Tank crash, mini cycle, fish dying, oh the horror!

[Seahorse man]

I awoke this morning to find my clownfish floundering on the bottom, my firefish goby dead, and my scooter blenny on the edge. Ammonia level was 1 ppm, nitrite level was 0.5 ppm, and nitrate was 10 ppm. I did a 75% water change, and when thet didnt respond positively i removed them to my hospital tank. The clowns and the convict goby are recovering fine now. My snails and my hermit crabs are doing fine now. What should i do? Should i remove the inverts and drain it dry and start over? Should i wait it out? Please help!

 

[Coralfuture]

I'd wait it out a full refresh won't really change the situation too much if you already did a 75% water change.

 

[Waters]

I definitely wouldn't start over but what happened to get you to this point?

 

[brandon429]

I noticed over time that reefers attribute fish death to tank issues, but what if it simply had a stroke? Then it’s rot ammonia caused a cascade loss. Being able to effect a 75% change implies the tank isn’t likely hundreds of gallons I’m wondering if lower dilution and heavier bioloading amplified things


Tank pic

 

[Seahorse man]

I definitely wouldn't start over but what happened to get you to this point?

I have no idea, i did my normal water change the night before, and i hadnt fed them the previous day. I just saw my clownfish both swimming on the ground and my scooter blenny not moving, so i tested the water. I got all the fish out of there and the 3 survivors are doing well. The tank is just barely starting to stabilise, so I think ill be able to put them back in the tank on sunday.

 

[Seahorse man]

I suspect that my firefish kicked the bucket and started it all, because she was the only fish that i hadnt seen the night before, and was dead when i found the tank.

 

[Captain Quint]

How long has the tank been setup?

 

[Seahorse man]

How long has the tank been setup?

Just over a year, i set it up on the 4th of july, 2017.

 

[WVNed]

Check you equipment for a bad heater or something . One small fish body shouldn't crash a 55 gallon tank.

 

[Seahorse man]

I just noticed that the water is unusualy cloudy, is that an indication of any particular problem or is that just a coincidence?

 

[WVNed]

I had a heater fail and it did what you are describing.

 

[brandon429]

This thread is now linked to our microbiology of cycling thread due to visual detection of ammonia, clouding. Ammonia events in reefing usually associate with clouding, though ammonia is itself invisible (read in Randy's forum, that ammonia itself in clear water is still clear)


The point of the entire thread is how ammonia is always manageable without actually having the test for it we can know and predict always where it'll come about and where it is not