My tank is "crashing"/"recycling" :-(

[azonic]

Well, what a weekend I'm having. Bought a small tomato clown over the weekend, less then an inch long and plopped him in the tank...no one bothered him..He got killed by someone on saturday and I never found his body until late sunday night when it was half eaten.
So then I woke up this morning and noticed all my fish breathing very irratically, all corals closed and shrivelled up real bad, anemone closed and detached from the rock. But, so far I have not lost anything!
I tested my water. Readings were as follows..
pH - 8.4
ammonia - 6.0 Mg/L
nitrite - 2.0 Mg/L
nitrate - 20 (usually never goes above 10)
SG - 1.025
As you can see, something is happening to my tank. I'm not sure if it's being caused by the tomato clown being dead in the tank for just over 24 hours because he was so tiny...I found it hard to beleive he would drive the ammonia up in a 90 gallon tank so much. I can't think of anything else it could be. Only other recent addition besides him was a fully cured piece of liverock about 2 weeks ago...and it was only a 2 pound rock.
I've dosed the tank with ammo-lock to detoxify the ammonia so that should be under control. I've also got an air pump blasting air bubbles into my maxijet 1200 to aerate/oxygenate the water. I've added byozyme(nitrifying bacteria in a bottle) to help convert the ammonia into nitrite to speed whatever is happening along. Also added directed dosage of stress coat to replenish slime coat on fish due to the stress. I can't think of anything else to with it besides a water change which I'm going to do tomorrow, probably 15 gallons or so.
If anyone else has any suggestions they would be much appreciated. I spoke with a marine biologist today at my LFS and he suggested the things which I currently have in place.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can offer.

 

[josh]

Well you have been round long enough to already know this, but water changes, water changes, water changes. Are you running carbon as well? Between the two it should correct just about anything.
I would doubt it was caused by the clown death, but that might have pushed the tank over the brink. You haven't changed anything else at all, such as the lighinting? I know you said the LR was cured, but there might have been something in the rock that could have casued it, I really am not sure what but that's the only thing that remotely stands out. I would QT the rock until you get things back under control.

 

[azonic]

Thanks for the reply josh. I've gonna do a water change tomorrow, out of water at the moment, gotta pick up a load tomorrow at the water store.
I was considering running carbon as well but I was thinking....whatever is rotting in the tank or decaying or whatever it is, is eating up all the oxygen in the water, thus making it harder for the fish to breath and get oxygen right?....I have the venturi going on my powerhead to re-oxygenate the water so adding carbon would probably end up removing the oxygen I was adding.....? I have the carbon inserts for my filters and have hesitated to add the new ones because of this...any thoughts?

 

[azonic]

Also, I noticed you asked about any new lighting....I recently added my second 400 watt halide to the tank...was only running one for a couple months....the second one was added on saturday...............any thoughts?

 

[nm reef]

Definitely sounds like something triggered a mini-cycle....with ammonia up that much I'd be concerned. Likely source was the LR and/or the tomato clown. Its possible that the systems bio-load was simply over welmed. I'd look at some regular water changes...mysely I'd do 5-10 gal about every other day until things settle down. I'd probably use the carbon and maybe even some floss if you have it.....neither would adversely affect the oxygen supply(I don't think so anyway).
Best of luck...I hope you recover quick enough to prevent any more losses....

 

[josh]

Just a shoot in the dark, the new light might have caused a die off of coraline or algae in general, which might have lead to your problems.
On the other hand, it might have caused a bloom of other algae..... either way, I would cut the photoperiod and slowly increase it over time to give the tank time to adapt.

 

[azonic]

Thanks for the suggestions. Water change is forthcoming tomorrow morning, I will add carbon and new filter floss, and as well reduce the photoperiod on the lighting. Thanks again.
If anyone else has a suggestion feel free to chime in

 

[nm reef]

I agree that the lighting up-grade could have been part of the problem.....all three combined could have resulted in a mini-cycle. I'm sure you'll recover quick enough to save the rest of your critters...good luck...
I might even look for a place to temp. store some of the fish and coral...if thats even possible. I'd be talking to the only LFS in town about keeping some of the things until I recovered a bit. I sure would hate to deal with that situation in my system.

 

[azonic]

Here's a few pictures of the various corals....notice they are all limp and looking like crap :-( Everything except my colt and maxima clam are doing bad....And notice in the full tank shot...NO fish out whatsoever....they are usually very active fish :-(
there are 7 fish total and they are all hiding....but all are still alive by my recent count.

 

[coral boy]

Man you sure have alot of alage you should try and get that stuff out of there have you tested for phosphates and do you have a clean up crew

 

[azonic]

I like the look of the algae on the rim of the glass....I haven't cleaned the glass in 2 days with the algae magnet, trying to reduce the stress on my fish as much as possible, so it looks kinda messy at the moment.

 

[josh]

Azonic,
It still looks like you have a pretty good crop of bryopris and HA though.......is this something new since the addition of the new lights?

 

[azonic]

First of all....what exactly is bryopris? I've heard the word but never inquired as to any details about it...
The hair algae has always been there in moderation...my LMB and yellow tang keep it fairly well trimmed. It has begun to grow more since the second halide was added.

 

[azonic]

Also, another update...it seems by ammonia has gotten worse in the past 6 hours....my test kit only reads up to 12mg/l....and im well past this...picture is enclosed....the color os supposed to be yellow for 0. as you can see, it's far from yellow....I'm going to check with my only LFS to see if they can take the fish in for a couple of days tomorrow.

 

[sgt__york]

my first thought was - wow 7 fish is not a lot for a 90 gallon
HOWEVER - after seeing a pic of the FULL tank - 2 things hit me:
1) HAIR ALAGE: the presense of hair algage says there was already and exisiting problem - high phosphates or silicons - perhaps even organics? lack of a cleanup crew to help keep it in check?
2) LIVE ROCK: This goes more toward the possible mini-cycle - that that enough LR to offer appropriate nitrification?? I always thought if you do not have bio -balls and use LR alone - you needed a "minimum" of 1lb per gal - and 1.5 lb per gal would be better. I'm wondering how much LR is that?
I'm not sure, but for a 90 gal - that looks like about 40-50 lbs of LR isn't it? I have a 75 gal - and about 60lbs of LR - and mine looks "MUCH" fuller of rock. I also run a big bio-ball wet/dry - so i've overkilled on my bio media.
but i'm wondering if you simply don't have ENOUGH bio media to handle the bio load - so the 1 fish - perhaps combined w/other issues (lighting; algae growth, etc) led to the mini - cycle. 90 gal is large - but 10lbs of rock in a 90 gal supports the same amt of bio load as a 10lb rock in a 20gal tank.
Just a thought

 

[azonic]

You've raised good points....I'm gonna have to read it over and mull over it again....As far as the live rock....that's 70-75 pounds.

 

[azonic]

Just a little update for anyone who cares
Ammonia levels today are a little lower....still up around 8mg/l but it's better then last night's reading that was off the chart.
I did a 20 gallon water change today, changed filter floss on my filters and cleaned them out really good. The photoperiod for my lighting is reduced substantially....I had the actinics on for most of the day, and teh halides are on now for a couple hours for the corals. I couldn't get temporary housing for them at my LFS because he is bringing in a huge amount of stock for christmas since most suppliers are closing this week until sometime in early january so he has no spare room.
Most of the fish are acting a little more normal today, their breathing has returned to normal and they are out swimming a little bit.....except for my pair of gold stripe maroons who have been hiding behind the rockwork all day. I had my first casualty last night as a result of this crap, my cleaner shrimp died...It was not a molt, it was the whole shrimp. Hopefully everyone else will pull through, I'm planning another 20 gallon water change on friday or saturday depending on how well the tank gets rid of the ammonia on it's own.
Also, josh, what exactly is bryopris? You mentioned last night I had some....care to shed some light on this for me? Thanks

 

[thomas712]

Nasty stuff and darn hard to get rid of, Ive had friends that are still battling this stuff that have had it for months.
-->Order: Bryopsidales
-->Family: Bryopsidaceae
-->Genus: Bryopsis
Many times referred to as Sea Ferns, these soft, feathery, light to dark green hairlike alga grow in clumps and are usually introduced into an aquarium on live rock. Bryopsis sp. produce chemical defenses which can be toxic to many marine animals. Therefore, herbivorous animals that naturally eat algae will often avoid this alga species. Using natural predators for control is usually preferred by most hobbyists, but finding the right types of Hermit Crabs, Blennies, Zebrasoma & Ctenochaetus sp. Tangs or other animals that might eat Bryopsis can be a real challenge. As one example, many Sea Slugs of the Elysia sp. feed specifically on Bryopsis, but may starve to death after it is all gone! The point is, if you do decide to use reef janitors, do your research carefully! The life of many of these animals depend on their specific dietary food requirements, or lack of them. Using standard control methods can be a simpler solution for many hobbyists.
If you have it good luck, but really it is hard to tell from you pic if your truly have it.
Thomas

 

[azonic]

BigMac: I fail to see how an increase in tank temperature would cause an 12 mg/l ammonia spike...elaborate?

 

[arkman]

Azonic - I feel for you - good luck pulling through - keep up those changes...
I dont think the temp lift would directly cause the ammonia spike, but it could cause something to die off (like a bivalve in your rock you can't see?) which would pollute pretty badly. With an ammonia spike like that I can only tihnk that you have something big breaking down in there...
Is there any other reason for a big ammonia spike?