The worst was/is yet to come

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Hara

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Messages
7,224
Location
Louisiana
Whatever is going on with our water parameters, it seems that the serpent star deaths were just the beginning. I did a water change yesterday and 40 minutes later, all the inverts and my flame angel were dieing. This evening we pulled out every snail, crab, starfish, queen conch that we had. all dead. The flame angel had looked like it might pull through, but did not. The naso tang died the day before, the rabbitfish and lawnmower blennie started swimming at top speed, crashing into things, the rabbit cleared the tank but is now back in it and sorta ok. The lawnmower blennie got moved to a 10 gallon quarantine tank.

I am sure that the creatures that died overnight, did not help the situation any, but we think we have gotten them all out of the tank.

All in all, so far, forgetting emotional attachment, we have lost about 300.00 in inverts and fish.
 
The problem I'm having with nailing down what the problem is...is that the corals seem uneffected. It is effecting the fish and mobile inverts only. Hara and I discussed the possibility of the Sea Apple expelling some of it's guts, but it seems to me if it were a toxin, the corals would be the first to be effected not the last. I am at a loss.
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well water....but...all the other saltwater tanks got a water change on Friday and they are fine. The seahorses would have been toast...the carpet anemone in the 55 would have been showing some ill effects I think. They are doing well.
 
is it possible that a poison got into the water like windex or something?
 
not possible Lor..I clean glass and stuff with vinegar water. We even covered the fact i do not wear perfume, nail polish or hand lotions....no pesticides are anywhere and I had not added any reef chemicals in a month or more.
 
I'm assuming there's no sulfur smells or you would have mentioned it. What i'm thinking is if you're possibly stirring something up from the DSB when you add the water during your water change? Or could there be a dead spot (possibly a PH quit?) in the tank that is an amonia factory that gets disturbed when you add the water?

what were water test levels immediatly after the change?
 
One thought crosses my mind. Could your water be getting a electrical charge from something. check all your equipment for bare wires. A small electrical charge can do serious damage to fish and inverts, but I have seen corals live through it . I know because a freind of mines light fell in his tank and shorted out. Lots of casualties. Hope you find your problem.
 
We did check for electrical malfunctions and found nothing.
Right now, the ammonia values are negligible, the nitrites are at 0.8
and the nitrates are 110 or higher.
Do you think we should do another water change at this point?
My eel seems like he is suffering.
 
Is this in your tank with the black sand? If so oh no my LFS guy might have been right, when we were pricing around for the black sand he had said he wouldn't recommend the black sand because it is high in nitrites, now I don't know if he is right about that, but since we just put ours together I hope it doesn't come to that.

I'm sorry for your loss Hara, hope it's not the sand. :(
 
I would like to hear his theory on that. I dont think sand can produce nitrates. Unless there is something in the sand that hinders the growth of denitrifing bacteria. Other than that it would be the grain size. However I know Hara know enough that she would not purchase too large of a grain size to house the fauna.
 
I dont think sand can produce nitrates.
Anything, just about, can contain nitrates or nitrites or ammonia. The thing is, how does it release it, does it leach slowly back in, does it require another cheical reaction to liberate it? etc...
 
The lionfish has little red spots, like under the skin blood blisters where each of his spines attaches....does this give anyone a clue? Nitrate poisoning do this?
 
possible clue

wow... those nitrAtes are really high (aren't they? if 110 isn't high then why have I been fretting over readings in the 20s!! lol)

I found something that may offer a clue:
According to this page, http://puffernet.tripod.com/nitrate-p.html,over at puffer-net :
Plant fertilizers may also raise the nitrate levels to toxicity.
You mentioned you are using well water. Do you live in an agricultural area? Spring has sprung and perhaps a near-by farm has used a new fertilizer that has leached it's way into your well water supply...

hmmm but then you'd see this issue in all of your tank's wouldn't you? Have you tested your change water before adding it to the tank?
 
The well water tests 0 for everything, including phosphates and iron, both chelated and non chelated
 
Wow, glad to hear about the sand, as you know we didn't listen to the LFS guy, we went for the black sand also, it's still cycling with 44 pounds of live rock. I hope you find out what is happening :cry:
 
Are you using a commercial denitrification process, like sulphur beads or deniballs?
I had exactly the same problem some time ago and I found that my denitrifier had stopped working (as the nitrates were at 0), which prompted the denitrifier to turn into a hydrogen sulphide factory. Two or three drips later and all the fish were dead in the space of 15 minutes (except one clowm), even despite an emergency 60% water change. An expensive lesson!!

Have you noticed any funny smells lately?

Pioneer
 
Two or three drips later and all the fish were dead in the space of 15 minutes (except one clowm), even despite an emergency 60% water change. An expensive lesson!!

Pioneer, was there any effect on the corals? This is where my problem comes in, there are several possible issues, but all the issues I might come up with, would effect the corals. So far this is a mobile invert and fish problem, the corals in Hara's tank are fine.
 
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