Devastating Tank Tragedy

[returnofsid]

I've been out of town all day, and out of cell service for a large part of that. So, when Angie came home to our 200 gallon tank, full of dying fish, she did the right thing, by starting water changes and doing water tests, until able to contact me. She also contacted Barbie at Aquarium Solutions for advice. Thank you Barbie!! Thanks are also due to Kevin at Aquatic Dreams, who gave me advice, later, on a chemistry question.

Anyway, as I was saying, Angie came home from work to find my oldest 2 daughters panicked and all of our fish dead or dying. Our pH was below 7.0 and she immediately started water changes. As soon as I finally got home, I immediately noticed that our Co2 tank was sweating. It was empty, and had emptied quickly. It seems the solenoid stuck and the entire Co2 tank dumped into the sump, plummeting the pH and raising the Alk to 28 dkh!!! No, unfortunately that is not a typo. I was only able to get an accurate test reading, after consulting with Kevin, since the test took 1 3/4 syringes of KH reagent.

So far, we've changed 50% of the water, moved ALL SPS and some LPS into our 40 gallon and moved what fish still seem to be breathing into the 40. I'm sure none of the fish will survive though. Some of our SPS has already experienced RTN and are completely white skeletons, from the major spike in Alk.

Our fish deaths so far are:
Female of our pair of Blue Jaw Triggers (male soon to follow)
Purple Tang
Scribbled Rabbit
Male and Female Benghai Cardinals

So far, I've been unable to find the Male of our mated pair of Black and White Occellaris.

The following fish are sitting on the bottom of the 40, still breathing, but I'm sure will be dead soon:
Female B&W Occellaris ?? Not sure if it's alive still or not
Male Blue Jaw Trigger
Starry Blenny
Lavender Tang

I believe that accounts for all of the fish that were in the tank.

We'll see if we wake up tomorrow to a 40 gallon tank full of white SPS skeletons.

[cdearing]

Geez Sid. I'm wishing you the best.

[zhenya]

Sorry to hear of your losses. I'm sure Kevin already told you to keep all of your livestock in the forty gallon tank even after your alkaliny becomes normal again. The problem would be that there still be things dying in the live rock and I would wait it out as long as possible.
It's terrible to read something like this when I am sure you took all the precautions, it seems, and still this happens due to equpment failures.

Were you running PH controller on the reactor or simple monitor? I always prefered to use monitors due to my primal fear of controllers failing and demanding more CO2.

[CutthroatKid]

So sorry to read this, Sid. I really hope everything doesn't die.

[charlie]

You already know my feelings on this man, anything we can do to help?

[returnofsid]

Thank you all so much!!

Zhenya, I've not used a controller OR monitor. That is something I'll need to remedy!!

I also wanted to give a bit more information on what seems to have happened.

Near as I can tell, here's what happened. Over the last couple of weeks, every couple of days, I've had to nudge the needle valve dial more open, just a hair. This has been because after a couple of days, the bubbles stop. SO, I'd nudge the valve until bubbles started again. I don't know if something was plugging the needle valve or what. However, I'm assuming that whatever was "plugging" the needle valve, corrected itself. Because of my "nudging" of the valve, the valve was open more than normal. This allowed the Co2 to empty rapidly. Keep in mind, this is all a theory. All I know as fact is: Yesterday, the Co2 tank was heavy, today it's empty and the outside of the tank was wet with "sweat." I will look into the other option you mentioned.

I'll update in an hour or so, as soon as I take a quick look at all the tanks, and do a couple tests, so stay tuned.

[imcosmokramer]

wow....really sorry about your loses. I feel your pain, here is what happened to mine...careful about the last two photos

Reef Tools Live, Reef Blogs, Reef Chat, Reef Groups, Reef Clubs, Reef Classified - imcosmokramer's album: Cosmo's 75G

I'm starting a new sps tank now, after taking a breather.

Keep us updated.

[returnofsid]

I've had a really hectic morning, so haven't had a chance to test anything. However, all corals are looking great!! Corals that were moved into the 40 look find. Corals that were left in the 200 look fine. Even the Lavender Tang, which didn't get moved from the 200 to the 40, is swimming around, in the sump. It was caught and moved to the sump a couple days before this happened. Thought it was dead and was more worried about moving corals, so left it in there. Today it's swimming around and looks healthy!! The pair of B&W Occellaris and the Starry Blenny are swimming around in the 40, and appear to be just fine. The male Blue Jaw Trigger is still breathing, but also still laying on the sand bed, on it's side. I'd thought it was gone, but left it in the 40 overnight. Angie just noticed that it's breathing.

So, up to date death toll of fish:
Female Blue Jaw Trigger
Pair of Benghai
Purple Tang
Scribbled Rabbit

We lost a couple of SPS, but nothing really critical. SO FAR, all remaining SPS, appear just fine and are showing healthy polyp extension. All LPS and Zoanthids also appear to be just fine. RBTA and all clams appear happy. Unfortunately, looks like all the Aiptasia survived.

Soooo, it would appear that disaster was indeed averted, by doing the massive water changes and moving corals and fish to 40. As bad as the fish loss is, it could have been worse. Coral loss could have been devastating!! I guess I was premature in the title of this thread!!!!

Thank you all so much for your kind words, offers of help and encouragement!!!

I'm going to use this time, of no fish and much less corals, in the 200, to do some re-aquascaping and to add a few more pieces of live rock.

It'll be awhile, but we'll recover and slowly build our fish population back up. The Lavender Tang will be rehomed, once I know it's healthy AND with a warning that it's developed an appetite for Acans. I'm going to do some serious thinking and even more serious soul searching, before deciding the future home for the RBTA and pair of B&W Occellaris. The RBTA just isn't a good fit in the tank. However, the fish are my all time favorite fish and very dear to me. I won't split them up from their anemone, so have some decisions to make.

[Parrothead]

Sid,

I am so sorry about what is happening, and I know I'm too far away to be of any help, I jokingly asked about an update on the 200 a few days ago, now I sorry I did, I pray it makes it through this, Sorry.

Robert

[returnofsid]

Robert, thank you for your thoughts and no worries about asking for an update...lol.

Everything seems to have stabilized. Now it's jut a matter of a few more large water changes, to continue bringing down the Alk. Ph is back up and holding steady. Alk has dropped to 15.4 dkh, so still high, but not at a lethal level...lol.

[CutthroatKid]

Hope it keeps looking good. Sorry about the fish though

[Parrothead]

Hang in there Sid, I got faith in you, keep us posted

Tanks
Robert

[reefhead728]

Wow sid sorry to hear about your troubles. hope you get things back together, your tank was awsome and it will be again.

[reefhead728]

Hay sid how are things? Didnt know if you were able to save anything in your tank.

[returnofsid]

Update and in need of advice.

I'm slowly still losing some SPS. Unfortunately, 2 of them are very valuable and I'm hoping there's something I can do to save them. I've heard that with such an extremely high Alk, chances of reversing the damage are pretty slim.

Alk is now back down where it should be. When this initially happened, most SPS, that were still alive, were immediately moved into 2 other systems, with perfect parameters. Unfortunately, SPS continued to decline in both systems. Any advice?

3 fish survived and are doing wonderfully!! In total, I lost 8 fish.

[charlie]

See my post over there.

[zhenya]

See my post over there.

Over where?

[charlie]

Over where?

Reef Frontiers.

[zhenya]

Update and in need of advice.

I'm slowly still losing some SPS. Unfortunately, 2 of them are very valuable and I'm hoping there's something I can do to save them. I've heard that with such an extremely high Alk, chances of reversing the damage are pretty slim.

Alk is now back down where it should be. When this initially happened, most SPS, that were still alive, were immediately moved into 2 other systems, with perfect parameters. Unfortunately, SPS continued to decline in both systems. Any advice?

3 fish survived and are doing wonderfully!! In total, I lost 8 fish.

Hi returnofsid,

I understand how you feel about losing so many fish. I've lost about the same number of fish in my 75g tank in 04 when my cousin(may he rest in peace) forgot to turn back my return pump after feeding the tank. three days later all fish were dead but most corals survived.

Anyway, I think what you're observing is that corals need time to adjust to certain changes in water chemistry. In your case they were subjected to extreme changes in really short time and damage that it caused may be indeed irreversible.
I hope that your really prized coral somehow survive.

What kind of conditions do you observe on the declining corals. Can you describe it in some more detail, or maybe add few images?

[returnofsid]

Over there -----> Reef Frontiers

SPS are continuing to slowly lose tissue, from the bottom up.