Black 17 May 06

[News]

Not sure what had happended to my tank, it had been running for the past 11 months with no major problems but today some of the fishes suddenly died.

Had checked the parameter of the water;

pH 8.2

KH 13

Calcium 440

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 40

Temperature 28.5

The zoo is also not opening. The tube anemone don't look good, did not open fully and is turning a bit pale (discolour).

Any advise what had happend.

[jervismun]

Not sure what had happended to my tank, it had been running for the past 11 months with no major problems but today some of the fishes suddenly died.

Had checked the parameter of the water;

pH 8.2

KH 13

Calcium 440

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 40

Temperature 28.5

The zoo is also not opening.  The tube anemone don't look good, did not open fully and is turning a bit pale (discolour).

Any advise what had happend.

KH a bit high (I think), Nitrate a bit high... try to bring it down to below 10. Everything else seems alright... em... Zoos not opening is a very serious sign

How old are your test kits? First hand or bought from other reefers?

[Altantis]

KH a bit high (I think), Nitrate a bit high... try to bring it down to below 10. Everything else seems alright... em... Zoos not opening is a very serious sign 

How old are your test kits? First hand or bought from other reefers?

Sound familiar

[nakazoru]

Run some carbon to see if thing get better.

Those are the regular stuff we test.

There are also stuff that we dun test that is harmful to the fishes & corals... Chlorine is one of them, parasite is another, blah blah blah.

20% water change twice a day may help.....

[loster]

Not sure what had happended to my tank, it had been running for the past 11 months with no major problems but today some of the fishes suddenly died.

Had checked the parameter of the water;

pH 8.2

KH 13

Calcium 440

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 40

Temperature 28.5

The zoo is also not opening. The tube anemone don't look good, did not open fully and is turning a bit pale (discolour).

Any advise what had happend.

what is your p04 level? do you use phos remover media? and what is your sg?

[Qxnviolet]

Hrmz, i doubt a nitrate level of 40 will kill your fishes. My nitrate is around or even higher than your and my LS are all well. Did you introduce anything new into your tank recently or dose some new additives?

[News]

The only new thing added/replaced is the replacement for Chemipure (but can't remember the name, it is from Aquap---) which the C328 fish shop keeper said had change of packing only. But this had been done in late April.

Today, my Maroon clown also gone.

The tube worm had managed to come out a bit but it look like a 'painting brush'.

The turbo snail still can move around but no sure what will happened next.

[surferguy1978]

The only new thing added/replaced is the replacement for Chemipure (but can't remember the name, it is from Aquap---) which the C328 fish shop keeper said had change of packing only. But this had been done in late April.

Today, my Maroon clown also gone.

The tube worm had managed to come out a bit but it look like a 'painting brush'.

The turbo snail still can move around but no sure what will happened next.

maybe u change the chemipure and all the good bateria are gone after you change it. subsequently this leads to not enough good bateria and the fishes start to die? just my opinion..

actually i kinda cautious when changing filter media thingy. a LFS owner once told me that you cannot change the things in the canister filter or else all the fishes would die. reasons is because changing the things in the canister filter will kill all the good bateria...

[News]

That's possible as I had changed a new brand of 'chemipure'.

Don't agreed it is dued to losing of good bacteria as I had still old ceramic rings, Biohome and the bio-matt (green wired type of sponge by Qian..) which claim to develop good bacteria inside my filtration system. During the changing of the chemipure, I washed the other filtration media with tank water.

Another possiblility is that I had added some dried blood worm in their daily diet but I still feed them alternatively with frozen brine shrimp, live brine shrimp and specially packed marine pellet food.

[FuEl]

Check your salinity using a refractometer (don't use a hydrometer, it defeats the purpose). Sometimes we neglect the most basic parameter.

[Qxnviolet]

Erm...chemipure is a sort of carbon is it not? If it is, its not used to house bacteria and changing it will not cause all your bacteria to perish. Agree with bro fuel, check your salinity, its the most basic parameter in any system.

[shoelevy]

maybe u change the chemipure and all the good bateria are gone after you change it.

not true at all

if there is bacteria living on the chemipure, it would be neglible compared to the amt on his liverocks and sand

i suggest u take out your carbon since its the only thing u changed and things started going wrong?...use rowa carbon la, confirm good no prob one

its definitely not your no3, 40 is not enough to kill

under this kind of circumstances, desperate times calls for desperate measures.

just change water.

[News]

Thanks for all the advices.

My last fire clown also gone.

Had throw away the 'chemipure' and shall observe what happened next.

[loster]

there is noting to do with the carbon... in fact, you need carbon to remove the NH3 since there are so many dead

what is your sg reading?

[Qxnviolet]

Thanks for all the advices.

My last fire clown also gone.

Had throw away the 'chemipure' and shall observe what happened next.

Erm, if your last fish has alredy died, whats there to observe what is going to happen next? Throwing away the carbon wouldn't help....if you want to "restart" your tank, get some carbon into your tank and do a major water change like some bros recommand. Oh, still curious about your Sg reading.

[jervismun]

I can feel your anguish... I just hope that day will not come to me... I had a similar "near disaster" incident last week, my JBJ Digi-lab (to check water Sg) gone haywire... so my Sg was in the region of 1.025 to 1.028!!! And yes... fishes especially the smaller ones then to disappear every other day...

Again, how long are your test kits!!! Test kits normally don't last more than 1 year upon opening... still can use, but can give u inconsistent readings...

If you still have fishies/corals in ur tank, add back some form of activated carbon into your tank. Any brands will do... they are vital coz u have so much die-off and toxins in your tank right now.

Is your protein skimmer doing a good job?

Yes... although troublesome... water change... maybe 10% every day... but if the problem lies with the hydrometer... then changing water will not help much as. Another way is to bring your water to a kind LFS to check, they may not check everything for you... but Sg, pH and those simple ones should be no problem... if they refuse to help, don't buy from them and do inform us who the LFS so that I can boycott them.

[News]

Thanks for all comments and the reading taken from by hydrometer is 1.022. I doubt the sg is the problem as this reading is quite normal for my past year.

I would like to monitor a bit longer as I still have tube worms, tube anemone, turbo snails and zoo in my tanks. If they can make it, then I would just add in new fishes or else restart the cycle again.

The test kits I usually is definitely less than 1 year old but not sure about the validity date. Do they marked on the box?

[gunzo]

possibility of oxygen starvation .. I can almost always make the zoo's close up and the tubeworms spew spermlike things and become like paintbrush ..

happens whenever I pour in AZ NO3 .. for those that doesn't know .. AZ NO3 reduces the O2 levels in the tank for quite some time while removing NO3 from the tank ..

[News]

Beside the adding of AZNO3, will a carbon cause oxygen starvation or any other possible reason.

By the way, I had been aerating the tanks from day one of my set-up.

[Rex Ng]

zoos not open maybe due to parasite in your tank, very common.