Yellow tang dying after cleaning refugium

[ChelleK]

Hello!
I have been reading threads here for quite some time, but this is my first post.
I have a 65 gal tank with a 20 gal sump. I have been lazy with water changes and upkeep for probably the last year (my tank has been set up for about 5+years). I decided that I am going to start a better routine going, but I think I may have over done it in the cleaning. About 3 weeks ago I did about a 5% water change, rearranged my live rock and added a new piece of live rock. Tank looked great for about a week, then I had a diatom outbreak. Yesterday I did a 20% water change, cleaned the refugium section of the sump and cleaned the foam filter between the refugium and the return section. I turned off the lights this morning, but noticed my yellow tang at the bottom of the tank with labored breathing. My clown fish, damsel and coral beauty angel act fine so far. I also have 2 engineer gobies, but they stay hidden during the day, so I really don’t see them. I have added Prime (5x dose slowly over about an hour and I have an air pump going near where he is laying. I checked my ph, no large swing, nitrates and phosphates are low. Temp is at 79. Is there anything else I can try to save him? Hopefully he is just stressed and will pull through. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello!
I have been reading threads here for quite some time, but this is my first post.
I have a 65 gal tank with a 20 gal sump. I have been lazy with water changes and upkeep for probably the last year (my tank has been set up for about 5+years). I decided that I am going to start a better routine going, but I think I may have over done it in the cleaning. About 3 weeks ago I did about a 5% water change, rearranged my live rock and added a new piece of live rock. Tank looked great for about a week, then I had a diatom outbreak. Yesterday I did a 20% water change, cleaned the refugium section of the sump and cleaned the foam filter between the refugium and the return section. I turned off the lights this morning, but noticed my yellow tang at the bottom of the tank with labored breathing. My clown fish, damsel and coral beauty angel act fine so far. I also have 2 engineer gobies, but they stay hidden during the day, so I really don’t see them. I have added Prime (5x dose slowly over about an hour and I have an air pump going near where he is laying. I checked my ph, no large swing, nitrates and phosphates are low. Temp is at 79. Is there anything else I can try to save him? Hopefully he is just stressed and will pull through. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Your tank cleaning work doesn’t seem excessive, did you smell anything “off” like rotten eggs when you cleaned the sump?

Did the yellow tang immediately start acting off, or was it fine until the next day?

Jay

 

[ChelleK]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Your tank cleaning work doesn’t seem excessive, did you smell anything “off” like rotten eggs when you cleaned the sump?

Did the yellow tang immediately start acting off, or was it fine until the next day?

Jay

Thank you!

The water I removed from the fuge had a bit of a smell, nothing over powering, maybe a little like rotten eggs or stinky pond water. I did the cleaning yesterday and everything seemed fine. I have 2 black saddleback clowns, 2 engineer gobies, a coral beauty angel and a red hawk fish and they are all fine. I noticed the tang at the bottom of the tank mid morning, unfortunately it did die.

 

[Pistondog]

Sorry for your loss. Did you have tha tang long?

 

[ChelleK]

Thank you, and yes, I’ve had it for a few years. I’m going to be more diligent with my upkeep, hopefully I won’t loose anything else for awhile. Thank you for the reply!

 

[Pistondog]

Welcome to r2r

 

[Pistondog]

Sorry we werent more help on the 1st post.

 

[Marquarium]

Sorry to hear about your tang passing. Wish you the best of luck going forward!

 

[ChelleK]

Thank you!

 

[Marquarium]

Any water/tank params looking different or off compared to normal?

 

[Lavey29]

Run some carbon in case something got into the water during cleaning from your hands or equipment.

 

[Garf]

added a new piece of live rock

Was this from a shop, not a tank breakdown?

 

[ChelleK]

Was this from a shop, not a tank breakdown?

It was actually a piece I had taken out awhile back, decided to put it back in. It had been stored in a cabinet. I boiled it before putting it back in.

 

[ChelleK]

Run some carbon in case something got into the water during cleaning from your hands or equipment.

I did add a bag of carbon in there, thinking of adding a reactor with carbon and gfo, was going to give it a little time, trying not to do too much at once. Thank you!

 

[ChelleK]

Any water/tank params looking different or off compared to normal?

No, everything looked good.

 

[Joe.D]

I’m curious to @Jay Hemdal ’s question about smelling like rotten eggs. What could that indicate?

 

[Pistondog]

I’m curious to @Jay Hemdal ’s question about smelling like rotten eggs. What could that indicate?

Maybe hydrogen sulfide, toxic to fish at high enough levels.

 

[Joe.D]

Maybe hydrogen sulfide, toxic to fish at high enough levels.

Gotcha! Always trying to learn!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It was actually a piece I had taken out awhile back, decided to put it back in. It had been stored in a cabinet. I boiled it before putting it back in.

Aka, dry rock.