Water change-everything dead

[gregarlington]

I finally got my new wet/dry filter and decided to hook it up last night and did a small 5% water change and added some new (DI+salt mixed for 1 day) to the sump and fired it up. Within a matter of minutes and over the course of the next hour or so all(most) of the fish began to suffer violent deaths, my mushrooms shriveled up, my finger leather shrank and turned this grayish color and assorted other polys retreated. My bubble tip shrank up and my condy as well. They had all looked sooooooo healthy in the morning. I am at a loss as to what may have happened. I bought my DI the same place I always buy it, the filter was sealed in a plastic wrap, I used the same salt, airated the water for a long time after getting it to the desired salinity(I keep my tanks at 1.024). PH is 8.2, ammonia-0, trites-0, trates-40. The whole reason for doing this wet dry is that I also added at the same time a refugium with some live algae(the algae looks great visually)caulerpa and gracelaria(sp?). Does anyone have any idea what I can do to remedy this situation.
I do have a couple of survivors, I had a small 5 gallon up and running that I had bought for my Royal Gramma because when i got her my wrass nearly killed her the first day. I tried to catch all the fish I could and add them with Gramma but as of now only my clown and a damsel look good(and better than they did, pretty active now). Also my cleaner shrimp are still in the main tank and seem to be fine.
ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS WHAT COULD HAVE KILLED EVERYTHING SO FAST??? WHAT SHOULD I DO???

 

[daniel411]

I wonder why the cleaner shrimp survived better off than all of the fish?

 

[buzz]

You didn't by chance use Instant Ocean salt mix, did you?
Ohhhhh TTTThhhhoooommmmmaaaasss!!!!!
Could have been a bad batch of salt mix. There seem to be cases of this going around right now.

 

[gregarlington]

Yeah the cleaners shock me too, I thought that shrimp were some of the most sensitive. I left out that there are also 2 camel shrimp and a banded coral shrimp which are still moving about as usual. And one more detail, my brain(coral) got this weird film over it almost immediately, the film is coming off now and it kinda looks ok, but I dont have much hope. My little xenias shriveled so bad

 

[gregarlington]

It is Instant ocean. The same pack I used for my last water change. One more detail, I used the heater from the main tank to heat the mix water and noticed that when i returned the heater to the main tank, the coralline algae had turned this frosty orange color, it is usually pink.

 

[broomer5]

What exact equipment did you add ?
wet/dry we know
return pump ?
filter media / bioballs ?
hoses ?
tubing ?
filter sponges ?
overflow ?
anything look unusual with these components ?

 

[gregarlington]

It is an aqua clear wet/dry, package deal that came with all the tubing and overflow box and bio balls(sealed together) It looks fine all brand new. I used a brand new rio 2100 pump, also new in the box. The refugium was a cpr in tank, sealed with pump inside.

 

[infalable]

Do you have any of the water left prior to adding the salt? Maybe test the water if you can.

 

[buzz]

Sorry...I focused in on the water change alone, but yes, if this happened just after adding that equipment, Broomer's questions are important.
Do you have a grounding probe? Is it possible that one or more of those pumps is discharging a high dose of electricity?
Shut down the pumps, and see if you notice a difference.

 

[gregarlington]

yes i do, but test for what, chlorine?

 

[broomer5]

without more information - I suspect the Rio2100
If you want to - unplug the Rio2100
Take it out - smell it - inspect it
Place it in a bucket of water and plug it in.
Unplug and plug it back a few times.
Does it start right up each time ?
Is there anything unusual looking with it ?
I've heard some real horror stories from people using these pumps.
Be careful if it has a short too - electrically speaking

 

[gregarlington]

No grounding probe, where do you get one, i have always looked as i heard that tangs especially were sensitive to it(and i loved my little tang)

 

[gregarlington]

so you think loose current from the 2100??

 

[buzz]

Your LFS should have them. They are cheap - under $15 usually.
But I would still shut those pumps down and see if there is a difference. If there is a fault in the pump that is letting that much electricity into the water, a grounding probe alone won't fix the problem. That pump will need to be swapped out.

 

[beaslbob]

you said you were starting up a new wet/dry. Are You sure this isn't just a reaction to new circulation in the tank? At anyrate I hope everything settles down soon. Also could have been some type of chemicals on the new system.

 

[broomer5]

it could be the pump - or something else - not sure

 

[gregarlington]

Anyone have some advice on what to do now though? My plan was to dump the DI I have left and go get more from another very reputable but overpriced local LFS and do a large water change. I guess I can buy another pump, but those things are$$$ when they are that size and this wt/dry was kind of a splurge for me.

 

[gregarlington]

One more question, if there is enough electricity in the tank to kill everything wouldnt you sense it or are they just really that sensitive. I know there is something wrong, the Angel and my Cardinal were trying to jump out. And the cardinal was always so mellow.

 

[broomer5]

I would remove that Rio2100 for sure.
After it's been removed - see if things improve short term.
Any better ?

 

[gregarlington]

The pump seems fine to me start up right away, but if rios are bad...hmm. I would just hate to replace it and find out that wasnt the problem and those mags are really $$$$$. But the thing is I had also used this new power head to mix my water, and like I said, the coralline on my heater turned orange