Crash

[soldier0117]

Today I woke up to find everything in my tank other than some crabs dead.

The algae outbreak I've been having was at is worst today and thats what I know killed all my fish. I've got rid of the old water, but am going to put bio-balls in a tub of new water to save the good bateria so I don't have to start totally over. Also the water perms. were perfect. `I have a QT with all new water set up to keep the crabs. It is 15 gal. and is half the length of my 55 so it has one of my old undergravel filters in it with the crushed coral that I kept alive even after I shoveled it out of my DT. IT also has a new power filter, and a flouresant light.
But was it good to get rid of the cess pool like algae water but perserve the good bateria and start over? Also I plan on getting a Typhoon III maybe even the extreme model, is this a good RO/DI?

 

[soldier0117]

bump

 

[wyvern]

I'm not sure, but if you keep anything from the old tank, it might be "seeded" with the algae as well as the good stuff. It might take a while for the algae to come back. Just a thought

 

[1journeyman]

I'm not familiar with your tank's history. Can you post all of the inhabitants? Sea Apple, Cucumber? Puffers?
How did the algae kill your fish do you think?

 

[soldier0117]

My old tank setup was this.Equipment
55 gal. tank
wet/dry filter (I once had an undergravel w/ crushed coral and then I changed to wet/dry with sand but the sand developed the cynao bateria blue/green algae that was a brown color morph.)
CSS 65 Protein Skimmer
260w PCs
Powerhead
Argonite sand (half dead/half live)
LiveStock
Yellow Belly Damsel (deceased)
Ocellaris Clown (deceased)
Yellow Tang (deceased)
Cleaner Shrimp (dead before everything else, as he was killed by my condy)
Condy Anemone (died long before others)
BTA (died even before condy)
Emerald Crab (survived)
Assorted Hermits (survived)
Nassarius Snails (survived)
Turbo Snails (deceased)
Sand Shifting Star (deceased)
Sea Cucumber (deceased)
Water Perms.
NH3/NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
pH: 8.2-8.4
Algae Description
The algae itself seemed to be a slime algae. I read on the internet that typical nuisance slime algae is a variant of blue/green cyano slime algae. Cyano alage is a cross between bateria and alage. it is almost like a prokaryotic plant cell. However it can be many different colors like red, green, and brown. It is a bad bateria but it will actually make your water perms look good because it also works with nitrogen fixation. But because it is bad it can create dead spots in your water where there is no oxygen and if it gets bad enough it can produce toxins. And with my tank it couldn't get any worse.

 

[soldier0117]

I'm preserving the good bateria in my old wet dry in a bucket of new saltwater, ans so far there is no algae growth in that. I now have a 15 gal. hospital with the survivors and now a cleaner shrimp, and green chromis. It has an undergravel filter w/ the old crushed coral I kept alive even when I got rid of it.

 

[krashpd]

Since you are starting over, you probably don't have to keep the "good" bacteria since it might be seeded with the algae. If you really clean out the old tank including a wipedown with white vinegar then you could start out with new substrate and seed it with new live sand from the LFS. Your live rock will also still have the algae if you put it into buckets for the time being so I would cover it and keep it in the dark for three to four weeks to kill off the algae. It might even take a little longer than that but algae needs light to survive. Sorry to hear about your tank crash but re-creating the ecosystem can be fun and interesting.
Good luck,
Krash

 

[gmidd]

What type of water did you use?

 

[hatessushi]

I would start completely over once you get the Typhoon RO/DI unit. sorry all your fish died.
I have an anenome and they will let you know when there is something wrong with the water but usually by then it's to late unless you know what to look for. If my anenome died I would take all the fish out as quickly as possible until I found the problem. It seems you know what the problem is and getting a new water unit may eliminate that problem. I would never have let it get that far along but that's just me.

 

[soldier0117]

I just used tap water which is why I'm getting RO/DI. I will keep the bio balls alive for now but if I notice any growth of algae I'll kill them off. Also when I set up the DT again I'll run it awhile before I do anything else to check for algae growth. My live rock is in my QT now but all algae on it has died and been eaten by crabs.

 

[hatessushi]

Originally Posted by Soldier0117
I just used tap water which is why I'm getting RO/DI. I will keep the bio balls alive for now but if I notice any growth of algae I'll kill them off. Also when I set up the DT again I'll run it awhile before I do anything else to check for algae growth. My live rock is in my QT now but all algae on it has died and been eaten by crabs.
There will be some algea, it's normal and good for the tank.

 

[soldier0117]

I may treat the bio balls with a anti cyano medicine that i got from my lfs. That way any bad bateria will die and good bateria will stay.

 

[krazekajin]

I am confused as to the algea killing the fish. I don't think that there are any algeas that overnight can kill the fish. However, I have heard of cucumbers when they are stressed or dying can release a poison that can wipe out a whole tank.
If you were getting a lot of cyno bacteria that meant there were a lot of nutrient waste and not enough flow. Did you by any chance have your latest water test numbers. I am betting that your nitrates were high and if anything else was high then that might be your problem. But algea is not the problem but merely the indicator of other problems.