Tank crash

[daniella3d]

could be anything.

Lack of oxygen if the tank is overcrowded

Ammonia spike

Something toxic like an anemone or a sea cucumber died or expulsed its organs.

Marine velvet (but that would not kill amphipods)

All these fish in a 25 gallons I would say lack of oxygen killed them all and then there was an ammonia spike that killed the rest. That combined with ich or maybe marine velvet.

Originally Posted by isaac1

Hi about 2 months ago when I was working out of town I got a call from my wife telling me everything was eaither dead or dieing she described it as everything was crawling out from under the rocks and dieing I lost 2 clowns a coral buety half a dozen crabs and well over a hundred amphipods but to my supprised when I came back and finally got a chance to exam the tank I noticed all my corals were fine and doing great as well as a hermit crab that hangs out on the top of my life rock ( all my corals are placed mid to high in my tank) I have no explanation for the loss water peramiters were all within range so after doing numerous water changes and battling red slime algie for the past month I decide to take a gamble and add two chromis to the tank as a test project if any one has ever had the same thing happen or any ideas or clues to what have might caused this I will appreciate all feed back

[AquaticFinatic]

You said nitrate was zero but it couldn't have been if you was fiting red algae?

[daniella3d]

I have some cyano that refuse to go away and my nitrates and phosphates are always undetectible on both tests that I have. I had my water tested to be sure by some professionals and same results..undectible. Yet I do have cyano, ID by a microscope.

The cyano seem to be able to survive by making a nutriment reserve, at least from what I have read about it, so even cutting the light might not get it. It's a tough thing to get rid of sometimes.

Originally Posted by daveycoopa

You said nitrate was zero but it couldn't have been if you was fiting red algae?

[viperfish]

daniella3d is right, you can most certainly have Cyano bacteria in a system with an undetectable nitrate level. There will be nutrients in any tank and it doesn't take much to feed the cyano. If the bacteria is absorbing the DOC's before they can be skimmed or absorbed by carbon, GFO, etc then it can thrive. Vodka dosing will bring a tank to a ULN state but it will make cyano grow like wildfire. I had an outbreak a short while ago and tried everything I could thing of, at the end of the day it was Chemi Clean that cleared it up (I also pulled my biopellets and replaced with GFO but I won't be so bold at this point to say the pellets were the cause or contributor).

[daniella3d]

Same here, I had to use chemin clean and it got rid of it in my small nano and going to do it in my 75 gallons to clear the dissolve organic.

Chemin clean work well in case of a build up of dissolved organic, wich is also my case. Makes the skimmer goes nuts for a white though but it works.

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

daniella3d is right, you can most certainly have Cyano bacteria in a system with an undetectable nitrate level. There will be nutrients in any tank and it doesn't take much to feed the cyano. If the bacteria is absorbing the DOC's before they can be skimmed or absorbed by carbon, GFO, etc then it can thrive. Vodka dosing will bring a tank to a ULN state but it will make cyano grow like wildfire. I had an outbreak a short while ago and tried everything I could thing of, at the end of the day it was Chemi Clean that cleared it up (I also pulled my biopellets and replaced with GFO but I won't be so bold at this point to say the pellets were the cause or contributor).