Tank Emergency

Hey All

Woke up this morning and my tank water is very cloudy. Looks like all of my snails are starting to die, and my corals are all closed up. they were all fine last night. Only thing that looks obviously bad is one of my larger Acan colonies appears to have died. Do they release toxins when they die? Any ideas what I can do? I am in the process of making water for a water change, but that is going to take a long time, its a 250 gallon tank. I should be able to do a 30% change this afternoon. Anything else I should/could be doing? Any other ideas on what could be going on here? Maybe the Acan death is a symptom not the source?

 

Improve oxygenation.
Change out the charcoal.
Test for ammonia and add Prime or equivalent if indicated.
Do the water changes.

Then get to the root of the issue.

Good luck and I think the Acan dying is secondary to the main problem.

 

Is your temperature within limits? Only reason I ask is an increase in temperature could help a bacteria bloom if I am not mistaken which would cause cloudy water.

 

Dieing coral can indeed cause ammonia to build up but I agree with Cheryl and its probably a symptom not the cause.

 

thanks. I am making water now. my skimmers are not freaking out, so I am hoping that is a good sign. My snails don't seem to be dead, they just closed up into their shells. Fish are all doing fine - swimming, breathing fine, etc. Water temp is fine - 80.1 which is about as high as it gets. corals don't seem to be dying, but they are closed up for sure. Just checked ca, alk, and mg and all are fine. I need to get the ammonia tested this morning. The tank is well established, so not sure what is going on here. Very unusual.

 

IMO, you need to add as much carbon as you can immediately to clear up the water. Putting it in a large media reactor is best for this to run water through it. I have seen far too many tanks die because of a hasty water change with water that was not properly mixed and aerated due to lack of time.

 

I put in a ton of carbon this AM, all fresh and high quality. my ammonia is up a little bit (not even .25 - lowest level on the scale...but not 0 either)...but not enough to make the tank cloudy. Fish are looking really good still and my soft corals are opening back up. The SPS I had has entirely bleached and is a gonner. The Acans are coming back...not dead...just sliming. I made 25 gallons of water and have mixed it up and am super aerating it now (pumps and airstones). I plan to do a water change in about an hour. I am making up another 25 gallons of water and will do one more change first thing in the AM (I have a 9 am flight to Key West with my Wife tomorrow...of course this happens the day before we head on vacation). I got a bottle of the aquarium nitrifying bacteria that I am going to add once I am done with the changes as well. Any other suggestions? If I can keep this limited to my SPS, I will count myself lucky.

Also, the LFS suggested that my tank hitting 81 might be the cause of this - the SPS did not like that, plus the added flow from the new mp40 I added earlier in the week? That could explain the SPS...but not the snails closing up. Unless the SPS released a toxin?

On a side note, another benefit to having an Apex, is that I am not having to guess on parameter - its nice to have a 7 day log of temp, heater activity, etc.

 

so a lot of what I am finding suggests this is a bacterial bloom...the milky white water. The best suggestions seem to be to put in an airstone to make sure that the water has enough oxygen and to ride it out. I am wondering if the new MP40 I put in added enough current to the water and hit some "dead spots" in the substrate, under rocks, etc. and kicked up enough nutrients to cause a bloom...coupled with the warmer water, etc. So thoughts?

I think I am going to do the water change...because I have it...might as well. I am going to leave the carbon in, add an airstone, and I am going to add the additional "good" bacteria and then sit back and cross my fingers.

Any thoughts on that? Good or bad idea?

 

What are the high and low temps that you are hitting? 81 is not a concern for SPS. It's the temp swing that can cause problems.

How long has the water been mixing? In the future it might be a good idea to get a box of ESV salt to have in case of an emergency. It can be mixed and used in 15 mins. I still have hopes that Warner Marine will also come out with this product because it really helps out in times like this.

 

not a big swing in temp at all...I would say from about 79.8 to 81.2 low to high over the course of a 24 hour period...so I really don't think it is the temp.

Water has been mixing for about 2 hours now. it is crystal clear (when I turn the pump off). I have a 900 gph pump on it (one of my back up return pumps).

I put an airstone in my display now just to make sure it is not getting hypoxic in there, which I don't think it is as the fish are not looking stressed.