My first BIG tragedy-

Ilovefish · 09-20-2005, 09:43 AM

Hello
This is my 1st post here. I have been reading for a few months, best info on the web! Well I figured I would start with a bang. I have a 1 year old 30 gallon reef. While at work yesterday, my heater probe disconnected from the glass and poked out the top of the water. That in turn made my heater turn on, and not shut off!!!---Temp reached 99 degrees--I returned home to over %50 of my corals dead, and my wrasse dead. Somehow my black clowns lived-(tank raised). I did a %50 water change, and removed all the dead specimens. The temp is back to normal, all param's are good, but water is still cloudy with a little "beach" smell. What else should I do?----Should I set up a hospital tank for the remaining survivors?----Any help would be appreciated----Thanks ----Tracy

gwen_o_lyn · 09-20-2005, 10:03 AM

Welcome to TRT!

I'm not sure what to tell ya. I would let everything stabalize for a few days and see what happens. At this point, I don't see a need for a quarantine, unless the fish & corals look sick. How does everything look that survived?

What kind of heater are you using?

Jeremy1973 · 09-20-2005, 10:05 AM

I am so sorry to hear about your tragedy.

I would get ready for another water change. Keep a very close eye on your ammonia levels. If there was a mass die off, then there are things that you don't/can't see that will be decaying. If you don't have tons of stuff that survived, then moving them to a hospital tank might not be a bad idea. But be sure to slowly acclimate them to the hospital tank water. Keep us posted.

Welcome to TRT by the way, sorry it was for such a tragedy.

Ilovefish · 09-20-2005, 10:06 AM

Thanks for the response---I am using a digital Pro-Heat titanium heater.---The surviving corals do not look that happy, but they are alive. The clowns look stressed and hanging in the same spot.---They did take some flake this morning.

Ilovefish · 09-20-2005, 10:07 AM

Thanks for the welcome---Wish we could have met on better circumstances---

Jeremy1973 · 09-20-2005, 10:07 AM

If the clowns are eating then that is a good sign. I would then just keep an eye on the tank water parameters, and have more saltwater ready for another water change.

Alice · 09-20-2005, 10:25 AM

Welcome to TRT! As was said, I wish it was under happier circumstances.

Keeping a nano at work can be a challenge. I had a heater disaster on my 17 gallon nano a couple of years back, so I know the feeling.

Keep doing small water changes and monitoring the ammonia, trites and trates. Do you have sand? You might want to very gently stir just the top layer a little bit and remove particulates with the water change or with a hang-on-the-tank filter with floss, which should be changed every day. You might also want to run some carbon in the h-o-t filter.

Good luck and so sorry that this happened to your tank!

capt2000 · 09-20-2005, 10:33 AM

welcome!

those suction cups are very unreliable. if the cord is next another cord or the top has a hole nearby you may want to use one of those plastic zip ties to keep the heater cord in place, if the suction cup pops off the heater won't be able to move very far

Ilovefish · 09-20-2005, 11:07 AM

Thanks for the advice everyone---The probe popped out of the water, not the heater---I now have the probe under a rock!!

Loverotties · 09-20-2005, 11:18 AM

1st Welcome to TRT!I would make your skimmer skim at max for a while add carbon and change it once a day for a week and do enougher big WC then do some small till clear and no problems with all the test you do.

Ilovefish · 09-20-2005, 11:44 AM

Will do----Thanks guys!

Twitterbait · 09-20-2005, 12:16 PM

Great advice all around. I would recommend pulling the probe out from under the rock. it needs to be in a flow area or you may run in to temperature shifting. i would either tie the probe cord around a rock or use the zip tie idea. i had the same thing happen as well and i just did some good water changes and it was fine after a week or so.