I just lost $5,000 in aquatic life because I did something stupid

[Lady of Babylon]

Do a big water change 75% . And replace the carbon.. add more than 1 sock.


Get yourself some frtizyme 9. It sounds like you need to get some beneficial bacteria in that tank. Fritzyme 9 is the only good bacteris ina bottle. Use 3x recomended dose. They sell 1 gallon bottles on amazon for like 30$ last i checked.

Also dont overdose prime in it takes oxygen out of the water and ive had it kill fish in saltwatse.. they need to put warning lables like that on the bottle.. for fresh water its ok but salt dont overdose.

Sweet! Got a gallon of that. I had never heard of that brand before.

very much agree with the warning label on prime.

 

[Lady of Babylon]

Sorry, but I don't have sympathy for the man only the animals. 1. Why the h*** do you have that much sand, knowing what we know now and 2. If you're such a protector of ocean wildlife, why would you add ANYTHING that would remotely put all of your wildlife at risk. Instead of breeding marine fish I suggest you find a new hobby.

Being a Californian, I would suggest you turn yourself into PETA immediately!

? Thank you for your very rude and opinionated post.

1. the sand. Why would I not have that much sand when I have had sand dwelling wrasses + in the tank that requires a minimum of 2” of sand bed.

2. You must have not read through the entire thread and wrote me your knee-jerk reaction to what I have openly stated multiple times was stupid of me. In fact the title of my post has “because I did something stupid.” my post was to share my catastrophe so others would NOT do what I did. Thus saving others from such a nasty and soul crushing fate.

why because I live in California do I have to turn myself into PETA? You do realize that other states are much more strict with environmental rules and regulations than California.

do you need a hug? You seem like an unnaturally angry and spiteful individual.

 

[ApoIsland]

? Thank you for your very rude and opinionated post.

1. the sand. Why would I not have that much sand when I have had sand dwelling wrasses + in the tank that requires a minimum of 2” of sand bed.

That was a ridiculous post by the spiffster but they did make one good point no matter how poorly presented.
That sand of yours is definitely much more of a liability than a benefit and can really be much shallower.
For 10 years I have kept multiple sand dwelling wrasses and there is no need for a sand bed deeper than 1 - 2 inches for the vast majority at the size we keep. A wrasse would have to be close to 8 inches long to get thick enough that it couldn't bury its self in 2 inches of sand. And in a tank as small and cramped as yours and mine these wrasses would likely die of insanity before they outgrow a 1-2'' sand bed.

 

[ApoIsland]

Do a big water change 75% . And replace the carbon.. add more than 1 sock.


Get yourself some frtizyme 9. It sounds like you need to get some beneficial bacteria in that tank. Fritzyme 9 is the only good bacteris ina bottle. Use 3x recomended dose. They sell 1 gallon bottles on amazon for like 30$ last i checked.

Also dont overdose prime in it takes oxygen out of the water and ive had it kill fish in saltwatse.. they need to put warning lables like that on the bottle.. for fresh water its ok but salt dont overdose.

For my money this is the best advice for tanks less than 150 gallons or so. When I have had problems with my water in the past I have changed ALL my water. Definitely no point in small % water changes if you want to correct a major issue. Sounds like you just need a good cleaning and restart. I would rinse all that nasty sand really well with the hose until it runs clear and give all the live rock a good swishing and scrubbing in tank water before changing almost all the water.

 

[Lady of Babylon]

That was a ridiculous post by the spiffster but they did make one good point no matter how poorly presented.
That sand of yours is definitely much more of a liability than a benefit and can really be much shallower.
For 10 years I have kept multiple sand dwelling wrasses and there is no need for a sand bed deeper than 1 - 2 inches for the vast majority at the size we keep. A wrasse would have to be close to 8 inches long to get thick enough that it couldn't bury its self in 2 inches of sand. And in a tank as small and cramped as yours and mine these wrasses would likely die of insanity before they outgrow a 1-2'' sand bed.

Gotcha. The sand bed is 2” deep uniformly going from a beach sand size to fine live sand with a few lava rock pebbles mixed in here and there. I have ceramic bio blocks lining the entire bottom of the tank that take up the 1/4 inch space from the bottom glass to the black rim cap. So it’s not as deep as it looks. I have a lot of optical illusions when it comes to the tank “furniture”

 

[Lady of Babylon]

For my money this is the best advice for tanks less than 150 gallons or so. When I have had problems with my water in the past I have changed ALL my water. Definitely no point in small % water changes if you want to correct a major issue. Sounds like you just need a good cleaning and restart. I would rinse all that nasty sand really well with the hose until it runs clear and give all the live rock a good swishing and scrubbing in tank water before changing almost all the water.

I did around a %50 water change yesterday with more carbon socks and new filter set up in my sump. Added “stability” to get some good bacteria started. Rocks and sand had no oder throughout the whole ordeal. I checked them before yesterday’s water change. The oder was purely in the water, which I am assuming is a reaction from all of the good bacteria being flushed out after 5 50% water changes in a duration of 6 days. Mix that with Prime and a few stressed corals caused what I can only speculate caused a sulfate bacteria boom. Smelled like the stagnant saltwater marsh near the dumbarton bridge. Then just smelled like bad breath. The water is starting to clear just fine. And the oder is diminishing. I added some phytoplankton (not much) to feed and kick some of the stuff to life that survived a few hours ago.

 

[Subsea]

Gotcha. The sand bed is 2” deep uniformly going from a beach sand size to fine live sand with a few lava rock pebbles mixed in here and there. I have ceramic bio blocks lining the entire bottom of the tank that take up the 1/4 inch space from the bottom glass to the black rim cap. So it’s not as deep as it looks. I have a lot of optical illusions when it comes to the tank “furniture”

As I recall, Ceramic bio blocks remove nitrate. Is that your purpose?

 

[Lady of Babylon]

Yes, one of its purposes. Also creating an Un-disturbable good bacteria housing...ish. Akin to having lots of live rock without having my tank be entirely live rock jammed. Thoughts?

 

[Subsea]

Yes, one of its purposes. Also creating an Un-disturbable good bacteria housing...ish. Akin to having lots of live rock without having my tank be entirely live rock jammed. Thoughts?

When I first set up my present 25 year old tank, the prevailing thoughts in the hobby was that nitrates were to be removed and that sand-beds are nutrient sinks. I no longer see removing nitrate thru denitrification as a desirable goal in itself. I prefer putting that nitrate into biomass of desirables and not into the athmosphere as free nitrogen gas, which is what happens when denitrification bacteria capture oxygen and free up nitrogen from nitrate molecule.

My evolution from this position begin with a light and a magnifying glass looking at the little people in 30G Ecosystem Mud/Macro refugium. Instead of the simplistic “balance nutrients in with nutrients out”, I had my “awakening” to nutrient recycling > 20 years ago. At this time in my 25 year established 75G display I dose ammonia to provide nitrogen uptake by ALL.

 

[Subsea]

I know that sand is a much better biological filter, pound per pound by > 10 fold than live rock. The reason is small grain size increases surface area which increases bacteria surface colonization area. Also, I can diffuse water thru a sandbed much better than flow thru live rock.

In the last three years, all of my tanks have reverse flow undergravel filter grids with < 2” substrate. Not that I advocate a lot of reef fish in confined space but with an upflow of oxygen rich water thru substrate, a high nutrient load can be processed.

 

[disdareef]

That’s horrible!!

 

[ChunWei]

Wow, I feel you bro, learn a lesson

 

[Lady of Babylon]

I am really devastated.



I have been working on creating a sustainable ecosystem (indo/central pacific and heavily Hawaiian islands) with my saltwater tank. I want to breed a variety of specific hard to get species so that the aquarium trade doesn’t continue to have such devastating effects on the oceanic ecosystems. I also want to share and teach my appreciation of the ocean and it’s ecosystems with others. It’s one of my longest and biggest dreams.



It brings me back to my childhood when my dad lived on his sail boat in Oceanside, Southern California. He taught me a lot about the ocean and it’s life. I have always had a love and respect for the ocean and it’s ecosystem.



Hawaii and the indo-pacific have shut down all operations for a minimum of 3 years... great for the wild life! however that makes my dream of having my ecosystem and breeding sustainably REALLY a challenge. So I did what any panicked dreamer does with a credit card and the REALLY RARE opportunity to purchase all of the fish I had planned... ALL AT ONCE!



My tank could handle the bioload.

And it was.



Then Thursday happened. I knew better than to mess with cucumbers. (I got to help my clean up crew, thought it would be ok.) something bothered it. (Thinking it was my potters angel since he was all of a sudden pale and the only one that looked distressed.) it went into self defense mode and spit out its guts and released toxins. I thought I had caught it in time... but it set off a chain reaction. The puffers then puffed and released their toxins in defense on the other side of the tank. In 15 minutes. Even with heavy amounts of activated carbon already in place... I lost several thousands in aquatic life.



survivors :

* 5 green chomis,

* dwarf moray eel,

* yellow tang,

* 2 dragon faced pipefish,

...



Schrodinger’s listed:



* 1 golden eyed kole,

* 1 fire fish,

* cleaner wrasse,

* coco worm,

* Orange starfish,

* 3 saron shrimp,

* 1 fighting conch,

* peppermint shrimp,

* 5 zebra dwarf hermit crabs,

* all mushrooms,

* leather corals, hammer coral, duncans, zoas, +

* campfire and pink feather duster worms,

* humpback cowrie

* arrow crab

* 2 barnacles

* 2 mussels

* bubble snails

* micro jellyfish

* star polyps

* frogspawn coral

* 3 mini maxi anemones,

* copepods, amphipods, dwarf stars, tongan snails, nassarius snails, astraea snails, turbo snails, thin striped hermit crabs, macro algae, etc.

* other micro flora/fauna

...



Known casualties:



* gold neon gobies (mated pair with eggs)

* flame fairy wrasses (mated pair)

* 5 firefish

* 3 pink streaked wrasses

* 1 golden eyed kole

* pyramid butterfly fish

* court jester goby

* 2 long nosed butterfly fish

* pebbled Angel fish

* 2 potters Angel fish (male & female)

* fishers Angel fish

* 2 Hawaiian white spotted puffers

* white spotted dwarf goby

* 1 dragon faced pipefish

* blue striped pipefish

* 5 Vanderbuilt chromis,

* 2 fighting conches,

* 2 limpets

* 2 short spine urchins,

* 2 long spine urchins,

* 3 flame scallops,

* 12 sexy shrimp

* 6 saron shrimp

* 1 cucumber

* chocolate chip starfish,

On Thursday I spent a few hours staring at my fish that I had pulled out of the tank and into clean water with a heater and a bubbler hoping that they would snap out of it, breaking down and trying to give them fish “CPR” hoping that I would revive them... I am still in denial and shock.

Friday and Saturday I watched my vander’s die one by one and all of my mushrooms and coral melt like the wicked witch of the west...


It’s Sunday ... and I can’t catch a break. Even the life forms in the sand are jumping ship. It doesn’t look hopeful that I’ll have any survivors. Every time I do a water change the tank seems to get worse. My live sand is turning black right before my eyes.
And yes. I have been pumping extra oxygen into the tank for a few hours. I also got close to 50 lbs of live rock that I have just added to the tank. Never in all my life of keeping fish have I ever seen or have anything like this happen to such an extreme.



I am at a complete loss as how to move forward.

anyone know how I can salvage my tank?

Whelp, it’s been a little over a week. Finally got the sulfur stench gone. Tank is not cloudy anymore... the little guys in the tank have stopped dying (bristle worms, hermit crabs, snails, zoas.) However my water perimeters have me reminiscing about “Lisa Frank” products so everything is still hanging out in the 5 gallon with water changes every other day. this really sucks. Lesson has more than been learned by me. It has burned off all of my nostril hair too.

 

[Jedi1199]

Lady of Babylon,​

I am not that far away from you. In fact I work in Tracy, so REALLY close (if you shop at Safeway I have probably delivered half the meat, dairy, and veggies you have consumed in the last 6 months lol)... Perhaps, once you have your tank settled again, we might meet? I would like very much to sit with you and pick your brain for ideas and advise. Despite this unfortunate tragedy, I get a vibe from you that you are a very experienced reefer... I would love to soak up some of your wisdom.. success and failures...

 

[Lady of Babylon]

Lady of Babylon,​

I am not that far away from you. In fact I work in Tracy, so REALLY close (if you shop at Safeway I have probably delivered half the meat, dairy, and veggies you have consumed in the last 6 months lol)... Perhaps, once you have your tank settled again, we might meet? I would like very much to sit with you and pick your brain for ideas and advise. Despite this unfortunate tragedy, I get a vibe from you that you are a very experienced reefer... I would love to soak up some of your wisdom.. success and failures...

Thank you for the compliments! I am not meeting with anyone in person due to COVID. My husband and I are low on the vaccine priority list, and I have a weak immune system. I am happy to answer what ever questions you have via direct message etc, however there is a lot I do not know when it comes to this hobby as well. Each home aquatic system is different and just like in the Bay Area, oceanic micro climates make it impossible to ever know everything there is to know.

 

[austibella]

Omg this is horrifying so sad my heart cry's for you.i have never heard of a cucumber doing that. I have had many during the years and never a problem. Guess I was just lucky .

 

[carmodpg]

I ever use prime in water changes…

 

[1guydude]

Box fish. Puffers. Cucumbers...im sure theirs others. Sorry. Good time for a deep clean and fresh slow start. No bottle miracle bacteria exsists in the sw world.
D

 

[DarkReefer]

Sorry to hear about your loss, that would be quite devastating.
Did you have any pictures of what it looked like before this happened ?

 

[Lady of Babylon]

Sorry to hear about your loss, that would be quite devastating.
Did you have any pictures of what it looked like before this happened ?

This is most everyone before I panic added.