Sorry about your losses. I've got another stalk of xenia ready for ya when you are ready!!:up:
Tank melt down
- Thread starter ihaveadane
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I too have only mixed for 10 minutes with no ill effects for 6 years. You just need to get the salt dissolved, the temperature right, and sparge enough air through to get the water saturated with CO2 and oxygen (this only takes a few minutes).
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thanks for all the advice. I am still working on what happened.
My sister was home yesterday so it does not seem to be a power outage.
The temp was good at 78.8. I have seen it much higher and it takes several hours for the 125 gal to cool down so I doubt it was a temp spike.
PH was 8.0 before a 30 gal water change
Alkalinity (5) and calcium passed the little test kit (22 drops) ok not scientific but fell into the guide books parameters as it has since I started 7 months ago.
Since I use a simple test kit I really do not have any numbers. Every thing was the right "color" for a lack of a better phrase. (can you say rookie)
I have not had a fish die since I started the tank. All fish, Starfish, shrimp are accounted for. Xenia (largest coral in the tank) was looking great Wednesday night. That night I added calcium and "arm-n-hammer" as I have been forthe last month. Again for the forst time ina chile the calcium and Alk were what they needed to be
I verified that my sister did not spray or put anything near the tank . I did put down some carpet powder on Monday but was careful about any dust (again this is not the first time I have used the powder). Seems like it would have happened before Thursday if it was the powder.
The Xenia appear to be fried. adn a good size piece of monti looked bleached.
Oh well - I will keep looking. Thanks again for al the help
My sister was home yesterday so it does not seem to be a power outage.
The temp was good at 78.8. I have seen it much higher and it takes several hours for the 125 gal to cool down so I doubt it was a temp spike.
PH was 8.0 before a 30 gal water change
Alkalinity (5) and calcium passed the little test kit (22 drops) ok not scientific but fell into the guide books parameters as it has since I started 7 months ago.
Since I use a simple test kit I really do not have any numbers. Every thing was the right "color" for a lack of a better phrase. (can you say rookie)
I have not had a fish die since I started the tank. All fish, Starfish, shrimp are accounted for. Xenia (largest coral in the tank) was looking great Wednesday night. That night I added calcium and "arm-n-hammer" as I have been forthe last month. Again for the forst time ina chile the calcium and Alk were what they needed to be
I verified that my sister did not spray or put anything near the tank . I did put down some carpet powder on Monday but was careful about any dust (again this is not the first time I have used the powder). Seems like it would have happened before Thursday if it was the powder.
The Xenia appear to be fried. adn a good size piece of monti looked bleached.
Oh well - I will keep looking. Thanks again for al the help
Other than the Xenia and Monte, what else did you loose? That can be an indicator...
I have had Xenia crash once, and never found the cause (if I could, I'd do it again!.. sheesh those can grow!). I don't think I have had a Monte bleach overnight, but I have had them go fairly quickly. Usually it was after an extended period where I had a bad parameter.
What kind (brand) of Alk kit do you have?
On your additives, where do you add them (i.e. any chance a "concentrated" wave could have hit these? ) I am kind of reaching here...
Also, have you ever checked magnesium levels?
In any case, water changes should bring things back into balance. I would not give up on the Monte yet either... it might recover.
A bigger stretch... if the Xenia broke off/died, they might have hit or expelled something the Monte did not like.
Good luck!
-Mike
I have had Xenia crash once, and never found the cause (if I could, I'd do it again!.. sheesh those can grow!). I don't think I have had a Monte bleach overnight, but I have had them go fairly quickly. Usually it was after an extended period where I had a bad parameter.
What kind (brand) of Alk kit do you have?
On your additives, where do you add them (i.e. any chance a "concentrated" wave could have hit these? ) I am kind of reaching here...
Also, have you ever checked magnesium levels?
In any case, water changes should bring things back into balance. I would not give up on the Monte yet either... it might recover.
A bigger stretch... if the Xenia broke off/died, they might have hit or expelled something the Monte did not like.
Good luck!
-Mike
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Mike
You may have a good point. The Xenia took the biggest hit and the fall out may be that it "poinsoned" the rest. My mushrooms/ink spot/ and few others are not quite dead but look really bad. The Kenya tree has shrivelled up but I will wait and see on it. The Monti did bleach quickly. It was a vibrant green on Wenesday and now looks like parchment.
I plan on cleaning off the dead Xenia. The odor is killing me and the Skimmer can not keep up. Then do another 30 gal water change on Sunday.
You may have a good point. The Xenia took the biggest hit and the fall out may be that it "poinsoned" the rest. My mushrooms/ink spot/ and few others are not quite dead but look really bad. The Kenya tree has shrivelled up but I will wait and see on it. The Monti did bleach quickly. It was a vibrant green on Wenesday and now looks like parchment.
I plan on cleaning off the dead Xenia. The odor is killing me and the Skimmer can not keep up. Then do another 30 gal water change on Sunday.
Definitely get that xenia out of there! One thing I saw you mention was adding calcium and arm and hammer at the same time (or close to the same time?)--that can be a problem, and generally you are better off raising alk in the morning and calcium at night, or on separate days even. It is possible that adding the two close together can cause some precipitation and throw off your alk, pH, and calcium balance (though FWIW, from your description, it doesn't seem like that's the problem...)
Woah! Just saw this... Yes, get anything dead out immediately, especially soft stuff like Xenia! If the tank smells bad, then there is a good chance you still have a problem, probably an ammonia spike. Swap out as much water as you can as soon as you can (don't know your tank volume and other details, and that has an impact on how well the tank can absorb problems). Vacuum out the dead stuff , and scrape the rest. While the fish are alive, they may be under significant stress and that leads to other problems. Do you have any hermits? They like to cleanup the rock after a "scrape off", in my experience.
Good luck!
-Mike
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I think I discovered the issue that caused all my Xenia to die , my Monti to bleach and all other Coral to look deathly ill. I have a carpet anemone that used to sit right next to the Xenia (no issues) but then he took a trip and I could not see him. After the disaster I found him in my sump. So after talking to Kevin (BTW thanks for the insight) it seems the Carpet my have worked his way up my overflow and touched my Monti before working his way into my overflow pipe. His is a descent size so that is what caused my water flow to not be right and I am guessing the stress of the 3-4' pipe/hose journey causes the carpet to release some toxins.
Everything else looks to be coming back in line. Water parameters are good. Water is clear and flowing well. Thanks to all for the help. I will wait a few weeks then look to replace the Xenia and Monti - and hopefully all else will recover will little long term effects.
Everything else looks to be coming back in line. Water parameters are good. Water is clear and flowing well. Thanks to all for the help. I will wait a few weeks then look to replace the Xenia and Monti - and hopefully all else will recover will little long term effects.
