Fishkeeping is fraught and stressful

[[153312]]

My reef tank has crashed completely and utterly (

At Lights out last night (just after midnight), happy corals and active fish/inverts. Water parameters good yesterday morning.... Lights on this morning just after 8, two dead fish, two more dead snails and disastrous water parameters and at least one of the corals probably also dead. Not sure on the others yet. One Nassarius snail still alive, one AWOL.

No idea cause. Bad water parameters could have killed everyone off but bad water parameters could be because of dead things causing pollution. Or could be delayed stress from the move..... Stressed corals can produce toxins but palytoxin would kill me too (lol).

Done water change. Will do another later. Can't believe my beautiful exquisite tiny Gobies are gone.

???? The corals are ok I was so so proud of them ((

Regretting bringing this up/setting it up at all right now. I'm a selfish piece of sh1t.

Feck feck feck feck feck

Only posting BC self pity and procrastinating burying them

 

[shortstuff99]

Yes marine tanks are a heartbreaker! So sorry to hear this. How long had the tank cycled for?

If you're setting up again I would add the corals about 6 months in so that it is all pretty stable first.

 

[[153312]]

I'd have to check exact dates but I set it up with mature live rock from another hobbyist's established tank back in August. Had some bacterial die off during transport so fishless cycled for 3-4 weeks with ammonium chloride until parameters were 0-0-10.
Corals and cuc added beginning of September, then fish on the 20th.
Parameters were consistently good, couldn't keep nitrates high enough though. Then day before yesterday got 0.25 Ammonia, did a water change so it was 0 yesterday.... Now today this.
Ammonia was 1-2ppm, nitrites 0.5ppm, nitrates 0. pH dropped to 7.4 from 7.8. - just not sure WHY they're suddenly bad. Because they could be dead because of the dead things polluting it or the bad parameters could have caused the deaths :/ wondering if I stocked too quickly

 

[shortstuff99]

From reading that I'm wondering if your tank had not cycled properly and it went into a cycle which has unfortunately crashed.

You didn't have any big inverts did you? Like an anemone or feather duster?

 

[[153312]]

No. Stocking was 2x turbo snails, 2x banded trochus snails, 2x nassarius snails, 1x yellow coral goby and 1x midnight coral goby.

The parameters before suggested it was cycled (processing 2ppm ammonia in less than 24hr). But then for the last little while I haven't had any detectable nitrates??

The trochus both died a few days ago and I left them in the tank because I wasn't sure if they were dead or not, (hence 0.25 ammonia reading I think). Why would the cycle crash now?

 

[shortstuff99]

My thinking is the fish load was perhaps too much for the bacteria and just pushed the ammonia a bit high.

Unfortunately sometimes it is really hard to find a reason!

 

[Nudibranch]

I can sympathise. We've just spent 2 grand ripping two enormous tanks out so we can try and sell the house more easily. One was an indoor pool, glass wall. It was awful seeing the 8×4ft glass just dumped into a skip.
Even worse, the 3 adult stingrays who lived in it had to go into temporary housing in the garage. OH spent 2 days building it. After a few weeks we found a small leak. He decided to put the rays into a separate tank for a day while an emergency repair was done. Same water, same filter, etc, etc. I went out to check them a couple of hours later. All three were dead. The big male was 10 years old. Absolute disaster.
I tested the water afterwards and found a small ammonia reading but also pH of below 5!!!! The chart only went down to 5. And sky high phosphate. Also off the chart. No idea what happened there other than a huge crash but the pH and phosphate was just weird. I almost wonder if there was something in the water. Our plecostomus survived, incredibly. He's made of strong stuff.
Terrible though. It early is disheartening. I hope your survivors make it.

 

[Equi]

Aww don’t be too down, fish really are not as simple to keep as people think. Hopefully you can get the parameters right again ??

 

[Ratface]

I am highly impressed by anyone who keeps fish and manages to keep them alive.
Very beautiful creatures,but requiring endless knowledge and how to use it.
Certainly not something I would embark on.
Good luck Snail.

 

[Caol Ila]

That sucks, Snail.

My vampire shrimp have gone MIA. I think they are still alive but they've become very elusive. I hope they're alright. I really like those wee guys.

Who would have these aquatic creatures?