mass death

[wilson!]

new here and looking for advice. i have a 90 Gallon tank that i have had setup for about 3 months. the previous owner had it going for several years. i woke up this morning to 3 dead Domino's, 2 dead Clowns, 2 dead anemones, a dead Blue/Geen, 3 dead snails, a dead Firefish, a dead Pseudochromis, 2 dead shrimp, and a dead hermit. everything that died has been in the tank for at least 6 weeks, has been eating well and appeared to be thriving, now i have no idea WTF happened. my ammonia is at 0, my nitrites are at 0, nitrates are between 10 and 20 ppm, pH is 8.2, temp is 76*, specific gravity is 1.021. nothing has changed since i set the tank up! the water is clean and clear, and everything is working as it should. i have 2 Damsels, 1 blue/green, 2 brindle stars, 5 crabs, and 7 snails that seem unaffected. the livestock that is left look completely heathy, i went to bed and everything was good, and i wake up to a mass extinction WTF?!?!

 

[contraband629]

I'll bet you got something in the tank with out knowing it. It could be anything from copper, to maybe using hairspray and having it land in the tank. Think hard, did you use any chemicals near the tank? Windex perhaps?

 

[wilson!]

the tank is in the corner of the family room, and nothing out of the ordinary was done. no chemicals of any kind. i'm going to leave things like they are for about a week and see what happens. after loosing $200 work of livestock over night, i'm fairly disheartened. if i don't loose any one else in the next week i'll slowly start populating the tank again, if anything else dies, i'll convert the 90 gal. to fresh water and put what's left of the salt water livestock in a 30 gal.

 

[contraband629]

Perhaps more background on the tank could help in determining the cause.

 

[mrdc]

Could something have shorted out like a heater?

 

[deejeff442]

anenomes are a real pain.if they get caught in a powerhead they will usually die and put toxins in the tank killing usually everything in it.
since they always wander especially in a new tank .
usuall water test wont show the toxins they produce.
i stay away from anenomes for just this reason.
sorry about your loss.i would get on some water changes.

 

[fibinotchi]

Any younger kids that could have been around it?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Wilson!
http:///forum/post/3228406
new here and looking for advice. i have a 90 Gallon tank that i have had setup for about 3 months. the previous owner had it going for several years. i woke up this morning to 3 dead Domino's, 2 dead Clowns, 2 dead anemones, a dead Blue/Geen, 3 dead snails, a dead Firefish, a dead Pseudochromis, 2 dead shrimp, and a dead hermit. everything that died has been in the tank for at least 6 weeks, has been eating well and appeared to be thriving, now i have no idea WTF happened. my ammonia is at 0, my nitrites are at 0, nitrates are between 10 and 20 ppm, pH is 8.2, temp is 76*, specific gravity is 1.021. nothing has changed since i set the tank up! the water is clean and clear, and everything is working as it should. i have 2 Damsels, 1 blue/green, 2 brindle stars, 5 crabs, and 7 snails that seem unaffected. the livestock that is left look completely heathy, i went to bed and everything was good, and i wake up to a mass extinction WTF?!?!

Do you run a skimmer?

 

[deejeff442]

i was just checking your post for an update and reread your first post.
you have your salt at 1.021?thats pretty low for a reef.anemones need to be at least 1.023-1.025.they dont show signs of problems like most other things we keep.usually by the time they show signs of problems we find them dead.
imo the low salt contributed to the death of one or both or your anemones and filled the tank with toxins killing your livestock.
only thing is usually when ananemone spills toxins the water is a bit cloudy but,
when they die they always contaminate thewater.
myadvice is raise te salt to 1.025 with a few water changes over the next 4-5 days.
dont give up we have all lost our share of livestock.
freshwater fish are boring

 

[don1234]

Definately sounds like the poisoning of a dying anenome. Something similar happened to me not to long ago, but I had a GBA and it crawled to the hydor over night and it was sucked up in the back and shot out through the front. Fortunately yet unfortunately I only lost my beautiful mandarin. It was covered in some sort of what I believe to be the inners of the GBA. The mandarin looked as if it had been paraylyzed "stiff" possibly from the stinging of the needles. Sorry for your unfortunate loss.

 

[wilson!]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3228490

Do you run a skimmer?
yes i have a skimmer. a friend of mine has had salt tanks for several years, so i had him adjust mine. i have to empty the cup once a week, so it seems to be working properly.
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3228452
Could something have shorted out like a heater?
checked and everything appears to be working properly
Originally Posted by Fibinotchi
http:///forum/post/3228487
Any younger kids that could have been around it?
my 5 year old son. but he's not tall enough to reach the top, and he knows not to mess with anything
Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/3228518
i was just checking your post for an update and reread your first post.
you have your salt at 1.021?thats pretty low for a reef.anemones need to be at least 1.023-1.025.they dont show signs of problems like most other things we keep.usually by the time they show signs of problems we find them dead.
imo the low salt contributed to the death of one or both or your anemones and filled the tank with toxins killing your livestock.
only thing is usually when ananemone spills toxins the water is a bit cloudy but,
when they die they always contaminate thewater.
myadvice is raise te salt to 1.025 with a few water changes over the next 4-5 days.
dont give up we have all lost our share of livestock.
freshwater fish are boring
the salt is a touch low because i had to top the water off and didn't realize i ran out of salt. i went and got more yesterday, and now i'm slowly bring the salinity up to 1.025
Originally Posted by don1234
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Definately sounds like the poisoning of a dying anenome. Something similar happened to me not to long ago, but I had a GBA and it crawled to the hydor over night and it was sucked up in the back and shot out through the front. Fortunately yet unfortunately I only lost my beautiful mandarin. It was covered in some sort of what I believe to be the inners of the GBA. The mandarin looked as if it had been paraylyzed "stiff" possibly from the stinging of the needles. Sorry for your unfortunate loss.
about a week ago one of the anemones was stuck to the return on my filter. i relocated him to a rock and he seemed to be doing fine. i guess looks can be deceiving.
i did a 20% water change yesterday, this morning everything seems to be alive and happy. i'll give them a week or two then slowly start repopulating my tank if everything goes well. i really don't want to convert it to fresh, but i don't see me condemning more salt fish to death because i'm doing something wrong. i've had fresh fish for many years, and seem to have good luck with them, maybe i can keep them happy. wish me luck!

 

[deejeff442]

ithink the bad is behind you.those anemones are a pita.
if he was stuck and hurt,lke i said they dont really show signs they are in trouble since they are always moving ,growng big,shrinking hard to tell what its doing.
i would just stay away from then for a while.
always seems the cheap things like a $12 anemone kills $200 worth of fish.
my friend had a$20 yellow tang kill his $700 black tang .it happens

 

[hunt]

temp is a little low to, i keep mine at around 79-81 degrees.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3228761
temp is a little low to, i keep mine at around 79-81 degrees.
IMO, nowhere near low enough to cause this. These things don't always have an obvious cause, but my money is on the anemone. Also, I know I'm in the minority here, but I just don't think minuscule amounts of things like hairspray or air freshener will cause a big die off like this. You'll probably never know for sure. A dead spot producing a hydrogen sulfide bubble is also much more common than we can prove, but it happens.