dead tank

[bre's dad]

I just moved an established (up 1.5 yr) 75 into a 120. Moved filter, media, substrate (less than 1" thick), water. Added more substrate. About a month later, I went down one morning to find everything dead. No signs of stress, disease or trama. They have been eating. There was a slippery dick wrasse & a domino damsel. Had a lionfish, but last him earlier in the week. He stopped eating about 3 days earlier. Other than that, all has been well. No ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spikes. No temperature spikes or anything abnormal. Any ideas? PH & spec grav. are normal. THey are the day before. Filtration is from a Fluval 404 & Quicksand 2 flulidizedbed filter. Any ideas?

At this point, I'm dumping all the water & letting the sand dry out. The sand filter is being replaced with a wet/dry (homemade.) Though I don't blame the sand filter for loosing the tank, its getting replaced anyway...

 

[FishyMel]

Hmmm....I would have to suspect that you must have had something change. It seems like it could have been a sharp ammonia spike due to die off, imediately after you moved the setup. Did you test daily? It does seem odd that it took a month before you noticed a problem. I would expect the nitrogen problems to come immediately after the move. For the new water, did you use R/O same as your usual water, or was it different water. Sometimes, there can be immeasurable changes with different water sources. That is all, I can think of. Sorry it happened though. It is always so sad

 

[bre's dad]

I just use tap water (RO filter is on the list, but low). I use the same water in my reef, and I've seen no trouble with it. I test every 3-4 days in that tank. I saw a small spike when I moved everyone into the new tank, but nothing unexpected. Maybe the salt water gods were angered by something.

 

[jackdp]

Is it possible that the tank could have been contaminated by a chemical agent or aerosol fumes...household cleaners, hairspray, paintfumes etc. Something like that could cause an overnight kill off if enough of the stuff got in the water. Just a thought.

 

[bre's dad]

Its possible I guess. My only problem is that my reef is sitting about 6 feet away, but it wasn't affected.

 

[lando]

sorry to hear about the tank. I have no idea of what could have gone wrong. Sounds like you did everything right. I would let the tank be for 6 to 8 weeks while you onitor levels and do water changes. Then maybe slowly start to add a fish or two and see how thy do. Good Luck! Lando

 

[ogden10]

Was the 120 a new tank? Maybe there was a problem with the tank before the move?

Just a thought