Every single one of my fish is now dead...

[k-rok]

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear the bad news. I've had a tank crash when I was a beginner and lost a lot of fish that meant a lot to me. It probably won't help, but keep in mind how sensitive and delicate most fish really are. Their environment and conditions need to be near perfect for them to survive so try not to be too hard on yourself. I know I am still kicking myself for losing those fish even after a couple years. Learning the hard way sux thats for sure.

 

[rrundle77]

Have you tested water after water change, is the temp salinity, sg the same as tank?? If 40% of the water comes from tap it could be a source of some of your trouble. Let new salt water sit 48 hours with power head and heater before you use it in the tank. Oh one more thought were the fish skittish perhaps stray voltage could be another contributing factor. My guess is that several factors are at work the hard part is isolating each one.
Best of luck let us now ho things turn out

 

[dexter]

first off, I am very saddened to hear your loss. i have read 95% of the posts here and am very pleased by the response of everyone.

By no means do I consider myself an expert, however, after learing ona 30 gallon, and now having a 100 gallon running very well for 9+ months, I do have some thoughts.
Look up "new tank syndrome" I didn't read anything other than that you set up the tank in Jan. 2006. +/- 4 months ago. Seems like a short amount of time to have the quantity of livestock. Did it lead to the death of everything? I doubt it, however, it probably contributed to you ammonia issues.
IMO, I would move all the LR and clean out whatever floats or is defiantely dead. Move all living inhabitants to a QT for monitoring. I have 2 Cukes and they are doing just fine.

(no pink cuke though) Let the tank clear up and keep up with the water changes until the levels are steady. And start adding fish at the rate of 1 every 2-3 weeks (just my opinion)
Another thougth I had was you mentioned damsels, and everyone on the boards knows the "D" word. :hilarious However, since those are also MIA, I was thinking the mantis shrimp possibility also. Once you get everything else out, and only have LR, you should locate a mantis. The traps work well also. Check w/ your LFS, they will usually loan you one if they are a good LFS.
Just my 2 pennies and I hope It helps. Whatever you decide to do, don't give up. So far in my 2+ years of getting back into SW, I have "lost" upwards of $900.00 between bad LFS advice, dead fish, accidents, and newbie stoopidy.

Good luck and keep us posted. Post some tank pics when you get a chance, sometime seeing what we are talking about helps too.
Dxtr

 

[sleasia]

I would get out any of the dead fish even if you have to move the rock around. but as the others recommend you should probably wear gloves when you do this....I would not give up, but I think there are a few things you will likely have to do (which are going to cost some money) before you get the tank working well again.... You will probably need to buy a R/O system and use r/o water. You will also likely do better using a wet dry filter, or possibly you can add more live rock to your tank. And you may want to get a uv sterilizer set up. In terms of the tank being contaminated with some unknown...we still don't know what it is whether chemicle or disease or whether there was some carnage done by a bad guy like a mantis...and we will likely not know. So for now, I would not put any more livestock in the tank. I would let it run its course for a month or so, keep filtering it and doing water changes 10% each week and testing the water every couple of days as you have been. Then in a month or so, start off slow again as long as your parameters are ok. Put in Chromis, (just a couple to start) since these are more peaceful fish than damsels. Watch everything for a few weeks to be sure with the addition of new fish you still don't have any more problems before you begin to restock....Then begin to restock. If during this time, you can set up a qt tank, 15 gallon or so, with even just a biowheel filter, then as you begin to restock, you can even qt your fish prior to putting them in your main tank to be sure they do not introduce any unwanted pathogens...After my boxfish wiped out my tank, this is exactly what I had to do...I almost gave up and went back to goldfish...Its all working amazingly well now...good luck

 

[sleasia]

also you did mention the ph swings...so checking the alkalinity and using a good buffer will be important.

 

[steve223]

Originally Posted by sleasia
Also your tank is only 4 months old. It may not have had an adequate biological filter yet to handle the amount of fish/inverts/corals....I'm doing FOWLR and inverts, so I shouldn't give reef advice, but I'm not convinced that cannister filters do much on their own. If I were you I would consider going with a wet dry, or tons of live rock and a refugium. You can build a cheap wet dry yourself which is much more efficient than any you can buy
Is there a website that has steps to build a cheap wet dry? thanks

 

[steve223]

Really sorry about loss, but a lot of this information is going to be very helpful to those of us just starting...

 

[sleasia]

I think there are a number of them on this message board in the equipment thread. My home made wet dry is under a thread by luke g, so if you go into the equipment thread, and search for posts by luke g pick the one called diy wet-dry as you scroll through it you will see another member's home made and mine. Very cheap, done with containers bought at target...Both of ours are working like a dream...better than the amiracle mr300 i had before which crowded my skimmer too much....

 

[sleasia]

If you want to build one like mine, and need better photos or more descriptions just ask and I'll post another thread on it.

 

[dottiekh]

Ok, today is the day. I will move all my lr and see what I find. All of your opinions are great, and I really appreicate them. I'm trying to eliminate things, and then maybe get to the cause. Yes, I will absolutley not let this happen again, so I will be taking it very slowly, one step at a time.
I did think about stray voltage, but I wasn't sure how to test for it, and then it was just too late. I thought about it when my puffer started showing signs of stress, but all the other fish were fine, so I dismissed it.
Keep the ideas coming, I'm sure the reason is there....thank you all so much.

 

[rrundle77]

Hey Dottie as far as stray voltage read this https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...65#post1585465
it will answer any Qs you might have. Stray voltage as well as diet has been thought to contribute to HLLE. Also, perhaps you could post some diet information, I have followed a diet that Unleashed prescribed and have had very healthy happy fish ever since.

 

[promisetbg]

No need to test for stray voltage..just drop a ground probe in the sump. They cost about 10$.

 

[maxalmon]

This just happened to me, putting some Xenia in my tank, moving some LR around and as I took my arm out of the water I would wipe it off with a towel, about the 2nd time I did this I noticed a rather pleasant smell. Fabric softner and static sheets used in the dryer, I would wipe my arm off and then put it in the tank, who knows if the stuff was rubbing off on my arm and then getting inot the tank, but from now on i'll have dedicated towels with no softner or static sheets used in the wash. Not sure if this stuff is toxic or could cause a problem?

 

[sleasia]

Yeah...stray voltage is another good possibility.

 

[dottiekh]

Stray voltage means that one of the things in my tank (powerhead, heater) is letting of a charge, right? Would this effect the puffer for two weeks, and then kill the others overnight? I wonder if I should consider the death of my puffer and the death of my other fish as two seperate things that just happened around the same time? Does stray voltage hurt inverts? If not, then that might be my answer. If it does, then we are back to square one because my inverts are thriving. I appreicate you all taking the time to help me figure this out...

 

[sleasia]

I've only had stray voltage electrocute myself

, which is a long story, when my plastic hose clamps popped off and I ended up with a 15 foot geiser in my family room one day....rather than drain the tank, I decided to go for it and turn off the already drenched surge protector, and of course I got electrocuted....well not badly. I'm not sure about this, but I would think stray voltage in the tank would effect all the fish and inverts. Someone told me first that the first signs of this is "sort of linear discolorations on the fish"...? Any one know?....Its a good idea to put a grounding probe either in the sump or tank, but Its probably not what happened....The most likely thing is bad tapwater combined with a relatively young tank.