Algae/Bacteria Bloom killed most of my Fish on 365 gallon tank! How to proceed?

[JMSKI333]

Hello All,

As the title states, I had a bacteria/algea bloom take over my 6 month old system in a few hours yesterday, turning my water brown murky and killing most of my fish. I need help to decide how to move forward.

Yesterday morning, a few hours after I added a handful of frags, the tank started to get verycloudy. I wasn't initially alarmed because this has happened before. Seemingly, when I add new livestock to the tank the aquarium would get a little more cloudy for a day and then goes back to a very faint cloudiness. The system hasn't been crystal clear except for a day here and there since the initial cycle. I chalked this up to it still being a new fairly sterile system.

This time, it got worse than ever before. At a certain point I made the call to turn my lights off and adjusted my overflow box so the water was crashing to try and introduce more oxygen into the water. I also turned my skimmer up to try and oxygenate the water more that way as well.

24 hrs later I turn my lights on and the tank is back to its regular faint cloudy state that it's usually in. Only 3 of my 14 fish are accounted for. I am assuming the oxygen was depleted from the system despite my efforts. I have 100 gallons of saltwater ready to do a water change.

Looking for what I should be doing moving forward.

Do I tear my rockwork apart to remove all the dead fish?
Is a UV a must at this point?
Any other options to make sure this doesn't happen again?

System Specs:

Tank size: 365 gallons
System size: 450 gallons
40 pounds of sand
Started with Dry Macro Rock
Used Microbactor 7 according to instructions to start cycle
Filter Sock rollers for mechanical Filtration
Reef Octo Int 250 Skimmer set to 50% power
No UV

Livestock:
Male and Female Blue Throat Triggers
4x Blue Green Chromis
2x Purple Firefish
1x Royal Gramma
3x Lyertail Anthias
1x Long Nose Hawk
1x Yellow Coris Wrasse
1x Holloween Urchin
12x Hermits
12x Astrea Snails

Photo with the lights on is the point where I decided to turn the lights off.
The video is a video my wife sent me updating me on the status of the tank while I wasn't home. EDIT: not sure if video works so posted screen shot of murky tank

 

[Tavero]

Fastest remedy during bacterial blooms is addition of hydrogen peroxide. UV systems can take too long to save the remaining animals and don't add oxygen. Peroxide does.

 

[blecki]

Peroxide and airstone now to save the remaining fish, UV sterilizer long term. The lingering cloudiness you described is not normal. Tank should be crystal clear, even at only 6 months. A UV sterilizer should clear the water up but you probably have a nutrient problem of some kind. I can't imagine what else would fuel a recurring bloom like that.

 

[CoralB]

Yes you need to immediately remove all dead fish and coral as it will spike your ammonia levels which will kill the rest of your fish . Please list your parameters ie : ammonia , nitrates, phosphates,alk.mag.cal , temp lighting schedule , Run a UV light if you have it , do water changes and add bacteria like microbactor 7 daily til you get back in line . Sounds like you added too much too fast . You have to add fish and coral gradually to allow for your biome to catch up . I’d also if you have it run a couple air-stones till you get on top of it . Parameters as soon as you can will be helpful after removing the dead

 

[JMSKI333]

I will research dosages on the H202. My nitrates tested at 4.5 and phosphates were 0 on Friday while the water was pretty clear. Usually my phosphates are under .05 and nitrates are testing under 10. I do have well water and use a 7 stage RODI. Comes out at 0 TDS.

I'll attempt to find/remove dead fish. I do have some bacteria in a bottle I can start dosing.

Current Tank Parameters Just tested:

Salinity : 1.026 refractometer
Alkalinity: 7.9 DKH hanna
Calcium: 460 ppm Hanna
PH: 8.18 Hanna
Mag: 1240 Trident
Nitrates: 3.2 Hanna
Phos: 0 hanna
ammonia: 0 (seachem ammonia alert)

As far as adding too much too fast, I would QT 1-3 fish at a time in a 30 day cycle. So I would add roughly 1-3 fish a month. Most fish were small, 1-2 inches. The triggers were the only 3-4" fish in the system. System water volume 450 gallons. I haven't added a fish to the system in two weeks.

I feed 1-2 times daily. Mix of rinsed frozen and or flake food.

A UV sterilizer if a hefty piece of equipment for an aquarium my size and I have never needed one before on my smaller systems. Most of my research concludes that it's not necessary for a reef tank. I'm hoping that's a last resort...but I am open to it.

 

[blecki]

You shouldn't need one that's the "correct size" just to get water clarity. They need to be oversized because of the poor penetration of UV in saltwater, for disease you would need to get a huge one - but still you're looking at probably a 55 wat minimum which can go for $600+. They absolutely do work though; it will clear the water up quickly.

 

[MrGisonni]

All that natural light from the windows is going to be a problem for you unfortunately. Imho

 

[vetteguy53081]

major water change, remove all dead matter and add high grade carbon. mentioned was UV sterilizer, yes and monitor levels for next 10 days.
Add liquid bacteria such as MicroBacter XLM at 1.5ml per 10 gallons and keep white lights off for at least 3 days
Sorry to see and hear of this

 

[JMSKI333]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I pulled apart my rockwork last night and found some perished fish but did kick up some live ones. I spent a lot of time incorporating intricate caves and hiding spots into the rockwork so they are all still not all accounted for but a lot of the ones missing are the ones that fit in the smallest of holes. So I’m hopeful.

Water change completed, added bacteria and carbon and more aeration. Also added H202 at 1ml per 10gallons.

Looking into getting a reactor to run the carbon.

 

[mike550]

@JMSKI333 it seems like the bloom happened when you added some frags to your tank. Any idea what / why this happened?

 

[JMSKI333]

@JMSKI333 it seems like the bloom happened when you added some frags to your tank. Any idea what / why this happened?

I’m really not sure. Any time I added a few fish, the tank would get slightly cloudy for a couple days and then go back to pretty much clear. Nothing alarming like what happened this past weekend. The tank was rarely crystal clear though. The frags I added this weekend were flesh only and 2” SPS frags mainly. So I am just guessing at this point but I’m assuming my micro biome is fragile and easily pushed around by this algae explosion I had. My loose plan is to dose h202 and bacteria to strengthen my biological makeup of my tank. I’m starting to question whether my Tank might be too sterile? I’m certainly open to what others think might be going on.

I have an aquabiomics test on the way to see if that tells me Anything.

 

[JMSKI333]

The tank is experiencing another intense bloom after days of clarity!

I have blacked out the tank with blankets, shut the lights off, have pumps making a lot of aeration and extra surface water movement.

The tank has been clear since the day after the bloom. I have completed one 20% water change on Monday. Planned to do another 20% water change tonight. Lights came on and tank looked cloudy this morning. It was crystal clear yesterday.

Parameters have been tested daily:

Nitrates: 6.5ppm
Phosphates: 0
Ammonia: 0

-I have added 250ml of microbactor clean on Monday. Second dose was suppose to happen tomorrow.
-I added a carbon reactor on Thursday running high grade carbon.
-I have been dosing 1ml per 10 gallons of h202 daily during dark period since first bloom.
-I have added no livestock. Removed most of dead livestock from first bloom. Feeding sparingly every other day.
-UV Ordered
-I can't imagine its my source water. I use it on my other systems and have experienced nothing like this ever before.
-Corals are happy with polyps out.

Can I do anything else??

 

[JMSKI333]

Looking for an expert if anyone can refer me to someone...

I came home to the Tank blooming again. It was crystal clear this morning. Might be the worst bloom yet and that's with a 90 watt UV running on the tank. I have not added any livestock in a month. Haven't added any corals in 3 weeks. Really not sure what to do...

My other systems using the same top off water are completely normal. I have some sort of plaque bacteria/algea going on here... Tank will be running 7 months in a week.

 

[AquaLogic]

Looking for an expert if anyone can refer me to someone...

I came home to the Tank blooming again. It was crystal clear this morning. Might be the worst bloom yet and that's with a 90 watt UV running on the tank. I have not added any livestock in a month. Haven't added any corals in 3 weeks. Really not sure what to do...

My other systems using the same top off water are completely normal. I have some sort of plaque bacteria/algea going on here... Tank will be running 7 months in a week.

How did this turn out?