Fish died while I was away, will Corals make it?

[pammy]

I left for a 4 day weekend this past weekend.
My son fed the fish on Friday afternoon with frozen food I had separated and thawed out in the fridge. I had the auto food despenser on the tank, and an auto top-off with RO/DI and everything looked great. Got home last night (Sunday), and found all the corals either closed up, or looking like they were dying. I knew right away, that a fish must have died. I found the body of my Fathead Anthias in the back of the tank half decomposed. I pulled out the body right away. My clown, tail-spot Blenny and my Possum Wrasse are all ok. I couldn't find my purple firefish at all....and he's always around. I had a bad feeling about him, but thought maybe he was hiding because of the poor water parameters due to the dead fish. Corals are NOT happy. I definitely lost my new Xenia waving hand. There looks like there's a TINY piece of it that might survive....so I'll see what happens with that one. My large frogspawn is not looking good at all and was all closed up. My hammer coral looks like it's dead. It's like the two heads completely disappeared and all that's left is the skeleton. I'll leave that in there and see what happens. Don't know if it will re-grow new heads...or if it's completely dead. Should I just toss it? My zoo's look fine. My mushrooms don't look great....but I think they'll survive. Luckily my two favorites.... my new Sun Coral and my Aussie Duncan look like they'll be ok. Sun coral was mostly closed, but the color of what was open, looked good. The duncan was partially closed, but I think those two will be ok. I have a new Hawaiian Feather Duster that looks great. I would have thought that would be sensitive and wouldn't have made it. I tested the ammonia and nitrites and both were 0, but they must have spiked when the fish died. I had RO/DI water made up, but no salt in it, so I stuck a heater and aerated it overnight and will add salt and do a water-change tonight, and again this weekend. I cleaned the skimmer cup, and changed the filter sock, and added carbon, and wasn't sure what else I could do at this point. I'm not sure a massive waterchange would have helped, since the ammonia and nitrites were measuring 0. I'll test the nitrates and phosphates tonight. Temp and PH were fine. I found something on the floor....that looked like a large shaving from a pencil. I knew that wasn't what it was, but that's what it looked like. I threw it away. I went to bed.....and couldn't fall asleep, and about an hour later....it dawned on me....that pencil shaving, must be the firefish! I got out of bed, and pulled it out of the trash, and sure enough, it was the firefish. I could see his eye, and the the color on the tip of his tail. So he committed suicide...Im guessing because of the ammonia spike that must have occurred. Strange how I had no idea what it was when I threw it out, but then it dawned on me later. So, I lost two fish, and most likely, two corals, and not sure how the rest of the corals will make out. I am hoping for the best. I'm hoping the carbon helps, and that the corals perk up a bit today. Is there something I should have done differently? Any guess on if my corals will survive or not? What is the effect of one dead fish that isn't removed, in a tank the size of mine? The tank is 53g with a 7g sump. The Fathead that died, was about 2".
Thanks!
Pam

[Jay_1966]

Sorry to hear about all this happening to you. Best of luck with your corals. I would chime in but I do not know anything about corals yet. Seems like you are doing everything I would do.

I wonder if the water change will significantly change anything since your parameters seem good so far?

[ihopss]

Do some water changes,Keep good carbon in there.I would not trust the ammo test kit, the stuff that does not look good put in a QT tank for a time, or watch them very closely.

[ahullsb]

I agree with the above posted. Have water on hand to do some frequent water changes, and running carbon is a good idea.

[pammy]

I tested for Nitrates and Phosphates last night, and Nitrates were 0, and Phosphates were 0 (or very close to 0....less than .1).
Nitrites and Ammonia tested at 0 the night before. Parameters all seem fine. I did a 10% water change last night. I am running Carbon right now. Looks like the Hammer is definitely dead. All that's left is the skeleton. They can't recover at that point can they? My Large Frogspawn has 8 heads on two branches. 3 of the heads look like they are trying to open, but still very much closed. The other 5 heads are completely closed. I'm hoping to see them starting to open in the next couple of days, or at least for the 3 that are trying to open, I hope they will survive. About 95% of my waiving hand xenia died. I know some think those are a pest because they spread so much, but I thought it was really pretty. Mine was pink. Those spread like crazy, so I hope the tiny bit that's left, will start a new colony. The rest of my corals Thank God, look fine, and I'm very happy that my two favorite corals look fine (Aussie Duncan and Sun Coral). My mushrooms and zoo's look fine. My shrimp is alive doing well, as is one of my two crabs. (haven't found the other yet, but he might just be hiding). This was heartbreaking to come home to, but I know it could have been a lot worse and I could have lost everything.

Thanks. Pam

[hmello@bermexin]

Originally posted by pammy
I tested for Nitrates and Phosphates last night, and Nitrates were 0, and Phosphates were 0 (or very close to 0....less than .1).
Nitrites and Ammonia tested at 0 the night before. Parameters all seem fine. I did a 10% water change last night. I am running Carbon right now. Looks like the Hammer is definitely dead. All that's left is the skeleton. They can't recover at that point can they? My Large Frogspawn has 8 heads on two branches. 3 of the heads look like they are trying to open, but still very much closed. The other 5 heads are completely closed. I'm hoping to see them starting to open in the next couple of days, or at least for the 3 that are trying to open, I hope they will survive. About 95% of my waiving hand xenia died. I know some think those are a pest because they spread so much, but I thought it was really pretty. Mine was pink. Those spread like crazy, so I hope the tiny bit that's left, will start a new colony. The rest of my corals Thank God, look fine, and I'm very happy that my two favorite corals look fine (Aussie Duncan and Sun Coral). My mushrooms and zoo's look fine. My shrimp is alive doing well, as is one of my two crabs. (haven't found the other yet, but he might just be hiding). This was heartbreaking to come home to, but I know it could have been a lot worse and I could have lost everything.

Thanks. Pam

I would not count out the hammer yet, just leave it be and see what develops. Same with the frog. In the future you will be posting on how to frag the Xenia because they are taking over your tank.
Sorry about the fish loss but I think the rest of the tank will be fine with your water changes and carbon.

[pammy]

Thanks Henry. I'll sit tight and keep the faith with the Hammer.
Bye
Pam

[hmello@bermexin]

So have you determined what exactly happened? Did the automatic feeder malfunction? I too went away for a long weekend (left Thursday afternoon came back Monday afternoon). I fed fairly heavily on Thursday before leaving, made sure the water height was at the maximum and did not have anyone check the tank while gone. I came back to what I expected, dirty glass and hungry fish.
So I guess what I am saying is without any intrevention be it human of mechanical my tank just kind of cruised through the weekend.
Hence my curiosity on what happened to your tank.