Help! sick tank.

[danny zubot]

Last night I baffled my sump and did a 25% water change at the same time. Today my corals aren't opening up like they used to. My toadstool leather has no polyp extension and is drooping over, my purple and orange monti plate is turning yellowish, my sps had very little polyp extension and even my GSP is in hiding! My fish and inverts seem to be Ok accept for my female clown who has been suffering from a gill infection for a while now. The only thing I can think of that would cause this is that I didn't let the silicone cure long enough before using it. I used 100% pure silicon from Rona.

Should I expect some coral fatalies? What else can I do do help my tank? I do have a fairly fresh bag of carbon in the sump so I'm hoping that will help. Any advise?

[Tarolisol]

How long did you wait till the water touched the silicone. If you didnt wait 24hours the silicone could have put some ammonia into the water maybe you should do a test and see if thats what it is.

[mr_alberta]

Was that GE silicone I or II? Door and window stuff or kitchen and bath?

I'd crank up the skimming, do a waterchange and run carbon like there's no tomorrow.

[danny zubot]

I'm not sure what the exact brand of the silicon was, or if was GE 1 or 2. I only waited about 3 hours for the silicon to set before adding the water. I guess that was the big mistake. I'll add more carbon and check my NH4 levels and update later.

[sumpfinfishe]

If you used normal household silcone you might want to think of reglueing whatever you did with the stuff. Normal household silicone contains chemicals that will leech into your tank over time. You need to be sure that you use aquarium safe silicone at all cost. Most aquarium stores do sell the stuff, which may be a buck or two more in cost but it's worth every penny.

[Tarolisol]

Buying silicone from a fish store is paying to much for a label. There are a few safe silcones availiable from hardware stores. Most 100% silicone for construction uses is safe like GE1200 GE silcone 1 is safe and even though GE silicone 2 says not for aquariums apparnetly many people have used it with no problems. You dont want to use bath and kitchen as it has anti fungus stuff in it. i think Dannys problem is that he didnt let it cure long enough.

[mr_alberta]

I've siliconed small glass brackets in my sump (for float valves and whatnot) and had it back in action within 20 minutes without any problems before. This was with All-Glass brand silicone however, so I know it is aquarium safe.

I think you may have used a silicone that contained either anti-bacterial or anti-mildew agents which is quite toxic to your tank. Carbon, water changes and heavy skimming are all you can really do for your tank now. IIRC Gunjustsuu (sp?) had a similar problem in his tank a while back.

[danny zubot]

Thanks for your help guys, wish me luck. :neutral:

[Ken]

Hi, sounds like you're on the right track. More water changes, skimming ,carbon etc. Here wishing you luck. Regards Ken

[Rikko]

To be honest, I've seen a tank where the overflow bulkheads were absolutely glopped with silicone to take care of a trickling leak. I'd say it was 4 hours MAX before the water level increased to start covering that silicone and then flowing through the rest of the system.. With corals.. I cringed but there were no casualties at all.

[danny zubot]

I tested my levels last night and there was no NH4. My Ph was a bit high and ALk low so I adjusted them using the 2 part additive and changed the carbon. Its a waiting game now.

[danny zubot]

Last night My toadstool was not as droopy, and my sps polyp extension was a little more abundent. My only concern is that my beautiful purple and orange monti cap will continue to loose its color. I hope it can recover in time. My patients is wearing thin with this whole reefing thing! :mad:

[Delphinus]

Caps are weeds. If they don't come back, let me know, because we can make a deal for pieces of mine, they grow too fast and I pretty much have to throw them out (*) at this point because there's no demand for them. I have yellow, orange, and purple. let me know if you're interested.

(*) I don't actually throw them out {yet}. It is a figure of speech.

[danny zubot]

To tell you the truth I'm not really sure if it is a cap. It is multicolored, Orange with a purple rim and it has yellow polyps. It is more smooth than the typical monit caps that I have. Sorry no pics yet, maybe if it recovers.

[Beverly]

My patients is wearing thin with this whole reefing thing!

Reefkeeping is often frustrating. Everyone has at least one disaster to cope with. I'll scoot over a bit on the cr*p-has-happened-to-me-too bench so you can join the club!

But, honestly, sorry to hear about your misfortune :sad:

[danny zubot]

Well, its been about 5 days and some of my corals are bouncing back quite well. There is a gradual increase in sps polyp extension, my toadstool have some strange side effect though. At night when it is shrivled up it is very green but now it has an army camoflage pattern of green and brown areas. Has anyone seen this before? Unfortunatley my orange and purple cap is now a pale yellow, but im confident that over the months it will regain its former glory.

[BrainVat]

If you didnt wait 24hours the silicone could have put some ammonia into the water ...

How does silicone put ammonia into water?

[sumpfinfishe]

Brainvat:
Ammonia is part of the chemical process which helps the silicone cure, thus if the silicone is not fully cured it will leech into the water column.

[danny zubot]

Well its been a week and a half now and most of my SPS will recover and regain its color in time. 1 acro has bleached though, how can I tell if its dead or not?

[Delphinus]

Bare skeleton, which gets fairly quickly covered in algae fuzz.

[danny zubot]

Looks like I've got some cleaning to do. :cry: