tank gone bad

[jimmybling31]

well all my coral died. all of it died over a 2 day period of time. can't find a real reason. for a few days after I added the lionfish it was all great. then just the past 2 days have been a total crash on the coral. I checked water parameters the passed 3 days and I never had any amonia, nitrite, or nitrates. I do have pest anemones showing up everywhere and i think they are to blame, but i have no way of knowing. I am gonna be taking the tank apart for the most part in the next couple weeks. I really need to find a new tank for my cichlids. when I do i am turning the 75 into a reef. I am looking for liverock cheap so any help?

 

[jules11vb]

sorry to hear that. Maybe some people on here will have some suggestions on why it might have happened so quickly. I just wanted to offer my sympathy...I don't have any guesses on what may have happened. Good luck.

 

[ironman]

hey man, sorry to hear about the tank, do you have any other peramiter information? like temperatures, salinity, PH? are the anemones touching the corals that are dieing? normally they would just sting the edge of a coral, not necessarily kill it. also what corals died?

 

[bkv1997]

Please Post your readings for the following.

Min Max temp within a 24 hour period.
Salinity (hydrometer or refractometer used to measure)
Alkalinity
PH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphates

These numbers will help us give you a good answer. If you don't have these test kits I'd gladly stop by and take a look at your setup for you.

Brandon

 

[bamachamp92]

youre pretty close im sure someone could come by there. me and brandon live in your area

 

[jimmybling31]

I think I got it figured out on what happened. I think the tank had a mini cycle a couple days after I added the lionfish.

the little anemones that are popping up are some type of small ones that grow rapidly if allowed to ( couldn't find a good thing on them, but I found the source and was able to figure out a lot about it from watching what they came from) they definately were stinging the xenia and devil's hand and making them retract, but the xenia did not fair well when they started attaching to it and they died off. the polyps died (prolly from the mini cycle) and a couple zoas are ok (thought they were gone because of how they were closed up and started deteriorating, but I was wrong and they are doing fine again)

I did the water tests all aside from alkalinity, because i still need to buy that one. lol.

min max temp is very stable at 78 because of the low temp in the house with a powerful heater in the tank

salinity is specific gravity of 1.026 wit ha deep six hydrometer

nitrates- 0
nitrites- 0
ammonia- 0
ph 8.3
phosphates- 0

as you can tell i keep the water pretty good. those were from today. I think I had a spike in nitrates one day over those 2 that caused a problem. it is the only thing that seems like it would make sense, but it leveled back out before I could test for it. I tested both of the days that everything was looking really bad and I got 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites with 0 ammonia. I am recuring the live rock that had xenia on it because I don't want there to be that bioload on the tank.

 

[bamachamp92]

what type of phosphate test are you using

 

[missionsix66]

the little anemones that are popping up are some type of small ones

Take a look through here and see if your anemones can be ID'd.
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
It sounds like possibly majano, aiptasia or, hydroids. I was also wondering what you dose your tank with (if you dose anything)? Mg spike can do some damage if it is a considerable spike. Also, I just recently eradicated about 98% of my p. xenia. While I was in the process, I found a very large aiptasia hiding amongst a pretty big colony. I never saw any visible signs that the aiptasia was irritating them at all. Your scenario sounds like a crash of some sort. I would say that hydroids, majano and/or, aiptasia would cause a slow noticeable death.

 

[jimmybling31]

it looks like a small aiptasia. I have seen aiptasia before and it just doesn't look like the normal stuff, it's clear and the largest one one was about a milimeter in diameter. I don't dose my tank. I use a tester I bought from petsmart. it's stuff I mix with 5mg of water from the tank. my water out of the faucet doesn't have phosphates also.

I know it was prolly a crash. I am half half way giving up on this tank. I'm not trying to bring it back until I can get more liverock and set up my 75 gallon. I am still taking care of it and all, just not trying to keep any more coral than I have already.

 

[reef-nut]

I am so sorry! I would cry for a month if all my coral died. Please do not give up. I used to work in a fish store and when someone lost everything they would give up. Usually because they could not afford to do it again. To bad we can not get insurance.

 

[bkv1997]

Jimmy:

Are they Majano Anemonies http://www.saltvannsakvariet.no/pest anemoner.jpg

Also based on the fact you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates i'd say you either had a cycle and your test kits are not working, or there wasn't a cycle.

Take your hydrometer to either Bermuda or 5th day and have them test some of there tank water with a refractometer and you test it with your hydrometer. Then you will know how far off it actually reads. They typically read .003 off. So your salinity could be really 1.023 or 1.029. One of my very first tank crashes was due to a hydrometer that showed my salinity to be 1.025 and when i figured it out it was 1.033.

Brandon

 

[bkv1997]

Either way on pests I'd start trying to get rid of them.

Methods I've used:
1) Lemon Juice in a syringe and needle. you can get them at CVS for a .25$ they just look at you like you're a druggy when you ask.
2) Kalkwasser and water paste in a syringe and needle. I've had the best luck with this method.
3) They also sell Joe's Juice which works ok.
4) There is also another product i'm not sure of the name made by Tropic Marine that seems to work the best, but the only place locally i know that has it is 5th Day.

With Any of the above methods make sure you test your pH and only do a few at a time depending on the size of your tank.

BRandon

 

[jimmybling31]

Jimmy:

Are they Majano Anemonies http://www.saltvannsakvariet.no/pest anemoner.jpg

Also based on the fact you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates i'd say you either had a cycle and your test kits are not working, or there wasn't a cycle.

Take your hydrometer to either Bermuda or 5th day and have them test some of there tank water with a refractometer and you test it with your hydrometer. Then you will know how far off it actually reads. They typically read .003 off. So your salinity could be really 1.023 or 1.029. One of my very first tank crashes was due to a hydrometer that showed my salinity to be 1.025 and when i figured it out it was 1.033.

Brandon

prolly not a cycle then, because I just tested my 75 gallon cichlid tank and came back with nitrates so I know that it's working. I dunno. something made everything go bad for a couple days. I am not so concerned about why anymore. I am just gonna try to figure out how to do my 75 right. I will get my hydrometer checked out and i am gonna start using ro water. I just got 10 gallons of it today for a water change from wally world and what a rip off that feels like. I need to get my own ro unit.

 

[jimmybling31]

Either way on pests I'd start trying to get rid of them.

Methods I've used:
1) Lemon Juice in a syringe and needle. you can get them at CVS for a .25$ they just look at you like you're a druggy when you ask.
2) Kalkwasser and water paste in a syringe and needle. I've had the best luck with this method.
3) They also sell Joe's Juice which works ok.
4) There is also another product i'm not sure of the name made by Tropic Marine that seems to work the best, but the only place locally i know that has it is 5th Day.

With Any of the above methods make sure you test your pH and only do a few at a time depending on the size of your tank.

BRandon

I can't really use that method due to the fact that they are so freaking small. I got rid of the biggest one, but they are so small I can't get a needle into them. I am using a rag to wipe the ones off the glass and they are coming off clean, but more show up everyday now.

 

[jimmybling31]

I am so sorry! I would cry for a month if all my coral died. Please do not give up. I used to work in a fish store and when someone lost everything they would give up. Usually because they could not afford to do it again. To bad we can not get insurance.

I'm not giving up. I am just doing another tank before I try to completely fix this one.