HELPPPP!!!

[FishyFriend88]

So I had left to go camping two days ago and when I got back all my fish, corals, and even spaghetti worms died. Literally everything! The water had a weird smell to it and the water was extremely cloudy, the zoas seemed to alright but I didn't have a qt tank so I did a %60 water change and changed all the filtration, I continued to run a ton of filter floss and switched it out every few hours then did a big water change the next day. The zoas now look like they are dead! I tested the water before the first water change and it was clean so I really don't know what caused all of this.

Thank specs:
Fluval 13.5
Fluval mini protein skimmer
Charcoal pad and phosphate pad
Seachem matrix and purigen
Filter floss
10 watt UV sterilizer
Two current orbit marine pros
And a small off brand heater from big Al's

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Jon Fishman]

If I had to guess, you had something die in the tank, and nuke the whole thing.

 

[FishyFriend88]

If I had to guess, you had something die in the tank, and nuke the whole thing.

Thank you for your prompt reply I really appreciate it.

what do you think I should do next? Should I just drain everything and start fresh? Is the water toxic now that the zoas are dead?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Thank you for your prompt reply I really appreciate it.

what do you think I should do next? Should I just drain everything and start fresh? Is the water toxic now that the zoas are dead?

If "nothing" is alive, I'd just keep the substrate and rocks, and do a 100% water-change.

 

[Dennco2000]

If "nothing" is alive, I'd just keep the substrate and rocks, and do a 100% water-change.

Couldn't agree more, something took a crap so now turn that crap into a functional bio system. I'd give it 3 weeks then toss a $20 pair of clowns in there.
Sorry dude it happens.

 

[Dennco2000]

Hey check your heater too, that does seem weird Im wondering if it stuck then started working again?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

What did you have in the tank? Livestock wise I mean. How old is the tank?
The zoas just look closed up to me. Did you do anything just before you went on holiday? Did someone come in to feed the tank? we need a little more info to try and help.
Do you have an auto feeder. Does all the equipment work on the tank still? I.e. does the UV still work as its enclosed could it have popped the bulb and livened your tank?

 

[FishyFriend88]

What did you have in the tank? Livestock wise I mean. How old is the tank?
The zoas just look closed up to me. Did you do anything just before you went on holiday? Did someone come in to feed the tank? we need a little more info to try and help.
Do you have an auto feeder. Does all the equipment work on the tank still? I.e. does the UV still work as its enclosed could it have popped the bulb and livened your tank?

I had some pulsing Xenia, a few different types of zoas, some Duncans, a favite, a couple of acans and some gsp, there was a pistol shrimp and watchman goby pair, a blue porcelain crab, a red fire shrimp, one clown and a small lawnmower blenny, they get fed daily either by me or someone else, they get fed mises shrimp and the blenny gets nori, the corals are fed reef roids 2 times a week and are supplemented with every water change

 

[FishyFriend88]

I had some pulsing Xenia, a few different types of zoas, some Duncans, a favite, a couple of acans and some gsp, there was a pistol shrimp and watchman goby pair, a blue porcelain crab, a red fire shrimp, one clown and a small lawnmower blenny, they get fed daily either by me or someone else, they get fed mises shrimp and the blenny gets nori, the corals are fed reef roids 2 times a week and are supplemented with every water change

The uv sterilizer is still up and running and the heater works perfectly

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

So was someone feeding the tank while you were away? It's just weird that everything is dead and there is no sign of anything that stands out. Are the first pics what you came home to and the clearer pics are after the water changes? I'm not even sure if anything could go through the power head, get mangled up and nuke the tank ? Maybe pulsing xenia spawned off a piece and that got sucked in. Sorry it seems like a silly question as I don't know you or your home were there people in your home that could have sprayed something in the home as in a chemical of some kind? I don't know where to start really?
Do you have a shot of the tank when all healthy?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Also what was the age of the tank?

 

[FishyFriend88]

So was someone feeding the tank while you were away? It's just weird that everything is dead and there is no sign of anything that stands out. Are the first pics what you came home to and the clearer pics are after the water changes? I'm not even sure if anything could go through the power head, get mangled up and nuke the tank ? Maybe pulsing xenia spawned off a piece and that got sucked in. Sorry it seems like a silly question as I don't know you or your home were there people in your home that could have sprayed something in the home as in a chemical of some kind? I don't know where to start really?
Do you have a shot of the tank when all healthy?

There are people to look after the tank when I am gone, the tank is about a year old, it is located in my room with the door closed and a mesh lid so nobody really goes near it except to feed them the first pics are what I came home to and the second set of pics is two days later.

Below are pics of when it was running normally the green BTA anemone in the picture was given away to a buddy so it wasn't in the tank at the time this happened and the water bottle in the first pic was just to catch a mantis shrimp and wasn't in my tank at the time either

 

[FishyFriend88]

There are people to look after the tank when I am gone, the tank is about a year old, it is located in my room with the door closed and a mesh lid so nobody really goes near it except to feed them the first pics are what I came home to and the second set of pics is two days later.

Below are pics of when it was running normally the green BTA anemone in the picture was given away to a buddy so it wasn't in the tank at the time this happened and the water bottle in the first pic was just to catch a mantis shrimp and wasn't in my tank at the time either

These are the only pics I have and they are a few months old but looked the same throughout, the water was always perfect I did 4 water changes a month and filtration was always at it's best, the water had perfect results and everything is fed accordingly even corals 2 times a week with supplemented water changes

 

[Patrick.S]

Do you dose kalkwasser? Water looked like mine has after a kalk od.

 

[FishyFriend88]

Do you dose kalkwasser? Water looked like mine has after a kalk od.

Unfortunately no

 

[ScottR]

What kind of lighting do you have? Doesn’t look like the right kind for a reef tank.

 

[FishyFriend88]

What kind of lighting do you have? Doesn’t look like the right kind for a reef tank.

I use two current orbit marine pros

 

[FishyFriend88]

I use two current orbit marine pros

I only had one at the time of the pics

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Did you have a cyano outbreak in the tank as the rocks look red I the last couple of pics?

 

[W1ngz]

Do you have a complete set of test parameters? Ammonia especially, Nitrate, alk , cal, salinity?
If several things died in a small tank like that ammonia would be really high. The answer is probably in the testing.

I wouldn't nuke the tank just yet, the corals may just be annoyed because of the cloudy water which obscured the light.