Tank Problems Crash Coming

[mipstien]

My tank is in the process of what looks to be a crash.
All of my numbers are good.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Alk - 9
Cal - 470
ph - 7.9-8
temp - 79
Checking numbers daily. All test are cleaned very well before each use. I have been using Hanna checkers as well as my API kit and red sea kit.
Tank is 7 months old.
On to the problem. . .
First leading up to this I used Flatworm Exit 2 weeks ago to get rid of nudibranch. Everything looked good and no issues at that time.
The things that are showing signs of problems are the snails, 6+ inch clam, conchs, most of the coral but not the pulsating xenia, although the regular non pulsating xenia look bad. Some Zoa started looking bad at the middle of last week. I took out the Flame Scallop last week when it started to look dead, put in another tank and although he isn't dead he obviously isn't doing well. All of the other coral started looking unhappy at the end of last week which prompted us to do water changes. All numbers have been steady for awhile.
Crabs look good. Emerald, hermit, and horse shoe are fine. Our One Spot Fox Face is doing great. Red star fish and brittle stars are doing good. All of the anemones, bubble and maxi mini x3, are eating and looking good. Sexy shrimp, cleaner, and blind shrimp are good as well.
Tank has a refugium with chaeto and a skimmer. Running an Apex and monitor the temp and ph and salinity with that as well as with other probes and test.
I do not believe, after checking, there to be any stray voltage in the tank but at this point I won't argue that anything is possible. I don't have a ground rod for it.
The copod/amphipod population is very healthy.
Everything has been great for months and nothing has changed in at least 3 months since a few fish died to ich. No ich any longer and everything has been happy, the fox face survived the ich.
I am struggling here to get any resolution. I have asked my LFS and no one has any idea. I hope I haven't missed something that is critical. I just want to save all my friends before it's too late.

 

[PDR]

Have you tried running some carbon? How many and what % water changes have you done?

 

[Jlyons]

Run lots of carbon and do a couple of decent sized water changes over the next few days. Depending what the flatworm exit killed off it could have released toxins in the water.

 

[mipstien]

I have done 4 water changes since last week. Each one was 25g, 20g, 15g, 20g and my tank is 96 display and 50 sump. I have not run any carbon and actually was only running gfo.
What would carbon do in this situation?

 

[DeniseAndy]

I assume you ran carbon through the system after the flatworm exit? This is very important to do. Make sure the water is actually flowing through the carbon, not around it. A bit late tothe party.

 

[mipstien]

Run lots of carbon and do a couple of decent sized water changes over the next few days. Depending what the flatworm exit killed off it could have released toxins in the water.

When you say decent sized are you talking half the tank or more? Is there any way to know if there is a toxin released?

 

[Teemingtank]

I have done 4 water changes since last week. Each one was 25g, 20g, 15g, 20g and my tank is 96 display and 50 sump. I have not run any carbon and actually was only running gfo.
What would carbon do in this situation?

I think carbon will absorb any left over chemicals (from medication or organisms engaged in chem warfare)

 

[Jlyons]

I’m not sure what frequency the changes you did were but I would have done 20-25% of total water volume each day for the 3-4 days following. I would go and get carbon ASAP and start running it.

 

[mipstien]

I think carbon will absorb any left over chemicals (from medication or organisms engaged in chem warfare)

I will be getting some today. This seems logical but I didn't want to just throw money at it without some ideas.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Carbon absorbs the chemicals and detoxifies the water. Very important after Flatworm Exit treatment. You can do a full water change (90% or more), but still need that carbon!

 

[Teemingtank]

I have done 4 water changes since last week. Each one was 25g, 20g, 15g, 20g and my tank is 96 display and 50 sump. I have not run any carbon and actually was only running gfo.
What would carbon do in this situation?

I think carbon will absorb any left over chemicals (from medication or organisms engaged in chem warfare)
Carbon is fairly cheap, so if it doesn’t help at least you’re not out to much money lol. Best of luck!!!

 

[mipstien]

Thank you everyone for the quick responses. I am going to go for a 60 gallon change today and going to pick up carbon. I will report back and let you know how it goes or doesn't go... wish me luck.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Good luck! I hope it all will work out fine.

 

[O'l Salty]

What is your phosphate level? If you are running GFO you may have stripped it all out of your system. Corals need nitrate and phosphate to survive. You never want your numbers to be zero.

 

[mipstien]

I wasn't using a lot of GFO and it also wasn't run all the time. Every time it has been checked recently it was always under .1 normally around .05, but that was why I had GFO to keep the phosphate in control. I did not check before I did any water changes in the past week. I did use the high number Hanna checker so it could be .04 off as well.

 

[mipstien]

Did a 50g water change and will be doing another 60-70g tonight. Running carbon and on the 4th day. I will be replacing that with fresh carbon tonight. Some stuff looks slightly better and some zoa's are opening up. But I lost my clam and most of the snails. Some snails are starting to move around again. I still don't have any clue what caused it.

 

[mipstien]

Update as of this morning. Things are starting to open back up. Most things are lacking colors now. Some snails made it. Maybe 3-5 of the original 15ish we had. The hermits took care of them.
All of my numbers are within good ranges. Also coralline is now showing up all over and quickly. Everything seems back to some sort of normal.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I do not believe, after checking, there to be any stray voltage in the tank but at this point I won't argue that anything is possible. I don't have a ground rod for it.

If you have pumps on the wet side of the tank, you have some stray voltage. Without a grounding probe, if you are showing 0 V when checking for stray voltage, my guess is that you are not putting the ground probe of the volt meter into the ground of a socket. That is the way to test for stray voltage.

 

[mipstien]

If you have pumps on the wet side of the tank, you have some stray voltage. Without a grounding probe, if you are showing 0 V when checking for stray voltage, my guess is that you are not putting the ground probe of the volt meter into the ground of a socket. That is the way to test for stray voltage.

I am not sure what you are trying to imply. There is no IF of 0v. I did not say that. I have voltage but it is what is considered normal voltage. I do understand how to use a multimeter and know what a ground is.

 

[J Rog]

Awesome things are starting to look up for you! Lacking colors may likely be due to your 0 nitrate reading. Be carful with the super low nutrients. I just went through and still going through issues due to that. You don’t want any dinoflagellates popping up.. It’s a nightmare! I have to dose Nitrates and occasional phosphates it keep readable levels.