It is a sad, sad day

[saxonpaul]

I have read it on this site many times and now I am the victim of it. My tank absolutely crashed. I came home two nights ago to find that my star fish looked like it had been put into a shredder and every one of my coral we receded and/or flopped over.

 

I immediately did a 30% water change and ran the skimmer with the cup all the way down to try and remove whatever poisoned my system.

 

The next day I did another 30% water change and continued to skim like crazy. I changed out all of my biological materials, Chemi-Pure, PhosGuard, Sponge, etc... I also took out all the rock, siphoned all the detritus and did another 10% water change.

 

Water tests all good but only my Blasto's and Pinapple Coral look to be recovering. My Xenia's look like they are taking in a little water but they are not opening. Zoo's are closed. Leather Toadstool mushroom is receded but it will extend a few tentacles.

 

My Strawberry Dottyback is lying on the bottom of the tank, will not eat, and doesn't swim very much.

 

I have been racking my brain trying to think what happened or what got into the tank and my only thought is that I had to have had something on my hands (i.e. soap, insecticide, or etc...) although I usually take great care of making sure my hands are clean.

 

Let this be a lesson to everyone. Be sure you keep your hands clean before sticking them into the water. Pretty expensive mistake.

 

Hopefully, most of the coral will recover but, I lost the Star and I will probably lose the dottyback.

 

PT

[Caesar777]

Insecticide? That stuff doesn't come off easily. Use gloves in the future.

[Caesar777]

Sorry to hear about the loss, btw. I had a nano that crashed a million times. Too high a bioload, and I wasn't home enough to do the proper maintenance.

[saxonpaul]

Well I think the worst of it is over and the final tally is:

 

1 starfish dead

1 Strawberry Dottyback dead.

1 Coral Beauty dead

3 pumping xenia shriveled and receded - slowly recovering

2 Leather Mushrooms - very receded - slowly recovering

1 pineapple brain - receded - almost recovered

5 blast polyps - recovering

2 sets of pink zoo's - half open - slowly making progress

all other inverts are OK. Peppermint shrimp was slow for a few days but looks to be OK now.

 

Nitrates are at 5ppm and ammonia is back to zero.

 

Still a mystery as to what caused it but, one thing is not a mystery. I lost a lot of $$$ and some animals I really liked.

 

PT

[ACBlinky]

So sorry to hear about this, what a horrid day

I'm glad some of the corals are recovering, sorry about all the losses.

[proraptor]

Man I really hope this doesnt happen to me! Im going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesnt happen

[MadTownMax]

how large of a tank was this?

 

Coral Beauties don't do too well in small tanks, something about angles needing lots of space to swim around - anything that qualifies as a nano probably won't cut it - I'd go 55-gallons and larger - I had an angel die on me in a 30-gallon (moved from a 72G when I down-graded) - and I'm sure if I hadn't removed it right away it would have crashed the tank.

 

not trying to preach, just offering an explanation

 

-Nick

[xdannyx_]

could'nt all those waterchanges right in a row alone damage some corals or fish?

[Brokken]

Originally posted by MadTownMax

how large of a tank was this?

 

Coral Beauties don't do too well in small tanks, something about angles needing lots of space to swim around - anything that qualifies as a nano probably won't cut it - I'd go 55-gallons and larger - I had an angel die on me in a 30-gallon

 

I keep a bicolor angel in my 24 long. I know that it doesn't prove anything, but with proper husbandry, I believe it can be done.

[saxonpaul]

Mine is a 37 tall. This paricular Coral Beauty was nearly full size when I bought him and he never did adjust very well to the tank. He would only eat off of the rock and hid quite a bit.

 

Now my tank parameters are approaching normal but, my Xenia's tips are breaking off. I am wondering if they will recover. All my other corals seem to have recovered very nicely. All the fish are dead though.