Urgent Anemone died in main tank and I didnt know!!!

I need some serious help and advice..i usually get all my beauties from a local place, sadly one day I went to Petco and noticed a what looked like a brown short tentacle, i took it home and double checked my parameters to make sure everything was kosher for it to be introduced and everything was perfect.. I woke up athe next morning a little late for work and wasnt able to check up on him, but when i got hope, he was torn to shreds...seems my coral beauty didnt fancy him too much.. but the problem is this all happend a few months ago, i couldnt get all the pieces out and now i have an uncontrollable blackish jelly layer creeping and growing all along my tank bottom...im constantly doing water changes when its getting too out of hand, taken out EVERYTHING, even got new aragonite, but i dont know if there is anythinng that i can do to treat it...i dont want to damage my rocks, my coral frags look like complete crap now..im trying to keep my t5's off as much as possible...I dont know how much of this my fish and other babies can take... All my fish look healthy but a couple have died already..I do have a clam and ive heard they are usually the first to go, so i feel this is still reversable. PLEASE DONT TELL ME I HAVE TO NUKE MY TANK!

 

What are your water parameters at?

The first 2 things to do imo are water changes (which u are already doing) and to run a good amount of good quality carbon with a reactor preferably, or a media bag. The carbon will remove harmful toxins in the water that are bad for the tank in meny ways.

Do post your parameters ASAP, and you will get very good advice from a lot of highly knowledgeable people here on 3reef.


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I appreciate the fast response..I just checked my readings bc i actually havent in a month! I have been too preocupied with the water changes to even think about nitrates/nitrites and ph...well my salinity is a little higher than what i like at 1.026
Ph=about 7.4
Nitrates=0
Nitrites=0
Ammonia=0
im using a media bag, which could use fresher stuff..
the tank is a 72 bowfront with t5 lights
30 gal sump/refugium..the refugium hasnt been set up yet, i just have some aragonite in there..im still researching the best set up for it as far as mud and lighting..
So far I have been keeping my lights off for every other day and only having them on for roughly 8 hours in between.

 

Calcium isnt necessarily an issue for me atm because my tank is made up of live rock and only 2 coral frags. I do have a 5 inch clam and a very healthy looking flowerpot. I do use addatives roughly once a week just a 2 part mixture for Calcium and Alkalinity. keeps the range for alk between 7-12 dKH and of calcium of 412-450 ppm.

 

I don't see anything really bad on your parameters, except the salinity as you have noted yourself. It's not awfully bad though and that's not the cause of the black film.
If u have extra media bags, put some carbon and drop them in a good spot where the water runs constantly.... for example in between the baffles of your sump or in an overflow box.

Can u post a picture of the black stuff while in the tank? Is it slimy and in strings or just along the edges of the sand bed against the glass?

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Yea ill post a pic as soon as i can, the black stuff literally looks likes a thick layer of black jelly and just hangs out on top of my aragonite..ive had the lights off for about 3 days now, so ill wait till later on to post some pics, it will start popping up again in small spots at first...yea ill try throwing some extra media bags around. I just pulled the old bag out and replaced it with some fresh carbon so i think that will help a little.

 

Good! Carbon is the first line of defense against the toxins in the water. Are u sure its not an algae outbreak what u have? Certainly a good pic will help.

Tip: look for the "macro" function on your camera.

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i think your salinity isnt that bad. i keep mine at 1.025 your ph is very low though, double check that.
the blackish jelly layer sounds like a bacteria problem. i would buy some of the brightwells bacter7 it will help the tank to recover. or another form of live bacteria. like smartstart. either one are good products.

 

The black jelly of doom didnt show was there right when i realized the anemone was torn up..I was told it was toxins released from the anomone when it died..at this point I dont see any harm from using live bacteria...Thanks guys for the tips, ill post pics later when i get off work, im sure there will be spots showing up by then.

 

the carbon is also important.

here is the info on the bacter7 http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/microbacter7t.php