braden March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 Toward the end of last summer, I set up a 30-gallon tank with about 50 lbs of high-quality Indonesian live rock. I let the tank cycle by itself for many months, adding the first fish, a 2" matted filefish, about a month ago. The tank just has a hang-on skimmer (JNS VS1); but I planned on keeping the bioload low. The filefish seemed to be doing fine. As of yesterday, the water was clear and things appeared normal. Quite a bit of algae on the front glass I'd neglected to clean; but otherwise just fine. This morning, I awoke to the skimmer going crazy, overflowing with wet skimmate. The water is cloudy and slightly brownish. The filefish is dead. So, I test for ammonia. It's not detectable. Now, I'm scratching my head as I do water changes. What happened here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 When was the tank last checked? How long had the filefish been dead? What shape is the algae in? Is it just the typical stuff that takes over glass or do you see a lot of algae growth on rocks? What are your nitrate levels? Temperature of the tank? What is your salinity level now? Has anybody been around the tank using cleaners or other potential toxins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 All those questions above are important. Also, 50lbs of rock in a 30 gallon tank with no sump and a HOB skimmer sounds cluttered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braden March 18, 2016 Author Share March 18, 2016 When was the tank last checked? How long had the filefish been dead? What shape is the algae in? Is it just the typical stuff that takes over glass or do you see a lot of algae growth on rocks? What are your nitrate levels? Temperature of the tank? What is your salinity level now? Has anybody been around the tank using cleaners or other potential toxins? As I said, the tank was fine yesterday. As far as water parameters, it's probably been a while. I tend not to check as long as things are looking fine. The filefish was last seen alive around midday yesterday. I did not check the tank yesterday evening. When I retrieved his body this morning, there was no visually apparent decomposition. As of today, nitrate is also undetectable. The algae looks like it's taken a hit, too. It's light brown stuff... kinda slimy; but it's not just a film. It grows in feathery wisps if allowed to (and I had, a bit). It only grows on the glass; not the rocks. But it looks like it's lost some of its color since yesterday. Temperature is around 79°F. Salinity is around 32‰. No cleaners have been used around the tank. (BTW, probably closer to 35 or so lbs of rock in there now. I forgot that I removed some after the initial cycle.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 Cloudy water, too? Are you dosing anything like some sort of carbon source? Could you have had a bacterial explosion that depleted the tank of oxygen? Normally the cloudiness that I've seen associated with this is white, not brownish. Do you have a large amount of macroalgae growing in the tank (something like Caulerpa)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 Stray voltage or something got dumped in by mistake would be my guesses. Maybe a frayed wire dumping current and copper in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braden March 18, 2016 Author Share March 18, 2016 Cloudy water, too? Are you dosing anything like some sort of carbon source? Could you have had a bacterial explosion that depleted the tank of oxygen? Normally the cloudiness that I've seen associated with this is white, not brownish. Do you have a large amount of macroalgae growing in the tank (something like Caulerpa)? The water is cloudy and definitely brownish. Not dosing anything. There is a small amount of macroalgae on the rocks; but it's really just a few bits here and there. I'm sure nothing got dumped into the tank. As for stray voltage... maybe, but unlikely. I certainly don't feel anything when my hand is in the tank. I think the only potential source is the heater, which is only a month or two old. Could it potentially be an algal toxin? I'm wondering if that algae on the glass might have gone sexual and released some toxin into the water in the process. Yeah, I'm grasping at straws, here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 18, 2016 Share March 18, 2016 One thought that I had, and I'm sure that it's one that Alan had as well, was a bad heater. Just to check it, try pulling it and making sure that no water has made it inside the casing. You won't always feel the voltage from a heater that's lost it's seal as the path that the short circuit might take could be constrained locally to the heater. As for the sporulation idea, it's what I was probing about when mentioning Caulerpa. The stuff on your glass sounds similar to what I've seen if I don't scrape my glass down. I can't say that I've ever seen it sporulate. The cloudiness seems to be the clue here; plus the skimmer going nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anemone March 21, 2016 Share March 21, 2016 The cloudiness seems to be the clue here; plus the skimmer going nuts. Cloudy + lots of skimmate must be a bacterial bloom. Bacteria deplete oxygen and it seems likely that your fish unfortunately suffocated. Was nitrate at zero normal for your tank? This could also point toward a bacterial bloom (growing bacteria suck nutrients out of the water). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2016 Share March 21, 2016 Cloudy + lots of skimmate must be a bacterial bloom. Bacteria deplete oxygen and it seems likely that your fish unfortunately suffocated. Was nitrate at zero normal for your tank? This could also point toward a bacterial bloom (growing bacteria suck nutrients out of the water). That's what I was suggesting back in Post #5. However, the OP indicates that he doesn't know of anything happening that could trigger a bloom of this nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM March 21, 2016 Share March 21, 2016 Does he have a cat? Someone a couple years back discovered that the source of their constant nitrates and ammonia was an aggressive cat using the sump for a toilet. Any chance that there was a kid involved that dramatically overfed without telling anyone? Maybe someone else in the house that spilled something in that could trigger a bloom? Possibly have a sea cucumber or sea apple that barfed up their guts and fouled the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2016 Share March 21, 2016 The other odd part about this is the perceived color of the bloom was brown, not the milky white typically associated in this hobby with bacterial blooms. That led us down the sporulation path. Braden, any new information to add? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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