[Garygun8181]

Hi everyone, this is my first post ever (unfortunately its under these circumstances) I've followed the site for all my questions and I have found it very helpful.
First of all I'll go over my tank specs. I have a 75 gal tank with a 25 gallon sump. I have about 150 lbs of rock between the sump and tank. My tank contains a powder blue tank, a black clownfish, a fire fish, a flame angel, and a yellow watchmen goby. I also have a brain coral and a mushroom (not too many corals I am just getting confident enough to start getting more.)
So to my question, I have had my tank up and running for 10 months now I have only use ro/di water for anything I do (water changes etc.) last night I went to bed fish all looked happy swimming around just fine etc. When I woke up this morning everything was dead the only things that were still alive were the snials. Shocked I looked around to see if I could find anything noticeable, and the only thing that was weird was that my skimmer (an urchin pro) was producing a crazy amount of foam. Enough foam where the top layer of my middle chamber in my sump had a layer of foam. I really dont know where the foam could have came from, if someone could help me out to get this figured out that would be really appreciated. I dont know if I should tear down my whole tank and start over or just do water changes. Any help would be great
Thank you

Water Parameters (in the morning where I found everything dead)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
PH: 8.0

 

[Rustl3r]

is there anything suspicious looking on the fish?

 

[FishDaddy]

Hi, Gary,

Sorry your first post is about such a sad event. Sorry for your losses.

Three things usually come to mind when fish suddenly die. 1) Introduction of some toxic substance into the water, such as bug spray, etc. 2) Stray voltage from a pump or or heater. 3) Lack of oxygen, such as during a power outtage when pumps/skimmer don't aerate the water.

Strange that your snails survived. They are usually as sensitive, if not a little more, than fish.

Certainly do some water changes and keep a close watch on your corals and snails. You might check for stray current with a volt meter. Otherwise, there just aren't enough clues to say what happened.

Dick

 

[emkbass]

Air fresheners, and cleaners are big culprits as well. Things like fabreeze can be deadly as the mist settles on the water.
The large amount of foam has me thinking that something was introduced into the water. could have been through the tank, sump or from the top off water as well.

Last summer my sister lost all her fish (FW) and for weeks we couln't figure out why. Turns out her husband used the bucket that she was using for water changes to wash the car with, rinsed it out and put it back. Soap is deadly.

 

[mc-cro]

I think the foam is a clue, something got into the tank

 

[Nate_Bro]

Sorry to hear about the tank, that can be a really hard hit.

also check this link out,
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f...deaths-172580.html?highlight=Sudden+fish+loss

 

[Garygun8181]

Ya I have been really thinking about it all day. its hard for me to think something got into the tank. but I think I may have came up with something. I clean my filter socks weekly in a low amount of bleach. I've been doing this for 10 months with no problems. what I think happend was that I left my filter.sock in the washer after it was washed and one of my roommates didn't notice it and ran it with a load of their clothes. I think this caused laundry soap to get on it and wreck my tank. does this seem like a logical guess? And if so do I now have to take my whole tank down and clean everything. this really sucks this is worse than losing a dog.

 

[Nate_Bro]

I could be possible, but after some rinsing and drying some soaps will break down, unlike some detergents that don't (There was an EPA law passed on the mater was there?), but if there was enough residue to kill off the fish the skimmer would have went bonkers I would imagine...

BUT if there was any type of fragrance in the detergent or any other additives that are designed to stay with the "cloths" long term, then I think that would be a culprit...

 

[Garygun8181]

If soap is the problem do I have to drain and clean everything or would water changes do the trick

 

[helenwheels]

Wow. I have nothing to add (except maybe do you have kids in the house that might have tried to "feed" the fish?) but I can't imagine waking up to that scene. It would be devastating. So sorry.
H

 

[fsureefer]

I would aggressively run carbon for a week or so to pull out anything in the water, sorry for your losses.

 

[no111]

Your BF or GF is mad at you and pour bleach into your tank.

 

[Jadinop]

what I think happend was that I left my filter.sock in the washer after it was washed and one of my roommates didn't notice it and ran it with a load of their clothes. I think this caused laundry soap to get on it and wreck my tank. does this seem like a logical guess?

It does seem like a logical guess if you just changed the sock on the day the fish died overnight. If the sock was already in use for a few days prior to the incident, it is probably not the problem.

 

[Garygun8181]

ya I changed the sock the day before they all died, its the only thing that makes any sense. Such an unfortunate loss for such a "small" thing. Just proves that reefkeeping is not easy things can go from good to horrible overnight, its not gonna make me quit ill get it back up and running in due time

 

[Quik Z06]

Wow sorry to hear that but it does sound like someone or something got in the tank. There was a thread recently where someones child put yogurt in their tank. Water Changes will help reduce this and anything new vinegar dips to help. Sorry for the loss though, I know how hard it is.

 

[Garygun8181]

I just came home from work and now there is a noticeable more amount of algae on the glass of the tank and all the bubbles are still in the sump. Would this be caused bc of the soap or could it be something else? Im at the point where I want to find out the cause so I know if I have to take everything down and clean it or if I can somehow save atleast the bacteria in my tank

 

[Nate_Bro]

do you have a skimmer, and if so, is it going crazy?

 

[Garygun8181]

ya the skimmer was just foaming out of the top non stop earlier today I have turned it off since

 

[Nate_Bro]

then I would agree, sounds like something to do with the sock then.

 

[burningbaal]

I would skim as much as you can skim and run a bunch of a high-grade carbon. Every couple days, river replace the carbon, or pull it, spread it out thin on a cookie sheet, bake it for an hour or two as hot as your oven will go. People here will tell you not to re-up your carbon, but it will work. This is what water treatment testing facilities do. Just make sure to rinse it well after baking, hen put it back in. Very sorry for all the losses, though I just lost my dog, so I may disagree on that point

I'd bet carbon and skimming will do it...most important is water changes and keep that Skimmer on full-bore!