Tank Crash...Starting over and need advice

[SteelerMike]

Looking for advice on starting my tank over. My system has been up and running for 10 years and last Sunday I experienced a crash after the use of chemiclean that killed all of my fish but 2 clowns I was able to save, wiped out most corals except for a few mushrooms and BTAs that don't look too good. It was really depressing. I had some beautiful fish that were healthy and some had been with me for 10 years. I'm not looking to debate the safety or appropriateness of Chemiclean as I will never touch it again. I know better than to use quick fixes but I can't turn back time.

This particular DT has been up for about 2 years after a switch from a 125g to 180 gallon but it is plumbed into a 55 gallon sump with rock in it that is 10 years old. Since switching to the 180 the tank has never really thrived. About 3 months ago I began doing biweekly 40 gallon water changes rather than the 25 gallon changes I was doing inconsistently and had a crazy cyano bloom which was why I used the Chemiclean. The problem is I'm not sure exactly what everything died from. I had 3 airstones running so oxygen wasn't a problem but the fish died day after the treatment. I checked ammonia and nothing registered but the fish did not look good. They all ended up on their sides and when they died they almost looked like parts of their skin burned or something. I unfortunately didn't take pictures as I was scrambling around trying to get them into a hospital tank.

So.....I'm going to start over but my question is do you think I can still use the same rock etc as I'm not exactly sure what contaminated the tank? I plan on taking this opportunity to add sand into the tank. I went bare bottom and I fell like that was one of the reasons the tank struggled plus I never really liked the look of the bare bottom.

Sorry for the long post. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Sorry about this. Don’t use bottled stuff for anything. My only advice.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I would start over completely and never have that “what if” in my mind. Just me.

 

[Gtinnel]

I had my 125 gallon tank crash about seven months ago for no apparent reason, so I just wanted to say sorry for your loss.
My only thing I can add to your question is that I don't know what killed my tank but I kept the same rock and so far haven't had any problems. I have been very very slow adding fish back to my tank though. It's comical seeing my 125 gallon tank with one tiny clownfish in it.

 

[T-J]

The crazy cyano bloom tells me things may have been in a bad spot before the addition of Chemiclean.
FYI, Chemiclean is an antibiotic (Erythromycin). I’m not sure how it could have “burned” your fish.

 

[CMMorgan]

I'd give the rock a good cleaning with high salinity water and then use it. That will help the new sand get going biologically while a good cleaning will flush out any nasties left over.

 

[SteelerMike]

The crazy cyano bloom tells me things may have been in a bad spot before the addition of Chemiclean.
FYI, Chemiclean is an antibiotic (Erythromycin). I’m not sure how it could have “burned” your fish.

I totally agree. Can't really figure it out. When the cyano came I noticed my nitrates had dropped to zero so I figured tbe imbalance between nitrates and phosphates caused the bloom. Tbe cyano did die and im wondering if the big die off of the cyano released something? I really thought ammonia by the way the fished looked but it tested at zero

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Hi mike sorry this happened to you. I have a 20 year old tank and some live rock that has been wet for 30 years. My advice to you may be what’s called a rip clean or as Paulb calls it a hurricane. Pull your rocks and scrub with a stiff bristle brush In A bucket of old tank water. Siphon the sand. Your rock is valuable and a good scrub will make the bucket water look like coffe. It’s gross. place The rock back and you will like the results. No new cycle. And you should be cyano free. This approach has worked really well for me and is something I have to do every two to three years. However my tank is now so sps grown in I don’t know how I will do this.my next set up may be bare bottom. Good luck, sorry this happened. keep us posted on the outcome.

 

[ScottB]

Sorry for the crash. Cyano => Chemiclean => generally leads to dinoflagellates. Can't say I've heard of a tank crash before. I guess is created a rapid die-off and brief ammonia spike that cascaded. An established bacteria colony can consume ammonia quickly and require a lot of oxygen to do so. But we may never know the chain of events, really.

I am a huge fan of old live rock and would not part with it. The exception would be if it is loaded with vermetids which I still have not managed to solve for.

Send out for an ICP, do a rip clean as @Skynyrd Fish suggests, and take some time to figure out how you might "freshen up" the look of the tank for your rebuild. Don't give up on your rock though, IMO.