Tank wiped out

[clown-keeper99]

My tank was just wiped out
all thats left is a few hermitcrabs and my coral frag
what should I do?
and there are 1000+ bristle worms in my tank

 

[anti]

What all was in the tank? What wiped it out?

 

[dmanatee]

I know everyone will ask you this, but what are all the parameter. PH, ammonia,Nitrate,Nitrite, Alkalinity, Specific gravity/salitinty, Temperature. Also, type of water. Are you running carbon?
Also an easy trick for ridding yourself of bristle worms. Get your self an extreamly cheep pair of pantyhose and inside one of the feet add a tiny amount of frozen food into it, then chop the foot off. Weight a rock over the material. The bristle worms will stick to the fabric and you can just remove the lot.
Just a guess, but if the hermits and coral are alive, then there is still hope

 

[clown-keeper99]

an amonia spike wiped out the fish
my ro unit did not produce water fast enough to replace water afterI treated my tank with red slime remover.
the fish that was in my tank were:
1 flame angel
1 mooron clown
1 false perc. clown
2 three stripe damsels
1 sixline wrasse
1 valintini puffer
1 trible blenny
1 yellow tang

 

[deejeff442]

you can use tap water in a pinch.still what was the ammonia reading.it is very rare that a tank just crashes.something die and sit in there for a while?how old is the tank?

 

[clown-keeper99]

The tank in total is about 4-5 years old
I dont have a test for ammonia
but if the water looks like milk and smell like drain cleaner I think thats alot of ammonia

 

[deejeff442]

was there an anemone in the tank?

 

[clown-keeper99]

not that I'm aware of

 

[deejeff442]

that is alot of fish for a 55 gallon.not saying that is it if the tank has been running for years but all that bioload in a 55 aint good.i ask about the anenome because if they get caught in a ph they will die and turn the tank white.even an ammonia spike wont turn the tank white like that.i have never used slime remover so dont know exactly what that will do to a tank.kinda lost on this one .water readings would certainly help.what do you have for live rock and other filtering?
do you run carbon?

 

[flower]

RedX or slime remover sucks the air out of the tank and suffocates everything if you over do it. Which it sounds like you did. I have 7 fish in my 90g, so that many fish in a 55g is/was too many. Phosphates were probably off the roof high. The dying critters would cause the ammonia spike.

If you added slime remover enough for a 55g and didn't take into account the rock and such you had less water than you think. Also if you added it again before a water change..Always follow instructions to the letter when you use something like that.

You need to restart....rinse your rock and sand in saltwater. Replace your old water with new saltwater. The extra bristle worms are your best defense against dying material in the tank, they will clean it up.

 

[smartorl]

I wouldn't totally restart but I would regroup.
I would do several massive daily water changes. I would run carbon immediately if you aren't already. Depending on the filtration you have, I would probably start running a HOB filter for a boost with mechancial filtration and have every available powerhead in that tank, having at least one directed at the surface to make water aggitation which will allow oxygen exchange, the HOB will also help with this.
With a little patience and a little diligence, you should be able to pull it back into normal parameters.
I would leave the bristleworms for now, allow them to assist with the reestablishment, then use the little trick dmanatee told you about to get rid of them.

 

[cam78]

This sucks!! So sorry to hear this. My friend used some algae-gone stuff a while back. It got rid of the algae alright, including everything he had in his tank. These chemicals do a lot of harm and I would recommend everyone to stay clear of them.

 

[florida joe]

What was the time frame from the time your tank was ok until you lost your fish? Were they all dead at the same time. I don’t think it was the slime remover. I also think you would have to compromise your bio filtration big time to get an ammonia spike in a tank up and running for years with that bio load