Live Rock now dead???

<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
Well im new to saltwater. I have a 90g fowlr. I had several fish with ich a few months ago. SO i did hypo on the whole tank. I didnt know at the time u cant do that with live rock in the tank. Well the ich is gone now. But my Live rock seems dead now. There is hardy any coraline algae. and now this red algae tha coats rock and sand is taking over. I have a ro/di. and phosban in a fluval. my nitrites and nitates seem have been going up from 0 slightly. I do 10-15% water changes a week to 10days I have about 15x water movement, and a g2 asm in the sump. the lighting is around 2.6 wts a gallon. what do i need to do HELP!!!
 
djevack

djevack

Member
Hmmm. it could of killed your living stuff inside your LR, so the die off is making your levels go up. but I dont know how to fix it. need to talk to Squid, beth or someone with more knowledge
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
First off, welcome to the boards.
I'd say get your parameters back to normal, maintain calcium at the proper level and wait.
The red algae is probably cyano bacteria. A scourge to all of us. Reduce phosphates and nitrates and increase water flow. That should help eliminate it.
Since your rock is possibly dead, I'd even say take the rock out of the tank and scrub it down good to get rid of the cyano.
 
<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
All of my fish are acting funny. One has a cloud over their eyes. I put reef safe antibotic9for the cloudy eye) in the tank, and now they all seem to be acting funny. I tested the nitrates but it takes 20 min. to get the reading.
HELP!!! I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO?!?!!! Should I do a water change?!?
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
A partial water change with aged, aerated, temp, salinity and pH matched water is always a good idea...
And often the ONLY treatment needed for cloudy eye fish...
Oftentimes in an "off balance" tank (you just killed your live rock) antibiotics are just strong enough to push it over the edge...
Do some water tests...post actual current results and mix another batch of water...
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Amonia 1.2????
You desperately must do a water change to eliminate ALL traces of ammonia. Ammonia is deadly.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
ammonia - 1.2
Yep...antibiotics killed bacteria off half dead LR... starting to "recycle"... Water changes to keep levels below .25 are in order...
Keep mixing, keep mixing...
 
<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
I had just put the meds in yesterday and today so only 2 doses od Melafix and pimafix. Didnt know that was not safe for saltwater
it SAID IT WAS ON THE F'N COVER!!!!
 
<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
I can to walmart and bought 50g of RO water, so id have enough. Im doing a 20% tonight. how oftwen should i keep changeing. Every day?
btw thxs SO MUCH
 
<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
But how far apart from each change? hrs, days?
and when should I take my LR out to scrub? then later down the road when everything is fixed. Will a few pieces or even 20lbs or so of lr bring the Lr back with time???
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by <3thefish
But how far apart from each change? hrs, days?
and when should I take my LR out to scrub? then later down the road when everything is fixed. Will a few pieces or even 20lbs or so of lr bring the Lr back with time???

Every day.
i'd scrub it now... the less you disturb it later the better.
Yes.. some coralline will spread eventually under the proper care.
 
scubadoo

scubadoo

Active Member
Originally Posted by <3thefish
and the living stuff inside the rock,

thxs again
You did not kill you benefical bacteria on your rocks, but you did kill inverts living on the rock with the hypo treatment.
Also, if you performed hypo in your display you killed all the sand sifting critters that live in your substrate. This will contribute to a rise in nutrients which could lead to a cyano outbreak.
Most of the so-called reef safe products are garbage. They can cause water quality issues and actually harm inverts.
The presence of nitrites and ammonia tell me you damaged your biological filter. My guess is that so-called reef safe product did the damage along with die-off of the benficial inverts that live in your substrate.
Other contributors could be overfeeding. ALso, you should check your ro/di water with a tds meter. You never know what is actually in that store bought water.
You can also try and reseed your substrate with some sand from an established system.
Another thought that comes to mind is perhaps what you added to your system (the reef safe product) is killing the cyano. If you get too much die-off from the cyano it can release toxins and pollute your water. Antibiotics will kill cyano.
In trying to rid your system of cyano, you need to identify the source of nutrients or causes and take corrective action. You can scrub and vacuum all you want but if the conditions remain the cyano will return.
Poor water qulity
Old lighting
Low water movement
All contributors to cyano outbreaks.
IMO...you have many contributors to your current problem.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by ScubaDoo
You did not kill you benefical bacteria on your rocks, but you did kill inverts living on the rock with the hypo treatment.
Also, if you performed hypo in your display you killed all the sand sifting critters that live in your substrate. This will contribute to a rise in nutrients which could lead to a cyano outbreak.
Most of the so-called reef safe products are garbage. They can cause water quality issues and actually harm inverts.
The presence of nitrites and ammonia tell me you damaged your biological filter. My guess is that so-called reef safe product did the damage along with die-off of the benficial inverts that live in your substrate.
Other contributors could be overfeeding. ALso, you should check your ro/di water with a tds meter. You never know what is actually in that store bought water.
You can also try and reseed your substrate with some sand from an established system.
Another thought that comes to mind is perhaps what you added to your system (the reef safe product) is killing the cyano. If you get too much die-off from the cyano it can release toxins and pollute your water. Antibiotics will kill cyano.
In trying to rid your system of cyano, you need to identify the source of nutrients or causes and take corrective action. You can scrub and vacuum all you want but if the conditions remain the cyano will return.
Poor water qulity
Old lighting
Low water movement
All contributors to cyano outbreaks.
IMO...you have many contributors to your current problem.
I agree! :happyfish
 
<3thefish

<3thefish

Member
sorry im still a little confused. I got most of it. Let me re explain the steps that got me to this point, then I have a few questions.
Ich was in the display tank... did hypo, didnt know it was harmful to the LR, I did remove all of my inverts i could before and then put them back in after the hypo.... everything was fine for almost 2 months.... Started to notice the LR just seemed "dead" no color, just didnt look the same.... Algae broke out like crazy.... red coat over the sand LR.... I have 15x water movement.... asm g2, fluval 402, phosban in fluval..... several fish looked very unhealthy like just overnight. My tang had a slight white glaze over his eyes, and a few white spots on his body, not a single one on his fins didnt look like ich at all.... also several other fish looked sick swiming funny and near surface.... thats when i put in elafix and pimafix the last 2 days..... They started to look even worse.....
Heres by plan to fix everything, see if this works...
-20% water changes everyday till levels lower to safe levels
-tommorow clean all of the LR, then let it set in some water(old water from tank) to somewhat clean it up, then put back in tank.....
-been meaning to do this. Major system update
*Set up a open system like this: Overflow - sump with UV and ASM g2.... Overflow will also feed a 20g fuge, 100gph - both sump and fuge will go to return sump to go back to tank. Shooting for 800-900gph
*Set up closed system: Mage 5 or 7 - several outlets around tank. 800-900gph
*Phosban reactor - talked to LFs they said local water is very very high in phosphate, even traces of ammonia. and even a good RO unit might not take out all of it.
-Add a 10-20lbs of very good LR with coraline, and a few lbs of LS, or the bagged stuff
-lastly, Pray to the fish god

my lighting is new, bulbs only few months old, should be enough water movement,
anything else
 
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