Reef Issue

[Jay]

For no apparent reason that I can tell, my reef tank starts foaming up usually overnight and by morning there is patches of brownish type of foam on top of the tank and in the sump. This has occurred twice so far and it kills pretty much all my fish except my hardy maroon gold clown pair. Other then the nitrates being a bit high, everything else checks out once this occurs. It doesn't impact the corals, anemones or the clams but the fish are belly up. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong would be greatly appreciated? I have two other systems and this has never happened to me before. Thanks for your help

[dakotasreef]

Sorry to hear that. How about some tank specifics and water parameters.

 

To me it sounds like excess organics, are you running a skimmer?

[Jay]

Am running a skimmer in the sump. I will check the parameters again tomorrow morning and post. Besides the nitrates being a bit higher now, it was pretty standard.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Can you take a picture? That would help a ton.

[Coral Hind]

I would like to see pics if it happens again just to see what type of foam it is. It sounds like the foam made the O2 level drop which killed the fish. What fish do/did you have? Do you have dinoflagelattes in the tank?

[Coral Hind]

The clams could have spawned. That releases a lot of stuff into the tank and it does foam up and choke out the tank if not removed. How do you remove the foam from the tank in the morning?

 

 

[Jay]

Since then, have cleaned out the tank by physically removing the foam via net, 30% water change and increasing the load of the skimmer. It looked like like a dirty foam that you sometime see when you are at the beach. I lost a barred rabbitfish, one spot rabbitfish, blonde naso, a pair of tomato and a mystery wrasse (that one hurt bad). As I said my large maroon gold pair were the only survivors.

 

Thanks for all your help and I will take a pic if it occurs again,

Jay

[Coral Hind]

Could the wrasse have stirred up the sand bed and released some nasty stuff that caused the event? How did your rabbitfish get along? They normally fight when I put two together. When was the last time this foam thing happened?

[steveoutlaw]

I was thinking the rabbitfish. They could have fought and released their toxin in the tank. Shouldn't have more than one together unless you have a TON of room. What sized tank?

[Incredible Corals]

Did the skimmer overflow all skimate in the tank?

[Jay]

The rabbitfish seemed to be getting along fine since I added them at the same time. Don't know if the wrasse stirred up anything. The skimmer wasn't overflowing. It happened so quickly, I couldn't ping any one thing. Regardless I will take my time in adding fish now since losing two sets really bummed me out.

[Jan]

Isn't that brownish foam that we see floating in the ocean along the shores sometimes dino cyano blooms? Aren't they toxic?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom

[Origami]

How big is the tank, Jay? Sounds like you may have poor surface skimming. Is that a possibility? Also, I wonder if the foam is a cause or an effect.

[overklok]

There maybe something rotting and breaking down in the tank, putting more organics in the water, causing the foaming action.

[Jay]

tank is a 150g half circle. It has about 200 pounds of live rock and a crushed coral/sand bottom. I have not found all my fish missing two since it would mean taking all the rock out so they could be decomposing somewhere. Lost my coral banded and fire shrimp too.

[Origami]

Check your ammonia and nitrates.

[Coral Hind]

Isn't that brownish foam that we see floating in the ocean along the shores sometimes dino cyano blooms? Aren't they toxic?

 

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Algal_bloom

That's what I thought too and I asked the question but never got an answer on if there was dino in the tank.

 

I agree that if there was proper surface skimming the foam should have ended up in the sump and not left staying in the main tank.

[Coral Hind]

Can you post a picture of the setup as it is now?

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I had a similar experience... No fish died because of it though.

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/46983-please-tell-me-what-this-is/

[Jan]

What kind of circulation do you have in the tank? Are powerheads pointing towards the surface to get the water moving up there? I get brown bubbly slime in one corner at the surface in my 3 gallon pico because the nano tunze powerhead doesn't move enough water to that end of the tank.

 

For no apparent reason that I can tell, my reef tank starts foaming up usually overnight and by morning there is patches of brownish type of foam on top of the tank and in the sump. This has occurred twice so far and it kills pretty much all my fish except my hardy maroon gold clown pair. Other then the nitrates being a bit high, everything else checks out once this occurs. It doesn't impact the corals, anemones or the clams but the fish are belly up. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong would be greatly appreciated? I have two other systems and this has never happened to me before. Thanks for your help

[Jay]

Alright this is what I have:

 

Nitrate - 40ppm

Nitrite - 0

Ammonia - 0

pH - 7.8

 

I have 2 Koralia 4s and 1 Koralia 3 in the 150g. System seems fine now, no bubbles since I cleaned it out w net, increased skimmer flow and did 30% water change. The maroons seem to be moving well too.

[Origami]

Any idea if your nitrates are typically this high? Do you have a place in your tank or sump where detritus may be collecting?

[Coral Hind]

Do you have dinoflagelattes in the tank?

When was the last time this event happened?

 

 

[Jay]

It was about a 1.5 months apart. As for detritus or diatoms, not that I can see. I checked the overflows, sump and what I can see from the tank. I am sure I have decaying fish somewhere that has increased the nitrates since I can't find a few but didn't find them after removing half the rock.

 

Regards,

jay