Tank crash

[mncspradlin]

Hello,
I haven't posted in quite some time because my reef was doing great. That is until 2 weeks ago.

My 10"diameter mushroom leather shrunk. I thought it was just sloughing as it did occasionally so I didn't pay it much attention. A few days later my shrooms and zoes started to get gummy. Within a week my leather completely melted, when I cut the rest of it off the rock it smelled terrible. All of my snails and hermits died, my coral banded shrimp died also. I have lost almost every softie I had. My long tentacle anemone died but my tube anemone did just fine.

My fish all survived with no issues at all.

Since then I have done massive water changes adding up to about 150% of the total galonage of the tank and sump. During this whole thing none of my parameters did anything. ph 8.2, alk 9dkh, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, phos 0. My protein skimmer skimmed out tons of skimmate and now is finally back to normal.

Currently my tank looks to have stabelized and I have added some shrooms with no ill effects. I also added a BTA for my clown to have a home. That also looks fine. I just added 100 certh and 100 nassarius snails.

After all of this: here is my question. I now have a hair algae outbreak and think it is because I lost all of my cleaner crew. I currently have no hermit crabs and want to know if I need to replace them. It seemed all they did was kill my snails before this.

Also: does anyone have any idea what happened to my tank. Do leathers just kick off like that and take the whole tank with them?

Thanks

 

[melosu58]

leathers engage in a chemical warfare when they feel threatened. Frequent weekly or bi weekly PWC`s will usually take care of it. How often were you doing PWC`S before the crash. Read this for the algea problem.

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[mncspradlin]

Yeah I already read that. I understand how to get rid of it but want to know if I should replace the hermits or will the snails eat it?

I do a water change about every 2 weeks and I change about 15 gallons at a time.

 

[louiseberry]

hi, Ijust have hermits,and emerald crabs, no snails.Ive heard get crabs or snails, because the crabs will mess with your snails. The emeralds do a kick butt keeping the tank clean. louiseberry

 

[roka64]

I am not a big fan of hermits, so I would say get a few. They will attack snails for both food and their shells.