Problem with reef aquarium

[sirtreysuf]

I have a 29 gallon reef tank that I’m recently having some issues with. The aquarium is around 6 months old. I have two clownfish, two Bangaii cardinal fish, and three trophies snails. All livestock has been in the tank for around 4 months. I’m using an aquaclear 70 HOB filter with filter floss and a 5.5oz bag of chemi pure blue. I change the filter floss every 2-3 days.

I have had diatoms blooms off and on for the past couple of months. About three weeks ago, the diatoms began dying and my rock and sand started to clear up. a couple of days later, I noticed my rock started to turn a brownish green color, as shown in the pictures. Whatever is on the rock is slimy and hard to remove. Around this same time I started seeing protein foam on the surface of the water. I have been doing routine 25% water changes weekly for the life of the tank. Last night, I notice that all 4 of my fish were very lethargic and basically just treading water. I immediate check all levels and everything looked fine. I went ahead and did a 50% water change and hoped for the best. I woke up to the two dead cardinalfish. However, the clownfish seemed to be improving.

I removed the cardinalfish and before I left for work. On my way home I picked up a fresh container of chemi pure blue and installed it in my filter(the current bag was around 2.5 months old). As of now, the clownfish are still somewhat lethargic but seem to be improving through the day. Any ideas what could be going on? My levels are as follows(using API test kit):

Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.1
Temp: 78
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[sirtreysuf]

Any advise? Thanks in advance!

 

[sirtreysuf]

Update: I pulled a piece of rock out this evening and notice that it smelled rotten. The two clownfish are still doing well.

 

[Cell]

Any flow outside of the HOB? Might need some more surface agitation.

 

[Soren]

I wonder if it is brownish-green cyanobacteria?

 

[sirtreysuf]

Any flow outside of the HOB? Might need some more surface agitation.

Thanks for the response. I don’t have any other flow. I have been thinking of getting a couple power heads for some addition water flow.

 

[Cell]

I'd highly recommend something to increase oxygenation. A powerhead breaking the surface of the water would be ideal. A bubbler would suffice.

 

[sirtreysuf]

I'd highly recommend something to increase oxygenation. A powerhead breaking the surface of the water would be ideal. A bubbler would suffice.

Thanks for the advise! I’ll definitely look into increase the oxygenation of the tank.

 

[fishface NJ]

Watch you don't get dinos since you have 0 nitrates

 

[sirtreysuf]

Any ideas what is covering the rocks?

 

[sirtreysuf]

Just lost my two clownfish. They were doing fine and then two hours later they were both gasping or air at the surface. I took some water out of the tank so the HOB was spilling into the tank and mixing the water, but within 15 minutes both were gone. My only guess is that whatever is growing on the rocks is consuming the oxygen and depriving the fish. I have a small mushroom coral, some GSP and a small BTA and they all seem to be doing fine.

 

[dmy535]

You mention HOB filter, but do you have a protein skimmer? If the rock smells rotten that could Ben a sign of uncurled live rock with excess nutrients/ die off. Other mention more flow, add a power head, but also think a skimmer is necessary to pull the excess proteins and gunk out of the water.

 

[iamacat]

You starved them of oxygen if you had zero flow other than the hob

 

[sirtreysuf]

Ok. So I bought a powerhead and placed it in the top of the tank, angled toward the surface. Between that and the HOB, I'm getting some pretty good surface agitation. I've done a couple of 50% water changes in the last week and cleaned the tank really good. I've checked all of my parameters and everything is good. I decided to try another clownfish today. I drip acclimated it and then added to the tank. Within two hours, the new clownfish was dead. I am at a loss and not sure where to go from here with it.

 

[dmy535]

The most alarming things I’ve read from your earlier posts is the rock “smelled rotten” and a protein film on the water. Where did yo get you rock? Was it live/cured before you got it?

Are you sure no chemical got into the water column?

 

[Pkunk35]

Sorry for the losses!
The previous deaths did sound like low O2 or disease. 2 hour Does sound fast tho.

Some questions i had that might help:.
What's your source water? Do you dechlorinate?
Was the fish healthy at the store? What happened in the two hours before death? Lethargy? Breathing issues? Any signs of distress or physical harm to the fish before or after you out in the tank?

Are there any other inverts in the tank that are alive like snails or crab, etc?

 

[iamacat]

What’s the source water

 

[sirtreysuf]

The most alarming things I’ve read from your earlier posts is the rock “smelled rotten” and a protein film on the water. Where did yo get you rock? Was it live/cured before you got it?

Are you sure no chemical got into the water column?

The rock was dry Caribsea life rock from the LFS. It was fine until recently when it turned brown. I did pull the rock out after the first loss and clean them with a brush. I haven’t seen the brown color return yet.
To my knowledge, no chemical made it into the tank. I am the only one in the house that messes with the tank and I’ve forbidden my wife from cleaning around it.

 

[sirtreysuf]

Sorry for the losses!
The previous deaths did sound like low O2 or disease. 2 hour Does sound fast tho.

Some questions i had that might help:.
What's your source water? Do you dechlorinate?
Was the fish healthy at the store? What happened in the two hours before death? Lethargy? Breathing issues? Any signs of distress or physical harm to the fish before or after you out in the tank?

Are there any other inverts in the tank that are alive like snails or crab, etc?

My source water is from my tap, run through a 4 stage RODI system. I’m getting 0 TDS reading after filtering. The fish looked and seemed healthy at the store. It had plenty of energy when I first added it to the tank, but within 30 minutes it started to become lethargic with heavy breathing at the bottom of the tank. No signs of harm or distress. I have 6 hermits, a few trochus snails, an emerald crab, some GSP, a small blue mushroom, and a small GBTA. All of these are doing fine.

 

[sirtreysuf]

What’s the source water

Filtered tap water through a 4 stage RODI unit.