Basement remodel

My basement flooded in July and this week the contractors installed the new drywall and baseboard. They started the install on Tuesday and tonight I came home to find all three of my saltwater tanks were cloudy and one of my Cichlid tanks was hazy but not cloudy the other Cichlid tank was fine. I lost all the fish in 2 of the saltwater tanks and the fish in the third sw tank are breathing hard. I have performed a 60%+ water change on the sw tank. Also did a 30% change in Cichlid tanks. My question is what do you think caused this and what else can I do to save the other fish. The drywall was sanded on Wednesday and Thursday and also the contractors used denatured alcohol to clean up the floor. The paint used is marked as low VOCs. My immediate thought is that drywall dust affected the tanks but I don't know why it took two days. Any help would be great.

Thank you,

Dustin

 

Did you see dry wall dust sitting on top of the water ?
Drywall dust would take a while to saturate and sink, it would probably take the oxygen from the water at the same time, and I am sure is toxic.

 

Yes, there is dust all over everything so I'm sure that it got mixed in. How do I fix it repeated water changes?

 

Changing the water isn't going to get the dust out of the tank, the dust will have coated the rocks, sand, pumps, sumps..
Is the water still cloudy ?

 

IF there was going to be any extensive amount of work being done near my tank I would have covered it. Just my .02

 

Have you checked your PH? Gypsum is a alkaline compound so I think your biggest issue is going to be the impact to the PH. I would also get some air stones in there ASAP. Do you have a way to run high density poly pads? If s that will help get the suspended particles out of the water.

 

You have received good advice from all. I would implement them. The air stone and suspend particulate filtration would be priorities. Sorry to hear of your issues.

 

Currently running air stone in the two Cichlid tanks. Running filter socks and sponge filters, I will try to figure out a way to get poly pads in the filter systems. Here are some of the casualties, very hard to look at since a lot the these fish I have had for 8+ years.

 

I forgot to say thanks for the help.
Only saltwater tank with survivors.

 

I'm so sorry for your losses I think everyone's advice is solid. Hopefully, you can keep what you have left alive.