Oh man Tony, that really sucks. I really hope that your livestock turns out okay. And hang in there, things will get better.

What's with all the spawning?.I was lucky to catch my 10 inch squamosa a week ago.Was doing my morning check and noticed the 180 gal tank was cloudy...turned on the lights and the big clam was spewing...quickly went to Google and found this article.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/8/inverts

This helped me alot...I think I would have lost everything as the tank got more and more milky...thought the clam was done when it started again. I had a 25 gal quarantine set up so put the clam in there where it finished it's thing in another half hour.The stuff in the quarantine was like silt.
In the 180 I added air pumps and changed out my filter pads frequently..also had some poly filter pads ..added extra bags of carbon..and did a 20 gal water change.Everything is good in the tank...the skimmer has been working overtime and the pads are very dirty.The ammonia is 0.
The clam was not so lucky....ammonia up to .5,cloudy water then stopped reacting...and started to stink up the house.Deceased.
Good luck.

Hey,

Let me know if you need anything. We'll babysit, or bring you water, whatever you need. We're close, plus Kevin is literally right down the street from you throughout the day.

Oh no Tony I'm so sorry to hear. Please hang in there. Wich I was there to lend a head.

J

So the water still hasn't cleared as of this morning. I got to thinking, this just doesn't seem like any spawn I've had before (usually I see the spawn, or at least, I'm able to figure out who's done it because they have a "I'm spent" look to them. Nobody has that look.) Plus there's that whole "the sump looked like it was covered in fried egg" thing.

It occurred to me, there's a tiger tail cucumber in the tank. He was a hitchhiker on some rock I bought a year or so ago. So I wonder if it's cuke nuke. I guess the only way to know for sure is take out all the rocks and either I find the cucumber, or I don't.

At least 2 confirmed losses. As of this morning I've seen all the big fish, my tang, rabbits and angels. Who I haven't seen yet are my dottyback and the 2 chromis. But lights don't turn on until 10:30 and it's not unusual to not see these guys in the morning so time will tell.

Completely stunned that nearly a complete container of carbon has not been able to clear up the cloudiness yet. This too, doesn't fit the typical spawn, usually the skimmer goes nuts and pulls it out quickly and it's back to clear within 6 hours or so. Not 36 hours of cloudiness.

At least the skimmer has finally started working again. It's weird I can tell you to the minute when it started up again last night. I'm not sure if it was the carbon that kicked it on or the brittlestars spawning giving the water the right surface tension to start foaming up correctly again.

AHh A cuke. Ya that verry well could be the possibility. I had a cuke once, and the crabs got it, it was oozing stringy mucous stuff too, I took it out before anything really bad happened.

Tony, the cloudiness may not be completely resolved by carbon. I've dealt with my own cloudy tank lately and waterchanges were the only way. Also make sure your ammonia hasn't gone nuts too (I know you know this but...well just covering all the bases). Filter floss may help too.

Tony, for next time, keep some zeo coral snow on hand, it may help with clearing the water. It appears to be some type of surfactant that helps binds organics and allows them to be skimmed out. Not sure how it would work for this, but I use it for polishing, and do notice increased skimmer output.

I feel for you Tony. Hang in there man!

keep your chin up Tony, things will improve im sure. I almost quite myself this summer after i lost 10 sps pieces and 2 fish. Give it time and you will realize your love for the hobby and continue. Dont do anything rash like me, lol.