was it Sabotage???

[tomato clown]

I have 2 tanks that were going greatup till last night when suddenly i noticed things going really wrong last night.
My 29 reef: my open brain looks like it is starting to deterriorate, and some shrooms are wilting away to nothing.
My 30 FOWLR: lost my mandarin goby and 2 snails last night, and now this morning lost a peppermint shrimp.
Now what I can't understand is all my levels are perfect in both tanks.
nitrates/nitrites = 0
ammonia = 0
ph = 8.2 and 8.4
calcium = 410 (in each)
salinity = a little high 1.024 and 1.025
contents of mt tanks are as follows....
29 REEF: 20lbs L/R, 2-3 in L/S, 4 gorgonians, 2 shroom rocks, 1 sponge, 1 black polyp, 1 tomato clown, and 1 clown trigger(he hasn't touched any corals)
30 FOWLR: 30lbs L/R, 3in L/S, 2 sponges, 1 Regal Tang
I'm going to have my lfs do some more tests today, but I want to know if it could be my tanks or maybe my daughters way of sabotaging them.
Dan

 

[treble]

Well the 29's Clown Trigger may be your problem, you might not of seen it, but he might have taken a bite...but dont go on it, its a guess obiously. In the 30, the Tangs are also known to very rarly nip at other stuff in your tank. You have a daughter that could have done it? Maybe some of the stuff fasinated her and she decided to take a net in or stick her hand in..?

 

[broomer5]

Very strange indeed to have both tanks go crappy on you the same night ....
Have you done anything differently to them lately, or changed your maintenance routine ?
Water changes ?
Change brand of salt ?
Move rock or stir up sand ?
Add any chemical additives ?
Add any new critters ?
Change top off water source ?
Reached into tank with some form of pollutants on your hands ?
Sprayed any insectacides, burned scented candles in the house ..etc ?
Very strange

 

[vkesu]

How old is the daughter? Kids (ok husbands too) don't always have clean hands when reaching into a tank...or maybe she tried to help by feeding or cleaning the tank? I keep my salinity at 1.025 all the time. I'd quickly add amquel to the tank.

 

[kelly]

Tomato Clown,
You may want to check the water temperature. There could have been a number of things that happened. The thermometers could have over heated your tank, or it could have quit working. One of your powerheads or heaters could be leaking electric in to the tank.
You know your children better than the rest of us. If they are young children, it could have been something on their hands if they play in the tanks. They could have dropped something in the tank. Hopefully it is not your children. I wish you the best of luck in resolving, and sorry to hear about your losses.
You may want to check to see if any of your supplements or food has spoiled. Check out what broomer5 had to say.
Again, sorry to hear the bad news, and best of luck figuring out what happened. You can also try the direct approach, ask your daughters if something happened by accident. Don't go in with an accusing attitude, it may be hard to get answers from them not matter what you do, I know from experience, I have five of them.
Kelly

 

[salisbury a d]

Someone said something about a little kid.
Make sure there is nothing like a penny in it. My 4 yr old neighbor once threw a penny in my tank but caught it in time that it did no damage.
Also your tanks are a little small for a trigger and a tang. They get big.
This might not be your problem and you might also know this already.
Gorgoinians skin is poisonous to corals and fish.
If the skin when it has been shedded lands on a coral it will kill it I have not only read that but read that after it killed a large colony of branch cualestrea.
When it sheds put it in a seperatate tank or siphon the skin away.
Adam

 

[tomato clown]

Its not the triggerfish or my tang, i have ruled these out because first off my tang is very shy, and after 3 months has grown friendly with the goby. When the goby died the tang acted very abnormal as if he was trying to say something was wrong....weird i know but thats my interpretation.
My daughter is 17, and a major B****. If she doesn't get her way someone will pay 1 way or another.
Everything is normal otherwise..temp's are good at 82*.
In the 29, it couldn't be my trigger nipping or anything because of the way this Brain is degenerating.... on the one part of it(the bad part) its turning a whitish color and all you can see are rows of what used to be the color rings around the mouth...the other 2 parts look great.
Salsbury,
I know about the size parimeters, thats why I bought my 120, in less than 6 months I plan on starting to get it ready. I had just read your post, so I didn't know about the gorgonians skin thing. Thats great to know, because there was alot of it a few days ago my wife shook off of 2 gorg's. What is a good syphoning tool for that task? I might be able to save this brain hopefuly by moving it into my smaller tank (3rd tank)
Dan
[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: Tomato Clown ]

 

[javajoe]

you might want to test for copper- especially if your daugther knows that copper is bad-- maybe she buried some pennies in your sand, or hid some in your rocks.....

 

[tomato clown]

Javajoe,
she doesn't know anything about these tanks and the copper thing. But I went ahead last night and searched for anything metal or unusual within the tanks and pumps. this morning I looked again just in case i may have missed something, but to no avail.
Dan

 

[javajoe]

dan...
hey it was worth a shot. I feel for you by the way- our best friends have a daughter like this, and MAN can she cause problems! she is older, 25 and lives at home, and she successfully ruined their christmas....
anyway- good luck figuring out what happend....
Joe

 

[fshhub]

one other very important question, last night we had a power outage, locally, and i was glad it did not affect us, but is it possible you may have had one cown there, these can ruin a tank too, esp. if you do not catch them(our one lfs, a friend), lost alot of fishes last ime they lost power
(just grabbing at air, but it could be a missing link in the mystery)

 

[josh]

Sorry to hear that, I would quickly do a carbon treatment and add a poly filter. Check the filter the next day and see what color it has changed to ( if at all ) that will rule out , hopefully, the really nasty aquarium killers. But I would not sit on the fence if you hope to save the tanks from whatever is going on. Also, I would do atleast a 10% water change to get things going back in the right direction.
GOOD LUCK
Josh

 

[tomato clown]

Well here is what I have done...
Last night I did a water change (about 40%)and removed the brain from my one tank. I'm assuming that it will be a loss, but have it in a smaller tank trying to do some rehabilitation. My second tank I changed about 25% of the water and removed some of the L/S (aragonite) and replaced it with new.
I also ran a fine netting through the water as to remove any sheddings from my gorg's.
fshhub, I have had the power problem before and thought ahead for those just in case times..I bought a surge protector from office depot (used for computers) it has a battery back-up built in it that will allow for 60 minutes of power loss. and Josh, good idea and I appreciate it, but I use carbon regularly ( i run it in my filter and change it weekly)
Dan