All fish are dead?

jackman

jackman

Member
Ok the thing everyone fears happen to me this morning, All my fish are dead...... the loss was great....
1 porc puffer
1 butterfly
1 cardinal
2 clowns
2 damsels
1 yellow tang
1 coral beauty angel
I never had a qt tank (but now I will)
I had copper in my tank so could never have inverts.....
I had crushed coral in my tank as a substrate....
Now I am going to start over cleaning it all out.......
please help with this for starters:
1. What should I use to clean it?
2. What would be the best substrate to use SAND?
Well this is the saddest day of my life so don't be cruel....
Jackman
:help:
 
mmcheeto

mmcheeto

Member
Wow Jackman I am so sorry that has heppend to you :(
DSB is the common substrate to use. The old recomended lvl is 4" thick from what I can recall. As for getting the copper out.... :notsure: I dont know. I thought once it was in there it seeps in to the silicone and stays there. I didnt know it could be cleaned. Anyone else want to help Jackman out on this one?
 
nflnutswif

nflnutswif

Member
Oh Jackman, I'm so sorry! YES, It is a fear I think everyone of us hobbiest think about! It bad enough to lose a cleaner shrimp! I cried

Good luck with the new one
 
gesswhosbak

gesswhosbak

Member
For when i had copper in my tank i used cuprisorb for about a 2 months straight, making sure it was always fresh. I know people say it seeps back in, but i have had not problem with it doing so. Also have snails and hermits doing well now for about a month now. To clean the tank out completey just use warm water and vinegar, i think thats what most recommend. Hope this helps somewhat.
-Gess
 
jackman

jackman

Member

Originally posted by MmCheeto
Wow Jackman I am so sorry that has heppend to you :(
DSB is the common substrate to use. The old recomended lvl is 4" thick from what I can recall. As for getting the copper out.... :notsure: I dont know. I thought once it was in there it seeps in to the silicone and stays there. I didnt know it could be cleaned. Anyone else want to help Jackman out on this one?
What is the best substrate to use then I want to do this right?
Please help....
Jackman
 
mmcheeto

mmcheeto

Member
By my opinion only. a DSB (= Deep sand bed) made of live sand about 4" or more thick provides the best substrate for a reef tank or FOWLR. This provides enuff serface for the good nit' conversion. In a odd way its kinda like a filter I guess. It helps the tank and alot of times using live sand you can get some cool critters the sand that help as well. Its also a good sorce of copepods witch are a nice snale for tankmates. This is only my opinion and there is facts out there that help this opinion but I will leave it up to you to make that call. I also invite everyone else to submit an opinion on the substrate issue. DSB good or bad? Why or whynot? What outher options are there for substrate?
 
jackman

jackman

Member
I think you are right, but I two want to know what other substrates do people use, and why?
Jackman....
I have crushed coral right now, but I was told that is not the best thing to use.... I don't know why please enlight.
 
yellowtail

yellowtail

Active Member
over time crushed coral is bad for your tank. i use arragonite sand. in my opinion i would not use a dsb because their is an ongoing controversy whether later in time it will crash(relase all nutrients it has stored)
 
johnic

johnic

Member
I suggest using a thin synthetic sand bed for a Fo tank...You can clean it every month real quick and it doesn't hold any unwanted elements. Just rely on your filter not the sand.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I don't think a synthetic surface would provide enough surface area for nitrifying bacteria. I use CC, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I fell for the, "It acts as a natural buffer" CRAP!! I don't have a nitrate problem, but I am obsessive about vaccuuming all the way down to the glass...OFTEN!! But personally, I can't wait til these days are gone!!
An X roomate of mine woke up and found all of his fish dead too. And for YEARS the reason bugged me because I couldn't figure out why. THEN I got into SWF and learned about cycling. So I hafta ask...Did your tank fully cycle before you put any of the fish in there??
And by the way, I too am very sorry for your loss.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
:yes: Yes the filter would act as such, but I am not suggesting "replacing" the surface area... I am suggesting, adding more surface area. The more, the merrier!!
No such thing as to much.
 
mmcheeto

mmcheeto

Member
In a sence yes and no. They act like a filter but in different ways. Bioballs (in my opinion) tend ot be nitrite factories where as sand can house critters to break up larger debres. It really involves alot of reserch and I dont think there is a rock solid answer to the all important question as of yet. Its moslty small case studies and word or mouth facts. This is good thred here . We got a few opinions and some options. .... How about a few more :notsure:
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
I prefer a sandbed of oolitic (sugar sized) aragonite sand. This sand seems to be the best for keeping the infauna (critters) in the sandbed, they seem to live better and reproduce more in this type of sandbed. I currently have a 4-5" DSB in my tank. I have almost always ran 0 nitrates. I also rely on a Refugium and highly recommend them. I don't think a DSB is 100% necessary and there are some theories out there about them crashing after time, but nothing is concrete. If you have a shallow sandbed, then I would thing a refugium with either macro algae or Xenia would be necessary for Nitrate reduction.
A big question here is why did all your fish die in the first place?
 
jackman

jackman

Member
For all of you who have asked my tank was up and running for a year, I never had a protien skimmer and three days ago I had a film on the top of the water? So I did do a partial water change and the film was still there?
And by the way I did have one clown live she seems to be doing fine in the QT tank- cross your fingers
and all my hermits and scarlets are still fine and in the display tank till I can scoop them all out keep finding them.
Now back to the question is that the possible reason they died was the film?
All my parameters were perfect.
I just don't understand :notsure:

Jackman
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Perhaps a better explanation of what happened when your fish died would help.
You had a film on top of your water and did a water change,
How much water did you change?
How long did you let the water age before you put it in your tank.
Did the fish show signs of stress or disease, did they all die at the same time or days apart.
Did you test your water right before or right after the fish died?
Was it a new bag of salt or one you have used before?
 
kl8n

kl8n

Member
You could always try spending the night in your tank and see how you feel in the morning.
If that seems odd to you or you're worried about the breathing obstacle, you could always put a dog or maybe a hamster in the tank over night.
If in the morning you or any more of your pets are dead it would be safe to assume that you have your own transparent chamber 'O' death.
You can get upset or just cut your losses and start a euthanization clinic. You already have the pet-b-gone slaughter 2000 chamber at your disposal.
Kidding of course...sometimes it helps to laugh at your horrible, horrible luck.
 
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