Emergency

[andrew01]

I have a 75 gal reef/fish tank which has been set up for almost two years. I did a pretty thorough clean/water change... Today, I woke up and looked at the tank. I could immediately tell something was wrong. All of my coral was closed and my fish seemed different. I tested the water and all of the parameters are off the charts.
I have never had this problem before so I called the LFS. The guy told me to stop changing my water with tap water and that will fix my problem. I told him that I don't use tap water in water changes. I use pre-mix water or certified distilled that I mix myself. In this instance, I used 20 gal of pre-mix water.
The guy was at a lose and was unsure why all of my parameters were so high. I called two other places and one told me to do almost a complete water change and another place told me to add conditioner to the water and through the cycling process everything should work its way out.
Right now here is what my tests are reading:
Ph -7.8 -8
Nitrate - 70
Nitrite .8
Ammonia - .8+ off scale
Things are starting to die... Please help thanks

 

[fedukeford]

Start doing 10 gallon water changes with freshly mixed RO or RODI water until all levels are ok. (of course add salt too). Ill bet something got into the premixed water and contaiminated it.
Feduke

 

[scotts]

Originally Posted by fedukeford
Start doing 10 gallon water changes with freshly mixed RO or RODI water until all levels are ok. (of course add salt too). Ill bet something got into the premixed water and contaiminated it.
Feduke
Yep completely agree. Plus when you say a pretty good clean you do not mention what substrate you have and/or what type of cleaning you did. EIther way you might have stirred something up and released it inot you water. But no matter what if your tank is that bad, do water changes and get the bad stuf out of your water.

 

[puffer32]

Do a larger change 50% or more. My trates were off the charts awhile back and i did a 75% change in my 150, and it didn't hurt anything Remember, its your rock and sand that are important, not your water, you can lose it, and it won't hurt a thing. I do 50% changes about every 6 months, its good for your tank occasionally.

 

[hoya]

Double check your salinity & water temp.

 

[murph]

If it were me I would treat the tank immediately with amquel to detoxify the ammonia. It will still show up on your test but will have been converted to ionic ammonia which is not toxic to your fish.
Then as other suggested, water changes. Even if all that is available is tap treated with amquel.
Good luck and take a look at the RO/DI systems available here so this is not a problem again. Definatly worth the investment.