Everything gone!!

[FrostyKevin]

I just came back to my apartment after visiting family outside of town for mother's day, and I find all my corals and animals in the nano are dead. Everything is gone. There is a huge slick of white foam which I assume is bacteria on the surface of the water. I am so sad right now. I'm shaking with grief. I have no idea what happened. I'm testing the water right now. The temperature is nearly 80 degrees F. I expect ammonia spike, but that is probably the result of the die-off. I'm not sure if it's what caused it.

I can't stay in the reefing hobby anymore. I can't afford to buy any more corals for my tank. I'm turning 20 next week, and I now have an idea of what it feels like to have what I considered to be like my kids to die.

Everything was going great before this weekend.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

To bad you live so far away or I would send you a gps frag to get you started but I have no job and don't know when I will find one. But I'm sure there are some people in Cali that will help. Sorry for your loss.

 

[lps1212]

Wow that sucks and I feel for your lost I too know the feeling. Best of luck trying to figure out what went wrong

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Clean everything and restart, figure out what went wrong, post here symptoms etc, all of us have gone thru this more than once .

 

[FrostyKevin]

Ammonia: 8.00 ppm (probably the result of all the deaths)

Nitrite: 0 ppm

PH: 8

Temp.: 78 F

Salinity: 1.026

I have no idea what happened. It's like someone added poison to the tank, and everything died.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Did you check your heater for cracks.

 

[ja4207]

My guess would be an extended power failure whereas depleted oxygen was the eventual killer.

or

Any recent ex's in your life?

^Serious question..... When I was your age I ****** off alot of women and anyone of them I wouldn't have doubted their involvment.

Anyone have access to your room/apartment besides you?

 

[mallorieGgator]

I am so sorry to hear this. :( You live in an apartment so my guess is that there was pest control done while you were out of town and you didn't get the notice. :(

 

[Southside_Reefer]

Sorry for the terrible loss. I wish you were closer I would of hooked u up with water and some frags to get u back on your feet.

 

[BarbH]

So sorry for your losses, it can be very discouraging especially when you are not sure exactly what happened. If this is something that you enjoy than I would encourage you not to give it up. Good luck and hope that you keep stick to it.

 

[dsmhero]

Just sickening thinking about it. I am very sorry for your loss but I do encourage you to figure out what went wrong and start it back up. I understand you can't afford to stock it back up but purchase one thing at a a time and SLOWLY build your collection back up. If you need help figuring out what happened we are all here to help you.

 

[tater11]

sorry to hear about your lose.i know it's a hard thing too deal with i had our 220gal packed full of sps crash a couple years ago to to a sevre heat spike.don't give up.

 

[jtgordon20]

Wow!!!! Same thing happened to me this weekend. Found my livestock dead and all my sps!! Only lps and the few softies I have survived! And I understand the bring young, I'm 17. Horrible to see that hundreds of dollars dead, but that's not compared to the sentimental value of everything, its like have children like you said.
I hope you don't quit the hobby! Stay in it!! Learn from the bad experiences and push harder next round!!
Good luck man

 

[cdness]

Sorry for the losses and if I was closer I would hook you up to get you going again for sure.

If this is something you enjoy don't give up. I have had some pretty large crashes in the past and lost many of my prized specimens sometimes from stupid mistakes and sometimes for unexplained resons. For those unexplained ones, don't keep trying to figure it out as it may remain a mystery. Get back on your feet and get that thing running again. You know you want to...

All of the examples above could have caused it. It would be good to report back if you ever do find out what caused it. I really hope it wasn't an ex killing for revenge as that would make it worse as you would know it wasn't an accident... :(

 

[bige]

It's a frustrating hobby. There are days when I want to through my tank out the window. It's tough.

 

[strange33w]

sorry about the loss man. This is one think I hope to never see in my reef

 

[JackoChang]

This happened to my 120, I cried, I sold everything, I longed for a reef again, I started small again. Long story short, I should've kept everything...it's way more expensive starting from scratch. Keep your chin up, drive on.

Sent from my DROID using Forum Runner

 

[jonbar1]

Been through it too with my nano. I'd get the dead out and do a massive water change. After that I'd let it sit for a week or two at least. I wouldn't make any hasty decisions just yet though, it's better to have a tank full of cycled water and rock than no tank at all if you change your mind later.

For causes I'd do some CSI work myself.
Did you have anything that could have died and caused a major swing when it died like a bigger fish, toxic fish or sea cucumber? Knowing what your stock list was could help.
Did the tank have any smell other than dead coral/fish? Most things someone would use have a detectable smell.
Where any clocks or electronics blinking or off to signal you had a power outage? Also check your pumps, heaters, and anything electronic that contacts the water.
Any reason to think it got too hot where the tank is?

I'd be interested to know what corals you had and how long you were away. A power outage for over a week wiped out most of my tank but most of my LPS made it. They went through heat, cold, no oxygen/water movement and ammonia spiking which makes me think you are dealing with something like stray voltage or outside toxins. Keep an eye out for any signs of life in there, you'd be amazed what some corals can come back from.