Tank contaminated - corals retracted

[Drew]

Hi everyone,
I'm in trouble here. Heres what happened. I have a 45 reef, which I will be moving to a new 90 soon. This afternoon I was working on the canopy for the 90. I put one coat of poly urethane on the wood. Now where I was working on the canopy is a different room from my fish room, so I didn't think twice about using the urethane. First mistake. The two rooms are next to each other, and the fumes from the chemicals made their way to the fish room. A few hours later, the tank is in shambles. Two types of xenia, a colt, shrooms, button polyps, a hammer, a lime green leather, a gold crown leather, and a cabbage leather are all looking terrible. The hammer is retracted more than I have ever seen it retracted before, even right after purchase. Even the zoanthids are closed. The weird thing is that there is one gold crown (I have two) that is still open, it is the only open coral in the tank.
I honestly had no idea the tank could be affected like this just from fumes from another room. Here is the bad part (my second mistake). The room where I was working on the canopy IS the same room where I mix my saltwater. So I cant even do a water change yet. I will mix new water tomorrow. I have no carbon to run, but I will be getting some tomorrow also. How big of a water change should I preform? So my plan is basically to do a water change, and then run carbon. Is there anything else I could do to help? Is this a problem that can be fixed? All of the fish in the tank are doing fine, but some inverts are acting strange. For instance, my brittle star is out wandering the tank, but I almost never see him while the lights are on. Thanks in advance for any help.

Drew

[Doug1]

POLYFILTER and lots of carbon quick

[Alice]

Hoo boy; sorry to hear that Drew. I'd do a 50% change and then follow it up the next day with a 20% if the tank still looks stressed and then again in two or three days.

You have to walk the line between upseting your tank with too many changes and correcting the problem but the extra water changes seem the lesser of two evils too me. "The solution to pollution is dilution."

Good luck

~Alice

[Drew]

Thanks for all your help so far guys. I've got a pengiun 330 that I could use to run carbon and a polyfilter. The only problem is that the tank the penguin 330 is on has been copper treated. How absorbant is plastic? Will copper leach from the plastic? I also have the penguin "mini", but that wont hold much media. Do I need to buy another filter? Please help.

Thanks,
Drew

[FishDaddy]

Drew,
I don't know about the copper and plastic; I wouldn't take any chance of any more contamination.
You can put some carbon in a nylon mesh bag and hang it in the tank in an area of good current; even use the toe of an old pair of nylon stockings.
I'd try using the mini for a polyfilter if it will hold it; if not, head for WalMart and pick up an inexpensive powerfilter.
Dick

[FishDaddy]

Doug and Alice have about covered everything you can do at this time.
Having a reef tank is sort of like having a new baby: it changes the way you do things in your house and you have to reef-proof everything!
Things that we have taken for granted, such as aerosol air fresheners; painting; bug bombs; washing your hands before changing the baby, errrr, I mean doing tank maintenance, and anything else that produce airborne particles or fumes must be carefully considered as to possible effects on your reef.
I sure hope everything bounces back.
Dick

[Wrasse Man]

Drew,
Sorry to hear about your problems!
Let me know how things go, and if you are stabalized by the 2nd, I could hook you up with some more frags at the next WRS meeting.


Also, I have 2 Penguin 330's sitting in the garage unused. If you want to come down or meet half-way let me know.

'It's about people helping people'

[ 05-23-2001: Message edited by: Wrasse Man ]

[Drew]

First off, thank you to everybody who helped me out here. Well, I followed all the instructions, water changes, poly filter, and carbon. Everything is looking pretty good today. It could have been a lot worse. In the end I lost a xenia colony, a colt, some frags I had just made a few days before, and a serpent star. I was really worried for a second there. The good news is, all of the corals I lost had been fragged, and I have frags of them in my tank. Now I just have to wait for them to regrow Once again, thanks for all your help.

Scott,
Thanks for your generosity, but everything is bouncing back! I'm looking forward to the next WRS meeting, I haven't been to one in a while. My tank appears to be stablizing right now, and I'd love to get some new frags in there. First, I have to get some new frags ready to trade. See you at the meeting!

Thanks to all,
Drew

[Alice]

Drew;

Glad to hear things are on the mend. Here's to continued good luck

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Glad to hear the good news Drew. Just read the post and I have been wiping the front glass of my aquarium with Windex. I spray alittle on a paper towel in the kitchen and then go in the living room and wipe the front of the glass with it. It seems to do fine with no problems but was wondering-------Mmmmmmmmm Johnny

[JJGeisler]

Glad to hear the news Drew that the tank is recovering! Sorry to hear you had the termoil to begin with...

I've been amazed in the past at how touchy our aquatic ecosytems can be! Many years ago I lost a tank sort of similar. I had a 38g tank in the living room with Cichlids that I had kept for years. I had the carpets cleaned and never thought anything about the tank. Less than two days later my prize Tiger Oscar (had it for over 3 years) is is on the bottom, not good. Next day tank is dead. Took me a while to figure out that the air pump for the tank was on the bottom shelf of the stand and while the carpet was drying the fumes were being sucked into the tank. Everything gone.... Funny how after three years you can get attached to a fish....

Hope the rest or your family recovers.....

[Drew]

Thanks a lot everyone! Everything that survived has recovered except for the hammer, but its coming along. To top that off, my Banggai spawned (again) today!

Thanks for all your help!
Drew