nyc_love
Community Member
Hey everyone, I could use some help after a long, long day. Sorry for the long post ahead. The tank is 135 gallons of water volume including sump and has been up and running for 4 years. During that time, I’ve dealt with a bad cyano outbreak (lasted 6 months), most corals not really lasting more than 2-3 months, and an ich outbreak that wiped out all but 3 fish. Since the ich outbreak over 2 years ago, I have only put in quarantined fish and overall have had very good luck with the fish and no signs of ich since (I know it’s still in the water given ich never leaves once it’s inside). Leading up to last night, here were the fish: 1 Royal Gamma, 2 Damsels, 1 Blue Tang, 1 Powder Blue Tang, 1 Niger Trigger, 2 Blue Throat Triggers, 2 Clowns, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Ebili Angel, 1 Bimac Anthias, 1 Kole Tang, and 1 Bicolor Angel. The last fish was introduced over a year ago.
Yesterday, everything was fine. This morning I woke up to the Flame Angel and the Bicolor Angel both having died. I then noticed that the rest of the fish all looked super lethargic. Swimming slowly, hiding, not being their usual self. My immediate thought was that maybe the return pump failed and there was no oxygenation happening since most of that comes from the overflow (lots of bubbles) and the skimmer in the sump. But the return was on and the Apex logs didn’t show anything. So I more or less have ruled that out. Here are the only changes that have occurred recently (with timing included):
1. I haven’t had much luck with corals. I did an ICP test about 6 weeks ago and my iodine was basically non existent. I started dosing iodine about 6 weeks ago. I dose twice a week and less than the recommended dosage.
2. I introduced a bunch of coral over the past month. Again, I haven’t had very good success with corals but I am optimistic that the lack of iodine was causing it and with the dosing now occurring, I started introducing coral again. All the coral looked great today. Whatever happened over the last 24 hours doesn’t seem to have impacted them.
3. I started dosing AB+ about 2 weeks ago. I do less than the recommended dosage and only dose twice a week.
4. On Sunday, I removed a damsel from the tank (so I had 3 until I removed this one on Sunday). The damsel was the biggest of the 3 and had been spawning for the last 4-5 weeks and was very aggressive in one corner of the tank. It wouldn’t let any fish or inverts get near that area. As a result, that area was starting to get cyano growth and hair algae. I was able to get the damsel out on Sunday.
5. To trap it, I used the Nyos fish trap. It was brand new. I rinsed it before putting it into the tank.
6. I purchased frozen krill from Petsmart to use in the Nyos fish trap. This is the first time I am using frozen krill. Heard good things about it. Fish seemed to like it so I fed them on Sunday after taking the Damsel out. Some of the fish went for it, some of them didn’t.
7. The last time corals went into the tank was last Wednesday and it was 10-12 frags purchased from my LFS that I trust a lot. The initial corals I put in after starting to dose iodine looked great so I admittedly went overboard last Wednesday with this many frags. But they all are doing really well so far.
8. I cleaned my salt water reservoir last week with just water and a Magic Eraser. I have been using the Magic Eraser on the inside of the tank for 4 years. No issues and I know other reefers (and professional aquariums) use Magic Erasers as well.
9. I cleaned the sump over the weekend. I brushed off a bunch of build up on the various pumps and siphoned as much of that plus other debris into one of the filter bags (haven’t changed it out yet).
I have a fairly low nutrient system (auto change 3 gallons of water every day using Neptune DOS). On Saturday, PO4 was 0.09 and NO3 was 1.8. This is fairly consistent with what I have been seeing for months (using the Hanna testers).
Today after seeing what was happened, I tested again:
PO4: 0.25 (so this spiked but my guess is due to the fish that died).
NO3: 1.9
PH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Salinity: 1.024
I did a 30 gallon water change and the PO4 was down to 0.17 afterwards. Outside of the high Phosphates, everything else looks fine. Temperature is stable at 78 using a chiller. I don’t have a heater since the UV (24 hours a day) + Turf Scrubber (runs from 6pm-8am) generally keep the water warm and the sump is in the garage which is fairly warm. I have a carbon reactor and Roawphos Reactor running 24 hours a day as well.
One of the Bluethroat triggers was missing all day. I assumed it had died because I couldn’t find it anywhere but at the end of the day, I see it come out of the sand when I went to feed the fish. It had buried itself in the sand behind one of the rocks all day. From reading online, this is a sign of extreme stress. So something stressed it out. The other Bluethroat Trigger (and the rest of the fish) just seemed very lethargic all day as they were swimming around.
By the end of the day, the Blue Tang and Niger Trigger mostly seem completely normal. The Kole Tang is somewhat grazing again but seems to be breathing heavier than what I remember. The Bimac Anthias, Ebili Angel, and Royal Gamma are all hiding. I can see them in the rocks but they won’t come out. I fed the tank the usual mixture of Reef Nutrition products and pellets. All the fish except the Bimac Anthias, Ebili Angel, and Royal Gamma went crazy for the food. The fish including the Blue Throat that buried itself were aggressively eating. After feeding, they all reverted to being somewhat reserved, if not lethargic except for the Niger Trigger and Blue Tang who seem normal.
I am genuinely stumped as to what happened. My suspicions are as follows (not really rooted in anything):
1. Something to do with the Damsel being removed on Sunday and maybe some sort of a bacterial bloom from that area being accessible again by the rest of tank inhabitants. Or maybe the stress in the tank during that time but that was Sunday and yesterday everything looked fine and normal.
2. Possibly spoiled/bad krill from Petsmart (it was frozen solid so I think very unlikely)
3. Maybe some toxin got into the water but I am not sure how that would have happened.
Honestly I have no idea. The tank has been very stable for the last 2 years and all the equipment seems to be fine. I had ich once but it’s been 2 years since the outbreak and I haven’t seen it since.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated. It was a very tough day to lose two fish but to see the rest of the fish seem to be really struggling was the worst. I’m nervous to see what tomorrow morning holds. I’ll be doing another 30 gallon change tomorrow as well.
Thanks all.
Yesterday, everything was fine. This morning I woke up to the Flame Angel and the Bicolor Angel both having died. I then noticed that the rest of the fish all looked super lethargic. Swimming slowly, hiding, not being their usual self. My immediate thought was that maybe the return pump failed and there was no oxygenation happening since most of that comes from the overflow (lots of bubbles) and the skimmer in the sump. But the return was on and the Apex logs didn’t show anything. So I more or less have ruled that out. Here are the only changes that have occurred recently (with timing included):
1. I haven’t had much luck with corals. I did an ICP test about 6 weeks ago and my iodine was basically non existent. I started dosing iodine about 6 weeks ago. I dose twice a week and less than the recommended dosage.
2. I introduced a bunch of coral over the past month. Again, I haven’t had very good success with corals but I am optimistic that the lack of iodine was causing it and with the dosing now occurring, I started introducing coral again. All the coral looked great today. Whatever happened over the last 24 hours doesn’t seem to have impacted them.
3. I started dosing AB+ about 2 weeks ago. I do less than the recommended dosage and only dose twice a week.
4. On Sunday, I removed a damsel from the tank (so I had 3 until I removed this one on Sunday). The damsel was the biggest of the 3 and had been spawning for the last 4-5 weeks and was very aggressive in one corner of the tank. It wouldn’t let any fish or inverts get near that area. As a result, that area was starting to get cyano growth and hair algae. I was able to get the damsel out on Sunday.
5. To trap it, I used the Nyos fish trap. It was brand new. I rinsed it before putting it into the tank.
6. I purchased frozen krill from Petsmart to use in the Nyos fish trap. This is the first time I am using frozen krill. Heard good things about it. Fish seemed to like it so I fed them on Sunday after taking the Damsel out. Some of the fish went for it, some of them didn’t.
7. The last time corals went into the tank was last Wednesday and it was 10-12 frags purchased from my LFS that I trust a lot. The initial corals I put in after starting to dose iodine looked great so I admittedly went overboard last Wednesday with this many frags. But they all are doing really well so far.
8. I cleaned my salt water reservoir last week with just water and a Magic Eraser. I have been using the Magic Eraser on the inside of the tank for 4 years. No issues and I know other reefers (and professional aquariums) use Magic Erasers as well.
9. I cleaned the sump over the weekend. I brushed off a bunch of build up on the various pumps and siphoned as much of that plus other debris into one of the filter bags (haven’t changed it out yet).
I have a fairly low nutrient system (auto change 3 gallons of water every day using Neptune DOS). On Saturday, PO4 was 0.09 and NO3 was 1.8. This is fairly consistent with what I have been seeing for months (using the Hanna testers).
Today after seeing what was happened, I tested again:
PO4: 0.25 (so this spiked but my guess is due to the fish that died).
NO3: 1.9
PH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Salinity: 1.024
I did a 30 gallon water change and the PO4 was down to 0.17 afterwards. Outside of the high Phosphates, everything else looks fine. Temperature is stable at 78 using a chiller. I don’t have a heater since the UV (24 hours a day) + Turf Scrubber (runs from 6pm-8am) generally keep the water warm and the sump is in the garage which is fairly warm. I have a carbon reactor and Roawphos Reactor running 24 hours a day as well.
One of the Bluethroat triggers was missing all day. I assumed it had died because I couldn’t find it anywhere but at the end of the day, I see it come out of the sand when I went to feed the fish. It had buried itself in the sand behind one of the rocks all day. From reading online, this is a sign of extreme stress. So something stressed it out. The other Bluethroat Trigger (and the rest of the fish) just seemed very lethargic all day as they were swimming around.
By the end of the day, the Blue Tang and Niger Trigger mostly seem completely normal. The Kole Tang is somewhat grazing again but seems to be breathing heavier than what I remember. The Bimac Anthias, Ebili Angel, and Royal Gamma are all hiding. I can see them in the rocks but they won’t come out. I fed the tank the usual mixture of Reef Nutrition products and pellets. All the fish except the Bimac Anthias, Ebili Angel, and Royal Gamma went crazy for the food. The fish including the Blue Throat that buried itself were aggressively eating. After feeding, they all reverted to being somewhat reserved, if not lethargic except for the Niger Trigger and Blue Tang who seem normal.
I am genuinely stumped as to what happened. My suspicions are as follows (not really rooted in anything):
1. Something to do with the Damsel being removed on Sunday and maybe some sort of a bacterial bloom from that area being accessible again by the rest of tank inhabitants. Or maybe the stress in the tank during that time but that was Sunday and yesterday everything looked fine and normal.
2. Possibly spoiled/bad krill from Petsmart (it was frozen solid so I think very unlikely)
3. Maybe some toxin got into the water but I am not sure how that would have happened.
Honestly I have no idea. The tank has been very stable for the last 2 years and all the equipment seems to be fine. I had ich once but it’s been 2 years since the outbreak and I haven’t seen it since.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated. It was a very tough day to lose two fish but to see the rest of the fish seem to be really struggling was the worst. I’m nervous to see what tomorrow morning holds. I’ll be doing another 30 gallon change tomorrow as well.
Thanks all.
