aaaaaahhhhhhggggg, something just nuked my tank....

[mfp4073]

Came in from work and the water was cloudy...then realized everything was closed up. Xenia and Anthelia are sagged and not moving. Did a check of livestock (fish/shrimp) and all are there and ok. Did a mad dash water check, 4.5 ammonia, NO2 0, NO3 15. HOLY CRAP. Just did a 2.5 gal water change and am going to do another 5 gal water change in an hour.

Now the possible causes. I dropped a "strip light" in the tank this morning before work. Went splash, grabbed it and unplugged. Never flickered, never tripped anything. Possible.....but if nothing is dead then where is the ammonia coming from.

I also have 2 cucumbers. They are both moving, but one looks like his colors are off. I am going to pull both of them in case its dieing and throwing off toxins.

DAMN DAMN DAMN........

[csb]

How long before this did you do the 2.5 gal WC???

I ask, because one time I had a batch of new water that somehow had ammonia in it. I tested it on a whim and made the discovery ... so now, I always run an ammonia test on my new water before it goes into the tank. If nothing has died in your tank, perhaps something in your new water is tainted.

Also, be sure to run some carbon if you're not already. Hope the tank gets back to normal without too much loss!

[mfp4073]

NOOOO, did the water change after, it was all I had made up.

So far some of the zoos are opening. The xenia and anthelia still look like hell. They are all shriveled and gray. Not even a hint of pulsing. Fish and shrimp dont even seem to know anything is out of the ordinary other than me digging in the tank.

[Sk8r]

Good on getting the cukes out. Check your alkalinity: xenia reacts to changes in that.

[mfp4073]

alk tested normal.

How soon and how fast can I do major water changes? So far I have done 1 2.5 gal change and another 3 gallon change. I am thinking that with several small changes instead of one large one I will not stress the kritters as bad. Should I do another several 2.5 gallon changes or one 5-7 gallon change? (this is in my 20).

[z_rivers]

FYI, sand sifting cukes will not nuke your tank, it is the photosynthetic ones like sea apples that release the toxins.

[IndyMatt]

Do a search for Amquel, I think it binds ammonia so it isn't harmful anymore. It might be able to help.

[mfp4073]

I have some, but it also says that ammonia that is bound will still test positive.

I am still getting crazy readings. Like 6ppm ammonia. So far water changes. 3 gal, 3 gal, 5 gal, 5 gal (all last night), and another 5 gal this afternoon. My 2 small fish (skunk clown and blenny) and 3 shrimp seem to be ok. This afternoon the clown was "nose down" in her sleep hole.....I figured she was dead, but after a poke with a net she woke up and seems normal. I think the blenny is digging the attention. :rolleyes:

The xenia and anthelia looked dead this morning....as I am still grasping at straws I pulled them and put them into water from a "good" tank. One of my theories is that when I dropped the light, it may have shocked some of the critters killing off the xenia and anthelia and now that is rotting, thus producing the ammonia. But when I tested the "fresh" water they have been in since 7am it was not great, but still not as bad as the tank itself. They dont show any signs of life so for now they will stay out.

Im stumped. All "critters" are accounted for and I have nothing big in there anyway. I dont know why these repeated water changes are not doing as much good as I think it should. Other than the "light incident" nothing out of the ordinary or different with the tank. I am begining to wonder if my cat is mad at me for messing with the tanks all the time and has taken to peeing in the tank when I am not looking.

oh yeah, ps....I tested the test kit....have been doubting these readings could be true. It tested my other 2 salt tanks and fresh made water as normal with no ammonia.

[mfp4073]

fish/shrimp are still kicking. Starting to loose corals. Did a 10 gal water change. Still reads 4-6ppm ammonia. I decided to pull all media from my filters (hob), sponges/charcoal/etc in case that is harboring dieing material. I really dont know where or what could be putting off this much ammonia....well except the corals that are now dieing. Have begun pulling some corals to put into another tank I have on the side.

[latazyo]

do you have a roommate or girlfriend or wife or kid or someone else that lives there that may have been cleaning and gotten some sort of ammonia based cleaner (i.e. glass cleaner) in the tank?

[dastratt]

How much LR do you have? How long has the tank been established?

I think the test kit readings are suspicious, but in a small tank with little extra capacity it may not take much.

I have to add I'm not sure removing the media is a good idea for reducing ammonia, as long as it was not covered in crud, even if it were I would rinse it and put it back with fresh carbon. The media should harbor nitrifying bacteria if the filter has decent flow.

edited: if the media was functioning properly it was helping you and by removing it you may cause a cycle which could make matters worse. Properly cleaned filter media and carbon does not introduce ammonia.

What is your Ph? Alk?

[SLHerch]

I dont know if the strip light would have caused that much damage. I had a heater crack in my tank and not get noticed for almost an hour. It shocked the heck out of my Xenia, but it all recovered after about a week. It also didnt cause an amonia spike...certainly not one like youre having. I agree with latazyo, check for cleaning solutions that may have gotten into the tank. Other than that...I've got nothing...sorry about your tank.

[mfp4073]

No cleaning solutions at all. It was 4 days before the last time I even cleaned the glass.......its 2am...another 10 gal water change on the way.

[skippy2]

Do you have a dog or cat that you would have petted when they were treated for fleas? It's a reach, I know, but I can't think of anything else other than that or some type of cleaning product.

[mfp4073]

nah, I do have a cat....but she has been an inside/flea free kitty since I got her. I still have not completely abandoned the idea that she is peeing in the fishtank out of jelousy for all the time I spend messing with them.

did another 10 gal water change last night and pulled the media out of the filters......still getting crazy readings. Something is just not right. I am truly baffled. Today the tank comes apart. liverock into a bucket, filters will be turned off (only powerheads), ect and will start with rock one place and sand another. Basically will start over and start testing EVERYTHING seperately until I can get it figured out.

[RichConley]

Any big inverts? Could something have spawned? Maybe a big anemone?

[klondar]

This may be a dumb question, But many times when products like strip lights are constructed small peices of wire/insulation get left loose inside. Is it possable that this is the case and that a small peice of copper wire made it into the tank? A quick test for fopper would answer the question. I had it happen with one of my lights, but caught the offending peices before they could cause problems.


-Glen

[z_rivers]

copper would not start killing stuff that fast with such a small amount of shavings etc.

[mfp4073]

http://www.mindspring.com/~cmmaggio/photos/tank/20galjuly2a.jpg

here is the tank with everything in it from a month ago. no big kritters in it.

[graveyardworm]

Do you have any macros like caulerpa perhaps.

[mfp4073]

if its easily visable similar to the pictures I find online then no. I have a baseball size clump of cheto and thats it.

I just pulled liverock.....damn blenny is up in a hole in one piece and will not come out. Good news though, I thought I only had 3 shrimp (I thought one died), but there are 4 in there. I smelled every piece of rock when it came out....all smelled fine and had almost no smell at all. Nothing rotten. Picked up a handful of sand....that smelled fine too.

Is it time for me to start cursing.....guess I wanted to redo the rockwork anyway.

[graveyardworm]

Do you have alot of astrea snails?

[mfp4073]

nope...a few, but not many. My total snail population (mixed breeds) is about 10.

[John Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7898298#post7898298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mfp4073
Came in from work and the water was cloudy...then realized everything was closed up.

Bacterial bloom perhaps?

[mfp4073]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7909696#post7909696 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by John Kelly
Bacterial bloom perhaps?

how would I test for that?

The one final piece of rock that came out did have some redish (not cyano) algae of some kind that didnt smell great.

[TKByrnes]

maybe a couple snails died? I had 1 snail die in my 75 and i had very high ammonia.

[MyMonkey]

I had a nasty amonia spike once. Was advised by a LFS that some antibacterial soaps or sprays can cause it. Just a thought.

[mfp4073]

Dont have any of that either.

Looks like at this point I lost my Xenia and Anthelia completely....but those are cheap and like weeds (I do have some anthelia in another tank). It also looks like I am loosing my 2 sps corals. I did seem to gain a shrimp out of this. I thought I was lost my frogspawn, but it came back once transferred.