Chemiclean disaster

[Joylynn]

A few days ago I broke down and treated both my nanos with chemiclean. I'm been trying to get rid of it without chemicals in the 20L for over a year and a half. The 10G just started getting some. The 10 G is fine but the 20L is a disaster. I lost my clown fish and the yellow and green polyps look like they are on their last leg. It even killed most of the aptasia which is a plus.

Right now, though, I'm mostly concerned about my long spine sea urchin which has lost all its long spines. It is moving around the tank and seems to be eating. Is it going to be ok? I've done a couple water changes. My PH is 7.8 and its usually 8.2. The ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are surprisingly all at zero. I'm taking some water to the petstore to have them double check it but its a newish water testing kit so I'm pretty sure its working right.

 

[Dowtish]

Start running as much carbon as you can to get it out of the tank. I have no idea about your urchins future....sorry.

I'm wondering about your lights and what kind you have and how old the bulbs are?

 

[poolkeeper1]

A few days ago I broke down and treated both my nanos with chemiclean. I'm been trying to get rid of it without chemicals in the 20L for over a year and a half. The 10G just started getting some. The 10 G is fine but the 20L is a disaster. I lost my clown fish and the yellow and green polyps look like they are on their last leg. It even killed most of the aptasia which is a plus.

Right now, though, I'm mostly concerned about my long spine sea urchin which has lost all its long spines. It is moving around the tank and seems to be eating. Is it going to be ok? I've done a couple water changes. My PH is 7.8 and its usually 8.2. The ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are surprisingly all at zero. I'm taking some water to the petstore to have them double check it but its a newish water testing kit so I'm pretty sure its working right.

If you followed the directions your livestock should not be effected by using CC to rid your tank of Red Slime Bacteria. You may have other issues going on that have reared their head? I have treated many times with this product with no ill effects. JMO
Bill

 

[Joylynn]

Dowtish, the 20L has power compacts and those bulbs need replaced. I may not bother now, though. The 10G has brand new LEDS and probably acquired the red slime algae by cross-contamination. I set the whole tank up about 5 months ago.

Bill, It might be other issues but all my water parameters are fine and its been about 5 months since I've added anything to that tank. It only had the oscellaris clown, a small urchin, and the clean up crew. I'm planning on breaking it down when I get my bigger tank set up because I want to move beyond yellow and green polyps. Its been up and running for over 3 years. You would think that the new 10 G would be the one that would have issues with the meds.

 

[pickupman66]

i dosed it in the last few months with no ill effects on any of my livestock. put it in per the directions and do a large water change afterwards. I changed 50 gallons on my 200-220 gallon total volume. I then turned the skimmer back on and yes, it skimmed the snot out of the water. had to adjust it very very regularly.

one thing about the chemiclean is that it will remove oxygen from the water. putting an airstone in the tank will go a long way to combat this. did you put an airstone in the tank?

 

[New Wave]

+1 pickupman... Oxygen issue

 

[mapn4reef]

+1 aeration is a MUST with CC...and it took my skimmer several weeks to get back to normal.

 

[TinaFoster]

+1 oxygen. It does say on the box to add some.

 

[TinaFoster]

Also, on the Ph, my friend Joe told me to get the Ph up and steady, blow a fan across the top of the sump and/or add an airstone to the sump. I did both, and it worked like a charm though I've not a clue how. It didn't matter how--it just worked! I wonder if it would work the same in a nano to add some air for your Ph? In that case, you'd be doing two good things in one.

 

[Joylynn]

I did not see on the box where it said to add oxygen so that may have been part of the problem. I'm wondering if the urchin somehow poisoned the tank when it lost its spines. Everything that is still alive appears to not be getting worse so all I can do now is water changes and wait to see what recovers. I had my water retested by the LFS and its pretty good. My nitrates are a bit nowhere near as high as you'd expect after a major tank die-off.

 

[TinaFoster]

Yeah some would be expected when things die. We know that the drawback to nanos is that changes happen so quickly, whereas in the ocean they fluctuate but gradually. It is good news that no further damage seems to be done. I'm not sure about the spines and what they do to the water column. Keep at it--you can pull things back to where you want them to be! SO sorry about the losses though.

 

[Joylynn]

It looks like all of my polyps are going to be fine. They had just contracted. I'm hoping to get a good trade-in deal from the LFS. The urchin is still moving around the tank and eating so I think he'll be ok too. He looks pretty bad, though.

 

[MentalNote]

For what it is worth, I had a red slime issue and was able to cure it using a bacterial additive called 'Special Blend'. It took about 3-4 weeks of dosing but it took care of it all. There are threads around where others had similar success.

 

[Joylynn]

MentalNote, thanks but the red slime is gone now. I think the damage looked worse than it was because my tank is all polyps and they all retracted. I only lost the fish and a few snails so IDK maybe the fish attacked the urchin or something. I think the urchin will recover because he's still moving around the tank really well.