Tank crash

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

Hi all. Completely stumped here. Tank was perfectly ok, everything alive and well. 40B with sump. 2 RBTA’S, lots of snails/crabs, 2 clowns and a naso tang.
Put in a brand new Jeboa wave pump yesterday right out of the box. Maybe I should’ve cleaned it first with RODI and vinegar but I didn’t. Ended up going to ER in middle of night and doctor this morning and when we got home fire shrimp dying, corals and anemones look like they’re trying to die. The tang and clowns and hermits and reef lobster ok. A few dead snails and one peppermint shrimp looks a little pale, other looks ok. Clowns are usually in nems no matter what but now they’re in neither.
Treated GHA with FluxRX 2 weeks ago. Drew out some water to test while my husband did a massive water change. I dont Even have ammonia/Nitrite tests because we don’t add livestock. Not sure if my giant snail dying set off ammonia spike or not but temp, pH, alkaline all unchanged. I’ve quickly moved some corals and the fire shrimp to another tank and he seems to be recovering. Aside from the water change I added Prime, Carbon, UV (which has been off 2 weeks) skimmer which has also been off for the GHA treatment. I actually had already ordered new ammonia/nitrite test kits but they aren’t here yet.
Do any of you think the new pump could be the culprit? I’ve removed it and put the old one back in.
Sorry the pics are so blue. iPad camer no filters. Can’t get a good pic of large anemone because it’s behind an enormous rock. Definitely not just hanging down dying. It Ill attach a pic from the other day when everything was normal. Clowns still not near either Nem.

Ideas? Suggestions? I’m at a loss and really upset because we’re re about to upgrade to 110 and I’m about to throw in the towel!

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

Update. Clowns breathing fast, tang has odd black spot on tail fin but it almost looks like a piece of algae is stuck on it

CrayHawk · Jul 1, 2022

Sorry to hear about this. Everyone is going to ask what your current parameters are and we will go from there.

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

https://youtube.com/shorts/Km-rLBOLO6o?feature=share
Temp 77.6
dKH 8.5
Nitrate 4.5
Phos 0.01
pH 8.3

Thats all I tested today before water change. Don’t have ammonia/nitrite tests. I just ordered new ones day before yesterday but won’t be here till tomorrow

Bucs20fan · Jul 1, 2022

Sounds an awful lot like ammonia poisoning. Not common in an established tank, but sounds right.

Bucs20fan · Jul 1, 2022

How much GHA did you have, Rapid die off without removing the decaying algae would cause a spike. If it was too fast snails and inverts would go first and then the fish as is happening now.

Crustaceon · Jul 1, 2022

I'd go with the green hair algae treatment and rapid die-off of it starting the chain reaction. It probably killed the snails and released a some ammonia when they decomposed. It sounds ammonia-related to me.

Karen00 · Jul 1, 2022

I'm sorry to hear this has happened. I agree that the die off of the algae might've kicked this off. I can't imagine anything in the pump would cause this. I have never cleaned new out of the box equipment before adding it. The only time I have cleaned equipment before adding it is if I buy it used and it's been in someone else's tank. Hopefully your tests arrive tomorrow. You might have to do another water change before then. If you notice any clouding of the water you might be getting a bacterial bloom in which case you will need to increase oxygen. Air stones help with that and a lot of surface agitation.

sixty_reefer · Jul 1, 2022

Doglips56 said:
https://youtube.com/shorts/Km-rLBOLO6o?feature=share
Temp 77.6
dKH 8.5
Nitrate 4.5
Phos 0.01
pH 8.3

Thats all I tested today before water change. Don’t have ammonia/nitrite tests. I just ordered new ones day before yesterday but won’t be here till tomorrow

What was your no3 and po4 last time you tested?

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

sixty_reefer said:
What was your no3 and po4 last time you tested?

Very close to these numbers.

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

Karen00 said:
I'm sorry to hear this has happened. I agree that the die off of the algae might've kicked this off. I can't imagine anything in the pump would cause this. I have never cleaned new out of the box equipment before adding it. The only time I have cleaned equipment before adding it is if I buy it used and it's been in someone else's tank. Hopefully your tests arrive tomorrow. You might have to do another water change before then. If you notice any clouding of the water you might be getting a bacterial bloom in which case you will need to increase oxygen. Air stones help with that and a lot of surface agitation.

I’ve had two air stones on separate air pumps running since adding the FluxRX. I know I read that the end of the two weeks is when you notice the biggest die off. I’m thinking ammonia too. I added Prime, did a water change, removed everything I knew for sure was dead. Mixing another batch of salt water now so we can do another water change. My ammonia test kit should arrive tomorrow but by then may not matter. Did you see the video I posted? The tang seems to be doing ok. Clowns not dying just not in anemones and swimming around near sand bed but not acting weird otherwise though maybe breathing a bit fast. The shrimp have perked up, all the hermits are ok, lobster ok enemies still look a bit unhappy.
Do you think another water change is in order?

sixty_reefer · Jul 1, 2022

Doglips56 said:
Very close to these numbers.

Up or down, That may rule out bacterial bloom, I could see a haze in the water and the fish were behaving in a similar way.
What kit you using for phosphates

Rick's Reviews · Jul 1, 2022

You say large snail dying also, did it remain in aquriam for abit or removed, was this first to die,

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

sixty_reefer said:
Up or down, That may rule out bacterial bloom, I could see a haze in the water and the fish were behaving in a similar way.
What kit you using for phosphates

Hanna

Doglips56 · Jul 1, 2022

Rick's Reviews said:
You say large snail dying also, did it remain in aquriam for abit or removed, was this first to die,

I’m not 100% sure when it died, noticed it upside down and think it had gotten knocked off glass and died because it couldn’t right itself and I didn’t notice immediately. That plus GHA die off very well could’ve caused an ammonia spike. And the parameters only changed from last test about a week ago literally by .10th of a point if that

Karen00 · Jul 1, 2022

Doglips56 said:
I’ve had two air stones on separate air pumps running since adding the FluxRX. I know I read that the end of the two weeks is when you notice the biggest die off. I’m thinking ammonia too. I added Prime, did a water change, removed everything I knew for sure was dead. Mixing another batch of salt water now so we can do another water change. My ammonia test kit should arrive tomorrow but by then may not matter.

I hope you don't toss in the towel. If this does turn out to be ammonia at least you know the reason and can prevent it from happening next time. I think the hardest part (and what causes people to exit the hobby) is when the source of a problem can't be identified or it's something that causes an ongoing problem that can't be brought under control. The saltwater side of the aquatics hobby is leaps and bounds above freshwater. I come from freshwater and now I'm a year into saltwater and I'm still gob smacked by all of the moving parts that goes into keeping a healthy saltwater tank. I still have freshwater and they are so easy by comparison.

Sebastiancrab · Jul 1, 2022

Suggest you put in some Polyfilter asap! That will pull out ammonia and other things that may be an issue.

nickijon · Jul 1, 2022

Def sounds like ammonia spike.. since you say it's a new powerhead, I wonder if it disturbed the sand bed overnight and contributed to it. Experts, please double check me on this, but could a full dose of Seachem Prime hold off the chain reaction until OP can do a big enough water change/manage the die off?