This has been a real bad *$#%ing day - warning pics are not good natured

[Delphinus]

What could be so toxic so quickly? When I've had massive fish die-offs it was usually coincidented with moving my ritteri, so I assumed it was shed nematocysts that caused the fish to suffocate.

Anyhow the point being that it seems to me that suffocation seems to be a likely cause for rapid onset, multiple deaths.

In this case, we're talking a few hours after adding a few rocks to a large water volume so I would guess it not to be an ammonia cycle. You mentioned there was a smell to the rocks - I wonder if it could be H2S. It would fit the profile of suffocation.

Anyhow I'm sorry if you're not ready to speculate on causes - I can only imagine what you're feeling right now - I'm so sorry.

[Chin_Lee]

Crappy - the emperor just bit the dust....... queen is still hanging on huffing and puffing away......... RIP

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

Crappy - the emperor just bit the dust....... queen is still hanging on huffing and puffing away......... RIP

My initial thought was along the lines of what Tony's thinking. I know you've probably already done this, but are you aerating the %@#$ out of the water? It seems the fish most susceptible to low oxygen levels have died first.

[Chin_Lee]

Tony how does H2S kill? weird thing is the output of my reeflo orca skimmer into the sump is where most of the deaths occurred.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Oops. Sorry...wrong copy/paste

[Delphinus]

H2S is only a wild guess on my part but here are the main things about it:
1) You can smell it in little as 1ppm air.
2) At 10ppm in a work environment is enough that you should not be exposed to it for more than 10 minutes for every 8 hours. (something like that anyhow)
3) 1000ppm is pretty much instant death.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a good example of an acutely toxic substance which is immediately lethal at relatively low concentrations. Exposure to a concentration of only 300 PPM (parts per million) for a period of 30 minutes is enough to render a worker unconscious. Exposure to a 1,000 PPM concentration of H2S in air produces rapid paralysis of the respiratory system, cardiac arrest, and death within minutes.
(From http://www.brandtinst.com/biosystems/appnotes/perilsof.htm)

4) We know H2S is produced in anaerobic situations. Perhaps there was some die off in the curing bucket of something and the rot was releasing H2S.

The only other things I can think of:
1) "cuke nuke" - maybe a cucumber was in one of the rocks, and died, releasing whatever neurotoxins they have (some of them have?) ..
2) rapid proliferation of some kind of rot causing the saturated O2 levels of the water to be depleted rapidly?

[EmilyB]

[moldrik]

Holy crap, that really sucks. I'm sorry to hear about this.
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