Help! Mini stars dying by the hundreds.

[ac7av]

Hundreds, maybe thousands of little starfish look like they are dying after a water change.
What could be happening? I just did a water change with instant ocean sea salt mix. This is the first time I’ve used this mix. I have always used kent sea salt. I did a 55 gallon water change and all of a sudden everything looks mad in the tank except the fish. I matched the salinity, temp and put buffer in the water before putting it in the tank. Skimmer is going nuts and have emptied 3 gallons from it in the last hour. I put new carbon in the sump. Nothing funny on my tests that I have. Hermit crabs and snails seem fine. Starfish are literally dropping off the rocks like dead flies under a bug light. Help please.

 

[ac7av]

Here are some pictures

 

[TJL]

Wow Erik, don't have a clue as to what would effect just the Asterina Stars. Posibly a heavy metal ??? Save a sample of the water to have tested for Copper and Iodine ???

Todd

 

[ac7av]

Skimmer production has slowed a bit and now the water in the skimmer is red??
I also noticed that none of the mini tube worms are out. Not a one, and again I have literally thousands of them covering the bottom and rocks.

All the lights just turned on at noon so I can get a better look at everything.

Here are some things to consider that may be important but it’s never been a problem in the past.

1. I have not been able to do a water change for nearly a year.
2. The water level in the tank drops below a number of soft corals including one of the anemones. This was not a problem the last time I did a water change since they were not close to the top of the tank then.
3. Is there an incompatibility in salt mix?
4. It takes me 10-15 minutes to empty 55 gallons and 2 minutes to put it back in.

 

[ac7av]

Hi Todd, I almost called you on the phone earlier to see what you thought about it. I didn’t think that those little starfish were all the sensitive to anything but something set them off. I haven’t seen any more falling off the rocks but I will be all over it today. I will change out the carbon tomorrow since I just put some in yesterday anticipating a spike in something.

 

[justforfun]

...not good....im getting ready to use my 1st batch of reef crystals ( 2years with using salinity)........now im worried great....its been 2 months sence last water change for me...

 

[TJL]

Well hopefully everything that will happen has already done so, still don't have a clue to what would affect the Asterina without harming other livestock hmmmm.... posibly a sudden spike in Calcium or ??? from a long overdo WC. When I screwed up my Calcium dosing this Summer (not reading directions) and had it off the charts I ended up losing my entire pod and mini brittle star population plus reduced the Asterina's but did not eliminate them. Anyhow bud, feel free to call me anytime... two half a minds are better than....

Cheers, Todd

 

[Krish]

That's crazy Eric! Can't understand what would cause it . I highly doubt it had anything to do with the salt mix itself. IO is a very consistent salt mix. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that you haven't done a water change in a year. Have you kept up with checking your parameters during this time? The only thing I can think of is maybe the water change changed some parameters a bit whether it be calcium levels or something else...


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[Scampy]

25% water change in 2 minutes after a year with no changes would be a bit of a shock. I would think it would affect other things before those pesty stars though. Strange indeed!

 

[ac7av]

Yes I’ve keep up on the other testing and have added from time to time trace mineral supplements and salt to maintain the levels. The only thing that fluctuates is the nitrates, everything else stays fairly consistent from test to test.

So since the lights have turned on at noon, I haven’t seen any more starfish dropping off the rocks and all are affixed to the rock and not waving in the currants. Nothing else is very happy in the tank other then the fish. Xenia, anemones, mushrooms and all the leathers are not opening. The clam is also only partly open. Skimmer slowed down and haven’t had to empty it again but the liquid in it is light red/pink color.

Krish,

What was that called when you mess with stuff too much and it never settles down? Maybe I’ve been messing with stuff too much lately.

First it was the plumbing, then the lights, now the water. I was trying to improve the conditions not the other way around.

 

[cyberdeth]

Did you figure out what was going on? I am experiencing a similar problem. First all of my starfish came out of the rocks in droves. Then they started dying. All of the bristle worms started doing the same. I checked my water and everything seemed fine. I've had to add buffer the water quite a bit for PH this winter. My leathers melted, along with all those pesky aptasia (the only plus to this, imo). Now, my hermits and snails are dying. Fishies are fine, eating, and playing like normal.

 

[krisfal]

Wow, sounds familiar, I had the same issue almost 2 years ago, starfish dying and red skimmate following a switch in salt mix. Also my snails fell off the side of the tanks/rocks and seemed paralized for 24-36 hours, longer term most of my coral died over the following weeks, never did figure out what the issue was. Hope your problem is shorter term and things turn around quickly.

 

[YamahaF934]

A reef can run properly without doing a water change in over a year? Why am I waisting all this time and money in weekly water changes!!!!

 

[ac7av]

Turns out it was a bad Stealth heater contaminating the water In the mixing container. I started to do a water change two weeks later to try to rinse out all of the dead material, I saw bubbles coming out the power cord end of the heater. Check out This other thread you can read about what happened With pictures.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/ac7av-tank-crash-update-63361/?highlight=