kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Well, all my fish, most of the 'pods, a bunch of inverts all dead. Last night I topped up the tank, tested the water and did some algae scrubbing, this morning everything dead. The coral is all closed up so I don't know how bad my losses are there. Anyone know what would cause my nitrites to go from zero to max on the test kits (atleast 3.3) in a matter of hours? The tank has been up since May. help? :'( Edit: Troubleshooting with the guys from Aquarium Illusions leads to this hypothesis; copper toxicity from using Instant Ocean's Reef Accelerator. I didn't even use a full dose, but we're thinking it stressed them out enough to affect the water chemistry and cause a nice cycle o' death. Edited February 1, 2013 by kindasleepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle31 Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Anything die in there? Top up with what RO,Tap? These things don't just happen,there will be an explanation somewhere........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Nothing was missing last night, so if anything was dead it was something that was neither fish nor coral because they all looked fine last night. Topped up from my bucket of pre-mixed water that has been sitting for about a week with a power head and heater in it. Slightly hyposaline for top ups. Last night I had no ammonia, no nitrites and a tiny amount of nitrates. This morning I have off the chart nitrites and ammonia at 1.2. I use tap water for my top ups but condition it with Prime, and lately have been testing for ammonia before I use it since we had warm weather there for a bit. Run off= ammonia. Edited January 31, 2013 by kindasleepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Also, any one have any advice about what to do now, especially with all the dead inverts? I did a 25% water change, and tried to suck up as many pod bodies as possible. There are some I can't get to though so I'm worried that it's going to wipe out my coral and the remaining crabs, snails and pods. Found dead worms on the sand too. So much death. :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle31 Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) What......... your adding top off water that is saltwater? It seems to me your tank is cycling,I have no idea why. Edited January 31, 2013 by Pelle31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 i know i^m not in the same league as u or the same time zone but i had a major wipe out a couple months ago, similair to u, i have a 75 fresh in my bedroom, getting ready to set up a 29g. shrimp, still in my bedroom, i used glass cleaner to clean down the rest of the dresser drawers, & the huge mirror, my tank was about 5 feet from the mirror but some of the fumes from the cleaner must of drifted over the the tank, & like u everything was alive & swimming right side up when i went to bed & when i woke up i l;ost over 7 different pairs of rainbows, it wasn^t a happy day at my house.really peed off, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Yes it's saltwater, just of a lower salinity than the water in the tank to make up for the extra salinity from evaporation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Yeah, Smellyfish. I'm really upset. I've put a tonne of work into that tank and was finally happy with the fish and they seemed happy and then BAM. Dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle31 Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Well there's a problem right there. for evaporation you use freshwater not saltwater. The salt doesn't evaporate just the water does. Whats your Salinity reading in the tank? PM me and lets continue this there................................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Replying here about the salinity so anyone else with advice can also see it. I understand that salt doesn't evaporate out, however, any time I've ever topped up with completely fresh water the salinity has dropped too rapidly and too far. Before my top up last night the specific gravity was at 1.026, after my top up and currently my SG is 1.024. Am I the only one that finds that adding completely fresh water makes their SG drop too quickly/too far? Edited January 31, 2013 by kindasleepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 How deep is your sand bed? Any chance something large (fish, star, shrimp, etc) got burried a while ago? Something may have dug up a dead spot in the night and a noxious bubble broke free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Znaika Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Last night I topped up the tank, tested the water and did some algae scrubbing.. How much was "some" algae scrubbing? One gram of algae, if decomposes quicker than the filter can manage, equated roughly 1 ppm of ammonia/nitrite in 250 Gallon tank. If the tank is 50 Gallon, then it is 5 ppm. One gram is a lot of algae, though. Was it a lot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polleni-puffer Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 In reply to your question, my tank is 33 gallons and I never find much of a salinity drop when i top up with pure fresh water. It takes about 5 gallons of FW to make a difference in salinity for me. I agree with Jason, perhaps a nasty bubble of gas came out of your sandbed ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 My tank never had a problem if salinity bounced .003 in one day, but it was hardy fish and corals. By odd chance, is your temp normal or did the heater fry? Keep doing water changes and adding excess prime to help anything still alive survive. The one time I had a die off like that, my mother cleaned the front of my tank with Bonami which I assume got sucked into the skimmer air intake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanterax Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 (edited) I see you're from Edmonton... Could this be at the root of the issue? http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=38752 Edited February 1, 2013 by Vanterax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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