Tank Disaster

[becca]

Ok so I have been in the hobby for about 2 years now. Started with a 29 gallon now have a 58 (been set up 1 year)and a 30 hex.
58 gallon: Several coral, 1 clown fish, cleaners, etc. live, sand, live rock. VHO 5.17 watts per gallon
29 gallon: 2 clown fish, live sand, and approx. 15 pounds of rock. no corals (this tank is fine. I hope I don't jinx it!)
1.024 salinity add supplments (iodine, calcium, etc)
Here is the deal:
Exactly one week ago I bought a cleaner pack from this site and a new baby clown from the LFS. Took them home and put it in the 58. (should have quarantined the baby I know but you know...)
Last saturday my corals started to look a bit down. I tested my water and all was well. Thought no big deal right? Well, it got worse from there. The corals looked worse the water got a yellow tent. Tested water everynight and nothing. Found one of the new peppermint sprimp dead on Tuesday when I got home from work so decided to change 10 gallons. Then, Wednesday morning found the new baby dead. .50 on the ammonia so changed 10 gallons more. I took the majority of my coral to my best friends house (she has 2 amazing tanks). My star polyp is looking really bad and my zoes aren't opening at all. The galaxia, frogspawn, and mushrooms are fine. My plate coral has not opened in about a week and half. This morning found my 1 1/2 year old clown dead.
I am dumbfounded as to what to do.:notsure:
I have always struggled with corals some. They have survived for the most part but not much other than that.
I am starting to see why people get out of this hobby. This morning I was ready to pack it up and sell it all.
Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, advise, etc. for me?
Anything is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Don't trash me too hard on the baby clown. I should not have put him in the big tank right away. I know that.
:nope:

 

[bseth90]

What type of plate coral? It could have being dying and slowly decaying, but it sounds like you were testing. Anything else missing? What type of water are you doing water changes with?

 

[becca]

it is a long tenacle plate. i have had it about 1 1/2. i have been worried about it....but didn't know what to do. Nothing else missing....
I have been using some DI water from Culligan. i have a RO/DI unit but I don't think it works right so I have been going this route until I can get it checked out. (been using this water about a month now.) i wondered if that might be the problem but I surely would have seen problems before now don't you think?

 

[xnikki118x]

Maybe if you took a sample of water to a trusted LFS he/she would be able to find something? What all are you testing for?

 

[becca]

ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, phosphates and iodine.
Need to test calcium but haven't lately. I need a new test kit. I am going to borrow one tonight and see what I come up with.

 

[bseth90]

The long tentacle plate coral are the hardest to keep. I just found that out myself. It started to die on me with a spike in some of my levels.

 

[thegrog]

Sounds to me like something died in your tank and is rotting somewhere out of sight. That would spike your ammonia almost overnight. Look for a dead snail.

 

[becca]

Thanks to everyone who tried to help. I tore the tank apart, couldn't find the problem and have decided to sell it. I give up on this hobby. I guess I'm just not cut out for it.
I have it posted to sell in the classifieds if anyone is interested.
Thanks again!

 

[hopkins6]

man, don't give up, have patience. eventually everything will go allright. maybe some other chemical got in the tank, like lysol or some other cleaner spray.

 

[becca]

You know, I have gone through the last month in my head over and over to what I could have done to the tank and I have come up empty handed everytime.
It is such a disappointment to me because I really wanted to do this. I just can't stand to kill one more coral!

 

[jam marine]

becca,i know how you feel but dont give up,its something most of us in this hobby have been through,if you really enjoy the hobby stick it out and dont give up :jumping:

 

[becca]

I really do enjoy it. I just wish I was better at it! It's very hard for me to understand why everything went south when there is no obvious answer. I am an analytical person can you tell!
I still have the 30 gallon hex with my two clowns in it that are doing fine...so far! Knock on wood!

 

[57chev]

Becca dawlin, dont give up! We've all been through a disaster or two. :yes: One thing I'd recommend in the future that I've done thats easier to do with smaller tanks, is that when the tank starts to crash rapidly do masive water changes 50 percent or so. I always keep a good sized drum with a pump and heater mixed up just for water changes. The best protien skimmer you can aford is the next thing. The one thing I'll say in benifit of the bioball type sump systems is that they seem to be able to handle a massive spikes in No2 and Nh4 compared to systems with only live rock and a skimmer. Can you imagine how clean your system would be if you did water changes every day, you'd hardly need to cycle your tank in some aspects. Thats the advantage that lfs have over most hobbiest, the fish and coral are always getting a fresh mix of good water! Hence the excuse for having a massive aquarium, the more water you have whether it be a big tank, or adding a sump or fuge, the less contaminated your water becomes with decay.

 

[funkyman]

Don't let the hobby get the best of you. Stick with it and kick it's ***!!!

:jumping:

 

[sammiefish]

Yellow tint to the water.... suggests to me that there is a phenol accumulation... probably among other organics... Do you use carbon in your filtration system? If not I would try some... I bet it will clear your water up.
I dont really see that you did anything "wrong" at all... maybe adding more than one thing at once was just too much for your particular tank to handle at that particular time...
Feed less... maybe even every other day... and use some carbon... and change some water, maybe 10% once or twice a week for a few weeks.... again, I bet things improve. (BTW, how often do you do water changes and when you do how much do you change?)
let us know how it goes!!!

 

[becca]

I do use carbon and had been using it the last few days before I took everything out but it didn't seem to help. It was new carbon too. I also have changed it out and have been running it ever since.
I changed out 65% of my water now with everything out of it and finally it looks like it should. Crystal clear water. Too bad everything is already dead or been moved! I am scared to death to try to put anything else back into it. Almost all of the crabs, shrimp, and snails have died that I bought from this site. What a waste of $100 bucks!
I use to feed about everyday. The poor little guys looked starved!!
:joy:
I do water changes about every other week. Usually about 5-10%.
Thank you for the help!

 

[sheracr123]

Becca,
Seems like the problems started after you brought home your new baby clown. (I have added things without qt my self). How did you acclimate him? I mean, I am wondering if there may have been some chemicals in the LFS's water, and if all the water in the bag went into your tank. If there was copper in their water, maybe it killed something in the tank which caused the ammonia spike.
Just a thought...

 

[sammiefish]

excellent point sherac

 

[becca]

I got very little if any water from the LSF in my tank. (you always think that though don't we!) Although that wouldn't surprise me in the least if it had something in it. We don't really have a decent LSF here so no telling what is in their tanks. I have bought things from him in the past and never had a problem like this. First time for everything though right?!

 

[mn1467]

I wouldn't give up. I can go on and on about mistakes, tanks that I destroyed just keep trying and asking questions I finally got my reef up and going just take it slow