Tank crashing suddenly?!

[Indiana Jones]

Last week my tank was 3.5 months old. I have 2 clowns and 1 starry blenny. Everything was going well despite the ugly stage forming. I went to my LFS to buy clean up crew, and bought a dozen or so snails/hermits, and also a short spined black urchin. They also recommended me to dose seachem stability. I have been consistently dosing stabiltiy as the directions say, and this morning all of my fish are suddenly on the sandbed breathing heavily. I noticed a couple crabs have died, and the urchin is losing alot of spines. I tested ammonia with red sea kit and it was around 0.2. First time it has increased since the initial cycle. Im sure it spiked because of the deaths, but what caused the sudden crash? My temp is consistently 78 and my salinity is 1.024. I performed a 20% water change. What can I do?

 

[Indiana Jones]

another thing to note, this morning my skimmer was going crazy with bubbles. Like out of control bubbles, it has never done this before.

 

[Rmckoy]

First things first sorry to hear about your loss .
This hobby can be tricky until your tank becomes stable
dosing anything blindly is careless .
why would someone suggest dosing anything without knowing if it’s needed ?
It claims to be different strains of beneficial bacteria but if the system is already cycled I would assume the extra bacteria triggered a “mini cycle “ ( essentially too much bacteria intake and not enough to process it safely in a timely manner without being toxic )
This would also explain the skimmer going crazy .

 

[Indiana Jones]

I appreciate the insight. Ill have to be more careful next time before dosing anything. I was told the Stability would help take care of my diatom/algae issue. The tank definitely appears cleaner, but sacrificing my fish isn't what I had in mind.

 

[Lavey29]

Another big water change, add airstone for temp aeration. Run carbon, check ammonia and salinity level.

 

[Indiana Jones]

I will go do another water change now, thanks.

I dont have an airstone but I can move my wavemaker to the surface and agitate the water more. Ill check ammonia and salinity again after.

 

[Sonatine]

I'm far from an expert, but how long were the new invertebrates in the tank before the crash? The timeline isn't clear to me; is it possible that the invertebrate death is what triggered the ammonia, rather than the ammonia happening first? And was it a dozen snails/hermits combined or a dozen of each?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The ugly stage is part of the maturing process of a reef tank, it takes several months to get through (sometimes up to a year), in which time you should be learning about the natural ways of beating algae. As you just found out, using bottled chemicals is just short term solution that often have bad side affects.

 

[Indiana Jones]

I'm far from an expert, but how long were the new invertebrates in the tank before the crash? The timeline isn't clear to me; is it possible that the invertebrate death is what triggered the ammonia, rather than the ammonia happening first? And was it a dozen snails/hermits combined or a dozen of each?

CUC was in there since last saturday, so only a week. I dont remember exactly the type, but it was about 4 snails, 4 nassarus snails, and 4 hermit crabs. I noticed 2 crabs died, so maybe they triggered the spike? Or maybe it was the Stability. Im not sure.

 

[Sonatine]

CUC was in there since last saturday, so only a week. I dont remember exactly the type, but it was about 4 snails, 4 nassarus snails, and 4 hermit crabs. I noticed 2 crabs died, so maybe they triggered the spike? Or maybe it was the Stability. Im not sure.

Those crabs could definitely release a lot of ammonia, but without knowing what caused their deaths, it's also possible the ammonia spike happened first and killed them.

Either way, I don't know that your management strategies would change much, and the others have given you some pretty good advice there.

 

[Graemesreef]

Im leaning towards a mini cycle and ammonia spike, water change asap

 

[Tamberav]

That is a bacterial additive, perhaps it caused a bloom and lowered oxygen or such. It is hard to know.

I would never try to fix algae with bottled products and if you go to seachems website it is not even marketed for algae or diatoms. In fact, it says it is harmless to aquatic plants.

That store doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

[Garf]

Last week my tank was 3.5 months old. I have 2 clowns and 1 starry blenny. Everything was going well despite the ugly stage forming. I went to my LFS to buy clean up crew, and bought a dozen or so snails/hermits, and also a short spined black urchin. They also recommended me to dose seachem stability. I have been consistently dosing stabiltiy as the directions say, and this morning all of my fish are suddenly on the sandbed breathing heavily. I noticed a couple crabs have died, and the urchin is losing alot of spines. I tested ammonia with red sea kit and it was around 0.2. First time it has increased since the initial cycle. Im sure it spiked because of the deaths, but what caused the sudden crash? My temp is consistently 78 and my salinity is 1.024. I performed a 20% water change. What can I do?

How are you measuring and controlling temperature? And salinity, don’t forget salinity. Mini cycles of 0.2 total ammonia are generally harmless.

 

[Indiana Jones]

That is a bacterial additive, perhaps it caused a bloom and lowered oxygen or such. It is hard to know.

I would never try to fix algae with bottled products and if you go to seachems website it is not even marketed for algae or diatoms. In fact, it says it is harmless to aquatic plants.

That store doesn't know what they are talking about.

I was wondering that but assumed they were the experts. The LFS is now recommending me to use Seachem Prime.

 

[Indiana Jones]

How are you measuring and controlling temperature? And salinity, don’t forget salinity. Mini cycles of 0.2 total ammonia are generally harmless.

I don't have a temp controller, just a neotherm 150 watt heater. I check temp manually once a week or so. Salinity I check every week. I have an ATO that tops off the tank with RODI water. Salinity and temp has been very consistent since I started the tank.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Seachem Prime will only bind ammonia for 48 hours and buy you time. Get hold of some Poly Filter (LFS may have) and it will remove ammonia and other needed things (see product description). I would do another larger water change too.

Poly Filter Floss Pad 4 X 8" Polyfilter - Bio Marine

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[Garf]

I don't have a temp controller, just a neotherm 150 watt heater. I check temp manually once a week or so. Salinity I check every week. I have an ATO that tops off the tank with RODI water. Salinity and temp has been very consistent since I started the tank.

Ok, but a heater I tested recently was set on 26C but wobbled from 26 to 30C.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Get an air stone running.

 

[Indiana Jones]

Update- all of my fish died. Only thing alive now is the remaining CUC.

 

[TheBackAndForth]

You neeed to go to the pet store and get an ammonia chelator product, that will inactivate the ammonia. Then massive ******* water change. 80%, repeat. 20% takes out only 1/5 of the problem, then the next 20% takes out only 1/5 of that problem. AKA two 20% water changes only removes 24% of the ammonia.