Fish sick corals look bad.

Balz3352

Balz3352

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
So couple days ago (Thursday to be exact) I added gfo only to my reactor. I was mixing carbon and gfo before. I used just a little more than I was when I mixed it with carbon. My phosphates before we're out of control (1.0 range) and having a bad gha outbreak. Ran that for 3 days. All of my zoas started to look bad Saturday so I decided to test for phosphates. Down to . 05 -. 1. Great except my corals look like crap. That day I found my randalls goby dead. I turned off the reactor with the idea that I dropped phosphates too quickly. This morning I found one clown dead and the other one looking terrible. High respiratory rate not swimming with good purpose looking bad. (put him in qt). I inspected the dead clown for obvious signs of infection or parasites. I did not see anything. He looked normal.
I have not seen my cleaner shrimp since Friday, I cannot find him anywhere. I think he is inside my rock somewhere.

Ammonia 0
Nitrates and trites both very close to 0 if not 0
Alk 3.5 meq
Ph 8.1

I did a 5 gallon water change. (29 biocube)

Rock nem looks fine
Frogspawn looks fine
Ironman favia looks fine (actually better)
Neon toadstool is expanding this morning not before.
Urchin looks fine


What should I do next I'm lost...
Thanks
 
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SilverSurfer

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
Im no expert but is there a chance perhaps the phosphates did change toast and one of the fish may have been already sick (possibly without signs) then died and that caused a chain reaction? Although with your ammonia at 0 seems unlikely. Any possibility the GFO was contaminated or something entered the tank accidentally, overspray from cleaning etc?
 
S

SilverSurfer

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
#4
Yeah I would think in a 29 anything is possible. Im super careful in this 5 gallon I have, but having the worst time maintaining temp and salinity I top off 3xs a day, and constantly adjusting the fan lol.
 
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SilverSurfer

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
#5
Very sorry for your losses btw :(
 
SkyDiv3r17

SkyDiv3r17

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
#6
I don't think that the three fish were sick though, that's pretty unlikely.

Im going to assume that such a change is just what did it.. unfortunately I don't know the chemistry behind it.

Did you check temperature?
 
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FinsUp

According to my watch, the time is now.
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
#8
Sorry to hear this!
With you being in the medical field, you'll want to be extra careful of putting your hands in the tank when you get home for sure. But any drastic changes are usually suspect. Unfortunately, it's tough to do things gradually in smaller tanks, which I know you already know. Keep up with the larger water changes, maybe go back to carbon + gfo instead of all gfo. And keep us posted as this develops.
 
Balz3352

Balz3352

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
#9
FinsUp!;323298 said:
Sorry to hear this!
With you being in the medical field, you'll want to be extra careful of putting your hands in the tank when you get home for sure. But any drastic changes are usually suspect. Unfortunately, it's tough to do things gradually in smaller tanks, which I know you already know. Keep up with the larger water changes, maybe go back to carbon + gfo instead of all gfo. And keep us posted as this develops.
Click to expand...
Will do.... Going to have to wash my hands from washing my hands all day.
Damn small tanks are tough.... 4 or 5 people said that to me when I started and I believed them but now I really believe them. Lol

I have gfo off still but I have a bag of carbon in the tank now going to change it now, hopefully if it is some nasty chemical junk hopefully the carbon will take care of it....

BTW some corals are opening up now that my lights are coming on. Good sign.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
Too fast. Drop the P over several weeks next time.

The chances of you getting something in the tank are next to none. Don't spend too much time thinking about this.
 
Balz3352

Balz3352

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
jda123;323307 said:
Too fast. Drop the P over several weeks next time.

The chances of you getting something in the tank are next to none. Don't spend too much time thinking about this.
Click to expand...
Just don't add so much gfo to the system?

When should I start using it again. I'd really like to get my phosphates managed (just so my tank isn't a Forrest of gha) all I have are zoas and a few lps.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
#13
Use about 1/4 of what is suggested and change it fairly often. Monitor as you go. Once you get it down, you can keep it under control with a minimal amount.

There is no guarantee that GHA will go away once you get the P low. It is a living organism that will compete to gobble up the P to stay alive. There are MANY tank with undetectable N and P that have algae issues - the algae is using them up. I might suggest that you get a consumer of the algae.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
#16
Keep it up - that will go a long way. If you used dry rock or some man-made stuff, it could be a while before it goes away completely... it can be a two year process.
 
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