After the massacre

[Sharkbite73]

Hey All,
I feel I need to open up about this due to what happened, the way I felt, and what to do moving forward.

I was coming to month 10 of owning my e260. Everything was set to a week away, 50% water change, stocked up on frozen, and had instructed the pet sitter on how to feed them. It is firmly stuck in my mind now but didn't know too much about a couple of little spots of white on the puffers fin.

I came back to see the puffer half eaten in the sluice gate, and removed him as soon as I could. Over the next 2 weeks, I administered white spot treatment, and water changes, but watched £500 worth of fish die slowly. Now I'm a man with a big heart and was devastated, and with my one clown and cleaner shrimp left.

After trying once with a smaller clown to repair, He didn't last the weekend. I'm left with a disgruntled Clown, so then tried Chromis to see if the spores had left, and 6 weeks on no signs of white spot.

My tank is now full of macroalgae which are best described as algae with white sticky stalks on it. I pull it up, it breaks and rehomes. Is there a better way of removing this?

cheers

Nick

 

[Nobbygas]

Really sorry to hear about your loss. I know exactly how you are feeling.

I'd recommend Vibrant to get rid of your algae.

Was it White Spot, or by dying did the Puffer release any toxins which killed the fish?

 

[Sharkbite73]

Many thanks, I didn't consider the liver toxins, but well pointed out. I'll check on vibrant, looks like a good product.

 

[DaveK]

Try not to feel too bad about this turn of events. Almost everyone that has had a reef system any length of time has had a similar experience. The successful reef keepers learn from their errors, and try again.

All sorts of things can go wrong, but the people here will do their best to help you resolve your problems.

As for algae control, I do not recommend using any additives in an attempt to deal with it. The problem with them is that unless you correct the root cause of the problem, you will only replace one problem algae with another problem algae. Here is something I have posted before about algae control, but it's worth posting again -

DaveK's Standard Lecture #2 - Algae Control

Algae control comes down to controlling nitrates and phosphates. If you have a problem with algae it is because these two nutrients are out of control. Do not think that just because your test kits read zero or low values that you do not have a problem. In many cases the algae is removing the nutrients and growing. This is why there is a problem.

Here are possible sources of nitrates and phosphates -

Feeding, especially flake food and not rinsing frozen foods before feeding.
Using tap water to mix salt. Always use RO/DI water for this.
"Dirt traps" and "nitrate factories" in the system.
Low quality carbon can leach nutrients.
Low quality salt can sometimes add nutrients. This is unusual today.
Livestock load on the system

Here are possible ways to remove nitrates and phosphates -

Water changes. Change 1/2 the water and you reduce the nutrients by 1/2.
Skimming. Remove the waste products before the biological filtration need to break then down.
Nitrate and phosphate removal products.
Deep sand beds.
Refugiums.
Algae Scrubbers.

Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. Most people that control algae will use many of the above methods.

There are also other items that can effect algae growth rates.

Good clean up crew.
Other livestock that eats algae.
Low general water quality, especially when the readings are off.
Lighting, sometimes you can reduce it, especially in FO or FOWLR systems.
Old light bulbs. Colors change as they age and this can be a factor.
Water flow. More flow will often help keep algae down.
Manual removal. Very important, especially when there is a big problem.

 

[SPR]

Sorry to hear of the loss and problems you have had.

You could try Vibrant if you want a quick fix to the algae issues. It certainly works as I used it for a short period on some stubborn hair algea and it destroyed it in just 2 doses. It’s easily available in the U.K. as well.

I had an issue with it killing 2 Elegance corals which is why I didn’t use it as a maintenance dose afterwards. The tank was spotless though.

BUT, you need to deal with the cause of the algea as DaveK says otherwise the main problem will still be there. Phosphate needs locking down at around 0.03ppm and also Nitrate <15 ppm depending on what your trying to achieve.

As to how you do that there are several ways. I personally use NoPox, Rhowaphos and have massive amounts of live rock and various other methods of biological filtration in place.

I had the E260 for a short time, and you need to make sure the black sponges in the back are kept clean to keep nutrient levels down. Might be worth using filter wool instead of these and you can just remove it and throw it away and just replace rather than rinsing those sponges which I found a pain in the bottom! My son has it now and I know he never cleans those sponges and he also by coincidence had a puffer fish as well.

Just one other thing. A 50% water change in a reef tank is very large so unless you have an issue, I would stick to 10% or 20% max so you don’t get any fluctuations in water parameters otherwise if you have corals they will tell you very quickly as they don’t like change. Stability is the key.

Personally when I’m about to go away, I don’t touch anything major the week leading up to a break so I can hopefully spot, or not cause any issues when I’m away.

 

[cracker]

I know the feeling Sharkbite ! Hang in there

 

[saintsreturn]

Some good advice posted on this thread. Keep up the positive vibes and press forward. Total losses are a kick in the wallet, pride, and usually the feelings too. We have all had our share of losses and we do what we can to learn and press forward. I am going through a treatment now that i have wrapped up about 180$ to save a 40$ fish.

That said, i am a large advocate for not dosing chemicals to fix problems for the reasons stated earlier. Good luck and keep us posted. We are here to help.