HELP another dead tang!!!

Well a month ago I put a phospate reactor on my tank, done a couple of water changes since then and now my yellow tang is gone....no where to be found...he was in there last night at midnight. I have my VHO's running only 8 hrs per day to help with the algae removal and my PH is 8.3-8.4, nitrate is 0, nitrite is 0, ammonia is 0, and calcium is 400-420. Now I did try and clean some of the algae off of the rock last week by taking it out of the tank and hosing it off, did this cause my problem? I put a couple of turbo snails, blue hermit crabs, and a sally light foot crab in the tank at the same time as the yellow tank. The sally was dead in 2 hrs and the snails didn't move an inch...yet my tank levels are still zeroed out. Two days ago I noticed something on the tangs fin, which then transfered to his body where the fin strikes his side. So all I had in the house was some kick ick 1 oz per 25 gal, which i put in the system fri night. I also put in some Rally 1 oz per 10 gal fri night ( the bottles say they can be used together). I gave another treatment of rally last night as the directions stated, ( a 3 day treatment). I left my skimmer running as my tank turned blue, and was still blue a day later, so I figured it was alright. What could be going on? These are the only tests I have ever run on the tank. My salinity is 1.023. Thanks'

Derrick

 

im not sure how big your tank is and how much live rock you put under the hose but this is what I would be looking at as your troubles , it may have triggered a CYCLE in the tank from all that die off on/in the rock

 

By adding meds to tank you may have killed off some good stuff that was helping to re-cycle your tank after the hose off also. Next time pull the rock out and take a tooth brush to it in a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater if it needed a good cleaning.

 

75 gal tank 120 total system gallons, 100 lbs of rock, all went under the hose....thanks for the help and suggestions.....with everything checking out ok testing wise with the tank, shall i wait until all the algae is gone before anything else should go in the tank...wait a couple weeks, with water changes...i usually do a 25-30 gallon change at a time, should i do a water change now? Thanks

Derrick

 

sounds like your tank crashed for reasons other than those parameters. If there's nothing left alive, drain it, bleach the live rock and live sand (rinse very very well), and start over.

 

Just out of curiosity are you running a grounding probe?

 

MEDS is the first thing, did they contain copper??? I know it wouldnt hurt the fish but ur snails/inverts copper kills them. If you used a copper med in ur tank then i would wait till one of the pros chime in to cure that problem.

 

I am in total agreement. Not only is die off a major problem but killing a good majority of the nitrifying bacteria is yet another consequence to fresh water washing. If you want to scrub rock, is HAS to be done under water of similar salinity. A toothbrush to the surface of the rock will expose some detrius that will cause a minicycle (which is why you only do a rock or two at a time), but will do negligible damage to the bacterial flora that is responsible for maintaining nitrification. Unfortunately, you may be at a point where you will have to start over. Only time will tell at this point.

 

100 lbs. all went under the hose! If that is correct, you wiped out a substantial amount of beneficial bacteria thus sending the tank into shock. Inquire here before doing anything you are unfamiliar with so we can advise. Also, you don't mention Alkalinity, Magnesium or PH. What are those numbers? For now, do not do any water changes for at least 3-4 weeks and add live bacteria to re-establish your bacteria colonies.

 

And/or an airstone?