All dead

Howdy to all!

I went out of town for the holiday and came back to find my 30 gal lights out. Did not pay much attention to it, since it was after the timer would of turned off the lights. Went to admire the 100 gal which has a later light cycle. All was fine there. I then started to notice that I did not hear any water sounds from the 30. I checked it out and found that the electrical plugs had been unplugged. While I was out of town I had a girl check on the tanks and feed them. She said that it was ok the night before when she feed them.

I plugged it in, and found the tank cloudy, and tons of dead bristle worms circulating in the water. Whole tank was dead.

I kept the 30 gal up for non-reef fish, and had only a few fish in it. The tank is one of those kits you get at petco. It was a gift four years ago. I up graded to the 100 gal, but decided to keep the tank.

Now I want to bring it back to life, but I have some questions on how to do it.

1) Live rock still ok?

2) Should I do rapid water changes this week?

3) Should I drain it, wash it all out, and start over?

I would like to hear some advice on how to bring it back up.

 

Just reading the title, I thought "this one can't be good".
Time to start over.

 

Yeah I'd completely ditch the water in there with all the dead wormies floating about (I bet that was a weird sight to see...aside from the bad feeling in the pit of your stomach upon seeing the tank...)

It might be a good idea to actually fill up the 30 gallon with some water change water from your 100. Since it's already good water with the "right stuff" in it, and you know exactly what you're putting in the tank, it should be good to go. It will help speed up the mini cycle you're going to go through a bit as well.

I would rinse off the liverock in some saltwater to wash off any excess die off. It depends on how long your system was down and dead on how good your rock is...I'm not too sure if it's perfectly fine or if the life in the rock died as well. I'd wait for someone else to chime in on that.

 

I'm thinkin I would nuke the whole system and start again. Bleach all rock and replace all sand, new water, new cycle, everything. I wouldn't think anything benficial could survive what happened. If anything, this would be the "no chances" way of going about it. I just don't see how it all could have died so quick, you sure that girl's boyfriend didn't spill his tequilla sunrise in the tank during their housesitting encounter?!?!

 

I'd first take out the dead worms and fish. Don't eat them, throw it all out.
Then I'd get some flow going in the tank, aka a good strong powerhead to stir up everything and blast the LR.
Then siphon out 80%-90% of the cloudy water.
Replace the 20g water with your 100g tank water or fresh mixed saltwater, either is fine.
Get the heater, lights, and filters back up and running.
Test the water every few days for ammonia, nitrites, nitrate.
When you see your little cycle (if there is one at all) come to an end ~2 weeks, throw in a damsel to test out the situation before you restock with more expensive fish.
When you restock, do it slowly so the bioload doesn't jump up too fast.
Add the fish want in the order from least to most territorial/aggressive.
Good Luck.

 

change all the water + cycle = good to go - sorry about the loss.

 

And the "upside" is: It was the thirty, not the 100 that went south. Bad that it happened, but it could have been worse!
Good luck,

 

i'd do an 80% water change and test it for awhile.

 

rofl.

how do plugs become mysteriously unplugged?