Lu Diamonds Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I was being pretty much observant after Green BTA had consumed the rest of half clam that was floating by. Figured I would keep an eye on it to see when it released its waste. But then I started noticing some strange activities, which I expected. That night the lights as well as protein skimmer was off because of adding Dr.Tim's One and Only, and the morning came and I noticed the tank temp was 95+ do to heat wave and that's when everything took a plunge, no pun intended. BTA dead, purple firefish dead, hammer coral dead... Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Shit bro that sucks. Get water changes galore ready, and try to remove everything that is dead. Is there anything left to save? You don't have a fan/chiller/air conditioner to help bring it down? Sorry for your loss Link to comment
JmeJ Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Ouch! I was fortunate to catch a wonky heater going AWOL during a water change. I think i will be saving for a Neo-therm heater by cobalt aquatics to avoid this or a temperature alert device. Hate losing livestock.... Tough loss. I feel for ya!!! Link to comment
PathOfDeception Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 For this very reason I bought an Apex Jr. Well worth the money for stress free reefing. Link to comment
Lu Diamonds Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yeah I'm gonna have to research a water chiller soon. I also wasn't sure if the BTA had a bad reaction to the clam or the addition of DR.Tim's One and Only with the lights off for slightly more than 24 hours. Directions called for 48...sheesh!... I did remove everything dead though from my tank Ironically that the firefish died right near the dying BTA and also Blue Green Chromis. I think it's started to pollute the area so I immediately got it outta there before it turned all slimey and started falling apart... Link to comment
tjwaggoner Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I'm confused. What caused the tank to get to 95 degrees? Did your heater fail? If so I don't see what the lights being off or adding Dr Tims had to do with any of this. I feel for you. I had a heater fail in my previous tank and ended up losing over 3/4 of my corals (didn't get hot enough to bother the fish). If you're saying the tank is in a room that regularly reaches temps like that during the summer (you said heat wave so I'm assuming) then without a chiller you're not going to be able to keep a reef tank. And if it's getting that hot with the lights off, I would suggest a very large chiller. Link to comment
pgrVII Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yea that's a shame Coral are very strange animals,most animals live well below their threshold of tolerances in environment coral however likes to live right on the line where sometimes the slightest change can upset the balance. Link to comment
Lu Diamonds Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yeah I have decided to wait on anymore coral or anymore anemones till I can investigate and solve issue. Wasn't sure what could have affected the BTA though. Was it the clam, was it the heat??? Don't know...was just trying to investigate. Yeah I hated to take that kinda lost Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yeah I have decided to wait on anymore coral or anymore anemones till I can investigate and solve issue. Wasn't sure what could have affected the BTA though. Was it the clam, was it the heat??? Don't know...was just trying to investigate. Yeah I hated to take that kinda lost Why would it have been the clam? I'm 90% sure it was the heat. Anything above 90 is probably draft if over a few hours, you can look up similar incidents online Link to comment
pgrVII Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yea it was the heat I'd be willing to bet anything on that 95 is way bad for inverts and corals. Especially if it's a pretty fast climb. Link to comment
aviator300 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Where do you live where it gets up to 95 degrees in the house. Sheeesh. Link to comment
Lu Diamonds Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Brooklyn,NY...yeah I believed it to be the heat also. But I did think it could have been struggling to pass the waste. First time it ever ate clam in my care so I wasn't sure if it was ok. But yes indeed we had some serious heat here and I'm in a new spot with no AC yet...so I punished as well smh!!! Link to comment
tjwaggoner Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Well I hate to sound like I'm being snarky but in your situation you need to stop buying livestock until you get either a chiller or the room where the tank is some air conditioning. It's just cruel to keep killing livestock and that's all that's going to happen if the tank is running 95 degrees or more. The temp is what caused the die off. Not the bta eating a piece of clam. Link to comment
Lu Diamonds Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 Gotcha homie. Absolutely correct. Didn't plan on putting anymore livestock in anyway till I solved the problem if you read the posts. Not even enthusiastic about replenishing livestock after taking a hit like that. Maybe in the future. But I got a bit discouraged for now. Just wanna save what I have and not see them suffer anymore Link to comment
cuber14 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 In case of an emergency like power failure or ac or chiller failure ice in a ziplock bag floating in tank or sump works great so does blowing a fan across the waters surface. Unfortunately even a short temp spike of mid to high 80s will kill. Sometimes it can be days before the total toll is known. Sorry about your loss. Link to comment
bioload Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Get a good room a/c unit if you can. Then you and your tank will both be comfortable. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Yeah I'm gonna have to research a water chiller soon. I also wasn't sure if the BTA had a bad reaction to the clam or the addition of DR.Tim's One and Only with the lights off for slightly more than 24 hours. Directions called for 48...sheesh!... I did remove everything dead though from my tank Ironically that the firefish died right near the dying BTA and also Blue Green Chromis. I think it's started to pollute the area so I immediately got it outta there before it turned all slimey and started falling apart... Sorry to hear about the loss :/ BTA can handle lights off fine, I have turned mine off for 5 days before. No harm to any coral or nem/clam, ect. When I had a 20g nano, it would climb to 86 (max) in summer and that was okay... 95 is really high though. I imagine that is what killed your livestock. If you have an enclosed top, find some way to elevate it to allow air to circulate in/out of the tank and add a fan blowing on the waters surface. The evaporation will cool the water. Keep in mind... a chiller is not as efficient if it is in a hot area. Chillers work well to combat added heat of lights, pumps, ect.... but if your house is baking hot... your chiller will have to work a lot harder. Link to comment
Lu Diamonds Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 Well noted. Thanks for the advice. I'm on a mad dash to rectify because the temps are rising once again...but this time I'm in combat mode. Had not been checking the posts due to slight discouragement but I'll be ok. Not giving in to that loss Link to comment
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