Big problem and near whipeout

[jesatfis]

Last nite i had a horrible thing happen to my tank, i lost 8 domino damsels 7 sergent majors a flame hawk a spoted goby 5 green chromide damsels, 1 yellow tailed blue damsel and a ton on inverts 40 hermits and a few shrimp.
i had fed the fish as normal all the fish fine and healthy looking l removed a little alagee resarted a filter that i shot off during feeding when i remember. 15 minnets or so latter i smell sulphur i look for the source, look at my tank and discover all of my fish dieing.
i checked my watter and then i had a store test it and my nitrites were skyrocketed.
so i got to have 2 questions answered
why did i smell sulphur
why did the fish just die so quick like that
the tank is a 90 gallon and has been running for 7-9 months without much problem

 

[qreef]

I think you have too many :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish

 

[1journeyman]

Just to clarify: you lost 24 fish??? In a 90 gallon tank?
Tank was WAY overstocked..
Sulphur smell comes from sulfur gas produced by stagnant dead spots in your sand bed. It's deadly.

 

[jesatfis]

Originally Posted by Qreef
I think you have too many :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish

i dont think i had too many becuase they all lived till now.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by jesatfis
i dont think i had too many becuase they all lived till now.
Overcrowding could have lead to the tank crash....
You definitely had too many fish.

 

[mitzel]

You had too many fish and your live sand and rock couldn't keep up with the bio load. Nitrartes and nitrites became stuck in your sand bed . and something released this bubble of toxic gasses into the water. This turned your whole tank it a giant container of toxic water and killed your fish.
How deep is your sand bed?How many # of live rock? and how often do you clean the sand bed out? What % of the tank do remove when you do water changes? What kind of filtration do you have and how often do you clean your filters? How much and often do you feed? All of these can contribute to this problem. Post some pictures of your tank if posible as a picture will help us see whats going on too.
I'm sorry you lost your fish. and I hope we can help you fix your problem.If you can answer the above questions we'll be a lot closer to an answer and get you back on track.

 

[jesatfis]

Originally Posted by mitzel
You had too many fish and your live sand and rock couldn't keep up with the bio load. Nitrartes and nitrites became stuck in your sand bed . and something released this bubble of toxic gasses into the water. This turned your whole tank it a giant container of toxic water and killed your fish.
How deep is your sand bed?How many # of live rock? and how often do you clean the sand bed out? What % of the tank do remove when you do water changes? What kind of filtration do you have and how often do you clean your filters? How much and often do you feed? All of these can contribute to this problem. Post some pictures of your tank if posible as a picture will help us see whats going on too.
I'm sorry you lost your fish. and I hope we can help you fix your problem.If you can answer the above questions we'll be a lot closer to an answer and get you back on track.

well you see i had been at collage for the past few months, and i was not able to do water changes and my dad said ok why not just let some water evaporate and then just fill the tank to a certain point
i have abought 100-130 lbs of live rock i run a magnum 350 witch dosent really seem to work though, i have an aquaclaear 70 and a wisper LS, i also have a powerhead 901 and 201 i also have a 250 watt heater and the sandbed was being turned when i was home last (not alot though , id move a little bit and than move it back.
my filters are changed like this
magnum i change the filter pad every 3 weeks carbon i wait 1 month
wisper ls carbon i change every 3 weeks the sponge or filter pad i change every month but i do rinse the pad on a weekly basis
aquaclear 70 id change carbon every 3 weeks the spounge id clean every 2 weeks then replace after a month
powerheads every week ill change one and rotate
i have these alternated so i will only change the things that are the same at seprate times (although i sometimes have ran into a snag that i have to change 2 of the same thing (on difernet filters )
my sand bed is in wieght 30 lbs reg sand 45 lbs live sand 15 lbs dolmonite.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by mitzel
You had too many fish and your live sand and rock couldn't keep up with the bio load. Nitrartes and nitrites became stuck in your sand bed . and something released this bubble of toxic gasses into the water. This turned your whole tank it a giant container of toxic water and killed your fish.....
Think that about sums it up..

 

[bluelagoon]

Originally Posted by jesatfis
well you see i had been at collage for the past few months, and i was not able to do water changes and my dad said ok why not just let some water evaporate and then just fill the tank to a certain point

i would think that this is part of your problem too... just letting water evaporate, then topping it off doesn't remove any of the excess waste in the system, just lets it all build up. you probably should have known that...but now you do... :thinking:
sorry about your loss, but that, and being WAY over stocked led to a downfall...

 

[sundance1]

Originally Posted by mitzel
How deep is your sand bed?How many # of live rock? and how often do you clean the sand bed out? .
I didn't relize you should clean out a sand bed,how often should this be done and what method should be used? I have a 4.5" sandbed in my 125 and don't want this same thing to happen to me. :help:

 

[mitzel]

Originally Posted by sundance1
I didn't relize you should clean out a sand bed,how often should this be done and what method should be used? I have a 4.5" sandbed in my 125 and don't want this same thing to happen to me. :help:

As part of my bi-weekly water changes . I will start off by shutting down the pumps fiters and skimmer. I will then take a turkey baster and blow and (stuff) off the rocks that needs to be vacumed up. I then adgetate the sand bed with the siphon as I'm removeing water. as the water is removed you'll see detrius too being removed with the water. It's the nasty stinky brown stuff(poo& roten food). Your tank will cloud up a bit . I will vary the amount of water changed by how dirty the water /sand bed is. But always 20% every two weeks . WATER CHANGES MUST BE MADE. only topping off leaves toxins in the tank. filtration will only take out what is moving floating around.
Just my opinion but 4.5 inches is kinda deep.
Hope I helped out

 

[cartman101]

Originally Posted by jesatfis
i dont think i had too many becuase they all lived till now.
Your tank was a ticking time bomb.....it exploded that day. Sorry for your loss.