Neptune Aquatics

Emergency- alk rising and ph dropping to dangerous level - complete tank crash

What brand salt did you use? Curious if it has any probiotic stuff that could have caused the bacterial bloom. Any sulfur smell or sand turning black? I had those symptoms when I had a bacterial bloom due to carbon dosing.

If you have an air pump, get that pumping oxygen into the water asap, or powerhead pointed towards the surface.
 
Wow that's crazy how fast that happened. Must have been an absolutely insane bacterial bloom to pull enough oxygen out of the water to kill all the fish that fast, or maybe something else got into the tank?
 
If you are close to the Milpitas area - I can mix up a 5-gallon bucket of saltwater for you and add bio media. This will buy you some time! Let me know.
 
CaseyP said:
What brand salt did you use? Curious if it has any probiotic stuff that could have caused the bacterial bloom. Any sulfur smell or sand turning black? I had those symptoms when I had a bacterial bloom due to carbon dosing.

If you have an air pump, get that pumping oxygen into the water asap, or powerhead pointed towards the surface.
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No sulfur smell. More like fishy smell, more so than normal. Not sure I can describe it well. I don’t have an air pump but have 3 power head pointing to the surface
 
Which AF salt did you use exactly? I'm wondering if this kind includes any carbon dosing? That's the only thing I can think of that could have triggered a bloom unless you had someone dump alcohol or a sugary drink in there.
 
Maybe your autofeeder dumped a ton of food if you have one? Trying to brainstorm, but I know you need to move fast to save what's left. Turn on that skimmer if you have it ASAP.
 
Darkxerox said:
Which AF salt did you use exactly? I'm wondering if this kind includes any carbon dosing? That's the only thing I can think of that could have triggered a bloom unless you had someone dump alcohol or a sugary drink in there.
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I was away on vacation last 2 weeks. Tank was doing reasonable well ( alk consumption normal ) until the last Friday where I notice the consumption drop 10-20%. Algae is growing like crazy , so I did a 40% water change on Sunday.

I have a couple of adult tank sitter but no reason to believe they will do something like that .
 

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I am exhausted and tired. Thinking about throwing the towel and call it the day. It’s very frustrating not knowing what went wrong .

I notice some black water stain on the hardwood floor next to the tank. Likely due to constantly being wet ( drips and stuff - not major leak).

Tried cleaning it with vinegar but not making any difference.

Maybe time to shut down the tank. Arg…
 
newfly said:
I am exhausted and tired. Thinking about throwing the towel and call it the day. It’s very frustrating not knowing what went wrong .

I notice some black water stain on the hardwood floor next to the tank. Likely due to constantly being wet ( drips and stuff - not major leak).

Tried cleaning it with vinegar but not making any difference.

Maybe time to shut down the tank. Arg…
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If you have any bubblers, you can put stuff in a 5 gallon bucket and make a temporary tank for whatever is still alive. Go have a beer for lunch, take a 30 minute break, then save what you can and call it a day.

Next step is get what's alive in a bigger temp tank than 5 gallon bucket while your big tank mellows out.

Then in a few days, when you've figured things out your livestock can go back in your tank.

We've all been there if we have been doing this long enough. You didn't do anything bad or dumb, sometime stuff just happens and you have to react.

Good luck and do your best.
 
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