Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
Oh man, I am so sorry for the loss of your fish!!
I have no guess as to what happened, but I feel your pain! I can't even begin to understand what could kill the fish that have been in a tank for a year or so, and yet not newly introduced fish.
 

Pseudo

OG Member
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
185   0   0
What kind of epoxy did you use? Some epoxies have arsenic, lead, copper and other elements not good for reef tanks. I always use even reef safe epoxy outside of my tank (making rock structures and large frags) But always use super glue for regular mounting.

Also if you replaced your bio-pellets (large amount) in one shot it could deplete oxygen in the tank quickly If your tank isn't getting adequate circulation. That is always a possibility.

HTH
 

KathyC

Moderator
Location
Barnum Island
Rating - 100%
200   0   0
Could you clarify the timeline from the beginning of the issue please?
Start with the day you brought the new coral/fish home.
Then the day the fish died (did they all die in 1 day/within hours?)
How were they behaving just prior to their deaths?
The day you changed the biopellets?

If it was a drop in O2, I'm having trouble with the fact that ONLY his original fish died. That's too much of a coincidence imo.
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
Got home by 1:30 Sunday, started the acclimation. I don't recall if I had released the new fish yet but I don't think I did yet Before replacing pellets. I do know I replaced the pellets around 3:00. So I don't think the fish were in the tank just sitting in the container (the kind the pet shop use to catch fish can't recall what it's actually called) so anyway at this point I was placing the coral where I wanted them to be using aqua putty I did remove the frags off the plugs and I also split the toadstool in two because it had multiple heads and I wanted to spread them out. But I have already done this without problems or deaths to coral or fish at this time I did spot something in my tank that looks like fish eggs and that's when I noticed my wrasse was no himself I thought it was because I cleaned the glass to see better by 8:00 all four where dead. Remember it was Father's Day so I was busy doing other things as well. I'm leading more towards the pellets though hope this was helpful
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
Oh well now my tangs are dead all healthy fish. I'm leaning in the direction of the bioreactor so since I haven't anymore fish in my tank (but the damsels) I took it off line and just plan on monitoring nitrates to see how fast they rise before my sechuled water change. At least my coral didn't die. I don't think I would have been able to handle that and may have led me astray from the hobby altogether. Better luck next time. Oh anybody is wondering why I was running a bioreactor is because I was having trouble controlling nitrate it was rising to high to fast. It was rizing at 10 ppm every week
 

peteyboyny

Advanced Reefer
Location
Rocky Point, NY
Rating - 100%
63   0   0
Oh anybody is wondering why I was running a bioreactor is because I was having trouble controlling nitrate it was rising to high to fast. It was rizing at 10 ppm every week
Then you should do water changes WEEKLY, not MONTHLY.

IMO, you added too many fish at once and/or the epoxy you used. I only use krazy glue/super glue gel to attach coral frags.
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
I was doing 20 gallon water changes bi-weekly. So I thought that was more than enough for a 55 gallon. But the nitrates just continued to rise rapidly. I had to do something because doing water changes weekly is just not a option for me.
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
So what to do now? Bioreactor off-line I put the Gfo reactor on-line and I will do a water change next week as per my schedule. I don't have any nitrate in the system so I'm curious as to see if they will rise before the water change and if they do (in time) do I put the bioreactor back on-line and how do I do that safely?
 
Last edited:

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
Danny, I don't recall the answer to the following.
Are you using Tap water? If yes; Please stop! Worse thing for any SW reef tank is using tap water.:(
Do you rinse all the foods before you feed, and how much you were feeding for how many fish?
Are there any other additives that you may be dosing that could possibly be polluting your tank?
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
Ro only. And I rinse all frozen foods. I try and not to overfeed. But I mix it up one day I'll use seaweed and frozen the next I'll feed dryed and seaweed. I alway try to feed twice a day.
 

Imbarrie

PADI Dive Inst
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
61   0   0
You do not need a quarantine tank in this hobby.
But you will open yourself to a few common problems if you do not dip everything.

The problem with Q tanks is to do this correctly you need to have two full Q tanks and you would need to have a schedule of how long things live in them. If you interrupt the schedule with a new addition you will have to start all over again.

Have you ruled anything out yet?
Could this be a problem with stray voltage or something out of the blue like that?
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
No I have ground probe. Everything is leading me back to the bioreactor. After one day of taking bio off-line my coral look fuller & look to be opening more today. I'll know more tomorrow if it was maybe the bio. Also keep forget to mention my chato browned out on me while this was going on. So that's another thing I'll be watching.
 

oh207

Advanced Reefer
Apex Freak
Location
Amityville, NY
Rating - 100%
78   0   0
Sorry to read about your loss. This is scary and is a nightmare come true. Hopefully you can get to the root cause.
I read the entire thread just so I can learn myself. I'm following to learn the outcome.
 

64Ivy

Experienced Reefer
Location
Greenwich, CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You might try running a Poly-Pad for a day or two and see if it picks up anything. You think maybe the LFS would use any copper to treat their fish? The smallest amount could totally nuke your bacterial bed and pretty much cause your tank to begin a cycle...which damsels could possibly live through. Grasping at straws here but...
 

Dannyboy11222

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
36   0   0
I did switch from brightwell mag to kent tech m mag because no one carries brightwell products around here but I don't think that did it. About the copper I dought it because I don't have any deaths in corals. But I'll ask.
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top