Tank Crash! Thanks Flatworm Exit!!!

[Black Mammoth]

Well I've been working on the tank now for about 36 hours. I have absolutely the worst luck! My tank was running great. Then I decided to take in a coral for someone to help out revive it (not blaming anyone). I was going to put it in my prop tank, but I was having some issues with it. Well that coral apparently had flatworms. They started to take over. I figured yesterday would be a good day to deal with them. So I had water already made & carbon ready to go. First I siphoned out as my flat worms as I could. Then I added the flatworm exit and they started to die, but they were some still available. I let it go longer and added more as the instructions and other suggested. Then that started to kill them off. I then added carbon. Then I did a large water change. My Magnificent Foxface freaked out and I couldn't calm it down nor catch it to put in my prop tank.

 

Around 4:30 am I went to bed and I got up at 9 to find the Mag. Foxface dead :( I then did more siphoning and a large water change. I called Sean at F&F to see if he could get me another Magnificent Foxface and sure enough he had one already ready to go! Wow, what luck. So as I was cleaning up my tank, I noticed that my return bulkhead was leaking! Great! So I drained the overflow and cleaned everything up and reinstalled the bulkhead. It still leaks! Maybe even more now...just freaking great. It gets better. So I run down to F&F to get my new Magnificient Foxface and more carbon.

 

When I return back from F&F (maybe 1.5 hours later), I find that pretty much all my SPS are bleaching hardcore. On top of that I picked up a really nice colony from Rebecca the other day. It was my wife's favorite coral. She's the one that picked it out. Well it bleached pretty bad. So I threw them all in my prop tank which wasn't probably the best because of the temp difference.

 

I then added new carbon. The LPS started to perk up, so I took some of the SPS from my prop tank and put it in the main. They are starting to look better, but it doesn't looking promising. Then all of a sudden my Flame Angel started to freak out like my Magnificent Foxface did last night. So I caught it and slowly acclimated it to my prop tank. It looks like it is going to die. Now, my Chromis are going nuts. My RBTA doesn't look great nor my clam. The Maroon pair are hiding. I've lost some snails & crabs.

 

This is the second major disaster this year and each time it has cost me $500 - $750 each time. I'm thinking about jumping out. This is only a week after having discussions about going to a 210 - 300g display tank.

 

Well I'm off to do another 30g water change.

Edited August 18, 2007 by Black Mammoth

[dhoch]

This kind of stuff is really sucky, which is why quaranteen is a VERY VERY good idea.

 

Hoepfully it won't cause you to bail, but I totally understand.

 

Dave

[dandy7200]

Sorry to hear you bad luck. Two questions: Do you normally run carbon or is this the first time? Can you test your nitrites, ammonia?

[Black Mammoth]

Sorry to hear you bad luck. Two questions: Do you normally run carbon or is this the first time? Can you test your nitrites, ammonia?

 

This is the first time for me with the carbon. Actually, I haven't tested anything since I've been changing water like crazy. I figured it wouldn't really matter since I'm just going to do another water change as soon as the RO finishes making new water. I have 90g display and a 40g sump. So I'm really probably around 120g total (minus rock and room in the sump). So I do a 30g water change. Make new RO water and do another 30g. I've been doing that non-stop now. After this water change finishes, I'll run some tests.

 

BTW, it looks like the Flame is done :( The good news is that the Chromis are still around the Maroons & RBTA looks good now. More corals are coming out.

Edited August 18, 2007 by Black Mammoth

[Guest NSC]

I hate to hear your tragedy :( my opinion is to never medicate the reef, I have seen my own expensive fish die due to lack of quarantine and understand the frustration of losing the fish...but the corals too? OUCH!! Isn't Exit a dip?

 

Sorry to hear you bad luck. Two questions: Do you normally run carbon or is this the first time? Can you test your nitrites, ammonia?

 

Can carbon cause the bleaching?

[dandy7200]

I had a feeling it was your first carbon run. I think you clarified your water pretty quick and the result was better light penetration -> bleaching corals. Get some window screening or something over the tank before your photo period tomorrow.

 

I'm also guessing your system had more flatworms than you thought and the die off caused an ammonia spike. I think your system is established enough to handle the cycle but you might be able to catch the proof if you test for nitrites now.

 

None of this will solve the problem but, identifying what went wrong and why might keep you in the hobby.

[Black Mammoth]

I hate to hear your tragedy :( my opinion is to never medicate the reef, I have seen my own expensive fish die due to lack of quarantine and understand the frustration of losing the fish...but the corals too? OUCH!! Isn't Exit a dip?

 

Thanks. I've only had to medicate my reef twice. Once when I had redbugs (before I QT). I only lost 2 emerald crabs. Now this time. I QT everything now except for that one coral. Normally I would have, but my prop tank was toast. I should have at least done a fresh water dip on it. Exit isn't a dip. You add x amount of drops for y amount of gallons. I should have tried catching the fish so at least they would have been safe. Ugh.

 

BTW, the Flame was playing dead. It's still alive, but barely. It's breathing really hard and fast. So are the Chromis. I suspect that the ammonia is really high. I'll test that soon, but there really isn't anything I can do. I'm already doing 30g water changes and running carbon...sigh.

[Guest NSC]

And if you lose some corals I will be glad to offer you some frags not very exotic but if need them they are here, I can't help out with the fish as I have also had a plague that claimed many.

[Black Mammoth]

And if you lose some corals I will be glad to offer you some frags not very exotic but if need them they are here, I can't help out with the fish as I have also had a plague that claimed many.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the offer. I'm going to see how things go tomorrow with this. I may contact you depending on how things go. I hope that things will perk up and make it. It may not be too bad, but we'll see.

[treesprite]

it's like trying to make things better backfired - i get so frustrated in those situations

 

I'm sorry your having this big mess and this loss with your tank :(

[Black Mammoth]

Oh ya! It gets better. So I'm in the fish room trying to get things ready for the water change. I come back out and the bulk head completely failed!!! Freaking great. So I have what, 10 gallons of water on my floor now? Maybe 7. I'm not sure. My nitrate, nitrite, etc test kits were in the stand. They were floating and the labels were completely destroyed. I guess I can't be testing the water now. Sounds like I'll be buying more of those if I stay in this hobby. I tried getting as much water as I can with my carpet cleaner. I also have my dehumidifier running. Luckily, the tank is in the basement. So I drained and disconnected the overflow. I put a heater in the display tank. I put a media bag with carbon in front of my tunze. I hooked up a maxi jet to create air in the tank. The only thing I'm not doing is using a skimmer and the UV. I hope the carpet under the stand is OK. I can't get to it to suck up the water. I have the cleaner by the edge along with the dehumidifier trying to suck it out. If I didn't have to acclimate the Flame to the prop tank, I would had time to swing by Rick's to get a new bulkhead. It is beyond me how a bulkhead fails.

 

Do I dare check the 2 lotto numbers I have? I guess my luck can only go up from here.

 

BTW, the Flame is still alive. It's still having a hard time, but at least it is still kicking.

[YBeNormal]

Use lots of FW to clen the carpet, suck up as much as you can and everything should be fine. Someone else on the forum (who shall remain nameless) dumped 32g of freshly mixed SW on their basement carpet and we spent most of the day using a carpet cleaner to suck it out. In the end there were a couple of very tired guys but no damage to the carpet as far as I know.

[jason the filter freak]

Sorry to hear it man, stick with it.

[Guest clown-x]

It wasn't an ammonia spike that caused the problems, it's the toxicity from the flat worms. When they die, they realease a poison which can and will kill fish and coral. Running carbon and water changes was the correct method to help with that, but it sounds like you had a ton in there and it just got overwhelmed.

 

Real sorry to hear about your loss and frustration man. That just sucks. Hang in there.

 

Clown

[Black Mammoth]

I got an update. First let me clear up something. I didn't recently get the flatworms. I had them for awhile. So any recent acquisitions didn't cause my problem. On top of that, if I was thinking a little more clearly when I got the problem coral, I wouldn't have them in my main tank.

 

The Flame made it through the night. It's now swimming around in my prop tank with my new Mag Foxface. The bad news is that I lost a Chromis. I believe that the other fish are OK for now. I'm mixing up more saltwater now to do another 30+ g change. It looks like i lost one of my nice SPS. The colony I got from Rebecca is still borderline on whether or not it will survive. The tips look bleach, but the stalks look like they may make it. I told my wife when we picked up that colony that I would frag a bit of it so if anything happens, we at least have a frag. I never had the chance :(

 

Well off to mix up some water, change the carbon, and try to suck up more water out of the carpet. BTW, does anyone know why a bulkhead would fail? I looked a the seal and the glass and everything looks OK.

[dschflier]

If the seal is fine then the next culprit I would look at would be if it loosened slightly. Depending on how it is attached to the other PVC if you hit some part that was attached it may have loosened. If you re-tightened and forgot to clean the glass around the seal it could also have an effect on the fitting sealing properly.

[sjm817]

Wow Shaun, very sorry to see you are having such trouble! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Sometimes a Bulkhead can fail because the nut strips out. The nut on most bulkheads fits kind of loose. If it got bumped, it might have loosened up some. I've never used FWE, but the advice you are getting here sounds correct.

[Black Mammoth]

Another update. Things are getting better. The Flame made it and is doing well in the prop tank. I had 4 Chromis and 2 are dead for sure. I haven't seen the other 2. The maroon pair appear to be doing well in the anenome. So far it looks like I lost all my SPS. It looks like 3/4 or more of the LPS will survive. However, losing the SPS really hurts, especially the nice colony I got from Rebecca. I did another water change and replaced the carbon. Things are starting to perk up.

 

Now for the bulkhead failure. I found the problem. Why it happened? I'm not sure. To recap. I noticed that the bulkhead had a slow drip. So I took it out, clean it up, cleaned up the glass and reinstalled it. When I started it back up, it still had a slow drip. I planned on getting a new bulkhead. Then all of a sudden it just busted through with a lot of water. Well when I went to replace it today, I noticed that the nut was really loose. I found that very interesting. So I took it apart again. Then I reinstalled it and got out the channel locks and locked it down. I was careful on not to do it to hard to crack the glass. I'm going to keep an eye on it. I'm thinking about getting some locktite and gluing that booger down.

[davelin315]

Another update. Things are getting better. The Flame made it and is doing well in the prop tank. I had 4 Chromis and 2 are dead for sure. I haven't seen the other 2. The maroon pair appear to be doing well in the anenome. So far it looks like I lost all my SPS. It looks like 3/4 or more of the LPS will survive. However, losing the SPS really hurts, especially the nice colony I got from Rebecca. I did another water change and replaced the carbon. Things are starting to perk up.

 

Now for the bulkhead failure. I found the problem. Why it happened? I'm not sure. To recap. I noticed that the bulkhead had a slow drip. So I took it out, clean it up, cleaned up the glass and reinstalled it. When I started it back up, it still had a slow drip. I planned on getting a new bulkhead. Then all of a sudden it just busted through with a lot of water. Well when I went to replace it today, I noticed that the nut was really loose. I found that very interesting. So I took it apart again. Then I reinstalled it and got out the channel locks and locked it down. I was careful on not to do it to hard to crack the glass. I'm going to keep an eye on it. I'm thinking about getting some locktite and gluing that booger down.

 

I wouldn't glue it down. Worst case scenario, if you want it to stay put a little bit better, put some teflon tape on the threads. This won't interfere with the gasket and will help the nut stay positioned. I would check the gasket again and make sure that it's clean. You could also smear some silicone grease on it or even some vaseline to help the seal. If you glue it together and it doesn't seal properly or the gasket leaks or anything else, how are you going to get it off again?

[Black Mammoth]

I wouldn't glue it down. Worst case scenario, if you want it to stay put a little bit better, put some teflon tape on the threads. This won't interfere with the gasket and will help the nut stay positioned. I would check the gasket again and make sure that it's clean. You could also smear some silicone grease on it or even some vaseline to help the seal. If you glue it together and it doesn't seal properly or the gasket leaks or anything else, how are you going to get it off again?

 

They make locktite where you can take it off again. I was also thinking about teflon tape. Actually, I don't think the gasket would be affected by either one, because it's suppose to be on the water side, right? I'm keeping an eye one it now and no signs of any leaks at all.

[Rascal]

I'm thinking about getting some locktite and gluing that booger down.

 

Sorry to hear about all of this.

 

Maybe it would be better to just replace the faulty bulkhead?

[yauger]

dude juat read the story, dang that sucks... I'm gonna have nightmares tonight now cause I'm way way out of town for the next week... I hope you can stay in the hobby we have lost too many people this year.... I'm truly sorry to hear this and when your back on the up and up I will gladly send some corals your way...

[Black Mammoth]

Sorry to hear about all of this.

 

Maybe it would be better to just replace the faulty bulkhead?

 

It would be better. Actually, I went out and got a new one, but when I got home I realized I grabbed the wrong one. The place was closed by the time I realized that. So in order to get things going again, I put the old one back in. I'm wondering if I knocked it loose when I was reorganizing the sump area.

[txaggies07]

That is a real shame. I had a leaky bulkhead last night. It dripped some water through the hardwood floor and into the basement. My roommate was rather pissed (I moved in with him this week and just set up my tank).

[Black Mammoth]

I have another update. So I lost 3 Chromis, pretty much all of my SPS and part of my LPS, and my Magnificent Foxface. Now, I'm trying to get things back together. The corals in my tank and my clowns & chromis are out (other fish I was able to capture and move to another tank). Now I'm having a bad algae bloom. Also, my dynoflagellates are back...well I had a bit before the tank crash. Currently I'm running carbon. I'm out of salt for a water change :( I have some in route right now. I have a UV sterilizer running. What should I do to combat the bloom and the dynoflagellates? I will continue to do water changes when I get salt in and change the carbon. What else can I do?