The Tank of Death

[kayvon77]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the advice. It was a sad night for me presiding over the carcass of my clownfish before flushing it down to fish heaven. :'( I guess what I'm drawing here is that it's just no way to know for sure what the heck is going on, and I need to press the reset button on the whole tank. I do, however, want to see if I can do alittle more process of elimination before starting from scratch again as taking everything out, and the rocks, the fish, etc and sterilizing everything... It would be a heck of a task. But if I have to, I will.

As for the suspect substrate, you guys are right. I have no idea what and if anything could have contaminated the sand while it was sitting there in my garage storage. Specially when in the last 10 years my house was rented, so who knows if anyone had any contact with it to cause for contamination. In any case, I would have thought even so, the Carbon and the water changes would have cured it, but maybe not.

So what would you think the chance of all these issues being related to the tank is still cycling, though there are no traces of ammonia or nitrite? What about the substrate and the cycling combined would be the culprit for the deaths? Or just some noxious disease that's running rampant in my system? I guess I just want to get a feel as to what should be the most practical first step at this point, without having to dismantle the entire system. I'm thinking maybe take out most of the substrate and do. A 80% water change.

 

[Bunnee911]

Go buy a Boyds Poly Filter and run with it for a few hours. Then look to see what colour it is.

 

[najer]

I would say substrate, at 20 years old, forgetting the duff storage, is it even reef safe?
I would get the fish out and try and save them and then hit the re set button.

 

[melypr1985]

So what would you think the chance of all these issues being related to the tank is still cycling, though there are no traces of ammonia or nitrite? What about the substrate and the cycling combined would be the culprit for the deaths? Or just some noxious disease that's running rampant in my system? I guess I just want to get a feel as to what should be the most practical first step at this point, without having to dismantle the entire system. I'm thinking maybe take out most of the substrate and do. A 80% water change.

I dont think the tank was cycling. I think there was either disease or a toxin in the tank. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Humblefish]

I dont think the tank was cycling. I think there was either disease or a toxin in the tank. Just my opinion of course.

^^Agreed. While you never would want to purposely expose them to such, the fish he listed (two damsels, five chromas, two Pajama Cardinals, and now one Clownfish added to the toll) should be able to handle ammonia from a cycle.

 

[Scott.h]

When I started my system back up I used all my old sand, (being a cheap a**) without even rinsing. But I added new with it as I went slightly bigger. It had been exposed in the basement for 10 or so years. Knowing what I know now I never would have done it. That said it caused no issues, although probably added garbage that caused cycling issues. And it wasn't in the garage.
One thing that comes to mind is you added way more to the tank in a short amount of time then I think you should have. Your algae issues tell me that despite your test readings it's not properly cycled. And even if it is, it has to recycle, so to speak, every time you add more bacteria. (Every living thing). Just my two cents, which are worth exactly that, if I'm in your shoes I would move my fish to a qt tank, with possibly copper, do a big water change, Add a poly pad/purigen, and leave things alone for a bit.. Like a month. Or when algae goes away. Then I'd add things one at a time spread out looking for signs of illness, algae growth, etc, and see what happens.
Which test kits are you using? Are you using rodi? Could it be something as simple as chlorine?
Something else.. Just for kicks put a multi meter in there and test for loose current.

 

[kayvon77]

When I started my system back up I used all my old sand, (being a cheap a**) without even rinsing. But I added new with it as I went slightly bigger. It had been exposed in the basement for 10 or so years. Knowing what I know now I never would have done it. That said it caused no issues, although probably added garbage that caused cycling issues. And it wasn't in the garage.
One thing that comes to mind is you added way more to the tank in a short amount of time then I think you should have. Your algae issues tell me that despite your test readings it's not properly cycled. And even if it is, it has to recycle, so to speak, every time you add more bacteria. (Every living thing). Just my two cents, which are worth exactly that, if I'm in your shoes I would move my fish to a qt tank, with possibly copper, do a big water change, Add a poly pad/purigen, and leave things alone for a bit.. Like a month. Or when algae goes away. Then I'd add things one at a time spread out looking for signs of illness, algae growth, etc, and see what happens.
Which test kits are you using? Are you using rodi? Could it be something as simple as chlorine?
Something else.. Just for kicks put a multi meter in there and test for loose current.

I do use RODI water.I also use the SALIFERT test to test for all my parameters which so far seems to be coming out well. I did make an observation though tonight, I noticed that my water column is still pretty hazy, which may indicate a bacterial bloom that would be indicative of the cycling still in progress, am I right in my thinking? Before I go cold turkey on everything , I think I'm gonna try to get past a couple more weeks and see how everything goes. As of now, I do have a few corals and a bunch of shrimps and crabs, so it's going to be tough to find a new home for them intermittently. Ideally I would like to reboot everything, but because of time constraints I think I better stick to a process of elimination strategy.

What you mentioned about the old sand that caused cycling issues sounds very probable, since it's the same situation. I think maybe the cycle was delayed on mine and hence I had so many deaths in light of the bio-load shock. At least I'm hoping this is the reason and all I need to do is wait it out a bit.

 

[Triggreef]

I may have missed that you said you rented the house for 10 years while the sand sat in the garage. In that case you really don't know what could be in it from whoever rented.

That said, simply vacuuming out the sand and removing the fish to qt should suffice. Inverts can stay. Don't forget to feed them. Run carbon and the pad to see what color it changes too that could indicate something.

 

[kayvon77]

Just thought to update this thread in case anyone was interested in what has transpired since last post.

I actually decided to wait it out a bit attributing the tank deaths to the non-completion of the cycle. Although, my Ammonia and Nitrite were showing zero, I thought maybe something in the sand was corrupting the water and perhaps poisoning any fish I would get. Maybe just waiting out for whatever it is to work itself through the system.

I did went ahead and change the carbon as well and waited for about three weeks before adding any more fish. Since then, I have added two clowns, two Bingali Cardinals, and a Coral Beauty, which I just added a few days ago. I am happy to report that only one of the Cardinals has passed on after only 24 hours. I am thinking he was already sick to begin with.

So, so far so, good. I'm hoping the death streak for my tank is over and so just being patient with the cycling process is what made it all better. Thanks again all for your contribution. If anything else changes with the state of my tank and if I have spoken too soon, I will definitely keep you posted.

Thanks again and happy reeking.

 

[tj w]

Did u qt ur fish this time?

 

[kayvon77]

Two of the clowns I did. The rest, I gave them a freshwater bath before putting them in my tank.

 

[AcanSkywalker]

Slow down and quarantine everything.

 

[Joey waid]

Yeah, I think the consensus is take the substrate out. My LFS says that it's not the substrate or else you'll be seeing the condition with all my fish.

Bull, they are just tuffer than the rest. Please get them out. Change the sand and do a proper cycle.....

 

[Joey waid]

Two of the clowns I did. The rest, I gave them a freshwater bath before putting them in my tank.

Why? Did they show signs of infections? Fresh water dips really stress them out.... if your tank has not cycled and or is contaminated due to the sand, no wonder they are dying.

 

[kayvon77]

I learned the freshwater bath method from a local supplier. He swears by it and says every time he gives them a fresh water bath and he's never had any problems with ich, velvet, etc... he's been in the hobby for more than 17 years, so I thought he knows what he's doing.

Anyways, so far so good. They are all doing great. Whatever that was killing my fish may have worked itself out of the tank. Not gonna start dickering with something that's already working so far.

 

[Debramb]

Dude, I'm not gonna be nosey-posey, But, I'd take the advice you got here over and above "you're guy". He may be a good guy but lucky! We've had fish going on 30 years and I've learned more here (on this site) than I could've dreamed! Going to give corals, above hitchhiker mushrooms and payly's a try. They've convinced me about quarrentine enough I've just about got my tank completed. Even my doubting Tom husband, named Tom lol, after me chasing him, reading out loud some posts and his eye rolling is convinced. He had same idea as you------Good Luck, fellow reefer! Debra

 

[kayvon77]

Hey guys, So in the last two weeks I got two more Bengai Cardinals as well as two more PJs. My current stock now consists of two pelicula clowns, three Bengai Cardinals, three PJ Cardinals, Two Chromis, three fire shrimps, and a bristle star.
So far so good. This is the first time I've been able to keep new added fish for about two weeks. Crossing my fingers the hex on my tank has been lifted!