HELP!! Reef Crashed!!

[Rownsurf]

I gt back from rowing this morning and noticed my goby looking odd. After closer examiniation I saw that all ym fish were on their sides on the bottom gasping, seemingly gasping for air. I assume my dissolved oygen levels have fallen off somehow. Last night I topped off with RO/DI like normal and added Chemi-Clean for the first time to try and deal with a major cyano problem. I assume it is some reaction with this. Anyone have any thoguhts or experience with chemi-clean, please let me know. I've added an old airstone I had for a freshwater tank and made sure all my pumps are running optimally for surface disturbance to increase gas exchange. Ph seems a little low and I'm buffering that now. All other levels are normal.

thanks,

Justin

 

[reedman]

Start doing water changes. Did your PH spike? That will cause the fish to react that way as well.

 

[CarlaW]

Got to agree with Reed on the water changes. You may want to start running some carbon also. Good luck!!

 

[DonW]

BIG water change two or three of them. I think that stuff is a antibiotic. I did the same a long time ago on FO system.

Don

 

[Rownsurf]

more info

Hey,

thanks for the replies so far. Sadly three of my seven fish have died in the past 30 min. Another two are unnacounted for. One jawfish and a banded goby seem to be fighting. Inverts seem unaffected as of now. I am mixing salt and I'll do a 25% water change this afternoon and another tomorrow. I did a small one after your posts with what salt water I had ready. The Ph looked slightly low if anything, so no spike there. Ammonia was at .01 after I finished testing that. All other kits I have were normal. I have no way to check dissolved oxygen as of now. Is this likely to have been the problem? As I understand Chemi-Clean, it reacts with the oxygen somehow.

If anyone else has thoughts on this please let me know. Looks like I'll just have to see the final damage once I return home tonight. Need to figure out the problem though.

thanks again,

Justin

 

[WaterDogs]

Boyd Chemiclean #76

ChemiClean is safe for reef tanks, all invertebrates, desirable macro-algae, nitrifying bacteria and fish. Removes disease causing red cyanobacteria (red slime) from live coral.

* Oxidizes trapped organic sludge and sediment
* Clarifies aquarium water to crystal clear.
* Promotes ideal enzyme balance.

If you added to the water than big water changes ASAP and if it happens to be in a filter bag remove it; there are a lot of other ways to deal with cyan than chemicals.

Hope everything survives!
Dwaine

 

[WaterDogs]

I think the ORP shot through the roof given the stuff is an oxidizer. More WC should get the "enzymes" back to the real balance too. Don't wait till tomorrow to change water do it now...

 

[Ed Hahn]

If anyone uses Chemi clean please use it as directed and use a Polyfilter to catch the loose goodies it breaks free. I have used it in the past with good luck. I used it with a large Polyfilter. I am confused on what happened with you. I switched polyfilters after a day use and used another one for 3 days afterwards. I am confused as can be. I did not have my skimmer running when I ran this additive.

 

[wrightme43]

I think it depends on how much organic stuff there is in the tank for it to oxidize. If it has enough to use up all the o2 I think it will. JMHO. Steve

 

[MtnDewMan]

I have experience with this sort of thing ...

It wasn't overnight but I think it helped trigger an already poor functioning sandbed of mine. I had a thriving reef, I ended up starting all over again. I think there was a lot of toxins that were generated after killing off what it did and the sandbed just was too saturated to handle it and the tank never recovered. I ended up starting from scratch

Sorry to hear of your problems. Large water changes are definately in order. Do you have a sandbed? You may want to check the health of the sandbed if you do.

 

[Rownsurf]

Thanks for the further responses. I didn't see any instructions about using a polyfilter. Could you explain this in a bit more detail. I obviously want to learn from mistakes like this. From my understanding of this sort of reaction, I'd say the explanations above about higher levels of organics allowing it to use up all the O2 sounds correct. How would I check the health of that sandbed? Sorry you experienced this to MtnDew, but at least you provide me with some ideas. Did this kill all your inverts and live rock to. Any thoughts on what to do to keep these goin? Would I need to replace that sandbed? I'll make sure I get a large water change in as soon as Im home again and again in the AM.

thanks again,

Justin

 

[MtnDewMan]

Justin

Check these threads out and read all about it

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2653

I tested the bed by sticking the syringe about 1/4 into the bed, sucked out water and tested for phosphates. The reading was very high. That high in the bed it should read pretty low for a good running sandbed.

 

[wooddood]

well i have used it many many times and have never had any ill effects whats so ever. my tank is 120 gal 48x24x24 with a 30 gal sump and i'm also bare bottom, i also used it in the same tank when i had a deep sandbed and still no problems. like chuck said it could be the sandbed but i dought it. how old is the tank and sand bed and what size tank do you have?




dave.

 

[Rownsurf]

It's a 75g tank with a 20g sump/refugium. I'm certainly not definite it was the sandbed. Just hoping to narrow it down to a few possibilities I could research. If you have any other thoughts I'd love to hear them.

I also need to determine if I need to restart the whole tank. The fish are all dead as of this morning and most of the corals and other inverts aren't looking great, with the exception of the hermit crabs who are feasting on stuff I don't get to fast enough. I assume the live rock isn't going to be doing well either, so should I get some tubs and do 50% new water mixed wiht 50% tank water and keep the rock in that for now? If I'm restarting I figure I might as well scrub it all anyways. Should I remove the sandbed and go towards a bare-bottom tank? I'm not opposed to this and I have a refuguium with cheato for nutrient reduction. Hmm..not sure what else. Suggestions are appreciated. Obviously I havne't researched tearing down andf restarting muhc since I hand't planned on it in the near future!! But I guess that's how this hobby goes..one long leanring experience :doubt: