i need help now

[draco]

thank you guys so much for your support. so you think that i am safe to re-add my fish? i took a turkey baster and squirted the live rock and a buch of worms have come off should i re-siphon my tank or leave them? i have already drained like 20% today.

[Ruth]

If you have a bunch of dead worms in there you want to get them out - they will only pollute the tank as they decompose. I know that we have said not to do any more water changes but if you have dead stuff in there then you are going to have to.
Another thing you might want to consider at this point is to remove your sandbed and go bare bottom - at least for a while. If you have dead bristleworms visible on your rock you can be sure that there are probably a lot more dead in your sand bed.
You want your tank stabilized before you add you fish back in. Maybe just run your canister filter on the bucket you have your fish in and throw a few pieces of live rock in there for filtration.
If it were my tank I would remove all inverts and corals to a bucket - mix up a fresh bucket of water - remove the rock and swish it around real good in this bucket of fresh water then siphon out the sand bed and probably most of the water. Then put most of the live rock back in and top off with more freshly mixed up water - test for a couple of days to make sure you don't get a cycle - then as long as your tests indicate it is OK add you livestock and corals back in.

[andresont]

I would like to introduce a theory. (Could be wrong , but hey, you never know)
Could worms try to spawn? i had this happen once in my 108 Gal., and one worm started waiving its tail spraying white goo (sperm).
After that they all have gone like creasy doing the same. Water was like a milk, however cleared up fast, if that happened to your tank at night you might have missed the show but end up with a lot of toxic material in the tank so everything started to suffocate slowly. In small tank this could get to a point of no return very quickly. What do you think? I agree about doing small water changes more often rather then big one, this shocks everything even when al live stock is doing OK.

[Reefhawk1]

I have a couple of questions.

How do you mix your salt?

How much water flow do you have in the aquarium?

Can you post some pictures?

[mark]

Do you normally age your SW for a bit before adding to tank?

Though when I first started did with no ill effects, have read if just adding salt to water, mixing then adding immediately to tank can irritate fish.

[danny zubot]

If you have dead bristleworms visible on your rock you can be sure that there are probably a lot more dead in your sand bed.

I second that. I had that happen with a bunch of these little sand sifting snails (can't remember ther name of them) and while my tank didn't crash, I did have a cyano bloom.

[draco]

i just mix my salt in a pail. and then i put it back in, as soon as it looks dissolved. i dont let it cure very long at all. i am affraid of leaving my tank low on water. i have alot of flow in my tank i cant tell you exactly how many gallons are being pushed but i can tell you that i have 2 sieo 65 powerheads and a fluval 304. i borrowed a freinds protien skimmer to add on next to mine for a while. both of our skimmers are pulling a really wet skim even on the lowest setting. mine is a prisim and his is a coralife. i tested my water last night and the nitrite and nitrate were almost zero, but my ph had dropped to 7.8 my fish are in a bucket still with a heater i am affraid to put them back.

[draco]

i dont know how to get my pics on here

[howdy20012002]

u should let your fresh salt water sit overnight with a heater and powerhead in the future(after this crisis)
freshly made salt water can be quite harsh to the fish/corals/tank.
The fact that your aren't doing this could be creating the problem in the first place.
I am far from being an expert on anything however and am just making suggestions.
HTH
Neal

[draco]

i am open to every suggestion there is. what do you think of instant ocean salt?