you're unlikely to ever know what it was that is/was killing your fishes. Can you visually see eroded parts of the chinese decoration.

Carbon, Polyfilter, ChemiPure... I'd start with those.

If those water changes were done BEFORE removing the possible offending decoration... I'd say water changes would be high on my TODO list.

I did all the water changes after removing the decoration and the decoration was only in the tank for 2 days and I did not see any discoloration or erosion on it.

 

[Leslie Coleman]

When was the last time you added a fish, invert or coral? Do you QT your new livestock?

I added several new fish in the past couple weeks and did not quarantine. Everyone was acting fine and everyone continues to look fine until they die.

 

[Foothill Corals]

I honestly do not think the decoration would kill your fish that fast. I would also expect issues with the inverts if that were the case. I think you have a disease killing your fish. Velvet?

 

[CODE3EMT]

Sorry man, but I do not believe a plastic decoration killed your fish........regardless where it was made. Something else is going on.

 

[Leslie Coleman]

S

Sorry man, but I do not believe a plastic decoration killed your fish........regardless where it was made. Something else is going on.[/QUOTE