Tank Disaster!! Coral Gone! (PICS)

[ellisz]

Man that is horrible news Rev. That is very weird how it came on so fast. Kind of scary to think that could happen.

When you are ready for more corals, let me know I will donate what ever I have to give.

 

[BillyZ]

My sincerest condolences rev.

A lot of corals are troopers. if things aren't toxic, they'll close up and wait for better conditions. Don't lose faith, keep your chin up and don't faulter.


Phyl's comment about a cuke got me to thinking. even without a cuke, we all know many corals can go postal if they come in contact with each other. Can you list for us all the corals you have? Maybe someone here will recognize one of them as agressive.

If you want to work on the aggressive theory, do a few more water changes as suggested by someone else above. I would also crank up a protien skimmer and drop in a fresh bag of GAC. This are all things that "won't hurt" even if it's not a toxicity issue.

Don't worry Rev, you've got us all behind you, as always!

 

[Boxster]

this really hurts. Revhtree, there is nothng you can do to save this from happening, so don't blame yourself too much. We can help you to bring back the tank again. At least your fish survived.

My thinking is that it is something in the air. Did someone spray something around the tanks? Do you draw air from outside?

 

[revhtree]

Wow! You guys are awesome. You really dont know what a few words written on a forum can really touch someones heart. I am thankful for all of you.

Well update. The cloudiness is about gone. I have yet to have an ammonia or Nitrite spike. I had no cukes in there, and I really believe tht something killed the xenia and it started a chain reaction. The pictures do not show all the xenia that was in there.

I put a few corals that were so, so in the prop tank to see if they would make it. The reason I did this is that my pride and joy are my zoa colonies and I could not remove them. I didnt want anything else fouling up the water. Since I have removed all the xenia, the tank water does not smell, the house does not smell, and everything seems to be looking better.

Last night the feeder tent were out on both sets of Candy Corals, so they are ok I think. The clam is good, all fish are fine. Star fish are good. I even seen a baby serpant today for the first time about the size of a small apple. The toadstool is going to make it I think, the bubble coral has alot of its bubbles out, they are smaller,but there out. The zoa colonies are still shut tight, but everyones in a while I see some color from some poylps. I am hoping they make it. Since most of my verts and inverts lived, that really makes acompeling argument that this did have to do with some type of coral melt down. I lost all my cleaner shrimp except for one.

The tank still looks very dull, but I am hoping for the best. I am feeling a whole lot better today. I am going to use this opportunity to make my coral stocking list better in order to house more sps. I lost a Hairy Millipora, Green Slimer, and a Baby Blue tipped acro that I had just gotten that day. I tried to give them away, but it was too late.

I really feel I had a xenia crash. I really appreciate all your support, I will keep you all up to date as I rebuild......

 

[Jchillin]

David...this news is far better than I expected. I was hoping for the best and it seems that you will be able to recover.

 

[demodiki]

I would bet that you had alot of tank warfare going on....sps, lps, shrooms and zoas...and it finally got to your xenia maybe and that's what caused the crash. We all love the garden-coral look but it's just a matter of time before it goes postal on us.

I speak from sad experience.

Keep your chin up and maybe rethink the stocking plan is my advice.

 

[AndyH5512]

Sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like things might be looking up for you, and I hope everything works out.

 

[zenn]

that sucks dude. I hope you don't get frustrated and leave the hobby.

 

[runway1]

If we all had to guess, what would be the cause? Xenia death? I'm curious and I'm sure rev is as well.

Sorry, rev. Hang in there.

 

[StripesTheEel]

I've heard bad reviews about Xenia's causing big chain reaction meltdowns. When i decide to go reef.. many years away, I'll be sticking away from them.

Good luck with getting everything back up and running, it sounds like your well on your way, and as everyone has said, it will be bigger and better once its up and running again!

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[hcuellart]

So sad!!! This was a sad news Rev. Indeed your tank looked great, but I am sure you will make it look better. Can I ask a question though, how much carbon where you running in your tank and how often did you change it? Well one more, what skimmer are you running in your tank and how much skimmate did it take out daily before the crash?

Giving up in not the answer, these events are what give us a better understanding of this great bobby!

Good Luck!!

 

[aquafreak]

I sympathize with you. Hang in there and you'll be back on your feet in no time! ...similar things have happened when I lost power and breakers tripped -- lost my yellow tang....:-(

 

[greenmaji]

Rev. hows the tank holding up?
Hope things are getting better..
any update on if you got a DE filter or if AC has helped out yet?

 

[revhtree]

Well nothing has really changed except the water is clearer....

I did however find something that has added to the mystery...

Yesterday before the lights came on, I put my hand in the water and it seemed a bit cold. I pulled my heater from the bottom of the sump and it was blown up from the inside. The power chord was blown away from it and it was just hanging live in the sump. I have an auto top off so that is not what caused the heater to blow. When I picked it up black stuff poured out and it stank like something burnt would stink. I am wondering if this was the cause of the crash, or just a contributer. When I went to pull the chord out i got a nice jolt.

PS. My clam seems to be having a hard time right now as well...

 

[greenmaji]

Ouch.. live power in the tank.. that couldn't help at all.

 

[revhtree]

OK 1 + 1 has led me too the tank crash mystery! I told Steve S. about the heater and he said that was the main cause of the crash. As soon as he told me that something clicked and I remembered that my wife said that when she came home on Fiday the power was out to the tank. Well that Saturday morning when I got up is when I noticed the tank was heading south. The heater had blown up and flipped the breaker and I didnt even find it. So that nasty heater was sitting in the sump along with stray voltage for over a week...........

I have learned somthing very valuable from this experience.

I am very happy now though. At least I can move on with the tank! I did another water change last night and ran some new carbon. My tank will be better than ever!!!

 

[BillyZ]

Great to hear you've finaly found a cause! I've just had a heater explode on me recently as well. Much to my luck though it was only in a bucket of SW I was mixing for a change. I've been telling myself i need to replace the one in my main as well... just because its running around 5 years old.

 

[Gatorfreak]

Mystery solved!
I only have a heater in my tank for winter. Rev, being in GA you could probably get away with it too. My tank has been very stable at 79-80 degrees without a heater. I'm sure some will say I shouldn't be without a heater but, honestly, for most of the year there is just no way the temp is dropping below 78 unless my AC goes nuts and turns my house into a giant fridge. (Note: I'm in FL)

 

[pelochas]

same here in Houston, TX

is there a safer, unbreakable heater?

would it be better if the heater were to be placed in the sump instead of main tank?

 

[greenmaji]

they make titanium heaters, at least they wont crack..
they also sell grounding probes (Ive seen some DIY grounding probe projects online as well) they are mainly for stray current, I dont know how well they would handle the full current of exposed circuts in a blown heater..
in the sump or in the tank, this is just plain bad news 8O