Help!! Tank not doing so well..

[kkgmonkey]

Hi there,

Our 85 gallon tank doesn't seem to be doing very well.
We had a water leak from our sump and had to tear it out from under our tank. We had a rubbermaid container as a makeshift. Meanwhile, we completely dried out the sump and recaulked it.
We hooked everything back up, and within a day or so, noticed that the tank wasn't doing well.

About 2 days after the sump was replaced, we noticed one of our five chromis was dead. We then began keeping a close eye on the tank and it seemst that all five of the chromis have now died.
A 50% water change was done, and then two more water changes. Since this past weekend, one of our urchins has lost all of its spikes and seems like it's dead/dying. Our corals (assortment of hammer, frog spawn, suncoral and gsp) are all looking like they might die.

We have four clown fish that seem to be ok, a cardinal and a sand sifting goby. They seem ok. I just noticed a snail was dead, and can tell that the tank is really struggling. Currently experiencing a ton of diatoms as well.. pprobably due to the water changes..

any help would be great as we don't want to lose everything in our tank!! The corals were all thriving and doing exceptionally well.. and now all look like they're on their last leg..

Help!!!!!!!!:sad:

[reefwars]

Sounds like silicone what did you use?

[kkgmonkey]

I'm not entirely sure.. my boyfriend had picked it up. As far as I know he researched what was safe though...

[reefwars]

I'm not entirely sure.. my boyfriend had picked it up. As far as I know he researched what was safe though...

I'd find out the brand and where he got it the spines falling t off urchin is a Good sign of contamination. If you can find the name it would help narrow down the cause.

[kkgmonkey]

weird thing is, we have 2 urchins, and the other has all of it's spines... it just seems to be the 1..

[Proteus]

Yeah same as Denny. Silicone is the only variable. Unless you had rock and sand in sump which was disturbed or dried out

[kkgmonkey]

ok, so if it was the silicone, is there anything we can do now to save our tank?

[reefwars]

ok, so if it was the silicone, is there anything we can do now to save our tank?

Yes unhook it dry it out cut out the silicone and replace it.sometime one animal takes things harder than another same as your fish.

I'd change out most if the water and run carbon while testing for ammonia.

[kkgmonkey]

Is there anything that can be done to save the corals? The hammers and frog spawn are showing the white "skeleton" the grass is comin out a bit more ... Really worrie about my sun coral. It hasn't popped out at all since the problems.

[reefwars]

Is there anything that can be done to save the corals? The hammers and frog spawn are showing the white "skeleton" the grass is comin out a bit more ... Really worrie about my sun coral. It hasn't popped out at all since the problems.

Run carbon or give the corals to someone to babysit, if it were me I'd unhook my sump immediately and treat the display as sumpless with an airstone. Large water change if the source IA the sump then water change while its running wont help.

[KrazyKuch]

+1 on the silcone....remove the sump like suggested run carbon and do water changes....by the sounds of it you corals should come back if you do all the above....for the most part the only silicone i would use would be the stuff you get from tank builders!

the stuff from rona and homedepot and what not are hit and miss

[Dearth]

maybe get a HoB filter like Aquaclear and run it too help get the bigger stuff out till your skimmer is back up and running

[Proteus]

Did you get the sump off line.

[hfp75]

somehow you got bad silicone or there was something used to clean the glass that was still on it when you started using the sump - after the repair.

you need to get that sump out of there, tear it appart, clean the glass and rebuilt it using the right silicone, also let it dry before you install it, do some water changes and hope your tank makes it - run carbon.

You could take a hit and just sell off the corals AS IS at a loss....

When you are done building the sump again, use the left over water from a water change (healthy tank water) and buy a $5 chromis and put him and the old water from a change in the new sump to see if he gets sick or not. Better to do that than loose everything again.

[kkgmonkey]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all the advice. We took the advice and the tank seems much happier/healthier. Corals might be a lost cause... Going to hope for the best but the fish and crabs are doing well.

Thanks again! So nice to get help when needed!

[JmeJReefer]

Sounds like silicone what did you use?

I'd say silicone. Redo. Find silicone at an lfs.