everything dying

[SDW]

today, i noticed my yellow tang was swimming odd. I did have a bicolor die in the tank which i was unable to find about 5 days ago. now my yellow tang is dead, and all the other fish are swimming odd. fins are splitting. i did a 25% water change today, just tested my new ammonia level and it looks like it is in the 1.5 range. i don't have any more water at present to do another water change. is there anything i can do to stop this progression, or are they gonners. all help appreciated.

[an enemy]

unfortunately sounds like a complete crash. I wish you well. Maybe some of the more experienced refers here may give you some suggestions but it doesn't sound good.

[unleashed]

today, i noticed my yellow tang was swimming odd. I did have a bicolor die in the tank which i was unable to find about 5 days ago. now my yellow tang is dead, and all the other fish are swimming odd. fins are splitting. i did a 25% water change today, just tested my new ammonia level and it looks like it is in the 1.5 range. i don't have any more water at present to do another water change. is there anything i can do to stop this progression, or are they gonners. all help appreciated. get some prime and add it to your tank this will nutrilize ammonia and nitrates it wont reduce the levels but it will detoxify them .until you can make up some water.get that water changed out asap.even if you have to buy water from local store for mixing salt water.if you tap is paletable treat with prime and mix up a batch at home.your fish cannot last long under those conditions.you can purchase ammonia and nitrate remover filter media use for 3-4 days then changes them out.good luck

[dakar]

Are you running carbon in the tank? If not get some running 'actively' asap, if so then change it out and run more. The carbon will at least help start pulling more ammo from the water column, and subsequently help reduce nitrite, and to a lesser degree nitrates as well.

What are the rest of your water parameters reading?

[chrisl1]

Any chance of getting your sruff to a Quarantine tank, it may be the only chance you have of keeping them alive.

[SDW]

ok, so maybe i freaked out a little. My tang did bite it, and my other fish looked bad, but today I took a sample of water to the lfs and he said my ammonia was ok, must have been a bad test (he said some times the liquid ones outdate and are inaccurate). The ph was low, around 8.0 so I added some buffer, and the fish seem to be looking a little better.... Here is the bad side, I think I may have figured out what happened. I had cleaned all the powerheads and protein skimmer and such the night before everything went south. I think that the sink which I cleaned everything may have had some residue or something from a cleaner when we cleaned the sink the other day. Still watching and hoping for no more losses. Anyone know of a good cleaner for the sinks and such to keep them from smelling like fish, without harming them? I thought I had rinsed it all down good before I started, but that's all I can think of. BTW sorry to be so wordy.

[dakar]

If you have a garbage disposal on the sink toss half a lemon in it after you are done cleaning your gear and that will help remove any odors. Otherwise just some lemon juice down the drain may help.

Glad to hear things are stabilizing for you...

[jerryc]

Don't fill the sink and wash like that, just run the water over them and wash with your hands.
I never let anything to do with my tank come in contact with anything like
the sink

[unleashed]

baking soda for the smell...I also use majic erasers to clean everything in my kitchen.but for cleaning equipment use white vinigar and rinse with warm water.

[SDW]

thanks for the advice. Happy to say the rest of the inhabitants are still alive on day 2 of "panic attack" day. I am going to have to be much more careful in the future. Of course now I am paranoid.

[reefgeek]

I only clean equipment with the water that came out of the tank. I do a 5 gal waterchange weekley on a 90 gal, and I clean skimmers/heads/ whatever.... only with that water and a toothbrush. If I really need to clean with some pressure I may rinse the parts with fresh water, but I rinse after I rinse, with the salt water.

[lReef lKeeper]

i am going to also suggest PRIME, it may not remove everything but it will detoxify it. the good thing about Prime is that you can use up to 5x more than nessicary so you dont have to be super accurate. try it and keep us posted.

[SDW]

more death this afternoon...Now the clown is dead and my other fish are again not looking so good. Is it possible to ever get the chemicals out of the system once they are introduced? I am afraid that after everything is dead, I will be getting out of the hobby. (and I'm afraid this is emminent)

[Fally]

Carbon and water changes my friend. Carbon absorbs lots of bad stuff and water changes will get the rest.

I really hope you stay in the hobby, it can be complex and learning can be painful but the end result is amazing.

Best of luck.

[lReef lKeeper]

how are things looking in the tank man ??

[SDW]

well, it's been a while now, and all but 1 fish died. My Koran is doing ok, but anytime I try to do anything much in the tank, like clean anything, it starts looking sick again...That being said, it is eating well, and always bounces back. The tank seems to have been overrun with green hair algea. I have bought an urchin and it is doing ok. But the algea is overwhelming.

[Reef_Angel]

How long is your photo period and what type of lighting are you using? Improper or old lighting can aid in the algae growth as well. Since you only have a fish in the tank now and no coral, either shut the lights off until you algae clears, or only light the tank for a couple hours a day, If the tank is in a well lit room, your Koran won't mind the lights being off. If this doesn't work, I would think about setting up an emergency tank and putting the Koran in it. Then take everything covered in hair algae out of algae filled tank, and scrub the heck out of it. To long of a photo period can really make algae grow, and I don't think anything want's to eat all that crud. By the time they nip here and there at it, my guess would be like any other plant...it may stimulate more growth. Over feeding just aids it's growth as well. Also, are you being careful not to overfeed your Koran. Feed only what he eats. That means maybe sitting there and watching him consume his food a little bit at a time. What is the temperature of your tank? I would suggest keeping it at about 78 until you get this bloom under control. I hate to say it, but it sounds to me like you need to do a major scrub down of the live rock. Hair algae is very hard to stop once it takes hold, but if you're persistant....taking out a rock whenever you see it coming again, and scrubbing it like crazy.... may help you to keep it under control in the future. What do your water test numbers look like? There's no easy cure for hair algae, it's going to take some massive work. and you my friend have some work to do! Good luck!!
....Angel :angel2:

[SDW]

boy you got that right. First to answer some q's. I just tested my water and the phos is 0.0, nit/ammonia 0, pH was low-around 8. so I added some buffer. I have been keeping my lights at around 8 hours a day...so maybe I'll do like you said and drop it down to just a couple hours a day. I spoke with the lfs guy and he said he'd be willing to bring up "a bunch" of crabs to help the process. I think we might try this otherwise I will take the rocks out and throw some elbow grease their way. I did that with my other tank...and everything died within an hour so I'm leaving that as my last resort. And if I do it I think I'll do it slow, like 1 rock/day or something. Thanks for the advise.

[mmi]

for your green hair algae you need to add some hermit crabs and some snails .....they will clean up your tank nicely, how old was your tank before you started adding livestock???

[SDW]

The tank was over 3 years old with the livestock when I bought it. I transferred a majority of the water that was in the tank when I moved it, with about 25% new. I have had the tank for about 4-5 months before the whole collapse. Hopefully, I can get things back on track, with some more crabs and snails.