My first meltdown

[Anonymous]

I bought some frags from a local reefer and took them to the house. After supergluing them to some small live rock that I purchased, I put them in the tank. I decided to put my lights and fans on the timers that I purchased last week and never got around to hooking up. While I was doing that, I somehow managed to find two plugs on the powerstrip that didnt work. I didnt notice that my powerheads were not working when I was finished.

I woke up the next day, about 12 hours later, and saw that something was very wrong with my tank. Copepods were everywhere (I rarely see them), and my xenia was all slumped over. A closer look revealed 4 dead crabs, a dead coral banded shrimp (my pride and joy), a dead tang and a dead coral beauty. My chromis and percula were all looking sick and gasping for air at the top of the tank. I turned the powerheads back on and did some emergency oxygenation with a big cup. The chromis and the perc pulled through and are eating fine. My pistol shrimp and serpent star made it too.

So, can the loss for 12 hours of the circulation/oxygenation provided by the powerheads be the cause of such a disaster? It seems like the superglue shouldnt be the problem, I guess it couldnt have helped, but isnt it often used the way I used it? Some of the frags that I got have turned white at the very tip, it hasnt spread, but does that mean that these frags are destined to die?

BTW, I didnt sleep the full 12 hours, thats just how long the powerheads were out.

I appreciate any help yall can give me to keep this from happening again. My water tests are all good, except my salinity was at 1.028.....but it has been hanging around 1.026 lately, despite my attempts to fix it.

 

[Anonymous]

That sucks

Could the power heads have shorted out in the tank/sump ? Or could you have disturbed detritus (skum) in the sump if you have one?

The chain of events are not clear from your post. I am assuming that it was -Super Glue -Hook up timers - Bed /Whatever - Wake up to an ugly scene.

Temperature did not spike or drop?

Post back if you find out what happened.

 

[Philippe Dor]

This is normal because at night the photosynthesis is reversed and all algae including zooxanthella are using Oxygen and produce CO2, so if circulation is stopped you will have a serious depletion of oxygen in the early morning hours leading to your meltdown,
A lot of animals you can't see have died in the rock, so when you restart your tank they will rot after 2-3 days and your water will get milky and smelly, do a maxi water change once this happen and pray.
Next time always dubbel check after any intervention, this is an accident that has happen to the best,and usually is never repeated.

 

[Anonymous]

Jaue,

The order you posted is right. I am leaning towards the powerheads going out and leading to an oxygen problem too. The temp fluctuated a little, but not much. I just wanted to get some concurring opinions before I bought anymore livestock.

Those SPS's that have white tips on them. Are they as good as dead? or does part of the frag sometimes die off in the transition?

I will give it a few days and see if the tank turns milky before I get anything else.

 

[Anonymous]

Jaue,

Those SPS's that have white tips on them. Are they as good as dead? or does part of the frag sometimes die off in the transition?

Don't know.

I will give it a few days and see if the tank turns milky before I get anything elsequote]

Take your time.

 

[danmhippo]

What kind of powerhead were they?

 

[Anonymous]

penguin somethings,,,,wife is in there asleep right now

 

[binylee]

Give those SPS couple of days... I say I week. Then take a look at them. You should see a small polyps on each of the eye. IF all you can see is just white skeleton.... SIGH..... I'M SORRY....

 

[Anonymous]

Some of my SPS look bad, and the others look worse! maybe some of them will pull through.