Whats killing my fish

jacobreynolds6883

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It's been a very disappointing last 24 hours in my hobby. In the last day I have lost 3 chromis, kole tang, my coral beauty is barely hanging on, and a paired clownfish is started acting strange. All my corals (soft) are looking like death and have seem to be on their way. So what is the problem, where did I mess up, answer, suggestions please? Here is what changed......:(

So my tank is a 90g display with 40g breeder, the tank has been thriving now for over a year and I have added everything extremely slow. The newest edition are fruit loop zoas and punk rockers over 2 weeks ago. Newest fish are the chromis and kole tang over 2 months ago after quarantine process 4weeks (copper & prazipro) but everything has seemed fine until yesterday. So I've had Cyanobacteria for several months and decided with holiday sales to buy a reactor. I bought the BRS dual GFO&Carbon reactor and hooked all of it up on Sunday evening. I used BRS granular GFO and BRS ROX 0.8 Carbon to fill the reactors. I followed the directions to a T listed on the the back of the containers as follows.
Granular GFO

  • Start with 1 tablespoon per 4 gallons of water
    (16 tbsp = 1 cup).
  • After 4-8 weeks the aquarium will have adjusted to lower nutrient levels and the amount of GFO can be increased up to 2 tablespoons per 4 gallons of water.

Carbon ROX 0.8

Recommended Dosage: 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons, or use our Reef Calculator for hassle-free dosage recommendations.

I rinsed the reactor into a bucket and this maybe where I messed up, I only rinsed a 1-1.5g because the water was clear entering the bucket after 1-1.5 gallons. Replaced the tubing going into my tank and left everything alone for that night. The next morning I noticed the tank is cloudy but not extreme but everything seemed fine but still in the dark. Later that day after coming home and lights were on tank had a cloud/haze to it and all fish but clowns/coral beauty were breathing hard and corals polyps had closed and leather shrunk up like night. I immediately turned reactor off, did a water changed with water on hand 30g. Removed the GFO ran carbon only and added prime for good measure. Before this I tested everything and all parameters were normal. This morning still a cloud/haze and the remaining fish acting strange breathing hard. Currently making water but with cold front thats moved in I may can make 30-40 gallons by the end of the day. So what is the suggestions, why has this happened, did I strip the phosphates too fast, did I not rinse the reactors good enough, help please! Not sure I want to start this all over at this point if I lose everything :mad:, so disappointed since everything except the cryano (manageable) was going great.
 

Viking_Reefing

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I can’t really tell you what went wrong but I cant really see adding activated carbon and GFO causing this. I guess some sort of contaminant might have entered the tank with the media.

Are you carbon dosing? An overdose could trigger a bacterial bloom which would explain the hazy water and the (seemingly) lack of oxygen.

I would do a bunch of WCs and maximize the amount of oxygen in the water. Do you have a air pump on hand? At the very least direct the power heads towards the surface.

Pictures and actually parameters might help. Best of luck!
 

sfin52

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It's been a very disappointing last 24 hours in my hobby. In the last day I have lost 3 chromis, kole tang, my coral beauty is barely hanging on, and a paired clownfish is started acting strange. All my corals (soft) are looking like death and have seem to be on their way. So what is the problem, where did I mess up, answer, suggestions please? Here is what changed......:(

So my tank is a 90g display with 40g breeder, the tank has been thriving now for over a year and I have added everything extremely slow. The newest edition are fruit loop zoas and punk rockers over 2 weeks ago. Newest fish are the chromis and kole tang over 2 months ago after quarantine process 4weeks (copper & prazipro) but everything has seemed fine until yesterday. So I've had Cyanobacteria for several months and decided with holiday sales to buy a reactor. I bought the BRS dual GFO&Carbon reactor and hooked all of it up on Sunday evening. I used BRS granular GFO and BRS ROX 0.8 Carbon to fill the reactors. I followed the directions to a T listed on the the back of the containers as follows.
Granular GFO

  • Start with 1 tablespoon per 4 gallons of water
    (16 tbsp = 1 cup).
  • After 4-8 weeks the aquarium will have adjusted to lower nutrient levels and the amount of GFO can be increased up to 2 tablespoons per 4 gallons of water.

Carbon ROX 0.8

Recommended Dosage: 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons, or use our Reef Calculator for hassle-free dosage recommendations.

I rinsed the reactor into a bucket and this maybe where I messed up, I only rinsed a 1-1.5g because the water was clear entering the bucket after 1-1.5 gallons. Replaced the tubing going into my tank and left everything alone for that night. The next morning I noticed the tank is cloudy but not extreme but everything seemed fine but still in the dark. Later that day after coming home and lights were on tank had a cloud/haze to it and all fish but clowns/coral beauty were breathing hard and corals polyps had closed and leather shrunk up like night. I immediately turned reactor off, did a water changed with water on hand 30g. Removed the GFO ran carbon only and added prime for good measure. Before this I tested everything and all parameters were normal. This morning still a cloud/haze and the remaining fish acting strange breathing hard. Currently making water but with cold front thats moved in I may can make 30-40 gallons by the end of the day. So what is the suggestions, why has this happened, did I strip the phosphates too fast, did I not rinse the reactors good enough, help please! Not sure I want to start this all over at this point if I lose everything :mad:, so disappointed since everything except the cryano (manageable) was going great.
Cloudy water sounds like bacteria bloom

Please post all parameters and pics.

Very possible you stripped all phosphates and nitrates causing a dinoflagellates bloom.
 
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jacobreynolds6883

jacobreynolds6883

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I can’t really tell you what went wrong but I cant really see adding activated carbon and GFO causing this. I guess some sort of contaminant might have entered the tank with the media.

Are you carbon dosing? An overdose could trigger a bacterial bloom which would explain the hazy water and the (seemingly) lack of oxygen.

I would do a bunch of WCs and maximize the amount of oxygen in the water. Do you have a air pump on hand? At the very least direct the power heads towards the surface.

Pictures and actually parameters might help. Best of luck!
Just added air pump turned the powerheads up to surface. Parameters are with Salfert kits:
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 75
PH- 8.2
Alk- 9dkh
Nitrate-
Phosphate- 0
Calcium- 430
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0

hard to see cloudy ness in pictures.


8E8774F5-23FB-4370-9ED9-04C2648A286D.jpeg
DFD387D4-AA87-47CF-B211-6038A6C5DE5D.jpeg
C1AE9F26-5586-45C3-A885-0E0EAEE8EA8F.jpeg
 

sfin52

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Just added air pump turned the powerheads up to surface. Parameters are with Salfert kits:
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 75
PH- 8.2
Alk- 9dkh
Nitrate-
Phosphate- 0
Calcium- 430
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0

hard to see cloudy ness in pictures.


8E8774F5-23FB-4370-9ED9-04C2648A286D.jpeg
DFD387D4-AA87-47CF-B211-6038A6C5DE5D.jpeg
C1AE9F26-5586-45C3-A885-0E0EAEE8EA8F.jpeg
With nitrates and phosphates at 0 the rust color on sand and rocks zoomed in reminds me a lot of dinoflagellates.
Take gfo off line stop all carbon dosing and run activated carbon. See if you can't get a positive id on the critters.
 
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jacobreynolds6883

jacobreynolds6883

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With nitrates and phosphates at 0 the rust color on sand and rocks zoomed in reminds me a lot of dinoflagellates.
Take gfo off line stop all carbon dosing and run activated carbon. See if you can't get a positive id on the critters.
Can you explain the difference between carbon dosing and running activated carbon? I assume carbon dosing would be through the reactor? And activated carbon would just be sitting in a bag at a high flow area? Sorry for the seems so dumb questions
 

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Can you explain the difference between carbon dosing and running activated carbon? I assume carbon dosing would be through the reactor? And activated carbon would just be sitting in a bag at a high flow area? Sorry for the seems so dumb questions
Nopox, vodka are examples of carbon dosing is used to lower nitrates and phosphate Activated carbon is used to remover organics and toxins.
 

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I am no expert by any means. But if I recall carbon dosing can lower oxygen in the tank significantly and in turn cause ph and alk to drop I’m wondering if that’s what happened. The heavy breathing makes me think they couldn’t breath
 

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I would stop carbon dosing if you are still doing it. Sounds like you caused a bacterial bloom and dropped your nutrients to 0. I would dose nitrate and phosphate back into the water and be careful about dosing in the future.
 

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Just in case, i would put all that is alive into a new tank so you can hopefully prevent any further losses
 
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jacobreynolds6883

jacobreynolds6883

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I am no expert by any means. But if I recall carbon dosing can lower oxygen in the tank significantly and in turn cause ph and alk to drop I’m wondering if that’s what happened. The heavy breathing makes me think they couldn’t breath
Same but ph is normal 8.2 and alk is normal 9dkh, I did add the air stones not sure this has helped but clowns are holding on. Several dead snails and my blue tuxedo urchin died too today. All my huge leather coral are still shriveled up and starting to deteriorate like their shedding. All zoas are still closed. I’m unsure what has happened but I feel like it’s not turned for the good yet.
 
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jacobreynolds6883

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Just in case, i would put all that is alive into a new tank so you can hopefully prevent any further losses
So you think setting up my QT with fresh new water would be better than letting them try to ride it out? Not sure all my corals will fit but the fish will but maybe some aggression in my small 10g qt.
 

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I'
Same but ph is normal 8.2 and alk is normal 9dkh, I did add the air stones not sure this has helped but clowns are holding on. Several dead snails and my blue tuxedo urchin died too today. All my huge leather coral are still shriveled up and starting to deteriorate like their shedding. All zoas are still closed. I’m unsure what has happened but I feel like it’s not turned for the good yet.
I've had similar things happening from carbon dosing
 

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So you think setting up my QT with fresh new water would be better than letting them try to ride it out? Not sure all my corals will fit but the fish will but maybe some aggression in my small 10g qt.
What do you have left?
Coral beauty and 2 clowns?
 

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Doesn’t sound like carbon dosing since you aren’t quite sure what that means, Im guessing you just added activated carbon and GFO to a reactor.

Anybody had issues with not rinsing GFO properly before adding it?

Otherwise maybe this isn’t even related to adding the reactor and it is something else completely like a contaminant.
Agreed that putting things in fresh QT water would be better than leaving them until you can figure out what happened.

Anybody spray anything around the tank? Check for anything that fell into the tank or was put in the tank? Do you have kids that could have dumped something in it? Just brainstorming....
 

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