This seems like a post that would be more appropriate on RC. So much for our friendly little board. Is there a history here or something? If I woke up to something like that, I'd want to vent too!

That's what I was thinking. Heaven knows I've vented on here when I've lost a fish. I understand wanting more info so you can give helpful advice, but sometimes you just need to vent. As long as your venting isn't directed towards someone specific I don't see a problem with sharing your frustrations. I know I feel better about things after I've shared how I was feeling.

Could be that Sphelps is feeling a bit touchy these days after getting jumped on about his filefish!

There is therapy in sharing your misery when something goes wrong. Nobody but us appreciates the loss. Try telling your boss that you are going to take a day off to deal with something urgently wrong with your fish tank...

Sorry guys, I wasn't trying to offend anyone. Just wanted more info so we could all help this guy out. I'll try and be a little more conservative next time :wink:

I think everyone needs to lighten up a little. But seriously I don't see what was so bad about it, I mean if I just post "WTF! my fish are dead" how is that useful??

Tilefish actually :wink:
Well I am a pretty cruel person so that might have something to do with it :lol:

It doesn't work. :wink: At least not for me.. haha

Ya ok...all **** aside...i was venting at the time, now real interested in finding out what happened. I guess all i gotta break it all down to figure out where to start first...all seemed normal before lights out. All fish are dead ...is the water dead so to speak, do i start from very bottom or can i save the water and developed sandbed??? I have some zoas, about 30 or so different mushrooms...pumping xenia and some sps...hope to save them at least!

I would start by testing temperature and salinity although temperature at this point may not be accurate. So all fish dead? Coral still alive? Could be oxygen. What we need is details regarding your setup:
Tank size
Equipment
livestock
what you know so far for parameters
All that fun stuff.

Equipment failure or negligence is usually the cause if such an incident. The key here would be to figure out what happened, fix it and learn from it so it doesn't happen again not just starting over.

maybe check with your neighbors if the power went out for a couple hrs during the night....

I agree with sphelps.
If you had a sudden total fish loss after simply adding a fish it is likely that for some reason the temperature got too high or too low.

If your tank is small and the oxygen level borderline, adding a tang, other than a small one would do it.
What was the water temperature when you discovered the loss?

Do you have critters in your tank that would set off toxins? Boxfish, sea apple etc.