Two tank emergencies!

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

When it rains, it pours.

I was away for 10 days pet sitting, and a lot can happen in days apparently. I came home yesterday and everything appeared to be fine (lost a few corals in the 75g). Today I come home from work.. and yikes! I hope it's OK to have both tanks in 1 thread.. if not, can a mod help rectify?

The real emergency:
9 gal nano tank:
Came home to all fish dead (2 clowns, 4 firefish that I was waiting to grow more before putting in 75g).
Fish died within the past 8 hours, they were OK when I went to work.
Snails and corals appear to be OK with no damage. BTA has no change.
Running about 4 months
Visible issue: algae out break
Ammonia- 0/.25ppm (I'm sure it's up because of the dead fish)
Nitrite: 2.0ppm!! I am sure this is the issue!
Nitrate: 5.0ppm

I am warming the water for a hefty WC.
Any ideas what happened here? I did not dose anything, everything appears to be in working order

______________________________________

75g with 30g sump

Cloudy water- you can visibly see the cloudiness move like fog.
I am assuming bacterial bloom? I saw my autofeeder failed to dispense while I was gone, so I fed a little heavier than usual yesterday.
From what I can see, most, if not all fish, are OK.
I did lose a hammer coral some point during the week.
Lighting has not changed at all.
Testing are all within range
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 0 and 5
Phos: 0

I am making water for this, I doubt I'll get to do a decent WC tonight on it, but I did change the carbon tonight, and cleaned out the skimmer cup yesterday.

jsker · Jan 2, 2018

#reefsquad some help please

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

Pic of my 75 g in its cloudiness and the dead fish in my 9g

Crabs McJones · Jan 2, 2018

DracoKat said:
Pic of my 75 g in its cloudiness and the dead fish in my 9g

Oh no! I'm sorry this happened to you. In the 9 gallon, was anything introduced to the tank recently?

redfishbluefish · Jan 2, 2018

It's very odd that both tanks were hit. Is there a possibility you had a power failure? I'd first be looking at things that could impact both tanks.....carbon monoxide???

Ammonia is highly poisonous, but in saltwater nitrite is never an issue ( freshwater is another story).

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

I texted my neighbors to see if there was a power failure today. It is possible because it's so cold outside.

temp in my place is little cooler than usual but I don't think its enough to make a difference.

I checked for stray voltage in my 9 gal, nothing. I have a carbon monoxide detector and it's good there too.

I feel like with my 75g, because the skimmer and carbon hasn't been changed in over 10 days (longer for the carbon) and the fact the feeder wasn't feeding, I fed heavier and caused an algae bloom.

I am flummoxed on the 9 gal.

EDIT: my clocks aren't blinking so I doubt I had a power failure

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

I noticed my urchin of 3 years has lost some spines yesterday in my 75g, forgot about that until now.

Tahoe61 · Jan 2, 2018

Who or how were the fish feed while you're were away? Looks and sounds like overfeeding episodes or multiple instances.

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

my pet sitter came to take care of the cats. I told her not to touch the 75g tank (Though she did top off the ATO for me under my supervision through the security camera)

I told her a pinch of food for the 9g. that might be possible, overfeeding since there was a lot of algae in the 9 g

redfishbluefish · Jan 2, 2018

Urchin losing spines is typically a water quality issue or eating the wrong foods.

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

redfishbluefish said:
Urchin losing spines is typically a water quality issue or eating the wrong foods.

eugh. This water can't make itself fast enough, and I am too broke to get the premade water tonight for emergency. It'll have to be done later.

I have enough for the 9g thankfully.

dede · Jan 2, 2018

Wow, so sorry for your loss. Heart breaking pics of your fish. I hope you find out what caused this to happen.

LovesDogs_CatsRokay · Jan 2, 2018

If all the fish in the 9g are dead

it could be something like velvet in which case you don’t need to do a water change right away and can use that water for the 75g

Sabellafella · Jan 2, 2018

DracoKat said:
Pic of my 75 g in its cloudiness and the dead fish in my 9g

Sorry for your loss, maybe something passed, and caused a chain reaction from that point.

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

I have some possibilities, but I will probably never pinpoint exactly.

What I can do now is fix it and move forward. ugh!

I didn't see anything physical on the fish that could've caused the death- is velvet like an invisible disease sometimes?

Zack K · Jan 2, 2018

Is sounds similar to what happens when someone uses an Aerosol around the tank.

Sabellafella · Jan 2, 2018

DracoKat said:
I have some possibilities, but I will probably never pinpoint exactly.

What I can do now is fix it and move forward. ugh!

I didn't see anything physical on the fish that could've caused the death- is velvet like an invisible disease sometimes?

Are both tanks plumbed together?

DracoKat · Jan 2, 2018

I never spray anything in the same room as the tank.. can't say if my petsitter did or not.

The tanks are not plumbed. they are using different salts too (IO Reef for the 75g and LA's new salt for the 9g)

Brew12 · Jan 2, 2018

DracoKat said:
When it rains, it pours.

I was away for 10 days pet sitting, and a lot can happen in days apparently. I came home yesterday and everything appeared to be fine (lost a few corals in the 75g). Today I come home from work.. and yikes! I hope it's OK to have both tanks in 1 thread.. if not, can a mod help rectify?

The real emergency:
9 gal nano tank:
Came home to all fish dead (2 clowns, 4 firefish that I was waiting to grow more before putting in 75g).
Fish died within the past 8 hours, they were OK when I went to work.
Snails and corals appear to be OK with no damage. BTA has no change.
Running about 4 months
Visible issue: algae out break
Ammonia- 0/.25ppm (I'm sure it's up because of the dead fish)
Nitrite: 2.0ppm!! I am sure this is the issue!
Nitrate: 5.0ppm

I am warming the water for a hefty WC.
Any ideas what happened here? I did not dose anything, everything appears to be in working order

______________________________________

75g with 30g sump

Cloudy water- you can visibly see the cloudiness move like fog.
I am assuming bacterial bloom? I saw my autofeeder failed to dispense while I was gone, so I fed a little heavier than usual yesterday.
From what I can see, most, if not all fish, are OK.
I did lose a hammer coral some point during the week.
Lighting has not changed at all.
Testing are all within range
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 0 and 5
Phos: 0

I am making water for this, I doubt I'll get to do a decent WC tonight on it, but I did change the carbon tonight, and cleaned out the skimmer cup yesterday.

I am so sorry you are going through this!

Do you run filter socks in either system? If so, can you feel the inside to see if it they are overly slimy?

Do you run a skimmer line to the outside of the house?

I'm in the camp that this is the result of overfeeding or an airborne contaminant. I doubt that disease is the cause since firefish would succumb to most diseases well before a clownfish would. They fact they all passed so quickly leads me to think it is something different.

Your 9g ammonia reading is effectively 0ppm although the nitrites tell us you had some spike. The question that we may never know is if the spike caused the fish deaths or the fish caused the spike.

I would run an airstone in your larger tank if possible. O2 deprivation is a real possibility if that cloudiness is caused by bacteria.

Flippers4pups · Jan 2, 2018

Death of one fish in the 9gallon could have caused that tank to have a rise in ammonia and would explain that tanks demise, but what would cause the bloom in the 75?

I'm leaning towards something in the air or, worse, something put in the tank/s.