COMPLETE wipeout 180g

[mdrc]

woke up today to find my 180 cloudy, looked around saw no fish
ALL DEAD
5 in adult emperor angel dead
5 in sailfin dead
4 in purple tang dead
5 in vlamingi dead
4in male female lamarks dead
4 in lawnmower blenny dead
2 in swallowtail female dead
5 in male wantanabi dead
3 in sargassm trigger dead
5in midas blenny dead
10 other small fish dead
(2) false percs i bought as a nivelty item for my neice and nephew doing great nothing wrong with them

#1 suspect, cologne

all corals are ok im running poly filters right now and did a huge water change with another one coming up shortly

lesson ALWAYS WASH HAND IF YOU TOUCH TANK WATER OR WATER
THAT WILL GO INTO THE TANK

ok now heres the bright side i had 2 zebramosas very mean a 6 line wrasse very mean limiting me from what i can keep, so now im going to go with the peaceful fish that ive allways wanted, im sticking to a regal angel genucanthus angels and other cool but shy fish.
now i have in mind

a PB around 3-5 in
a regal angel aorund 2-5 in
copperband butterfly 3-5 in
i want to try an angel like the vantuesu (huge spelling error) or like a rock beauty, because with the regal being somewhat shy and passive i think if i can get one of those to addapt, i should be ok as far as aggression, or i might just go with a pair of jocs. angels
im VERY open to sugggestions as to cool peacfulfish

Can u guys help me put together a ADD IN ORDER OF list for the fish above?

thanks

[mounts327]

I have a hard time believing it was cologne on your hand/wrist that caused 20 fish deaths, esp in a tank that size.
I would look for other factors ay which caused this.

[Peter Eichler]

Highly highly doubtful this had anything to do with cologne. If it happened over night I'd suspect a PH crash. Though it could be any number of things, and without knowing more about your system it's difficult to speculate.

[mdrc]

wouldnt ph harm corals?
im thinking that or vodka i upped the dosage a day ago, or maybe some sort of contaminate, i chack all the param, everything is fine temp was around 77 when i woke up, the mh lights had been on since 11 so 2 hours, could it bee a temp drop?

[JustinReef]

A few weeks back my fiancee was spraying perfume about a foot away from my 34G tank (she forgot) and I know for a fact some must have gotten into the tank because there is also a ceiling fan above the tank. She felt terrible but nothing died and nothing even ever looked bad. I have also accidentally put my hands in the tank after putting cream on them and also never had problems. Not that its a good idea but I agree with the others, I highly doubt it was the cologne.

I would seriously look into things and try to figure it out before you start adding anything to that tank again.

[Stanley-Reefer]

heater intact?

[mdrc]

well i cant think of anything can a 5 ml increase in vodka do anything thats the only thing i changed
ph was a lil low at 7.9 but thats the average when i check it in the morning
every other paramiter was fine
umm i did have a probleme with stray voltage about 2 days ago and had to unplug my skimmer pump but othr that that i cant think of anything that has changd or would of caused this

[mdrc]

heaters in the sump but would that cause anything? ill go check

[Peter Eichler]

So you upped your vodka dosage by 5ml and turned your skimmer off??? Sorry, but I'd suspect you suffocated your fish and there's a good chance your PH dropped as well over night not helping matters. That type of vodka dose will drop oxygen levels by quite a bit, especially with no skimmer running.

[kybreos]

your tank was overstocked as well, im surprised no one else said anything. i have a 180 and i couldnt imagine 20 fish with almost half of them being large getting stuffed into my tank. you might have had a cycle collapse, your ammonia, nitrite etc..

[mr pink floyd]

the vodka did it, the cloudiness sounds like a bacterial bloom. this is commonly caused by overdosing vodka or sugar. the bacteria grow so fast into such high numbers they strip the water of oxygen, suffocating the fish

[Alaskan Reefer]

+1 on vodka dosing without a skimmer running suffocating the fish, especially in such a heavily stocked system.

[mdrc]

wow i feel like an ***, thank you so much for the help what can i do to get the tank back? and as far as over stocking i have a nitrate reactor and got 40% water changes weekly to compensate for the overcrowdedness parmiters wasnt the prob.
thanks so much for your help

[Shane Hoffman]

Im sorry for your loss. Big dollars.....but yes from the evidence at hand vodka dose being raised is the obvious thing. Please read Melevs instructions on dosing vodka. Your only supposed to raise the dose .5 mil not 5 mil..........

[Alaskan Reefer]

The bacteria bloom should clean up nicely with carbon and a little time. Just make sure going forward if you're going to be turbocharging your bacteria with vodka dosing to keep the water oxygenated while doing so. It sounds like you have a husbandry scheme that will support your heavy stocking -- 40% changes weekly is awesome and supported by a nitrate reactor. Sorry for the losses, what a drag -- looks like a good opportunity to upgrade your skimmer.

[mdrc]

oh ok well ya i just wanted to try it cause the claims made corals look great an so fourth, but thanks, and i was about to cause when i got it all i heard was euro reef and it 3 years theres so much more and better skimmers ut there in thinking if i can find a local place thatll carry them a bk cone, they sound like heavy duty work horses. thats for your help every body

[mdrc]

will my corals be fine? do i need to turn my skimmer on?

[Alaskan Reefer]

What kind of pump is failing on your Euroreef? My CS-180 is about 6 years old, and at the 5 year mark the Sedra it came with melted down. The replacement pump sold through Euroreef, a pinwheel Eheim 1262, is amazing, the skimmer performs better than it ever did now. I wouldn't replace that skimmer without investigating just getting a new pump. Yes the cone shape seems to help a bit with skimming, but at the end of the day these are just acrylic bubble chambers whose performance is more based on the pump. The Euroreef skimmer body is seriously well built, and the Eheim 1262 is a time tested amazing pump...

[Mpthreer]

I always wondered about cologne and stuff, because My water mixing barrel is in my roomates bathroom because I am totally out of room in this dang apt hahah... It takes my slow ro unit a long time to fill it up so it sits in there open with a powerhead running in it. In fear of my roomates cologne spraying I put a thick doubled over towel over the top of the barrel. I hope this is enough to keep the contaminates out.

[mdrc]

ya same just stock sedra, i dont know whats wrong with it but it leaks voltage, and i was thinking about that but i wonder how they would work on the rs 250? id have to get 2 and thats around 300 so cheaper that a bk cone i think ill try that

[Macimage]

Originally posted by mdrc
..and as far as over stocking i have a nitrate reactor and got 40% water changes weekly to compensate for the overcrowdedness...

Even though you do large water changes and have the nitrate reactor, the overcrowding is not a good idea. Overcrowding is similar to having 10 people living in one bedroom. Sure you can clean it weekly so that the parameters are great, but your fish really need more room.

Good luck with your restocking.

[downhillbiker]

sounds like your vodka increase and skimmer being off caused a bacterial bloom. if temp rose at all, then that would speed up the process. once bacteria bloomed your water went anaerobic. the least efficient breathers died, this would usually be corals (but yours are ok?), and inverts like shrimp and crabs. once they died the bacteria had more to feed on, so bloomed more, and the water became increasingly toxic with all dying material. this caused the rest to die. fish and anything else left.

i am so sorry this happened, but i too have had bad experiences with bacterial blooms, and this sounds exactly like what this is. if this ever happens again, or happens to anyone else, you need to get AS MUCH AIR AS POSSIBLE in the water. skimmers on, air pumps on, any powerheads with air ports open. the water will start to clear up and the livestock will be able to breath throughout the process.

[blennymower]

Talk about some awesome investigating by reefcentral members. Problem identified....problem solved!

[Alaskan Reefer]

I would definitely investigate a pair of the Eheim 1262 pinwheels on a RS-250. I'm excited just thinking about it.

[mdrc]

ya i want to see what this baby can do with those, cause its skimmed ok but not that good. and yes defanitlly probleme identified and solved, and with the "new" sytem im going with passive fish so my fish load is going to be really low, like 10 anthias a regal angel copperband bd and a pair of jocs. angels maybe, with some cromis so space woulnt be an issue.
THANK YOU SO MUH EVERYBODY FOR YOUR HELP