Total DISASTER

[gcvt]

I got home from my Labor Day camping trip to find a complete disaster in my 100g reef tank. It apparently got pretty hot here over the weekend - my apartment temperature was 90F and tank temp was 93F. The metal halides and heaters were unplugged; I can't imagine how hot it would have been if they'd been on. Either way, I just lost everything I've been working so hard to care for over the past 2-3/4 years...

Bartletts Anthias = dead
Orchid dottyback = dead
Flame Angel = dead
Fire Shrimp (2) = dead
Cleaner Shrimp (2) = dead
Sebae Anemone = dead
All SPS corals = dead
Frogspawn = dead
Bubble coral = dead
Zoo colony = dead
Open brain = dead
Yellow leather = dead
Toadstool leather = dead
Green star polyps = dead
Riccordias = dead
Purple shrooms = dead
Red shrooms = dead
Spotted shrooms = dead
Striped shrooms = dead
Closed brain = dying

The only things left alive are my Purple Tang, two Clowns, Lawnmower Blenny, button polyps (maybe)...and, of course, aiptasia. All the fish look very sick though so I'm not sure they'll make it through the night.

We've obviously had quite a few heat waves over the past 2-3/4 years since I bought my reef tank and I never had any problems. In fact, the tank temperature never went over 85 in the past...even if the outside temp was 90 or above.

I'm completely *&%#^@'ing devastated - I just can't believe it's all gone. I don't have the money to start over so I am considering selling everything I have left, but I'll have to see how I feel when the initial shock and anger wear off. Even if the generous people of my local reef club helped out, I just can't stomach the thought of starting over from scratch after a disaster like this. I think I might go throw up.


EDIT: The forecasted temperature for this weekend was 77 degrees - well within my comfort level for leaving the tank alone. Unfortunately, the temp hit 95-96 on Sunday.

[suzabbe]

Hello, I'm new to aquarium keeping and have got a few freshwater tanks going. I stumbled upon your post and I'm devastated. I'm so sorry to hear this about your tank, I looked at your reef pictures, that are so beautiful and am just really sadened. Again, I'm so sorry to hear this.

[@LVIN]

Sorry to hear your loss. I hope this does not keep you away from the hobby. Take time to rebuild what you lost.

[mogurnda]

I am so incredibly sorry. That's the kind of thing that scares me when I leave town. Sure you can have things automated and stable, but then something can happen and wipe it all out.

If you want my opinion, I think you should clean up the mess, sit back for a while, and build it back slowly. I was visiting a reefer here on Sunday who had a massive crash in his 90 earlier this year. Total heartbreak. You should see the tank now. Gorgeous. Based on your posts and photos, you know enough (and care enough, as an aquaholic) to get it going once the trauma has passed.

If you want, I might be able to panhandle a few frags for you. Certainly some orange monti cap and digitata from my tank, as well as sarcophyton, capnella, anthelia, GSP, and some mushrooms. The weather will be good for shipping for a few months yet.

[Sting]

Holy Cow! That sucks big time! But I have to say, I feel your pain. Frances came through Tampa this weekend and my power was out for 28 hours- everything in my tank died and it's all gone. It sucks big time, I totally relate with you- although my tank didn't have as many things in it as yours did. Today I'm emptying the tank completely, and totally restarting it. I bought all new water, sand, and I'll be investing in brand new rocks Saturday. Yes, it is devastating to remove my prized fish's dead bodies, but for me, it's a step in a new direction, a new era of my reef tank, and I am very excited. I realize I can't dwell on the fact that my old tank is no more because there's nothing I can do about it, so instead I am looking forward to a great new start for my tank!!! I hope all things go well with you gvct, and you can figure out what will be the best way for you to move on from this catastrophe.

[becky_e]

Oh! I'm so sorry :sad I've looked at your pictures before and thought the tank was truly amazing. I'm so sorry you lost all that live stock :(

[gcvt]

Thank you for all the kind words and thoughts. And, Dave, thank you very much for the frags offer - that's really awfully nice of you and I might take you up on that if I decide to rebuild.

Well, now I'm not even sure the button polyps are going to make it - they won't open up and are beginning to wilt even more. Some of the zooanthids look like they're recovering though.

The Purple Tang still looks sort of okay, but can't keep any food down. There's nori and gracilaria in there for him and I also tried a little plankton, mysis and brine...but he just throws it all up.

My beloved 20" sebae anemone is now officially gone and the clowns just don't know what to do with themselves - they just keep going back looking for their home. I feel just horrible for them.

I have now completed four 25 gallon water changes, but the water is still cloudy and foul. The only thing that died 'in view' was the Flame Angel so everything else is either decomposing or being eaten by my cleanup crew...if any of the cleanup crew survived??

What about the LR and DSB? Are they completely wasted now? Do I need to either give up now or start over from scratch...or do you think any of this can be salvaged?

:sad :sad :sad :sad

[Bigworm616]

i feel terrible about your tank, i have a 110 gallon reef tank and i would shoot something if that happened to my tank. I would say though that if anyone would pay that much for all that livestock, they should also invest in a chiller. Im not scolding you im just saying. Anyway im really sorry to hear about your loss.

[valval1029]

I'm sorry to hear about your tank. I recently lost my tank and am bummed. Your loss is bigger than mine was, but I know how it feels when you see the dead bodies. I couldn't bare to remove them and had to have someone else do it.... Take some time and rebuild. Now, I have to save $ before I can start again also...

[mogurnda]

Hey Sting,
I remember when you were first setting up. Sorry that it's all gone. Will you be changing anything with the new setup?

gcvt,
I'd guess that the rock may have died a bit, but probably will come back. Just as an indicator, how does the coralline look? Is your ammonia staying low, as you might expect if the rock were still functioning?

[OrionGirl]

I'd maybe invest in a few more detrivores--even just some big bristleworms, or a few stars. Not a happy thing to throw into a reef, but they will clean up much quicker.

So sorry to hear about this--it's terrible to lose so many beautiful things that you've devoted so much time to raising. Not sure what frags I might have--xenia, some colts...The 120 is still too new to have much more.

[Jeffd1979]

man that really sucks.. i was hurt when one of my clowns died, i cannot imagine all of that.

Do you guys not have A/C in San Fran? :(

[gcvt]

Update:

The zoos and button polyps have apparently made a remarkable recovery....or at least the button polyps have. They sprung back to life late last night. The Zoos are looking much better, but I still wouldn't bet money on them surviving.

The purple tang has a white bump/blister above his right eye that doesn't look very good. I'm not sure what it is - not ich or velvet - as far as I can tell. There's a smaller bump above his left eye too. The lawnmower blenny looked good the last time I saw him, but that was last night some time. I really don't see him very often normally though, so I can only assume he's hiding out, but still alive. Maybe I'll see him come out when I feed the tank later tonight. Both clowns still look like nothing ever happened, but still obviously missing their anemone.

I'm still not sure what's up with the closed brain. I can't see any exposed skeleton, but it looks deflated and sad. Then again, they never really do look 'inflated', so I'm unclear on whether he'll make it or not.

Dave - the corraline looks okay, I guess? Hard to tell though because I hit a bunch of aiptasia and majanos with Joe's Juice early last week. That killed off a little corraline, so it's hard to tell if it's dying off or just looks funky from the Juice doses. I'm doing almost constant water changes and picking out whatever dead stuff I can, so ammonia is almost undetectable. The water is no longer cloudy either.

OG - Thanks for the kind words. I took all the bristle worms, stars, etc. that survived in my nano and put them in the big tank. It might not be much, but there was a TON of huge bristle worms in the nano...hopefully they'll get to work. I also appreciate the possible frags offer, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to rebuild. I may contact you later about this.

Jeffd1979 - If I had to guess, I'd say that 90% of the people in SF do not have air conditioning; our annual average temp is less than 60 degrees. I've been living in SF over 12 years (and in the Bay Area since 1988) and this is only the second time that I remember getting temps in the 95 degree range. It was just the bad-luck combination of brutal heat and me being out of town. Again, if I had been home stuffing ziplock bags of ice in the sump, everything would be fine.

Well, I guess that's all for now folks - time for another water change. Thanks again for all your kind thoughts.

EDIT:
Oh, for those of you who never clicked the link in my sig, here's what she looked like about two years ago (now that it's gone, I sure wish I took more pics)...
http://www.motorworld.com/gcvt/pets/fish/reef/main.jpg

[QCppg]

Sorry to hear about your loss... I would be quite irritated if this happened to me...

Anyways IMO your live rock should be fine, it is shipped, out of water, and across the country. Algae and nitrifying bacteria seem to be pretty tough, and 95 degrees isn't really all that hot.

Provided you decide to rebuild, best of luck.

[gamecockks]

OMG....wow....that is aweful! PLEASE PLEASE spend the $550.00 on a chiller! It will save you! It already has me. I read about the aiptasia treatment (Joes Juice?). For me, I'm just personally against adding anything to my tank chemical wise. I use a good salt (Bio Sea made by AquaCraft) It's a top rated salt with all the necessary elements. I only add Strontium and Molybdenum and Kalkwasser to my tank (120 gal). Did you have a lot of aiptasia? I had a few pop up a while back. I use a seringe, boil some water and inject the hot water into the aiptasia. Works every time and I'm not adding any chemicals to my tank. A guy with 40 years of reef tank experience told me several years ago to never add any chemicals to my tank unless there is no other alternative. It's a closed system and once the chemicals are in, there's no where for them to go. It's been good advise for me. Not saying it's law, but I've heard about a lot of bad experiences, especially with all the Kent products. I've found they just aren't necessary. You had a beautiful tank by the way...I can't believe you didn't have a chiller. It's the best investment I made! Good luck....hope you get it back up and going soon. Oh Yea......if anyone hasn't invested in a $500.00 generator and you have a $5000.00 tank, you're taking a risk I'm not willing to take. Mine came in real handy last winter when we had power out for 3 days because of an ice storm. I know the chiller and the generator are about $1,000.00, but I have over $6,000.00 invested in my tank and it's insurance I can't afford to be without. Good luck and be safe with Ivan coming everyone!

[Dewey115]

I know this may be late, but I really feel for you. I was heartbroken to lose just my peppermint shrimp and clown fish pair, I cant imagine losing that much at once. I have nothing to offer to help out, but with your experience you have to know what you are doing and be commited to it. Yes it really sucks to go through but dont let this stop you, hang in there and it will all get better (as you have already started to see). Good luck and if I can help you out let me know, I dont know how but if there is a way I will try my best.

Rick