Reef Tank Massacre

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 08 Aug 2005, 22:15

Bear with me, please....since I was not present at work when this happened.

Last Sunday (not yesterday, a week before), we had a massive dieoff in our 125 gallon reef tank. Every single fish died within 24 hours; the three damsels, the sailfin tang, the five false perc clownfish, and not a mark on them. The corals and trapdoor snails survived. No one knows what caused this. Theory so far goes to a power out, or something toxic getting in the tank,

Water test Monday morning produced the following:
NH4: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
pH: 8.1
Copper: 0

When I came in to work on Tuesday, I found all the corals (1 xenia, 2 frogspawn, 1 carpet anemone, and 1 cabbage coral and 1 leather hand coral) alive and looking well. I did a 40 gallon water change on Wednesday, and added Prime to help clear up any other ammonia issues. No note was left as to if a water change had been done after the dieoff.

And I water test. And water test. For all last week, I tested and got similar values to those above: always 0 ammonia and nitrite, and 10-25ppm nitrate. I took samples of water to pet stores, and their results were the same.

One pet store advocated more water changes asap, so on Sunday (yesterday) I did an 80% water change, and this morning, I did a 40 gallon water change.

The frogspawn and xenia do not look well. The former often curl up their tendrils and form cups, and the latter has not opened itself up once since this ordeal began.

On the advice of a reefkeeper, I stopped doing massive water changes as of today, Monday afternoon, and put new carbon in the two filters we have on the tank. I was advised to change the carbon out completely and replace it in two days' time.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'm stumped! I do not want the few survivors of this massacre to die. And I still have no idea what caused this!

Side note: the building does have very old copper tubes for water. However, we have never had problems prior with copper tubing.

zenyfish · Post by **zenyfish** » 08 Aug 2005, 23:08

I'm no expert on reef tanks. But it's summer and if there was a power outage and the air conditioning / chiller went out .... I've seen it happen in other reef tanks.

djw66 · Post by **djw66** » 09 Aug 2005, 04:10

I would bet money that something toxic got into the tank. Your tank is of decent size, so a power outage would take some time to negatively impact your fish. Is it possible someone was in to clean the office? Cleaning chemical vapors around a reef aquarium (or any other aquarium, for that matter) are a definate possiblity for your fish death. Also, 25ppm nitrate will stress both fish and corals - you may be seeing the effects of it on you Euphyllia and Xenia. What kind of filtration are you using? How about the protein skimmer? What has the skimmate been looking like?

How many parameters do you test in your reef tank? There are 11 major ions (Calicium, Magniseum and Strotium are the most important) and a handfull of minor ones (Iodine shortage is a killer of Xenia species). What is your alkalinity? What additives do you add to the tank. What did you feed your fish? What's your substrate, what's it look like? I need more information to help you on this. Massive water changes day after day severly stresses your corals and fish. Remeber, the coral reef is one of the most stable enviroments on the planet. Stabilty is key in a reef tank.

Also, a Sailfin tang has no business in a 125 gallon tank. Zerbrasoma xanthurus and Z. veliferum, the two that are most common in the hobby grow, to 14 and 16 inches, respectivley, if properly cared for. The others you had were ok, though I wouldn't put that many in a 125. A 220 would be more suitable.

PM me if you want, as reef questions don't really belong on a freshwater catfish forum

PS LFS ALWAYS advise massive water changes. Your reef friend was right.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 09 Aug 2005, 09:25

About the copper pipes: These are MOST harmfull to invertebrates, so my guess is that this isn't your problem...

--
Mats

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 09 Aug 2005, 11:16

I know about the sailfin tang not belonging in the tank...unfortunately, while I work in the aquarium, I'm not the boss of it, and I have very little sway as to what goes where.

Fish are fed NLS pellets twice a week.
As for the additives...Kent Calcium, Iodine, Strontium and Magnesium, CoralVite, and Essential Elements added twice a week. I don't know the test values for the above; our marine test kit leaves something to be desired, but I will try and get those values.

Filtration is two Magnum 350's. The protein skimmer's cup has been full of bubbles since this fiasco began, and there are sometimes bubbles across the surface of the tank (I recently added another powerhead as one burnt out). The substrate is a white colored gravel rock mixed with sand made for saltwater tanks.

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 09 Aug 2005, 14:25

Do you have any sea cucumber (especially the colorful ones sold as 'sea apples') or reasonably large sponges in the tank?

Anyway, all problems with water quality can be fixed with large water changes with high quality water. There's no such thing as too many or too big water changes if your freshly mixed water is of good quality.
Activated carbon will also help adsorb any toxins which might've been released in the tank, but change it frequently, don't let it run for more than a week.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 09 Aug 2005, 15:31

There's a posting here that's not exactly the same, but it may help a bit:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=12321
Was the water test from the tap or the tank? If you haven't tested the tap water yet, you may want to do so. How does the aquarium get it's water supply?

djw66 · Post by **djw66** » 09 Aug 2005, 21:48

Taratron wrote: Fish are fed NLS pellets twice a week.
As for the additives...Kent Calcium, Iodine, Strontium and Magnesium, CoralVite, and Essential Elements added twice a week. I don't know the test values for the above; our marine test kit leaves something to be desired, but I will try and get those values.

Filtration is two Magnum 350's. The protein skimmer's cup has been full of bubbles since this fiasco began, and there are sometimes bubbles across the surface of the tank (I recently added another powerhead as one burnt out). The substrate is a white colored gravel rock mixed with sand made for saltwater tanks.

Most tangs available in the hobby are strict herbivors, and as herbivors, have short guts, and must be able to graze on macro algae (Calerpa, Ulva, etc.) nearly always to get maximum nutrition. If your employers MUST have tangs, do a little research into their requirments, please. They aren't that difficult to keep as long as their needs are met.

New Life Spectrum is an excellant food for planktivors like damsels and clowns, but you might try adding frozen foods to that diet. Frozen mysis (Mysis relica) are easily available and are highly nutritious, and I've added frozen bloodworms with good results. Also, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs can be lighly sprinkled on the surface to provide a live source for the fish and corals. I feed my planktivor fish small amounts daily, and they get a constant flow of plankton from my refugiums.

I only use canister filters (Fluvals is what I use) with phosphate absorbing substanstances, ion exchange resins, etc. My filtration is done by the refugiums, a plenum system in the sump, the protein skimmer and the live rock.

Your skimmer is malfunctioning. It should produce a nearly dry, dark, smelly goop in its cup NOT bubbles, and most definatley NOT bubbles in the main tank NEVER EVER. It irritates the corals, causes gas embolisms in fish, In other words, bad news. It sounds like your air-water mix in your skimmer is 'way out of tune. That could be a contributor to your fish deaths. You want that dark, smelly skimmate OUT of the tank, not poisoning the livestock.

The aquarium is seriously out of balance and I would advise your employers no more fish until you get things squared away.

Reef tanks aren't rocket science, but you owe to yourself and the livestock to educate yourself. I've kept reef tanks for nine years, freshwater for 32, and to this day, I continue to study the subject and learn more everyday.

Dave

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 10 Aug 2005, 12:46

I will remove the skimmer post haste today, Dave. And no more tangs for this tank, now or ever: I have somewhat dim hopes now, but my boss returns on September 1, and if I had the tank stocked prior to her arrival, she wouldn't be able to add anything questionable to the tank.

No sea cukes or apples or nudibranches.

What else should I do? I think we have a replacement skimmer somewhere, a new one...I'll get that one set up today.

Should bubbles ever appear in the cup of the skimmer? o_O