tank crashed

[pimp2daizzo]

so i did a water change about 3 weeks ago and last night when i got home two fish where dead and then this morning the rest were...i cant think of what may have happened.

ph8.2
temp 78.3
nitrates 20-30 ppm
amo 0
alk 10 dkh
salt level 34ppm

[Blueline12]

That's pretty drastic. Doubt it had to do with a water change 3 weeks ago. Sounds like temperature issue or something getting into the tank a chemical. Your nitrates are high though even for fish. Maybe they spiked.

[rpjaws74]

did you move rock around and disturbed the sand bed? cause that will do it also

[drparker]

Not enough info. What is your maintenance schedule? What's the sand bed like? How old is it?

What else has changed or happened in the last 3 weeks. It looks like you added an Apex controller and Vortech pumps early last month.

An older sand bed can develop pockets of hydrogen sulfide. If a new fish, a dropped power head or new pair of Vortech pumps on high stirred up the sand bed and exposed one of these pockets it could cause a crash.

[pimp2daizzo]

Not enough info. What is your maintenance schedule? What's the sand bed like? How old is it?

What else has changed or happened in the last 3 weeks. It looks like you added an Apex controller and Vortech pumps early last month.

An older sand bed can develop pockets of hydrogen sulfide. If a new fish, a dropped power head or new pair of Vortech pumps on high stirred up the sand bed and exposed one of these pockets it could cause a crash.

this is a diff tank...thank god!. this is a fish only its been up for 5+ years and 50gallon it has a older skimmer rated up to a 150 g tank. and the sand is about a in thick. i change carbon every 3 weeks

[SushiGirl]

20 to 30 isn't high for fish.

[Blueline12]

20 to 30 isn't high for fish.

Maybe not for your fish but I do not let my fish live in that type of environment. It causes stress, heavy breathing and not good for overall health and longevity.

[pimp2daizzo]

should i just go a big water change and let it sit for a few weeks?

[Blueline12]

should i just go a big water change and let it sit for a few weeks?

I don't know that a big water change will solve your problem until we figure out what reall happened.

Do you have live rock? What test kits do you use? Did anyone spray anything near the tank recently?

Try running activated carbon to pull out any chemicals that may have gotten into it. Personally, I would pull the sand bed out since its 5 years old and start over.

[pimp2daizzo]

i did a water change today and change out the carbon i put rox carbon in and a new poly filter and turned up the skimmer a lil...im going to do a second water change next monday. should i siphon the sand or leave it alone?

[geaux xman]

was there any recent fish additions?

[pimp2daizzo]

nope

[geaux xman]

what were the fish that died? small-medium size fish? how many gallon system? when and what was the last fish that was added? do you QT your fish?

[pimp2daizzo]

last fish added 3 or 4 years back regal and yellow tang and royal gramma 70 gallon system

[littlec984]

are your test kits expired?? Try testing your parameters with a different kit

[pimp2daizzo]

i did i picked up a new red sea pro kit. im thining is had to do with the sand bed and cleaning it

[geaux xman]

any chance of contamination entering the tank?

kids around the house?

[pimp2daizzo]

good chance is in the wall and is had a weird non fishy smell to the water. thats y i put in the poly filter pad

[littlec984]

good chance is in the wall and is had a weird non fishy smell to the water. thats y i put in the poly filter pad

Do u have a open tank or is there a canopy??

[sslak]

Could it be an O2 issue? Any power failures that could have shut down circulation?

I know you have the other tank...but vortechs often have battery backups. Although it's odd that some of the fish were still alive and everything seemed normal...I guess power outage doesn't make sense, but O2 maybe?!? Somehow?

[pimp2daizzo]

everything died now...just a new and polyps left now...and no it closed in with glass

[SushiGirl]

Glass tops can cause oxygenation (O2) issues.

[Tat2demon]

I would never run glass tops. Especially with any kind of tangs.

[small alien]

Maybe not for your fish but I do not let my fish live in that type of environment. It causes stress, heavy breathing and not good for overall health and longevity.

Not at those levels. It's common for fowlrs to run way higher. Nitrates are not a huge issue for fish until they get really high. Like, oh, 80+.

[wildman926]

Glass tops can cause oxygenation (O2) issues.

Unless there is no sump, no skimmer, water touching the glass, and the top totally sealed making the tank a biosphere type environment, glass tops do not create O2 issues.

The op has stated that there is at least a skimmer, so that is a high dollar oxygenator.

It will be interesting to know what caused the die off. The smell was definitely the first indicator that something was wrong.

[Yurivd]

It can be any thing
I had a tank crach from fish food
That had a bacteria infection All my fish died
My shrimps was fine

[scooter86]

Has the TDS on yourRO water been checked recently?

[pimp2daizzo]

ya my tds runs 0...make sure of it for my sps tank and i calibrate my tds meter everytime i make up water

[EricSIny]

Are you running the same carbon in your fowlr and your sps? What's different between the 2 tanks that normally get replaced/topped off?

Im thinking some sort of disease/parasite...