Urgent Help

[ColbytheClown]

We had some company over, and their kids poured a WHOLE BOTTLE of coral RX, and the fish and corals are dying, I put the fish in a bucket, corals are dying, I'm really stressed rn. I did a 15 gal water change but I'm afraid to change more, because I could hurt the biological load. I changed the carbon, tried to sift all the coral rx out... what else can I do... any help will be appreciated. 32 gal biocub. The bottle is 7 ounces or 200 mil,( how much RX is in the tank. trying to stay calm. Thanks

 

[Janice]

As per my son Colby's message, a kid just poured 200 mls for Coral RX into our 32G biocube. Our cleaner shrimp was dying when we discovered it.

We did a 10 G water change. I have Colony. I put in one small capful, but I am reluctant to put in more since protein skimmers are to be turned off if I add Colony, and I am concerned that we should not turn off the protein skimmer for 4-5 days given that I assume(maybe incorrectly) that it will help remove the Coral X from the water.

Can anyone recommend what else, if anything we should do? How much more of a water change should we do tomorrow, if any? I am concerned about destroying the biological filter. We just put 2 new clown fish in our tank yesterday.

Thanks, Janice
PS , the fish are in the bucket, what should we do??? put them back in the potentially contaminated water, although we did a 15-20 gal water change. Or leave them in the bucket overnight.... or is that too risqué?

 

[Nighthawk26]

Wish I had perfect advice for you on how to fix this. Sadly, I don't. If you have someone to house the fish though, I'd certainly suggest that. Same with the corals if at all possible. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help beyond that. Only other thing I'd add, is no question would I be handing that kids parents the bill for whatever is ultimately lost.

 

[Luke.]

Hmm it's a tough one I would assume it won't be good you never know if it will leach from the rocks and sand I'd say maybe run carbon I don't want to say to much more because I'd be afraid of disturbing / stressing things further . I would do like a 5 gallon water change every other day till 100% then your normal water changes. Just my 2 cents

 

[ColbytheClown]

Wish I had perfect advice for you on how to fix this. Sadly, I don't. If you have someone to house the fish though, I'd certainly suggest that. Same with the corals if at all possible. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help beyond that. Only other thing I'd add, is no question would I be handing that kids parents the bill for whatever is ultimately lost.

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately, there is no one I'm the vicinity... have any thoughts if I should put the fish in the tank or keep them in the bucket overnight?

 

[Joshbrookkate]

Can you put the clown fish in another tank for a few days?
If not, I would set up a small powerhead in the bucket to keep the water oxygenated and a heater to keep the temp stable. I would keep the fish in the bucket until you know what impact the Coral Rx is going to have on the biocube.

Do you have any live rock from another tank that you could add to the bucket? If not, you will need to test for ammonia daily and do water changes and add Prime to eliminate it.

Biological filtration is mainly in your live rock and substrate, not in your water. Therefore, after removing the fish I would do a 100% water change. And I would be prepared to do more water changes in the next few days so as to help it leach out of the rock as quickly as possible.

I have no idea what the long term effects the Coral Rx will have on your live rock and substrate, whether it will be absorbed and leach out. So I would try to temporarily re-home any corals and livestock as soon as possible.

I wish you good luck. I am no expert by any means. Just letting you know what I would do.

 

[Hong]

The above seems like sound advice. I'm no pro, but I would pretty much do the same.
I would definitely remove all livestock from the tank, and then work on the live rock and substrate. Good luck.

 

[Skim]

You need to do more more water changes and add a large amount of good Activated Carbon. It still may not help as the damage may have been done. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

 

[Joshbrookkate]

The above seems like sound advice. I'm no pro, but I would pretty much do the same.
Good luck.

I'd like to add, change the carbon every day and put in a polyfilter pad to try to absorb some of the chemicals.
I'm not sure these things will help, but it's what I'd do.
Again, wishing you success with dealing with this issue.

 

[kapelan]

32g not a huge tank. would do 100% water change. every creature likes fresh water.
The stress after water change is coming not from new water but because of different temperature and salinity.

 

[Steve Peters]

I would remove the fish..... then put the kids in the tank! JK..... you need to do massive water changes... hoping for minimal losses for you.

 

[TORX]

Merged 2 threads to keep all information together as they are the same tank.

 

[TORX]

First I would like to say how sorry I am for what you are going through. You have not had the best of luck while starting in this hobby. A full bottle contains 10 gallons worth of treatment water when mixed. So what was added is very diluted, but Coral RX is never to be added directly to a tank, even as residue off a dipped coral. Even when used, you are supposed to rinse it all off the coral before adding it to your tank to avoid any getting into your tank. Unfortunately I can not find what the risks are of it in your tank other then it killing off coral and fish if exposed too long, nor does the MSDS sheet have its ingredients listed.

400% water changes are a must at least. You may continue to have problems with corals and fish for a while as some will be in the rocks and substraight. I would definitely do a new set up for the current fish, even just a QT style, tank and minimum filtration while you get your QT up and running again. Even with a 100% water change, the residual amount may still be too high for fish and coral to tolerate for an expended time. There is no way to test if things are in the clear without risking the creature. If you want a sure thing, then you would need to replace the substraight and rock. You may also want to add a lock to the cabinet if/when kids are around. Accidents like this are very popular with kids around. Some one just recently lost a massive tank from a similar incident. The entire 200 gallon (or close to that) was nuked from kids who were just trying to 'help'

 

[SamB]

Merged 2 threads to keep all information together as they are the same tank.

Thank you for the explanation @TORX
Thought my Alzheimer's was flaring up !

 

[Janice]

UPDATE: All fish were dead by 4 am-even though there were put in a bucket with a powerhead, Too much stress, Two of the clowns had only been purchased the day before. Now the issue is the best way to save the corals. Can the corals take a 100% water change? We cannot buy another $300 of live rock and quite frankly don't have the time or heart to completely start over after all the issues we have had, and all the money we have lost-plus Colby is going away on Wednesday for a week. Help from those most knowledgeable would be appreciated. We are VERY disheartened.

 

[Janice]

Also, we have a 32G biocube and we have never used and don't know how to use activated carbon, or even what kind to buy. Could someone please explain this to us in detail. Brand to buy, etc. How you use it with an AIO? Thanks, Janice

 

[TORX]

I have emailed the company to ask for advice as I can not see anywhere of others that have had a similar issue online with this product. The only thing I have found is someone who added just a few cap fulls in their tank and lost all their fish shortly there after.

If you decide to try Activated Carbon and see if it helps, it can be purchased at any fish store. Place it inside of a media reactor if you have one, or just place it inside a mesh bag (which are sold at any lfs as well) and place in a high flow area. There is also instructions on the package when you get it. You definitely want to rinse it well before adding to the tank. With an AIO tank, you can just add it to a media bag and place it in the back chambers.

 

[Josh]

If it's anything like my bc29 hang it in the second chamber so that the water trickling in from chamber 3 passes through it.

 

[ColbytheClown]

I have emailed the company to ask for advice as I can not see anywhere of others that have had a similar issue online with this product. The only thing I have found is someone who added just a few cap fulls in their tank and lost all their fish shortly there after.

If you decide to try Activated Carbon and see if it helps, it can be purchased at any fish store. Place it inside of a media reactor if you have one, or just place it inside a mesh bag (which are sold at any lfs as well) and place in a high flow area. There is also instructions on the package when you get it. You definitely want to rinse it well before adding to the tank. With an AIO tank, you can just add it to a media bag and place it in the back chambers.

Don't the filter cartridges for the biocube have activated carbon in them???

 

[Josh]

Yes but I would assume it's spent. If you compare dosing to activated carbon you will notice the 2 come nowhere close in terms of total carbon.

According to BRS you will want about 5 to 6 tbsp or roughly 1/3 to 1/2 cup