Shutting powerheads off caused deaths???

[saltfisher]

Ok I woke up this morning and found a shrimp dead and my yellow tang dead .
My 55 gal tank has no water parameters problems .
I have Tons of xenia and corals and live rock
leather , mushrooms ect.
Only fish is a maroon clown in there the only surviver
The only thing I did last night was that I shut down my powerheads and skimmer .
I shut down my skimmer before and never had a problem before.

So My question how did this happen I have
a star serpent kind of on the large side
and lots of bristle worms some large ones.
also lots of hermit crabs .
Could they have killed my fish ?

Thanks any good comments will help

 

[olgakurt]

I would guess you didn't have enough oxygen exchange with things off
_________________
Bushmaster 2000

 

[liquid]

Yup, you killed your gas exchange by turning off both your skimmer and all your powerheads. Your O2 plummetted and suffocated your tang and possibly your shrimp.

This may seem like a dumb question, but why in the world did you turn off all your powerheads and skimmer overnight?! That's what makes no sense to me...

liquid

 

[Tremelle]

I second that. From what you stated about your setup, your skimmer was your main source for oxygen exchange and when turned off you basically had only the water surface for oxygen exchange. Then that was compounded by the fact you turned off the circulation powerheads which did not cause the water surface to be broken for a good exchange. If you were to turn off the skimmer again in the future, point a powerhead towards the water surface to promote more oxygen exchange at the water surface with turbulances.

Sorry to hear about your lost.

 

[2poor2reef]

What circulation did you leave on? If you shut down all your water movement then you will definitely suffocate your fish IMO.

 

[saltfisher]

Wow I did not think that by shutting them off
for a short time over night would cause probems with oxygen that quick ...
Quess I learned a lesson here.

I thought that maybe a calm reef after putting in some ESV planton in would help feed some corals that may not get some when my power heads are on .

Well Thanks guys for explaining this make cents now and cost me $$$$$$$$$$$$


Jim

[ October 17, 2001: Message edited by: saltfisher ]

 

[Anemone]

Jim,

You also compounded the oxygen-supply problem by feeding the tank. Bacterial action on the planktonic food could rapidly exhaust the oxygen in the water, causing the death of your most active fish, which would cause more bacterial action on the dead fish, thereby reducing the oxygen even more. If I were you, I'd check the ammonia levels in your tank daily for the next two weeks, just to make sure you haven't impacted your biofilter bacteria by the low oxygen levels, and thereby going through a mini-cycle.

Kevin

 

[wnfaknd]

your clown survived cause those fish are very very hardy. you can put him thru hell and he will still come out of it

 

[saltfisher]

Thanks again Guys I will check my amonia levels all my corals are all doing well

Jim