HELP All corals and invert suddenly died

Zach Gordon · Mar 25, 2017

My 55 gallon tank has been up and running smooth for 4 years with no problems. Today I got home from work, and all of my corals and snails were dead. My acros and montiporas were bleached. Two large frogspawns, a large Duncan, a hammer, and a big candy cane colony all lost almost all of their tissue. I have a RBTA that split 2 years ago and seems to be doing fine along with the 2 clowns that inhabit it. I also have a flower anemone that seems unharmed as well. I have a colony of mushrooms that look stressed, but not dead. A colony of ugly button polyps is starting to take over my live rock. They are closed, but not dead. None of my fish died, and my skunk cleaner shrimp is still alive. All my parameters seem to be in check. I run a Build My LED 48" strip system. The only thing I can think of is that I was running them at 75% and now I boosted it up to about 90%. I also recently washed one of my filter socks as well. I use soap and small amount of bleach, but then I run them through the wash cycle again plain just to rinse. I use RO/DI water only and do weekly 5 gallon water changes with Reef Crystal salt. I run a skimmer and ChemiPure. I also have a refugium with Chaeto.

My paramaters:

Salinity: 1.024
Temp: 79
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Phosphate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.0
Alk: 220 ppm

Haven't tested calc yet, but it can't be too bad if the anemones are unharmed

Areseebee · Mar 25, 2017

Could there have been a heater problem? Do you have a log of temperature? Any new supplements? What about cleaning products around the tank or generally in the house?

Zach Gordon · Mar 25, 2017

I check the temp twice a day. I run 2 heaters both set to 78. With the lights on the temp heats up to 80. Lights off it's at a constant 78. No new supplements. I dose reef buffer usually once a day for low pH/kH. Dose calc 3x/week and trace elements usually 1x. The tank is in my bedroom. No cleaning chemicals except for the occasional Fabreeze

Maacc · Mar 25, 2017

First take a some of the water and save it for a triton test. Sounds like a toxin, try for a couple of 30%-50% wc spaced out over a couple of days to try and dilute the toxin and from all the decay and chemicals from the dying coral. Try to match the parameters of the replacement water with that in your tank.