Watch your thermometer! (unfortunate news)

Flipturn88 · 03-19-2006, 03:06 PM

Well, I had my first major setback; my 50g endured an early bout of Spring Fever. Basically, I came home from school last week to a tank temperature of 89F. Even before this frightening discovery, I could tell something was awry; all the SPS had no polyp extension, the LPS were all tightly closed, and the fish were incredibly lethargic.

Needless to say, despite my immediate plans of action (many water changes, bags of ice in the sump, fans everywhere, etc.), I lost many--most--of my SPS colonies. My delay in posting this was so I could determine the full affects of the incident: the first four colonies that were the hardest hit sloughed off all their tissue that night; a few frags RTNed and STNed over the course of the following days. Of the remaining SPS, only a few look healthy still--the rest have bleached/browned out, and their recovery is still on the line, although the tank params are perfect now. I am very thankful that I did not lose everything, though; the LPS fared well (only losing some color) and all the fish had recovered by the next day. My other tanks were not affected either, which was a relief beyond comprehension.

What is my point in posting this? Make sure you're well prepared for the warm weather to come--don't let it hurt your tank as it did mine. I know, I picked a cold, dreary day to make such a post, but that is essentially my point; had the warm weather not snuck up on me, I would not have a collection (graveyard, rather) of bleached white coral colonies.

This hobby is certainly a roller coaster of ups and downs, but I enjoy the ups enough to endure the downs.

Have a good one,
Kayla

AndrewG · 03-19-2006, 03:22 PM

Words of wisdom. I'm hoping to install my chiller in the next week or two.

wolfie · 03-19-2006, 03:49 PM

Sorry for your lost.

I got an pink and purple digita frag if you like.I brought them last OCT and was told they would do fine in my 55GL tank with VHO lights. Well they did fine, but they just do not grove.

Your free if you like. This may help a little with your lost and those Digita need to be in a tank with better light then my VHO. As you can see they both stay brown and not the collor they suppose to be.

This 1 keep get breaking off little by little, because my female clown keep chassing my damsler and knocking it off. Can't really said if it was the clown or the damsler that knock it off.

I do not think this one ever encrust itself to my LR, and it had not grown either.

Blorton · 03-19-2006, 04:39 PM

That really sucks, Kayla. Did you figure out what caused the temperature spike?

Very sorry to hear about that. I've got some modest frags you are welcome to if you want them. Just some xenia elongata, kenya and some zoos.

Hope the recovery goes quickly.

Dan

Mobius · 03-19-2006, 05:26 PM

Kayla
Really sorry to hear about your loss.
When your ready let me know, I'll frag some of SPS for you.

Cheers

Mike

Loverotties · 03-19-2006, 05:48 PM

Sorry for your losses!

ouccmich · 03-19-2006, 06:13 PM

Sorry for your loss! I just got back home (I was gone all week) and apparently my tank went through a similar problem. Temp was 85 in the tank. Good thing I had someone checking daily on it and everything seems to be okay. Some of the xenia don't look that good, but that's about it.

jlscrug · 03-19-2006, 06:24 PM

Kayla,
Must be something in the air. I had a 2 month old Jager heater that somehow became 'stuck' a couple weeks ago...temps were at 94 degrees for at least 2-3 days. I lost EVERYTHING except two LPS that Melissa gave me...interesting that your LPS survived also... Anyway, thanks to my very generous friend Mike, I now have new SPS frags that you are welcome to once they grow a little. David also gave me some zoas today that you can have once they put on a few more polyps. Sorry about your losses

squirmy · 03-19-2006, 08:56 PM

Sorry about your loss. I have read many a post about cheap heaters (no offense, i think ALL heaters are cheap) failing on or failing off.

I bought a Ranco dual stage controller. DIY-Reef.com for about $130 delivered. Now, the heater AND the Ranco would have to fail on at the same time to scampi my tank.

Just my 2 cents...

amuruges · 03-19-2006, 09:24 PM

That really $ucks...

I have green birds nest, pink poci (eventhough it dosen't look pink in my care) green and red plating monti, frags if you wanted... let me know....

sharkboy1410 · 03-19-2006, 09:32 PM

that might be what happened to some of my sps... i lost my huge and beloved purple montipora colony, my hydnophora, and monti cap... everything else is fine... my other sps is doing fine though. the temp says 80

Flipturn88 · 03-19-2006, 11:03 PM

Thanks everyone for the kind words and advice. I want to clarify that this post was not intended to become a charity drive; you all are just too darn generous!

Squirmy, I like your plan of action. I will look into getting something more reliable for gauging temperature; it's too risky to not take into consideration, especially after what I just went through.

John, I'm sorry to hear about your temp problem as well! It's amazing how despite all the time and energy (and money!) we put into creating beautiful "slices of ocean," everything can be lost so quickly. I have some soft coral frags from my other tanks if you're interested (zoas, shrooms, clove polyps, etc.). Send me a PM, and I will try to help you out.

Thanks again to all. I don't mean to scare, but I would hate for anyone else to go through a similar experience.

Pillz · 03-20-2006, 12:10 AM

I actually went through the exact opposite today. When I left for work my tank was doing good, I get a call from home saying that the power went out. Well come to find out that in the town houses I live in there are no locks or anything on the power switches that the power company uses to turn your power on and off, well some kids decided it would be funny to shut them off. I come home at 7 30 and this is after the power has been back on for about 2 or so hours and my tank is just then at 76. Everything in the tank looked dead or dying. Well about an hour later after I tossed a second heater in there and got the temp back up everything came back out. Not only did everything survive but some of the xenia that I got from a guy on here the other day actually started standing up and pulsing. before it was just laying on its side looking really unhappy. I dont have any sps though, all i have are zoos, shrooms, and some other soft stuff.

But im sorry to hear about your loss.

robsmith32 · 03-20-2006, 01:32 AM

think some kids parents would be hearing from authorities on that one..
Luckily nothing perished.
remember, that as a certain temp is dangerous, changing the temp rapidly does more damage.
I've been fighting keeping my temp up to 76 &77 lately.
Thankfully lowest i've seen it was 73f
I've yet to see my tank reach 80 since installing the stanley blower fan on the temp controller.... knock on wood.
Kayla & John sorry for both losses.. Wish I had some to help recover.

wolfie · 03-20-2006, 05:36 PM

Kayly
did you get a pm reply from me?
I sometime click the forword button and not the reply when I try to reply to an pm.

I just want to make you got an reply from me.